September 26, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 25 
or 
py 
November, at which time they have many young lambs with 
them, This kind of sheep usually give a large number of twin 
lambs, and they not only furnish one of the prettiest objects on 
the park lands, but are very profitable upon the home farm if 
judiciously managed. The shepherds must now be vigilant, and 
all those sheep which may have been recently shorn should now 
be dipped or leared with powder to secure them against the attack 
of the blow flies, if it has not already been done, for the hot close 
weather lately prevailing has been much in favour of the fly 
damaging the sheeps’ fleece. The purchasing of sheep, both of ewes 
and dry sheep for winter keeping, will still be going on. We re- 
commend where it can be done to purchase of the breeder, so that 
the sheep can travel direct to the place where they are required, 
in order to avoid the lameness which they so often pick up at the 
fairs. The ewes which have the rams running with them still 
require attention in the daily change of food, so that they may be 
induced to bring their lambs well together. Dairy cows should 
now be purchased when a good supply of milk is required during 
the winter months, but we do not like to purchase them in the 
metropolitan market. When we require a nice lot of the York- 
shire Shorthorns we prefer giving a commission to those engaged 
in supplying the London dairies with the best stock, instead of 
taking animals direct from the metropolitan market, because 
whilst there the animals often take by infection foot and mouth 
disease, and sometimes pleura. In case of ordering them of a 
dealer they are sent by railway to any part of the country direct, 
in which case they usually arrive healthy and in fine condition ; 
for be it remembered that many of the finest cows on sale in the 
kingdom are obtainable by the dealers who supply the London 
market and the suburban dairies. When it is desired to rear the 
calves the dealer will send you cows with heifer calves if the 
order is given in that way. We know cows frequently obtained 
in that way which are very beautiful and also great milkers, and 
have given much satisfaction upon the pasture farms where they 
have been kept. The stock of horned cattle for winter feeding 
and fattening upon roots in the stalls or boxes should also be 
purchased now. If Hereford steers are wanted, Hereford October 
fair is a good one for purchasers; if shorthorned cattle are 
xequired, there are many fairs in the midland counties where the 
best blood can be obtained. Many Irish yearlings and calves are 
now sent oyer; but although they are much better than they 
used to be, still the buyer should select the best animals out 
of a herd and pay more money for them, as the best are always 
the cheapest. These will do very well for wintering as stock 
animals, but for fattening in the boxes the two-years-off cattle are 
the best, and we have often picked up half-fat bullocks at markets 
which have paid well for winter feeding. 
VARIETIES. 
Tun following is from the Oxford Times—“ The members of 
our Poultry and Pigeon Society have reason to be disappointed 
with the result of the special meeting of the Town Council, held 
last Thursday morning, to receive the memorial of 1500 ratepayers 
to the Mayor and Corporation requesting a reconsideration of 
their refusal to grant the use of the Town Hall, as well as the use 
of the Corn Exchange and Yard already granted, for the annual 
Show. The cause of the disappointment seems to be attributed 
to four absent councillors, three of whom signed the memorial 
and promised to attend the meeting to support it with their votes, 
and the other, though refusing his signature, promised to vote for 
it. Had these gentlemen redeemed their promises there must 
have been a majority instead of a minority of two in favour of 
the memorial. Hence the bitterness of the disappointment. The 
Show Committee argue with much reason, that in order to main- 
tain the high standard and extent of the Society’s annual exhi- 
bition they cannot reduce their schedule to the proportions 
necessary for the accommodation afforded without the Town Hall. 
Last year the Corn Exchange was crowded to its utmost capacity 
with six hundred fowl pens, two-thirds of the Town Hall yard 
were occupied with two hundred large pens of Geese and Ducks, 
and the Town Hall itself accommodated 1100 pens of Pigeons, &c., 
many of them birds of too great a value to be exposed to the 
nclemency of the Town Hall yard. Alderman Carr contends that 
there isa greater space in the yard than in the Hall. However 
that may be, one thing is certain, that the quality of the accom- 
modation must be in favour of the Hall.” Owing to the strong 
feeling that has been evinced by the inhabitants, the Town 
Council has since reversed the decision refusing the use of the 
Town Hall to the Poultry and Pigeon Show Committee by a 
large majority. 
—— A Surrey COLUMBARIAN Socrety is in process of forma- 
tion ; a preliminary meeting of fanciers was held at Guildford on 
the 18th inst. to consider the matter, and it is intended to hold 
eapubic meeting on October 10th for the adoption of a code of 
rules. 
— Mr. F. Jonzs of Greddington, near Kettering, writes—* I 
haye a hen which has been laying since the 28th of January, never 
missing above one day and that occasionally. She has laid to-day 
her two-hundredth egg, including four large ones the size of a 
Duck’s. As I think this very remarkable, I should feel obliged if 
you would state the above in the Journal of Horticulture.” 
THE Waterford Poultry Show was held in connection with 
the Farming Society on the 12th inst., when the following prizes 
were awarded :— 
COCHINS.—1, Miss M. Barron. 2, C. N. Bolton. DORKINGS.—1, Miss M. 
Barron. 2, C. N. Bolton. HAMBURGHS.—1 and 2, Lady Lloyd. BRAHMAS.— 
1,R. A. Chearnley. 2, Miss M. Barron. ANY BREED.—1, Miss M. Barron. 2, 
R. A. Chearnley. DUCKS.—Aylesbury.—Prize, Miss M. Barron. touen.—l, 
Miss M. Barron. 2, C « SELLING CLASS.—1 and 2, Miss M. Barron. 
ANY PURE BI iss M. Barron. 2, C. N. Bolton. whe, Lady Lloyd, C. 
N. Bolton. Gk ennedy. 2,J.H. Jones. TURKEYS.—l, J. H. Jones. 
2, C. N. Bolton. 
— ACREAGE REQUIRED For A Cow.—An American paper 
writes as follows upon this subject: “This question depends for 
an answer so much on the circumstances of the soil as not to 
admit of a very definite answer. In a dairy competition in 
Jefferson county, N.Y., in 1857, the first-prize dairy, of sixteen 
cows, was kept on thirty acres of land; the second premium dairy, 
of eighteen cows, on sixty acres ; the third dairy, of thirteen cows, 
on thirty acres; the fourth, of twenty-nine cows, on fifty-five 
acres ; the fifth, of twenty-eight cows, on ninety acres. Mr.Schull, 
of Little Falls, N.Y., estimates that the land in pasturage and 
hay requisite for the support of a cow is three acres ; and this is 
the estimate of Mr. Carrington for moderately good dairy farms in 
England. In Belgium ten acres of land support two cows, one 
heifer, and one yearling or calf; but when the calves are sold off 
young, and cows in full milk are only kept, the proportion is two 
cows to seven and one-half acres. Colman estimates three acres 
of pasture as requisite for a cow in Berkshire County, Mass., while 
in some towns two acres of pasturage are sufficient. Mr. Farring- 
ton, in the report of the American Dairyman’s Association, thinks 
that on the average four acres are required per cow for summer 
and winter keep ; while Mr. X. A. Willard thinks that in Herkimer 
county, N.Y., one and one-half to two acres of pasture per cow 
will answer, and in some exceptional cases one acre.” 
—— Accounts received from all parts of Ireland represent 
the harvest as a good one, and generally well secured. The 
yield of the cereal crops in the northern provinces is a fair 
average, and although in some parts of Leinster there is a lighter 
wheat and barley crop in the better corn-growing districts than 
was anticipated, it is much above the result of last year. The 
green crops are exceptionally good, and no further grave com- 
plaints are heard as to the potatoes. There never has been a 
finer hay harvest. For cattle there will be ample winter feeding, 
and the number and value of stock will consequently increase. 
A month’s fine weather will be of great advantage to the country. 
The break in the weather a few days ago appears to have been 
but temporary, and no great mischief can be traced to it. The 
health of Irish cattle is much improved, and the demands upon 
the public purse for animals slaughtered have greatly declined. 
— Coms Founpations.— A. E. C.” writes :—‘ Having seen 
in the Journal of Horticulture for September 5th an article from 
Mr. Arthur Todd, Algeria, in which he mentions that the American 
comb foundation can be obtained at 2s. per lb., I shall be much 
obliged if any of your correspondents can tell me where I could 
obtain the foundation at that price, or if anyone who is getting it 
from America would let me join them for a small quantity.” 
— A WRITER in an Australian paper states that in many 
districts the leaves of the celery are highly esteemed as food for 
milch cows, and are often preferred to red clover. The cows are 
said to eat them most greedily, and to yield on this food a far 
sweeter and richer milk than on any other. Sometimes the leaves 
are cut up small, scalded with hot water, and given as a mash 
mixed with bran, and sometimes they are fed whole in their 
natural state along with the other ordinary food. 
APIARIAN JOTTINGS. 
Ir would be tiresome to go through the various operations 
among my bees which have taken place this autumn. Suffice it 
to say that without plundering to the full,as I had intended, 
every stock in my apiary, some of which circumstances have 
obliged me to leave untouched, I have harvested over a hundred- 
weight of honey of excellent quality, with which I am well 
content. This is very good for our poor country, with its limited 
supply of apple and bean blossoms and its one staple of clover 
honey, exposed as it is to the blast of every wind, which has free 
liberty of range in a thinly planted plain. 
I must, however, say a few words relative to the Woodbury- 
Phillip’s bar-framed hive, into which I put a moderate-sized 
swarm on the 13th of June. On my return home in the middle 
of August I found thirteen out of the sixteen frames occupied 
with comb, many of them weighty with honey and brood, We 
took out most of the frames, cut away several pounds of honey= 
comb, and re-arranged the hive, correcting irregularities in the 
comb. This is now a very strong stock, with an excellent first- 
cross queen hatched last year. Before winter it will have a care- 
ful overhaul previous to its contraction to eight bar frames. The 
