156 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 17, 1876. 



away the hops, and when new-milkwarm add a small quantity 

 of yeast on a toast ; let it stand a couple of days, and then put it 

 into a barrel, which should only have been used previously, if at 

 all, for white wine. Skim off any yeast which rises before being 

 put into the barrel. Let the mead stand two years before bottling, 

 and then when bottled it will keep for any length of time, and 

 the colour will deepen with age. 



For making wine or liqueurs honey is much more used on the 

 continent of Europe than in Great Britain. Mr. Wood tells me 

 that at the honey show at Copenhagen there were exhibited 

 some thousands of bottles. — John Hunter. 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Cause of Cbooked Breasts [W. C. C.).— Ton have propounded a diffi- 

 cult question. It is certain that some breeds are never crooked-breasted, and 

 that others always are. Some fowls like yours rooet on the ground, and their 

 breasts are in the shape of the letter S, others will roost on a walking-stick 

 and their breasts will remain as straight as a line. We believe the defect to 

 be hereditary. We once tried an experiment by shutting-up two crooked- 

 breasted hens and keeping their produce separate. We deprived them of 

 perches, and allowed them always to roost on the floor of the house which we 

 kept scrupulously clean and dry, but they had crooked breasts. To the 

 present day we have not a chicken of this year that has seen the inside of a 

 poultry house, nor will they till long nights and colder weather make it 

 advisable. They have no crooked breasts. We believe they may be attributed 

 to two causes — weakness of constitution, and undue growth due to bad and 

 stimulating feeding. The weights you quote are far beyond the ordinary 

 weights of chickens of the age you name, and can be attained only by such 

 care as you describe. But in birds as in human beings, there is such a thing 

 as undue growth consequent on overfeeding. We imagine this is your case. 

 Handle your birds through at oiice, keep for your stock only the straight- 

 breasted. Let their house be without perch, and feed on moderate food — 

 ground oats slaked with milk, maize at times, some large soda of grass cut 

 with plenty of fresh earth, and household scraps, which you should diminish 

 daily till they do without them. Keep the crooked-breasted for layers, or kill 

 them for table purposes. You should have told us the food you employ. 



Pigeon with Inflamed Lungs (E. B. T.).— We have during the last 

 thirty-five years or so had birds occasionally so afflicted, but never one was 

 cured, nor do we believe there is any cure. Surgical remedies there are for 

 surgical cases. The diseases outside a Pigeon, such as wing disease, bad 

 eyes, &c, we have cured, but we disbelieve in any cure of what is inside the 

 bird. A medical friend of ours once experimented with calomel and pur- 

 gatives on a pugnacious cock Pigeon, and do what he would the bird was as 

 full of fight and strength as ever. After a dose overnight which would have 

 compelled a man to keep his bed, the bird was as lively and pugnacious the 

 nest morning as ever. A warm loft without draught, good food, water daily 

 changed, strict cleanliness, and few birds, with no odd cock, and Pigeons 

 are healthy enough unless hereditarily diseased. Thus we have lost this 

 spring two stranger birds, one of canker, the other of " going light," and we 

 have no doubt they would have propagated diseased birds, hence they are 

 best gone. Be careful as to strains you buy. You speak of " books not giving 

 good information on Pigeon diseases." Their authors are right, for we do 

 not think there are any cures. Perhaps the homoeopaths will take up the 

 Pigeon and try their skill. Mr. Fulton's new book has a chapter on the 

 diseases of Pigeons, and his experience has been very great, but his remedies 

 we have as yet had no opportunity of testing, so of them we cannot speak. 



Food fob Bullfinches — Mutilation of Feathers (A. B. Q.). — Those 

 who keep Bullfinches in London have not the facility of obtaining berries 

 and buds of various kinds as food equal to those in rural districts, and as 

 your request is for the " best green food for Bullfinches in London," we 

 advise you to give your birds occasionally watercress, grass seeds, small salad, 

 and a bit of apple, in addition to the steeped rape seed and hemp. Furnish 

 the latter sparingly, as it is so heating, and affects Bullfinches more than 

 other kinds of cage birds. Many instances are known of blindness or change 

 in colour of plumage and a general wasting away occurring through a free 

 use of hemp. Exceptions still may be found to the contrary, and much 

 depends upon the birds' constitutions and varied and confined temperature. 

 We certainly think birds must possess extraordinary appetites when, as yoa 

 SBk the question, " they begin to eat each other's feathers." Apparently they 

 may appear to be so doing. If a new quill feather Bhould be ruthlessly 

 drawn from a wing or tail, Bullfinches and other small cage hirds will extract 

 from the stump a moisture which one might imagine was a savoury treat to 

 them, to judge from the pains they bestow to " cbavel " up the quill end. It 

 is a very common occurrence for birds to pluck and destroy each other's 

 feathers in confinement, and the habit once acquired can only be effectually 

 prevented by separating the birds. Many old birds (Canaries for instance) 

 will begin to mutilate their young as soon almost as they leave their nests, 

 when the budding tail quills are fully charged with moisture. Birds also 

 acquire this destructive habit to each other when the plumage is out of order 

 or any of the feathers are disarranged, especially during the moulting sick- 

 ness. We have ourselves had an instance of feather-mutilation within the 

 past few days, that of a Mule (a pied one not to be despised either) having 

 its flight feathers curled (with the constant pulling at them with the beak of 

 another Mule) as effectually as though done with a hair Iresser's curling iron. 

 Our remedy to straighten Buch feathers is to dip them in hot water for half 

 a minute and draw them betwixt the thumb and finger, afterwards to let the 

 birds have the benefit of a "fly" cage where they can freely bathe. Birds 

 when limited to space are more apt to disfigure each other's feathers. 



Uniting Swarms (T. Watts). — It is not necessary to catch the old queen 

 when uniting swarms unless for some reason you should wish to preserve her 

 life. We presume that in the contest for sovereignty, wh'ch must take place 

 sooner or later when the queens come across each other after recovery from 

 the panic consequent on their violent expulsion from their chosen homes, 

 that "the weakest goes to the wall," If so, as is reasonably probable, you 

 would gain nothing by hunting for and destroying the old queen, and old 

 queens are not always less vigorous than young ones. In your case, doubtless, 

 the rule has held good, and the strongest of the five queens remains mistress 

 of your hive. We do not anticipate any Iosb in the further scheme you have 

 in view. 



Marriott's Hive [Triceps). — Your Bwarm of June 1st in this hive seems 

 to be doing well. No doubt they had killed off their drones before the late 

 splendid weather set in. Their being busy and noisy at night indicates pro- 



sperity. You may give them the wooden hive you speak of, but they will 

 hardly make ubo of. We should prefer eking the super. 



Moving Hives to the Moors {F. D.). — The nearer bees are placed to 

 their pasture the more honey will they gather; but at half a mile distant 

 from a good field of heather they will collect large stores of it, weather per- 

 mitting. Bjes find and work on good pasture a mile distant from their 

 homes. 



Combs Melted (Smaltwood). — The fact that the combs of your hive have 

 fallen down with honey running out and the bees clustering outside of your 

 hive is proof that ib has not been sufficiently protected from the rays of the- 

 sun during the late very hot weather. We are sorry you have not had con- 

 fidence and courage enough to put the bees into a fresh hive and take the 

 honey at the time. In doing it now you will probably find an unsightly mesB 

 of smothered bees and broken combs inside. First get a bit of old fustian 

 cloth or old cotton rags, rolled together like a candle, and fire it at one end 

 to smoke as much as possible but not to blaze, and blow the smokn on the 

 clusters outside and brush them all into an empty hive ; then blow the smoke 

 into the hive and turn it up. If all the combs are on the board lift the 

 combs singly and brush the bees into the hive beside thoBe that were outside. 

 Of course you will remove the super before you turn up the hive. With 

 plenty of smoke and a little courage any novice could do this. There will be 

 found much loss in this breakdown, even if the honey has not been taken by 

 other bees in your neighbourhood. The sooner you take what honey you can 

 get, and set your bees to work in another hive, the better it will be both for 

 you and them. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude, 111 feet. 



Date. 



9 AM. 



In the Day. 







-•.*,.. 



Hygrome- 



a . 



°aS 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



q 



1876. 



Barorm 



ter at 3 



and Se 



Level. 



ter. 



30 





perature. 



Temperature. 



« 



Aug. 



Dry. [ Wet. 



Max. 



Min. 



In 



sun. 



On 



grass 







Inches. 



deg. deg. 





deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



We. 9 



31.100 



68.0 ' 65.1 



N. 





88.0 



56.8 



131.2 



52.6 



— 



Th. 10 



SO 279 



66 9 59. 



N. 





78.3 



67.1 



122.6 



63.1 



— 



Fri. 11 



30.336 



616 5S.0 



N E. 





78.8 



60.3 



126.3 



45.S 



— 



Sat. 12 



30-200 



70.8 1 62.2 



N. 



66.1 



84.3 



52.4 



126 7 



47.3 



— 





30 054 



80 8 ! 68 3 



S. 



68.7 



92.3 



69.2 



130.7 



54 8 



— 



Mo. 11 



29 932 



76.0 68.3 



s.w. 



68.8 



92.1 



59.0 



128.2 



64.7 



— 



Ta. 15 



29.956 



77.4 



68.1 



w. 



70.O 



89.8 



62.7 



127.3 



53.3 



— 



Means. 



33.122 



72.0 



64.2 





67.8 



86.2 



66.3 



127.6 



52 8 



— 



REMARKS. 

 9th.— A brilliant day, bat intensely hot. [day. 



10th. — A very fine and bright day, and very much cooler than the preceding 

 11th. — Fine morning; a most delightful day — bright and Bunny, bat not hot. 

 12th. — Another splendid day, very warm, but a nice breeze ; rather storm-like 



about 7 pm. 

 13th. — Very fine and very hot morning, temperature 81° in shade at 9.20 a.m. j 



intensely hot all -day. 

 14th. — Hazy morning, and fearfully hot all day, no movement in the air till 



the evening, when it looked cloudy and storm-like. 

 15th. — Another hazy and hot morning, but soon very bright and as hot as 



yesterday, cloudy and a breeze between 4 and 5 p.m., with several 



peals of thunder between then and six, and slight sprinkle of rain, but 



not enough to be measured. 

 Mean temperature at 9 a.m. nearly 8° above that of last week, the mean 

 max. 10", mean min. S°, and underground 4°, the temperature at 1 foot below 

 the surface having exceeded 70°. The air remarkably dry, as shown by the 

 great difference between the dry and wet bulb thermometers, now all these 

 excesses have arisen from the intense heat of the last four days. — G. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— August 16. 

 The Boft fruit being all finished the market has settled down into a steady 

 sort of trade, and all classes of goods are fetching fair prices. Good Kent 

 Filberts are now to be had. 



FB.TJIT. 



Apples. 



Apricots dozen 1 6 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants 4 sieve 



Black i do. 



Figs dozen 3 



Filoerts lb. 6 



Gooseberries quart 8 



Grapes, hothouse.... lb. 1 



Lemons ^100 12 



8. d. B. d. 



, i sieve 1 6 to 5 



■ ■ 3 6 



o o 



















1 

 9 

 6 



18 



Melons . 









 "each 2 



s. d. a. d. 



Nectarines dozen 3 rtol2 O 



Oranges **■ 100 24 



Peaches dozen 3 12 



Pears, kitchen dozen 



dessert dozen 16 3 



PineApples lb. 2 6 



PlumB i seive 7 6 10 



Quinces bushel 



Raspberries lb. 6 10 



strawberries lb. 



Walnuts buBhel O 



ditto V 100 



VEGETABLES. 

 8. d. 8. d. 



8. d. 



Artichokes dozen 4 to 6 Leeks bunch n 4to0 



Asparagus V 100 [ Mushrooms^ pottle 10 2 



French bundle 



Beans, Kidney ^lb. 3 



Beet, Ked dozen 1 6 



Broccoli bundle 9 



Brussels Sprouts i sieve 



Cabbage dozen 1 



Carrots bunch 4 



Capsicums *» 100 1 6 



Cauliflower dozen 1 



Celery bundle 1 6 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 2 



Cucumbers each 2 



Endive dozen 1 



Fennel bunch 8 



Garlic lb. 6 



Herbs bunch 3 



Horseradish.... bundle 4 



Lettuce dozen 6 



French Cabbage .... 1 







6 

 8 



1 6 

 



2 

 8 

 2 



4 



9 



2 











o- 







1 

 





 6 



Mustard & CreBS punnet 2 



Onions bushel 2 



pickling quart 



ParBley doz. bunches 2 4 



Parsnips dozen n 



Peas quart 9 16 



Potatoes bushel 2 6 8 



Kidney do. 3 8 



Radishes., doz. bunches 10 16 



Rhubarb bundle 8 9 



SalBafy bundle 9 10 



Scorzonera bundle 10 



Seakalo basket 



Shallots lb. 3 OS 



Spinach buBhel 16 2 6 



Tomatoes ,.. dozen 16 3 



Turnipa bunch 4 6 



Vegetable Marrows 2 a 



