January 6, 1S63. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



19 



YELLOW-LEGGED GA3IE BAXTAITS^ 

 l'or must know that I am a member of the " Yellow-legged 

 Game Bantam fraternity," and ray forefathers have gained many 

 laurels in the days when yellow legs were considered the crack 

 colour; but since the olive or willow understandings have become 

 the rage, I and my brethren have been obliged to succumb, and 

 at best get only a commendation. 



Now although I cannot expect the high honours myself, I 

 should be proud to see my progeny in the lists with some 

 chance of success ; and as I am about to mate with two of the 

 opposite sex who have what are called blue legs, I shall take it 

 a favour if you or any of your kind correspondents will inform 

 me whether I and my blue-lejged spouses are likely to produce 

 the desired Willow.— Ux Coq. 



" Tous etes poursuivi par un songe," no one has objected to 

 your yellow stockinzs. "When you won, they were not the 

 cause ; when you lost they were guiltless. If you will show 

 yourself the worthier, willow legs will not save your antagonist. 

 The alliance you propose will not, we fear, be successful ; and 

 since you are so ashamed of your continuations, that you would 

 not wish them to be hereditary, we advise you to make a match 

 with willow legs, and to centre your affections on those of your 

 olive-branches that take after " mamma."] 



SILYEE-GBEY DORKINGS. 



Some two years ago I had a little friendly controversy with you 

 about the points of Silver-Grey Dorkings, and I am obliged once 

 more to take up the pen on behalf of my favourites, which are 

 threatened expulsion from Bingley Hall by no less a person than 

 yourself, because, forsooth, there were only six entries in the 

 adult class, and only two pens were considered worthy of a prize. 

 Let us look, Mr. Editor, at a few facts. There are five classes 

 for Silver-Greys, and five for Spanish ; the entries for the former 

 are 71, and for the latter 59, giving rather over 14 as the average 

 in the former, and not quite 12 in the latter. Again, there are 

 9-1 classes of poultry, and 136S entries, being an average of about 

 14J- for each class— so that the Silver-Grey Dorkings" the latest, 

 or rather the newest class, already come up to the average 

 entry, and I have little doubt but that they will go on increas- 

 ing, for "the coloured Dorkings " (not Silver-Greys) cannot for a 

 moment be compared to them for beauty, and you acknowledge 

 we are fast coming up to them in size. Let us look at the two 

 classes as we go along — first at the Silver-Greys — all the pens 

 uniform in colour, the cock with black breast and tail and 

 beautiful light hackle; the hens such lovely grey bodies, and 

 black and white hackles. What a contrast to the coloured class! 

 — scarcely two pens alike in colour ; but I will not attempt to 

 describe them, but refer you to the letter of "E. C." in your 

 Number of December 9th, where he dilates upon mottled breasts, 

 white tails, and light and dark highly-commended pullets, &c. 

 Surely, Mr. Editor, I have written enough to prove that the 

 Silver-Greys are worthy of a class in Bingley Hall, and at all 

 first-rate shows. — A Beeedee oe Selyee-Gbexs. 



J_W e are anxious to give you all the adhesion we can, but we 

 still think we are right. It is for the breeders of these beautiful 

 birds to correct us if wrong. That cannot be done on paper. 

 The increase in the entries of old birds next year will be the 

 most convincing argument. We have strong doubts as to the 

 possibility of breeding th?m with certainty of producing colour. 

 We bred last year from a cock in which we could detect no 

 fault ; the hen this year moulted with a white breast halfway 

 down. If in the adult state, the points of perfect beauty 

 disappear, they become that from which they sprung, and which 

 are despised by the "Silvers." They are" "Greys." If our 

 correspondent can prove they are a breed, we will at once con- 

 cede they are far more beautiful than the Greys or coloured.] 



DZIEEZON'S BEE-HIYE I.MPEOYED. 

 Ik your Number for November 25th, 1SR2, you give a draw- 

 ing and partial description of Dzierzon's bee-hive. Will you 

 kindly give one of your readers, who had not the opportunity 

 of seeing it at the International Exhibition, such a description 

 of it as may enable an ordinary mechanic to make one ? It is 

 especially desirable to have very clear directions as to the making 

 and fixing the frames. Not understanding German, I shall be 



thankful to be told the meaning of the word "lager." — A Bee- 

 keepeb. 



[The German word "lager" has almost as many different 

 significations a9 the English word " box." When applied to a 

 bee-hive, it means "lying down." Eor instance: the "lager- 

 stock " is a long hive only one storey high, something like our 

 English collateral-hives, but having the entrance at one end, 

 and consisting of only one compartment ; whilst it differs 

 entirely from the "Standerstoek," which stands upright, and 

 accommodates two, or sometimes three tiers of combs. 



The accompanying sketch represents one of the frames of the 

 Danish liive described in page 

 6SS of our last volume. The 

 projection at A rests on a ledge 

 in the central partition, whilst 

 the other end is sustained by 

 the small eye B, which slips on 

 a little wire hook driven into 

 the top of the hive. The frame 

 is kept from vibrating to and 

 fro, by the lower part dropping 

 into one of the notches in a 

 strip of wood running from 

 front to back, as shown in the 

 original engraving. If yon bear 

 iu mind that the frames are 

 all 9 inches wide, by 10 inches 

 deep inside, and that half an inch clear space should be left at 

 their top, bottom, and sides, whilst they are so arranged as to 

 be exactly li inch from centre to centre, there will be little 

 difficulty in determining the exact size of each compartment. 

 The strips of wood of which the frames are made, are 1 inch 

 broad and a quarter of an inch thick. We should commence 

 by making a dovetailed "carcase," as it is technically called, of 

 inch wood with partitions half an inch thick. The roof and 

 pedestal should be separate and moveable. 



The annexed sketch shows the mode of communication be- 

 tween the brood-room and the honey- 

 room of each compartment. It will be 

 perceived that a piece about 6 inches long 

 by three-quarters of an inch deep is cut 

 diagonally out of the edge of the partition 

 next to the glass, and is kept in its place by 

 means of a central screw. When in its 

 original position the communication is of 

 course closed, but is readily opened by 

 turning it as indicated by the dotted outline. 

 In the Exhibition-hive the side of each 

 compartment was closed by two panes of 

 glass in frames of equal size, and meeting 

 in the centre as showu in the engraving. If 

 we were making a hive of this description 

 we should prefer to have the two panes 

 and their frames of unequal size, but corresponding to the dimen- 

 sions of the brood-room and honey-room in each ease.] 



BEE-FEEDEES. 



Me. Geoege Eldeidge, brazier, Woodstock, makes my zinc 

 bee-fieders, and would be most happy to do so for "H. A. H.," 

 and they would cost Is. each, witli package. But as carriage 

 also would ultimately have to be considered, would it not be 

 better if " H. A. H." were to order them of the nearest tin-plate- 

 worker? I advise a distinction and a difference to be made in 

 feeding bees ; the contrivance for early spring use which I 

 adopt is made of zinc. It is 10 inches long in the trough, 

 1J inch broad, two-eighths of an inch deep, having a rounded 

 handle attached to it 1 foot long and about three-eighths of an 

 inch in diameter. It is so simple that a child can apply it 

 without danger to itself or the bees either ; it has merely to be 

 inserted at the entrance of the hive in the dusk of the evening, 

 when the weather is not frosty, and drawn away again the first 

 thing next morning. It holds between two and three table- 

 spoonfuls of honey, and less than that will be quite sufficient at 

 a time during this season of the year. 



" H. A. H." wishes also to be informed how to make the 

 autumn bee-feeder out of a fig-drum. 



Procure an empty fig-dvum — and I trust to be forgiven as I 



