February 24, 1863. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



1S9 



also, were the East Indian Ducks, the entries of which wera 

 greater, if I mistake not, than any others ! 



The sweepstakes for single cocks brought some good birds, 

 but is to my fancy a great mistake, and gives birds a value they 

 have not really earned. Three classes contained only two birds 

 each, whilst one, the Polish, had only a single representative. 

 It appears to me a far better plan to let the cocks entered in the 

 other classes be entered in a sweepstakes or not, according to the 

 fancy of the owners. This would save expense to the owners 

 in carriage, and I feel certain would add to the income of the 

 Show, by bringing a greater number of birds into competition. 

 Whilst at the single cocks, I may mention that some of the 

 pens in which they were shown were much, too small. I allude 

 especially to the Brahmas and Malays, which could barely turn 

 round. This not only injures the bird in constitution, but 

 often so damages the plumage as to prevent any further prize- 

 taking till the moult is over. The Committee would do well to 

 alter this ; and if they could make some of the pens for the 

 larger- framed birds more commodious, it would be a move in 

 the right direction. 



Constant attention was paid to the wants of the occupants of 

 pens. It struck me that the food was almost too plentiful ; 

 there certainly was no lack of it. The prizes were paid to any 

 winners on their visiting the Show, or directly after by post. 

 Here Devizes sets a very good example, which more experienced 

 shows might imitate. — Y. B. A. Z. 



DO ACOENS DISCOLOUE EGGS? 



I HATE a Silver-spangled Hamburgh pullet which laid in De- 

 cember last. The yolk of her eggs was blaok. I have two other 

 Silver-spangled Hamburgh pullets and a half-bred pullet, a 

 cross between Spanish and Dorking, which began to lay last 

 month. The two Hamburghs also lay black eggs. The half- 

 bred lays eggs of their natural colour. 



I have other half-bred hens which laid eggs last summer and 

 this winter of their natural colour. I am perplexed to find that 

 now the half-bred pullet (Spanish and Dorking) is laying black- 

 yolked eggs ; and I am afraid that when the other half-bred hens 

 lay again, their eggs will also be black-yolked. 



The eggs are unsaleable, and we do not relish them ourselves. 

 If you can give me any information as to cause, or if it is 

 common for fowls to lay blaek-yolked eggs, I shall be very 

 thnnkful. 



I began to keep fowls last summer. They all run together 

 with a half-bred young cock ; they have a large park and wood 

 to run over, where they have found, and do now, plenty of 

 acorns. They have eaten a few holly berries, and are very fond 

 of the asli-lieap, and raw potato parings. Besides oaks and 

 hollies there are a great many Scotch fir trees. The soil is sandy 

 peat, sandy loam, sand rock, and gravel walks. I feed the fowls 

 once a- day with whole barley, and occasionally with boiled 

 potatoes. They are in good condition, and have what clear water 

 they choose, Bleeping in a hen-house at night. — H. H. D., 

 Kent. 



[We cannot answer your question. We have fowls that run 

 ■where there are plenty of acorns, but we never see them pick 

 one up. There is strong colouring matter in an acorn, and it is 

 not unlikely they may have to do with it. Many birds lay eggs 

 that have a dark shade on the surface of the yolk.] 



and " White," but that the eggs of the Blacks can be " warranted 

 from pure black-legged birds only if required ! " It is more than 

 rumoured that he has a cross-breed, and it would be very ex- 

 traordinary if he had not. — Obsebveb. 



INSECT-FED HENS. 



There is a person near Preston who keeps a great number of 

 hens, and every day feeds them on some kind of insect that 

 makes them lay — besides meal. I believe he breedB them from 

 some old cheese, &e. All I know is that his hens lay regularly 

 in the winter. Can you give me any information what these 

 insects are, and how they are to be obtained ? — W. 



[We fancy the insect on which the fowls are fed is the gentle, 

 or flesh-maggot. They are bred in immense quantities in Ger- 

 many for this purpose ; they are bred in pitB, under glass, and 

 are regularly fed and attended to. They will make your fowls 

 lay ; but coupling the objectionable nature of the food with the 

 fact that forced laying spoils hens, and induceB premature 

 decrepitude, we think you will agree with us that " Le jeu lie 

 vaut pas la cliandelle"^\ 



YOUNG PIGEONS WITH OVEEGEOWN 

 MANDIBLE. 



I HAVE had lately a number of my young Pigeons with their 

 upper mandible overgrown and hooked at the point. I cut one, 

 but whether too much or too little I cannot say, it seemed Tather 

 to encourage its growth. — J. M. C. 



[If you are breeding many birds with this deformity the fault 

 lies with your breeding-stock ; you had better introduce some 

 fresh blood, mating your old Pigeons to the new comers. If the 

 deformity is slight, a lump of old mortar made salt by soaking 

 in salt and water will keep the beaks worn down at the points, 

 as they will constantly be used in pecking it.] 



BLACK BANTAMS AT DAELINGTON. 



Hating been a Bantam-breeder in my time, I have observed 

 with some interest the controversy in your paper relative to the 

 pen shown at Darlington, which I observed had the cock's legs 

 washed, and, I was informed, on the spot "by order of the Judge, 

 Mr. Hewitt." 



Pure black legs are, amongst other things, characteristic 

 points in Black Bantams — at least, so I have always under- 

 stood ; but so far as the controversy goes (upon which I do 

 not say a word, but have my opinion), nothing to my mind 

 elucidates Mr. Enoch Hutton's Bhare in the blame, so much 

 as his advertisement in your Journal of February 3rd, taken 

 in conjunction with his famous letter of the 30th December 

 last, in which he says the legs "-were naturally a good dark 

 colour." The awful mystery seems explained. The advertise- 1 

 mentof the 3rd inst, says, not alone that hehas"BlackBantams" ,) 



PHEASANT AND SLLVEE PHEASANT HYBEID. 



One of your correspondents doubts my assertion respecting 

 the cross between the common Pheasant and the Silver Pheasant. 

 Let the following be a reply to his doubt. 



A gentleman having more Silver Pheasants than be could keep 

 in confinement, turned a few out into his game-preserves. In 

 the course of a year or two, several pied or mottled birds were 

 seen in the woods. The next year the gamekeepers often met 

 with more than a dozen of such birds at a time. I saw some 

 of them, and they had a strange appearance compared with the 

 old birds. 



Nine years sinoe at Bretton Poultry Show, there was exhibited, 

 in a pen of Guinea Fowls, a hybrid between a Black Red Game 

 cock and a Guinea hen. The head and shoulders and hackle 

 were those of a Game pullet, the remainder of the bird was like a 

 common Guinea hen. I had intended making some further 

 inquiries after the fowl, but a death took place in our family the 

 day after the Show. The bird was forgotten, and what became 

 of it afterwards I do not know. About the same time at another 

 of our local poultry shows, there was exhibited a pen of chickens 

 the produce of a Bantam hen and Red Grouse, these I did not 

 see. — S. 



INTERNAL MOISTTTEE IN WOODEN HIVES. 



I SHOTTI.D be glad to know of some plan for keeping wooden 

 hives dry from internal condensation, as in cold weather I find 

 the moisture runs from their mouths. — B. W. 



[The following communication from "A Devonshire Bee- 

 keeme" describes a new mode of combating tliis difficulty. 

 As, however, his plan appears to be applicable only to bar-hives 

 and frame-hives, we would Buggest, that in ordinary wooden 

 boxes with fixed crown-boards nearly the same result might be 

 obtained by boring a row of holes in the top, with, say, a three- 

 quarter-inch bit, as near the back of the hive as possible, and 

 covering them with a strip of perforated zinc. 



" Having been greatly annoyed in former years by the injurious 

 effects of internal moisture in wooden hives, and objecting to the 

 usual plan of ventilating through a central aperture as likely to 



