110 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 10, 1871. 



the extra care. "We are jast as ignorant of the change in habit and con- 

 stitution that takes place in plants. Generally our attention will be re- 

 warded with health and vigoar. but often we are disappointed, aud unable 

 to assign the reason. A very little difference in the treatment of a Vine 

 after planting will make a great dififarence as respects growth. Noi bo 

 long ago we saw y^^uog Vines that seemed rather going backwards than 

 forwards, and all on the surface seemed right enough, but on poking 

 down with a stick for 3 inches or so, the cause was obvious — the water 

 giTen had never reached the bulk of the roots. 



Preventing Red Spider (Idem).— The best preventive against red 

 spider in a house, where Peaches and Grapes are grown, is the free u*s 

 of the syringe with clear water, and then the next best where such water 

 cannot be applied, or even along with it, are the fumes from su'phur, 

 provided the body on which the sulphur is placed, be it pipe or flue, or 

 empty spaces on the wall of a house where the suu strikes, shall not be 

 above 160°, or very little more ; all above that in temperature is versing 

 on the dangerous. The fume^ of sulphur when ignited will kill every 

 living thing. Fumes thrown off at 16 .^ are safe, and with a moist atmo- 

 sphere for a short time the red spider cannot endure them. 



Selaqinella {W. S.) —A Selaginella is not a Fe'n, and consequently 

 cannot be shown in a collection of Ferns ; and Tomatoes, though fruit, 

 a'e not so in the sense of a collection of fruit for exhiliition. You would 

 not expect the fruit of the Egg PUnt to be admissible in such a col- 

 lection, and why should you wish to show the Tomatoes ? 



Orchard House (J. C H ). — The Strawberries fruited in your orchard 

 house this season will do very well in the open ground next year if 

 fflauted out now. Hoya carnosa and Oleander are propagated by cut inge. 



CncuHBER Seeding {W. E C)— There ia no need to allow the fruit to 

 bang after it ia ripe, which you can tell by its becoming yellow. 



Stephanotis ploribunda {E. G.). — We cannot possibly say what the 

 value of the seeds of Stephanotis floribunda is. You should ask a seeds- 

 man. The prices of Grapes in Covent Garden you will find in our 

 market report. 



Apple {Bell t£ Thorpe). — Your seedling Apple is very handsome, and 

 has a powerful fragrance. The flesh is very white, aud the skin coloured 

 with a delicacy of a Peach. The flavour ia brisk, and has not the spicy 

 aromatic character of the Irish Peach and Early Harvest, which are now 

 in season. 



Names of Plants (ff. J.).— We should be most happy to serve you, hut 

 we cannot undertake to name florists' flowera. (TV B N.). — We cannot 

 undertake to name varieties of Achimenea. i^Robert Maitland;. — Cuacuta 

 Spithymum, var. Trifolii. 



POULTRY, BEE, AlfD PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



DE OMNIBUS REBUS. 



Wb are not sure Captain Marryatt's carpenter wag altogether 

 wrong when he said that everything repeated itself once in a 

 given number of years. He recollected somewhere about twelve 

 hnndred years before having been on the same spot, under the 

 same captain, and in the same storm. It is said that Lord 

 Melbourne af&rmed that if letters were locked up in a drawer 

 for a month they answered themselves. [Query? Editors 

 J. OF H.] The lord and carpenter may both have been wrong, 

 but if it be true that " history repeats itself," there was some- 

 thing of truth in their theories; and history does repeat itself, 

 and it will repeat itself so long as seasons come in their due 

 course, and breeding comes on at its natural time, and people 

 eat eggs and poultry. We were led into this train of thought 

 by the presence of many letters and queries, and by applicntion 

 from one we could ill spare for a holiday. We have somewhere 

 read of an old lady, a grandmother, who was sitting in her 

 son's parlour, when a pet grandchild was brought in. He had 

 {alien from an apple tree, and broken his arm. It gave the old 

 lady a turn. "Don't say eo," said she; " bring him to me." 

 Tbey did so, and she administered a sound box on the ear. 

 " Mo'her, mother," said the father of the child, coming in, 

 "what is that for?" "Oh! dear, dear," cried the old lady, 

 " now you are coming to worry me. The child's always break- 

 ing his arm." So we said to our right hand, " Ton are always 

 wanting a holiday." " I don't always get it, then," he said. " I 

 have not missed a day's work since this time twelve months." 

 " Very well ; then take your usual holiday," said we, and fell 

 into the reverie which heads this chapter. It is wonderful how 

 much we may learn from observation. Thus we are convinced, 

 and we know hundreds who agree with us (being on the subject 

 of holidays), that when we are on our trip the days get shorter 

 every day, and when we return they suddenly lengthen. Wa 

 should like to make a bargain with Time. Let us go to the 

 hatter. " If you knew Time as well as I do," said the hatter, 

 "you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It'shim." "Idon'tknow 

 what you mean," said Alice. "Of course you don't!" thehatter 

 said, tossing his head contemptuously. " I dare say you never 

 spoke to Time!" "Perhaps not," Alice cautiously replied; 

 " but I know I have to beat time when I learn music." " Ah ! 

 that accounts for it," said the hatter. " He wo'n't stand heat- 

 ing. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he'd do 

 almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, sup- 



pose it were nine o'clock in the morning, jnst time to begin 

 lessons ; you'd only have to whisper a bint to Time, and round 

 aoes the clock io a twiukliug. H^lf-past one, time for dinner ! " 

 " Tbat would be grand, certainly, " said Alice, thoughtfully; 

 ■' but then I shouldn't be hungry for it, you know." " Not at 

 first, perhaps," said the hatter, " but you could keep it to half- 

 pdst ot e as lung as you liked." 



Uufortuoately this is only a theory ; if it were not we would, 

 ia our present idle mood, keep it at Mondny morning for the 

 next month. We would write nothing. Toe very weather ia 

 like the dormouse in the book we have jatt quoted, sleepy. 

 Heavy and c mtinuoos rain yesterday; blight hot sun to-day, 

 rather pale and watery ; the veriest whisper among the leaves ; 

 atmosphere heavy, and some of the shady plagues jast waking 

 up at times sniEiiiently to sting. 



St-edy and worn out, ou^bt to lie by and moult. Beautiful 

 process. Summer hea's are pats-'d ; days get shorter, nights 

 longer. Tue temrierature loweis; and Nature, good mother, 

 rewHids her followers by providing il ithing meet for them. It 

 is the mommt of their rest. The year's work ia done; the egga 

 are laid, the chickens are hatched, reared, and able to take care 

 of themselves. All the energies of the hen must be devoted to 

 clothing. Bat all our fowls are not kept in a state of nature, 

 and consequently some little care is necessary. The production 

 of I he new plumage is a hard work. Thus, it is seen, everything 

 gives way t > it. The comb perishes for a time, the old feathers 

 become shabbier every day, and the hen apparently is losing 

 health and condition. It is not so. The reproductive process 

 is going on within. F>.r every feather that falls there is a blue 

 aod red pipe, called a " stub," waiting to take the place of the 

 feather, to fill up the hole left by the quill, and by growth to 

 supply a sntistitn'e jielding warmth, protection, and beauty. 

 Tha lower end of this stub is red, being full of blood. The 

 blue upper part is ctimposed of a very fine outer lining, contain- 

 ing the fe»ther folded no ; this will pierce the lining and erow 

 to Its natural length. The feather of the smallest of the West 

 lo'iiin or tropical birds and the 6-feet feather of the tail of the 

 Rtevec'rt Pheasant, or the longest and handsomest feather in 

 the Peacoiik's tail, alike originate in the small stub. 



Wo Bcpmotimes hear thit birds do not moult. Their bodies 

 are not in a &>■ state. A heated condition is fatal to moulting. 

 The body must be cool and well nourished. All these stubs 

 are lik" flowers in a garden ; the body is the earth in which 

 they ar" planted, and from ivhioh they must derive their mois- 

 ture and nourinhmenf. Ground foods, such as ground oats, 

 are best t,,r them. Lettuces, such as are run to seed, are excel- 

 lent. MoHt, hempseed, canary, buckwheat — al! foods should be 

 avoided. Helping through the moult hy medical treatment is 

 like maki' g fowls lay by stimulants. You accomplish a fact in 

 a short time, but it is not done as well as it would have been 

 had Nature been left without assistance. 



It was a very old idea with the early poultry-keepers that 

 hempseed was good during the moulting season. Nothing can 

 be so bad. It is the most heating of all seeds ; it dries up and 

 impoverishes the skin and fevers the body. The stubs are 

 burnt up in their sockets ; the feather ceases to develope ; it 

 dries and perishes, becomes a plague and an itching, and the 

 bird scratches it ofE. This ia most frequently the case with 

 small birds, as Bullfinches, Canaries, larger ones as Parrots of 

 all tribes. An old friend of outs, a physician, always used to 

 ask young ladies brouaht from school to consult him, what they 

 liked to eiit. They always said they did not know. "But I 

 dj," said tbe good old man ; " slate pencil, sealing-was, paper, 

 string, spice, especially ciunamon, sweets of all kinds, lemon 

 sn I orange peel, cocoa-nut. That is wby you come to see me." 

 Ju 't so. When we see the Parrot, or BullfiDCh, or Canary with 

 naked neck and poll, wings with only quill feathers, and tbe 

 apology for a tail, we say, "Hempseed, canary, sugar, and 

 biscuits." When we hear of a yard moulting badly and find 

 the birds out of condition, when we see the new clothing cer- 

 tainly worse than the old, we think of hempseo'l, canary, meat, 

 beer, carefully cooked food, and everything done to tempt them 

 to eat : hence their nakedness. Poor Pheasants and Partridges 1 

 The first gorgeous in hie resplendent plumage, the latter with 

 his bold eye and bright horseshoe, and nobody to look after 

 them 1 



Hempseed not only interferes with moulting, but where it is 

 giveij the plumage becomes much darker. We have seen a 

 light brown bird turn nearly black in two moultings when fed 

 with it. Cinary seed does not cause heat but immense fat. It 

 takes away all desire for action, causes the feathers to decay, 

 and the bird to pass its time squatting drowsily about. 



