October 12, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



287 



if very dry. If the soil is at all moist we would not water until three 

 week3 or so before we wished to force them, and then we would use 

 water at about 70°, and if moderately rich all the better. In fine, without 

 any alterations you may do all you wish, only for two or three months in 

 winter it will be best that the fire heat should not much exceed 45^. You 

 may have 10^ or more rise from sun heat. 



Ground Vinert (E. H.). — If your ground vinery is a lean-to, let the 

 glass face the soutlj ; if span-roofed, let the two sides face east and west, 

 30 as to get the morning and the afternoon sun. In the first place we 

 would rather prefer the west end for planting, unless it were convenient 

 'to plant on the south side. On the second supposition we would plant in 

 fhe south end. 



Glazing a Vinery (F. Duke).—ks you must have you glass only 

 € inches wide, we would advise you to have each square of that width 

 from 15 to 18 inches in length, aeccording to the number of squares 

 necessary to go from top to bottom without cutting. We would advise 

 good thirds of 21-oz. glass, though fourths turn out well generally, if free 

 ^rom spots. At that length of squares we would give a lap of three- 

 sixteenths of an inch — that is, between one-eighth and one-quarter of an 

 inch, but all alike, and that yon must allow for in ordering your glass. If 

 the roof is steep one-eighth of an inch will he ample; if flat a little more 

 will be desirable. Any of those firms that advertise in our pages would 

 -supply the glass cut to order, and when the glass is all to be of the same 

 width and length, that is by far the most profitable and economical way 

 -of getting the glass of the right size. We are answering on the sup- 

 ■poBition that you are going to glaze with putty in the old-fashioned way, 

 and if so, you cannot do the work too soon. 



Hot Water not Circulating {Chesham). — If the water will not cir" 

 •culate in the apparatus heated by gas it is not, as you think, because th® 

 supply cistern goes at once into the flow-pipe. We have worked many 

 kinds of apparatus where that was the arrangement. On the whole, i^ 

 the cistern is higher than the highest pipe to be heated, we prefer the 

 supply to enter the return-pipe, or to go into the bottom of the boiler at 

 once ; but still the other mode will not stop the circulation. There must 

 be something else the matter. If the pipes are all right, yon may have 

 missed some air-vent, and accumulated air between two bodies of water 

 will render circulation as impossible as if you had tight-fitting blocks of 

 wood. 



Butterflies and Moths (A Young Entoviologist).~Ot very popular 

 books on these insects, the shilling volumes by Rev. J. G. Wood on " Com- 

 mon Moths," and Mr. Colmau on "British Butterflies," serve as slight 

 introductions in their study. These are published by Routledge. Of 

 comprehensive works the three best are Stainton's " Manual of British 

 Butterflies and Moths," Van Voi^rst, and Newman's " British Butterflies 

 and British Moths " (Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate). Mr. Newman does 

 •not take the Micro-Lepidoptera. 



Insects [G. P. B.).— Your Scotch Firs are infested by the common 

 "beetle, Hylurgus piniperda. All the infested shoots should be picked off 

 and burnt as soon as ever their drooping condition indicates the presence 

 -of the insect in the centre of -the shoot. — 1. O. W. 



Names of Fruits (H. S.).~\, St. Hurbain d'Hiver ; 2, Kousaelet de la 

 ■Cour ; 3, Tardif de Mens ; 4, Forelle ; 5, Fondante d'Automne ; 6, Enfant 

 Prodigue ; 7, Beurre Bosc; 9, Benrr^ Luizet. (R. B. L.). — 1, London 

 Pippin ; 2, Morris's Russet Nonpareil; 3, Ord's Apple ; 4, Boston Russet. 



Names of Plants (Seybor). — The berries and spray you enclosed are 

 tthose of the Crateegus punctata, Dotted-fruited Thorn. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



LEGS. 



Heads, tails, now legs. Yes, fowls have legs. Any leg will 

 <do to walk with, and, barring accidents, it will satisfy its owner ; 

 but something more is required by those who look for perfection. 

 Even human beings are careful about their legs. The high 

 and mighty among ns, the arbiters of fashion, have caused 

 modes to vary, to hide either the want of a charm or the 

 esistenee of a defect. Knee breeches and silk stockings were 

 sad trials to a man whose leg resembled a mop-handle, or 

 who was bow-legged, or who was more or less knock-kneed : 

 hence trousers. 



No such arrangement is, however, possible for fowls ; and 

 «ven as we said about heads, so we say of legs, that the varieties 

 are as numerous and as remarkable among birds as among 

 human beings, and that they are not wanting in affinity to 

 them. As we sit and write we can see an overgrown Cochin 

 cockerel, who seems endeavouring to emulate the ostrich and 

 birds of that tribe in the length of his legs. They are long, 

 ungainly, and so weak as to be alrpost useless, yet they were 

 made to walk with, and he cannot walk without them. We 

 have made him walk, and will attempt to describe it. His 

 body is large and tolerably heavy, so much so that he is con- 

 strained from very weakness to pass most of his time on his 

 knees, and to rest in that position. If food and water were 

 brought to him we believe he would adopt it, that his legs 

 would become stiS in that position, and that his motion would 

 hereafter be partly a flapping like a wild Duck, with body in- 

 jured, and both legs broken, and partly a jump like the kangaroo. 

 (Query, Would it inaugurate a new breed ?) We will, however, 

 describe the walk such as it was. Compelled to rise it would 

 have sighed if it had been possible for fowls to do so. It 

 seemed impossible to lift np one leg while the weight was 



equally distributed on both ; it therefore contrived by a sort of 

 jerk to cast the weight on one, and taking advantage of its 

 momentary freedom, the other was thrown forward, and the 

 foot came with a pat on the ground. This continued with 

 both feet alternately, made up its walking. It lasted as long as 

 it was driven, but relieved from the force majeure it returned 

 to its kneeling posture. 



The same weakness may sometimes be seen in Dorkings. 

 As in the other we have described, it is the result of overgrowth. 

 The Dorking, however, being intended for the table at an early 

 age, it is not so important. The only result will probably be, 

 that, like the best-tempered and kindliest of the ship's crew 

 wrecked formerly on the coast of New Zealand, he will be eaten 

 first. Bat this is not the only fault in the Dorking's legs. He 

 must have five toes, and these should be accurately developed ; 

 but sometimes the double toe grows into one with two nails ; 

 sometimes it seems to be attached to the bone of the leg, and 

 to grow halfway up the leg before it can detach itself, making an 

 appearance of two legs. Sometimes there are six claws instead 

 of five ; and sometimes the extra claws project so far and get 

 so out of place, that the claw of one leg scratches the other leg 

 each time the bird moves them. But the cocks of this and 

 other breeds must have spurs, and these, again, are recalcitrant. 

 Instead of growing inside the leg, an ornament and defence, 

 they grow outside, and are an eyesore. 



The legs of White Cochins, so beautifully yellow when they 

 are young, become a dingy white as they get older. 



Of the Game we will only remark that they sometimes sin, 

 inasmuch aa they have a duck instead of a flat foot — i.e., the 

 hinder toe, instead of being on the ground, is so high up that 

 it only touches it with the nail. 



The Cochins and Brahmas come cleficient in feathering. 

 Dorkings, Creve-Cceurs, and Houdans have stubs all down the 

 outside of their legs. Hamburgha appear with five claws, 

 Dorkings with four, so that at times the breeder of all these 

 wishes that nether garments, shoes, and stockings were admis- 

 sible at shows. For ordinary purposes none of these things 

 matter ; but where in fowls, as in human beings, perfection is 

 sought for, the search is a difficult one. The legs of Dorkings 

 should be taper for their size, more so in the hen than the 

 cock. The fifth claw should grow upwards ; it should be well 

 developed, but not sufficiently so to be a deformity or to inter- 

 fere with walking. They should be white. 



Hamburghs and Polish should have taper blue legs. Brah- 

 mas, Cochins, Game, and Malay should have stouter legs, 

 giving the assurance of plenty of bone. Spanish have the 

 longest legs, they must be blue. Houdans should have five 

 claws, and short stout legs of mixed black and white colour. 

 Creve-Cffiura should have stout blue legs. 



The only real disease to which legs are subject is the gout. 

 It is said the Duke of Wellington was once asked whether he 

 ever knew a private soldier gouty ; the answer was, " No, but 

 he had known an old fat sergeant suffer from it." So in 

 fowls. The energetic, scratching, hard-living cottager's or small 

 farmer's fowl, that chases the children and jumps at their bread 

 and butter, never has the gout ; but the florid and ofttimes 

 overfed Dorking, that once stood first at Birmingham and has 

 been pampered ever since, is often a sufferer from it. 



FRENCH FOWLS AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE 

 SHOW. 

 I AM sorry to say it, but I cannot help thinking breeders of 

 French fowls are not fairly used by the Committee of the above- 

 named Show. Why should we be asked to pay an entrance- 

 fee of 7s. 6d. for a first prize of £2, with the chance of winning 

 a three-guinea cup ; whilst most of the other breeds are offered 

 a first prize of £3, and in many classes valuable cups ? I would 

 also like to know when the birds will be returned from the 

 Show; as last year, although the Show closed on Saturday, 

 some of my birds did not reach me until the Wednesday fol- 

 lowing. — KoBEKT B. Wood, Woodland Hall, Uttoxeter. 



The Southamptok Poultky Show. — Allow me to state the 

 result of the subscriptions which have been raised to give two 

 silver cups, value five guineas each, to the beat two pens of 

 Light Brahmas at this "Exhibition :— Mrs. T. Turner, £1 Is. ; 

 Mrs. A. Williamson, £1 Is. ; Kev. N. J. Kidley, 10s. ; Mr. J. 

 Pares, 10s. (,d. ; Mr. J. Eodbard, 10s. 6d. ; Mr. H. Dowsett, 

 £1 Is. ; Mr. J. Storer, £1 Is. ; Mr. J. Long, lOs. U. ; Mr. F. 

 Crook, 10s. 6d. ; Mr. H. M. Maynard, £2 2s. ; the Committee, 



