Octsber 19,1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



309 



all, but as there might be a glut of valueless birds sent, the 

 oommittee should have power to admit to, say, their dozen 

 pens, the best dozen birds (cock and hen), that were offered. 

 The prizes should be money, not necessarily large sums, and 

 in addition a framed and glazed card well got up with the exhibi- 

 tor's name on, that of the show, and first, second, or third 

 prize as it might be. I plead for the card framed, because I 

 know such gives a man pleasure to hang up in his cottage, 

 and the money could be put by the husband into the good 

 wife's hand towards something most wanted. Perhaps there 

 is a small doctor's bill, or the landlord frowns about that 10s. 

 left of last quarter's rent. I am sure the thing could soon be 

 done ; let Bristol try, and may I be there to see the result. — 

 Wiltshire Eectoe. 



SILVER-BUFF COCHIN-CHINAS. 

 In one of your replies to correspondents you write, evidently 

 to some person desirous of learning into what varieties the 

 Buff Cochin-China fowl sports, " There is no such thing as 

 Silver-Buff." Now, I readily admit that the language of all 

 fanciers is inaccurate ; that in describing their pets they use 

 phrases and compound words that Dr. Johnson would shudder 

 at; but why "Silver-Buff" should be tabooed and "Silver- 

 Cinnamon " be admitted it is difiiouit to see, and you allow 

 Silver-Cinnamon ! Both epithets, like " Silver-spangled Ham- 

 burgh," " Silver Sebright Bantams," " Silver varieties of 

 Pigeons," are attempts to convey, what no human speech can 

 fully express, an idea of one phase of natural beauty. To de- 

 scribe one shade of colouring, fanciers have borrowed a meta- 

 phor from gold ; to describe another, from silver. In both 

 cases the epithet gives but a shadow of the truth; but the 

 fanciers, simple folk, are content, and intelligible to each other, 

 and I do not see why they should not be. When you have 

 once seen the ground colour termed " gold," you have no difli- 

 oulty in understanding what a Golden variety is like, and so it 

 is with "silver." When the compound "Silver-Cinnamon" 

 has once been heard, and the feathering described by it seen, 

 there is no difficulty in understanding what sub-variety of the 

 Cinnamon-coloured Cochin is intended. Cinnamon-coloured is 

 a metaphor which explains itself. Silver-Cinnamon was a 

 good suggestion by some person, familiar with Gold and Silver 

 Hamburgha or Bantams, who wanted to describe that sub- 

 variety which always makes its appearance among Cinnamon 

 birds — i.e., where the neck, back, and tail are like the Cinna- 

 mon parents ; but the breast, fluff, and legs are French white. 

 Now, precisely the same variation occurs when we try to breed 

 the different shades of Orange or Lemon-Boff. Pullets will 

 appear which have the breast, legs, and fluff French white ; 

 whilst neck, back, and tail are of different shades of yellow. 

 Silver-Cinnamons such pullets cannot be called, for there is 

 not one feather on them which resembles the brown or chestnut- 

 coloured bark of the cinnamon ; why should the birds not be 

 called Silver-Buff? They are entitled to the moiety Buff, 

 because their hackles, saddles, and quills are of different shades 

 of Buff. Why should the other moiety, Silver, be denied to 

 them, when it is granted to their congeners who bear exactly 

 the same relation in colour to their Cinnamon parents which 

 these do to their Buff ancestors ? Surely anyone who has ever 

 seen a Birmingham Show knows that birds with whitish 

 bodies and yellow necks do occur. Why should they not be 

 called Silver-Buff?— SiLVEK-BuFF. 



BANTAMS VERSUS GAKDENS. 



I AM afraid that " H. C, Gahoay," had not an attack of 

 genuine Bantam fever, only what looked like it. Clearly he 

 expected an alteration oit nature, and that he should have a 

 breed of fowls not granivorous chiefly and carnivorous par- 

 tially, but the reverse. Now, I cannot warrant Bantams to 

 devour heaps of slugs, but this I say, that under the limitations 

 I mentioned in my article of June Ist, 1871, they do infinitely 

 more good in a garden than harm ; and add to this the plea- 

 sure of keeping them, and, — the eggs, — such eggs, too, so 

 superexcellent. 



Writing in this Journal as far back as December, 1862, I 

 mentioned that I caught a brood of half-grown Blacks clearing 

 a mignonette bed of caterpillars. I have also been followed all 

 round the garden by a lot of chickens which eagerly devoured 

 the green flies brushed off and shaken from my rose trees. 

 Certainly, too, I know that by constantly having Bantams in 

 a garden, it is kept wonderfully clear of all insect pests. 



" H. C." not only writes from Ireland, but from western 

 Galway ; Ireland is called the Emerald Isle because of its 

 greenness, and its landscapes are so green because of its 

 humidity, and humidity breeds slugs in millions. A dry sum- 

 mer in England thins the slugs, a damp one increases them a 

 thousandfold ; but in Ireland, Galway lying to the Atlantic, 

 no wonder there is an abundant crop of slugs there. St. 

 Patrick charmed "the sarpints" from "ould Ireland," but he 

 really should be woke up again to drive away the slugs from 

 Galway. However, as the saint is not likely to be of any more 

 use in this world, I will tell "H. C." how to clear his garden 

 of slugs. Get a barrowfnl of cabbage leaves, lay them overnight 

 singly near box edgings and wherever slugs delight to dwell. 

 Go in the morning and gather up the leaves, and you will find 

 slugs and snails under each leaf. Repeat this process — the 

 same leaves will do — for a few nights, and " the take " of slugs 

 will be great. Under the limitations I have made in my 

 former article, and not kept in too great numbers, I am quite 

 sure that Baritams do much more good than harm in a 

 garden. 



I have generally found that the people who have tried and 

 then given up Bantams, have in their garden a nagging work- 

 ing man, who is always abusing the little things (the best 

 Sebright I ever bred was killed by such a man), and then for 

 the sake of peace master or mistress gets rid of the birds instead 

 of the man. One such man caused a lady friend of mine to 

 send away some high-class Tumbler Pigeons (s/tort-beak 

 Tumblers, mark you), because they opened and shelled his 

 green peas ; the real culprits were the jays, which he did not 

 get up early enough to kill or drive away. These men have a 

 born hatred to poultry. If " H. C." had a heap of dry earth 

 in a warm corner his Bantams would not have burrowed as he 

 describes. 



" Devon " inquires if Bantams can be kept profitably for 

 laying. I answer. Certainly. Game Bantam pullets are as good 

 as Hamburghs or Black-breasted Red Game pullets, which I 

 have found equal to Hamburghs as winter layers. Game 

 Bantams are certainly not delicate; but, perhaps, "Devon" 

 might prefer Blacks, which do not wander so far as Game. 

 Bantams may be fed as other fowls, only they need much less. 

 For more on feeding vide my article of July 6th. The warmer, 

 in reason, they are kept, the better they lay in cold weather. 

 WiLTsniEE Eectoe. 



P.S. — Since writing the above I chanced to sit next to an 

 Irishman at dinner. I surprised him by asking, " Is Galway 

 famous for slugs ? " After explaining myself, he said that 

 being in the west there was probably an unusual supply of 

 those slimy pests. — W. E. 



FOUL BROOD. 



This disease, of which so much has been written in this 

 Journal, appears to be comparatively little known in England, 

 although common enough in other countries. It seems to have 

 spread largely in the United States of America, and to have 

 found its way into Canada. I must happily profess myself to 

 be totally unacquainted with it, nor do I know a single bee- 

 keeper of my acquaintance out of Exeter who has had practical 

 experience of the fell disease. It would not be uninteresting 

 if we could obtain returns from different parts of England and 

 Scotland, so as to ascertain whether this pest is on the increase. 

 Who can tell how long it has been known in Britain ? Did it 

 come in with the Italian or Ligurian bees ? for it seems to have 

 been long known in Italy. Every reader of Virgil is acquainted 

 with the minute account this poet gives of a disease which 

 seems to have been not uncommon in his time. It has been 

 supposed he was describing the dysentery which has long been 

 known to be fatal to bees, but it may have been foul brood 

 which he had in mind. Among remedies hyposulphite of soda 

 appears to have been successfully used in Canada for the cure 

 of the complaint, but for my own part I should be disposed to 

 break up and burn every hive which I found affected. — B. & W. 



Bee Superstitions in France. — In Brittany, if a person 

 who keeps bees has his hives robbed, he gives them up immedi- 

 ately, because they never can succeed afterwards. This idea 

 arises from an old Breton proverb, -which says, being translated, 

 " No luck after the robber." But why the whole weight of the 

 proverb is made to fall on the bee hives, it might be difficult to 

 determine. In other parts of France they tie a small piece of 

 black stuff to the bee hives, in case of a death in the family ; 



