500 



JOUfieTMIj OF HOBTIOarjTUR'E AND COTTAGE GiKDENSR. 



[ December 21, 1871. 



Poultry for Use (Ifinoramus'^. — Keep a Dorking coct, Brahma pullets, 

 and Rouen Ducks. If you enclose seven postage stamps Tvith your 

 address, ordering "The Poulti-y-book for the ilany," you will have it 

 sent post-free from our office. 



Preparing Spanish Fowls for ExHrBtTiNG (Ijiquirer). — There can 

 be no doubt that it is for the advantage of Spanish fowls to be kept some 

 days in the dark before being shown. Soft food and white peas are 

 favourite foods at such a time. 



Indication (A. B. (?.).— No, but it is a sign that if she~does lay the 

 eggs will be fertile. 



Cochin's Hacele Curling (E. H".).— It is a great disadvantage, if not 

 a disqualification. We have seen several cases of it, and know no remedy. 

 We believe all these vagaries, and we know of many of them, arise either 

 from distant crosses, or, in other instances, from in-and-in breeding. 



Cross-breeding {E. R. R.\ — Our opinion is an old one We are not 

 friendly to crosses for useful purposes. To keep good layers, we should 

 keep pullets and dispose of them after the first year. If we wanted a 

 cross for eggs only, we should think that you mention a good one. 



Telling the Age of Poultry (T. (?.).— The scales of the legs are 

 only marks of age when their wearer is very old, but they are no criterion 

 between a young hen and one a year or eighteen months ol*!. A very 

 practised eye can up to seven or eight months detect the difference by 

 looking at the flesh. It is mere assumption for any man to p'-ofe^s un- 

 erring judement as to age of hens. No one can tell the difference be- 

 tween birds of fourteen or twenty months. The difference between a 

 pullet and a hen ceases as soon as the former has sat and reared her 

 chickens, and those who buy and kill young poultry for a livelihood are 

 frequently deceived by buying fattened hens for chickens, the daily 

 experience of thirty or forty years notwithstanding. 



Ga3IE Fowls (Far West). — It is impossible you can show your birds as 

 Black Reds. They are very strict in colour, and no deviation can be 

 allowed, but there is some latitude in Brown Reds. As a rule, a prize 

 list is thus worded, " Black-breasted and other Reds ;" that would suit 

 your case. Your chickens would have died on the flagstones. Fire is 

 not good for poultry. Warmth must be conveyed through food. The 

 boarded floor is bad for the chickens, unless it is covered some inches 

 thick with dust, sand, or road grit. There is nothing unusual in chickens 

 at this time of year. They will soon want fresh air, and when theybesrin 

 to droop, try to find an outhouse or shed with an earthen floor, where the 

 hen can be put, and where they will be sheltered from wind, rain, and 

 draught, while they can run out if they Uke. 



Fowls DYjbiG (J. Eailton). — Tour fowls are dying from cold, and from 

 cayenne. We advise you to discontinue the stove and the pepper. N-ither 

 are necessary. Assimilate your food as much as possible to that of. birds 

 in a state of nature, and provide them with things they do not come in 

 contact with. Feed in the morning on slaked oatmeal mixed with cold 

 water ; midday with the scraps and some whole corn ; evening with slaked 

 oatmeal, or ground oats still better. The spots and pimples would sug- 

 gest poison, were it not for the fact you have been giving cayenne. In 

 the inflamed state of the oesophagus that you have described, a grain of 

 cayenne if lodged would form an irritant that would account for pimples 

 or irritation. Feed on ground oats mixed with water, allow only a little 

 water three times per day (none by them), and give two pills of camphor, 

 each the size of a pea, night and morning. 



Ducks' Eggs (,St. Edmunds). — If from young Ducks, probably within- a 

 month; if from older, double that time or longer. Weather will have 

 some influence ; the colder it is the longer you will have to wait, 



DrcKWXNGED Banta:iis (A. M.).—We have Duckwinged Bantams now 

 in confinement that have been in the same place at least eighteen months. 

 Eight birds in perfect health in a space 5 yards by 2. with a roomy sentry- 

 box to roost in. All our Game cocks are dubbed. The dark leaden ap- 

 pearance of the comb is from cold or indigestion. A dose of castor oil 

 will probably remove both. 



Weight of Light Erahmas (A. A.).—Coc^, 8 lbs., pullets, 6 to 7 lbs. 

 Some are larger, but the foregoing is a good average at seven months. 



Fowls in a House {Houdan). — Tour arrangements are bad, the flue 

 is an evil. Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse know no disease, make no 

 smell, yet they roost in the open air, but they are wise in th^ir 

 generation, they do not choose a brick to squat upon for the night. The 

 brick floor is very bad, the interstices absorb all that is liquid, and, 

 as a rule, that which is liquid is the most offensive, in a space as small 

 as that you mention, the most scrupulous cleanliness is necessary to 

 prevent foul smells. If you cannot take np the run of bricks, cover 

 them with 3 or 4 inches of sand, gravel, or grit. Green food is good ; let 

 none be thrown in the house, but all in the front. The ground should 

 be scraped, or raked, or swept hard with a birch-broom every morning. 

 Discontinue wheat. Feed on ground oats or oatmeal every morning, 

 Indian corn midday, and ground oats in the evening. Nothing must be 

 given in the house. All should be given ontside, and the surface swept 

 so hard and clean every morning that there shall be no apnear.ince of 

 its being used. Disinfect the house and run with one of the many dis- 

 infectants now in use. 



Purchasing Poultry PENS__fX. Y.Z.). — Your Committee will find on 

 application that those who lend pens on hire are the makers also, and 

 will readily sell them. 



Colchester Show [J. G. Dwnn).— Turbits, G. South. 



Dublin Poultry Show.— In the class for Any variety of Bantam 

 except Gnme, the first prize was awarded to Mr. G. A. Stephens, and the 

 second to Mr. W. M. A. Wright. 



Tredegar Show,— In White Bantams at the Tredegar Show the first 

 prize was awarded to the Rev. F. Tearle'a birds, and the second to those 

 of Messrs. S. & R. Ashton ; and in Blacks both Messrs. Mayo and Dray- 

 cott were highly commended. 



Preserving* Birds' Nests (Ru^h). — Soak them in a tanner's tanpit for 

 a few hours. 



Sea Lavender foe Bees (E. H. R.). — We have no acquaintance with 

 sea lavender as a pasturage for bees. Can any of our readers give their 

 experience of it ? 



Bees Weak {A Subscriber). — We fear your bees by this time are dead. 

 A great mortality has already set in amongst our own bees, even where 

 they had plenty of food, especially among those which were weak in 

 jmmbers. It is, moreover, a bad time to feed, and great harm may be 



done in this way by inducing them to bestir themselves, except on the 

 warmest of sunny days If you do feed, use a syrnp of loaf sugar, and 

 put a tea-spoonful of gin or brandy to every 2 lbs. of food. Watch 

 your opportunities and give a little at a time. Beware, especially, of 

 flooding the hive with bee-food ; nothing is more conducive to dysentery 

 than this, and owing to the long-continued bouts of cold weather which 

 seem normal this winter, dysentery is likely to be very prevalent. In 

 fact, we have lost several hives owing to it already. If your bees are 

 still in the greenhouse they ought to be warm enough, "but you might 

 cover them over with some woollen material during intense frost. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



CAiiDEN Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0^ 3' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



DiTE. 







9 A.]U 









In the Day. 





1871. 





Hygrome- 

 ter. 



Direc- 

 tion of 

 Wind. 



Temp, 

 of Soil 



Shade Tetn- 

 peratnre . 



Radiation 

 Tempera- 

 ture. 



H 



Dee. 



Dry. 



Wet. 



at 1 ft. 



Max. 



Min. 



In 1 On 

 Bun. grass 



M 



We. 13 

 Ti. 14 

 Fri. 15 

 Sat. IS 

 Snn.lY 

 Mo. 18 

 Tu. 19 



Inches. 



S0.49S 

 30.369 

 30.415 

 3 I.29S 

 30.349 

 30.1S7 

 29.9-23 



deg. 

 40.6 

 412 

 42.2 

 45.0 

 378 

 46 5 

 43.0 



aeg. 

 40.9 

 40.5 

 41.5 

 44-2 

 37.6 

 44.0 

 47.5 



W. 

 W. 

 S.W. 

 S.W. 

 W. 

 S.E. 

 6W. 



deg. 

 35.8 

 36.1 

 38.2 

 S9.0 

 40.0 

 40.0 

 41.3 



deg. 

 44.3 

 47.2 

 46.2 

 45.2 

 44.5 

 48.0 

 49.0 



deg. 

 34.3 

 38.6 

 39.4 

 S7.0 

 36.5 

 36.3 

 45.6 



des. I deg. 

 48.6 29.7 

 54.0 : 35.0 

 54.0 : 34.0 

 46.0 ! 30.5 

 47.9 ! 52.0 

 51.0 1 31.5 

 54.2 43.8 



In. 

 .020 



.osa 

 Am 



Means 



30.2S4 



43.0 



42.2 





38.6 



48.5 1 38.3 



60.7 j 83.8 



.253 



REMARKS. 

 13th.— Extremely damp and dull all day, though no rain fell. 

 14th. — Beautiful soft air, but rather damp all day, a very slight shower in 



evening, 

 loth.— A fine day but no drying-up of the mud, rather foggy about 6 p.:m. 



clearer afterwards. 

 16th. — A very mild but damp dull day. 

 17th.— Very foggy and damp in morning, clearer at noon ; at 1 p.ii. the 



sun tried to shine through the mist and probably succeeded where 



was less smoke ; rather thick in the afternoon, clear at nigbt. 

 ISth.— Rather windv in the morning, but still damp and dull. The wind 



increased daring the day and was strong at night. 

 19th.— Much wind during the past night, which ceased in the mornins, 



and was followed by a rather dull day. except a short time before 



sunset, when it was bright for a short time, rain at night. 

 A most marked change in temperature from last week, the mean of the 

 morning observat'ons 12"^ higher ; max. in air, 10- ; miu. at 4 feet above 

 grnund, 13.7- ; max. in sun at 4 feet, 12^ ; and the min. on grass, 9.8^. The 

 difl"erence on grass would have been more equal to the others but for this 

 low reading of the first day caused by the cold of the previous day, and 

 the frost still lingering in the ground. — G. J. Syiions. 



COYENT GARDEN MARKET.— Dece^iber 20. 

 SusiNESs transactions are limited, and there is very little improvement 

 to be noticed in any department. The wholesale trade is languid, and 

 country orders are confined to immediate wants. Prices have been 

 scarcely maintained in rough goods', which continue abundant. Pears 

 comprise Glou Mori^eau, Winter Nelis, Jean de Witte, and ChaumonteL 

 Apples consist of Newtown Pippin, Eibston Pippin, Blenheim Pippin, 

 Nonpareil, and others. 



FRUIT. 



Apples i sieve 2 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 10 



Currants ^ sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Grapes, Hothonse.... lb. 2 



Gooseberries quart 



Lemons ^100 ■> 



Melons each 2 



Artichotes doz. 



AsparagTis ^100. 



Beans, Kidney per 101 



Eroad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Bmssels Sprouts. .i sieve 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums ¥^100 



Carrotg.. bunch 



Cauhflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bunch 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish btmdlo 



d. 



s. d 1 



0to4 1 











n 







(1 



20 



n 







» 







I) 







6 



1 



6 



1 







6 



(J 







n 



12 







S 



Mulberries lb. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges ^100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 2 



dessert doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. 3 



PInms i sieve 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Quinces doz. 



Walnuts bushel 10 



ditto ^■lOO 1 



s. d. s. 

 OtoO 

 

 4 

 

 2 

 2 

 8 

 

 C 

 















VEGETABLES. 



s 







12 



n 



3 



(1 



4 



II 



n 



(1 



II 







1 







8 







1) 



6 



1 



(1 



2 



(1 



3 



II 



1 







2 



II 



1 



6 



2 



II 



II 



6 











3 







6 



II 



1 



6 



2 



II 



H 



(1 



4 



II 



1 







1 



6 







(1 



II 



II 



« 







II 



(1 







3 











(1 



ti 















3 



II 



II 



3 







4 







Leeks bunch 



Lettuce doz. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress, .punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bj ndie 



Savoys doz- 



Sea-tiale basket 



ShaJluts lb. 



Spmach hushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows.. doz. 



d. 8. 

 3 too 



POULTRY MARKET.— December 23. 

 The market is all confusion preparing for Christmas. Tons of pro- 

 visions are coming in that will not be unpacked. Under the circum- 

 stances quotations would be jumps in the dark, and we must defer our 

 notice till next week. 



