March 16, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOSTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



207 



tans, Damascenes, African Tnrbits, and a niimher of others, wliich as 

 yet are nnnamed in this country. All are of the Owl and Turhit 

 iypps, mth "plain," "peahed," and ronnd heads, " Shell Caps " and 

 "Hoods " — in all four and twenty pairs. 



In commenting npon the attractive properties and novel appearance 

 of their predecessors we ventured to predict that the highest honours 

 would be awarded to them at our public exhibitions, and such has 

 proved to be the case. Many of the birds were purchased by the mem- 

 bers of the Birmingham Columbarian Society, and have competed most 

 successfully, as numerous prize-lists testify. They seem, in short, to 

 'iiave given a fresh impetus to the fancy, by encouraging the uninitiated 

 to 'study and tahe an interest in these feathered races, as well as by 

 Tsviving the latent zeal of veterans in the pursuit, ^hose enthusiasm 

 ■must occasionally suifer a checli: by the wearying sameness which per- 

 vades most exhibitions. Their introduction also affords another in- 

 stance of the useful work which the Birmingham Columbarian Society 

 is doing. We congratulate them upon it, and upon the well-deserved 

 SRCcess which is attending their exertions, and growing influence evinced 

 by the rapid acquisition of new members from all parts of the connti-y. 

 — {Midland Counties Herald.) 



UNITED KINGDOM RABBIT CLUB. 



A ^^J5IEE0^SLY attended Meeting of the Eabbit fanciers of York 

 was held in the saloon of the Lecture Hall, on March 7th, 1S71 ; Mr. 

 Hirst, Superintendent of the Industrial Schools, being in the chair. 



Mr. M. Millington showed the desirability of forming an Association 

 that would unite the whole of the Rabbit fanciers (without regarding 

 the differences as to the various breeds of Rabbits), with the view of 

 ■elevating the fancy, so that it may take a more respectable position in 

 the community, and especially as regards poultry and other kindred 

 exhibitions. Mr. Millington read many letters which he had received 

 from the most respectable and influential men in the fancy, suggesting 

 various modes in which the Club might be worked. Mr. Millington 

 thought they had better not attempt too much at first, but feel their 

 way, as they grew in experience, to greater and more attractive objects. 

 !For the present, it would be better to aim at bringing their influence 

 to bear upon committees of poultry shows, so that the Eabbit classes 

 should be placed upon the same level as poultry and Pigeons ; to re- 

 commend to societies Eabbit classes where none had been issued 

 before ; to induce committees to have efficient gentlemen appointed 

 as judges ; to keep a register of all the Rabbit fanciers in the United 

 Kingdom ; and to cause an interest to be thrown into the fancy which 

 it does not at present possess. 



The following resolutions were then unanimously adopted : — 



" 1. That a Society be formed, to be called ' The United Kingdom 

 Eabbit Club.' 



" 2. That the annual subscription be 2s. dd. or upwards, payable in 

 advance. 



" 3. That the head office be at York for the present year. 



" 4. That the following gentlemen be invited to undertake the under- 

 mentioned offices : — President, E. E. M.'Eoyds, Rochdale ; Vice-Presi- 

 dents, C. Eayson, Didsbui-y ; T. I. Inman, Hackney; J. Irving, Black- 

 burn ; J. Newman, London ; S. G. Hudson, Hull; C. King, London ; 

 O. H. Hirst, York; Eobert Dobson, York; Treasurer, J. Hume, York. 



"5. That Mr. M. Millington be General Secretary, pro tan., until 

 the wishes of the members shall be known. 



*' 6. That the next Meeting be held in the same room, on the first 

 "Tuesday in April, to elect the Committee and to form rules. 



*' 7. That in the meantime the Secretary do all in his power to in- 

 •duee the Eabbit fanciers of the United Kingdom to join the Club." 



NOTES FROM MY CANARY ROOM.— No. 1. 



" 'While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold 

 and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not 

 icease." There are some passages in the grand old Book, which, 

 despite the admitted necessity for its revision, one would not 

 like to see altered, even to the extent of the dotting of an i or 

 the crossing of a t. 'Who that before he could read the Book of 

 books, whose teachings will live through all time, preparing us 

 •for the unseen realities of eternity, turned over the leaves of 

 some well-thumbed family Bible, and while looking at the pic- 

 torial illustrations of the events there recorded, first heard from 

 bis mother's lips the story of a world's iniquity and punish- 

 ment, but connects iu a way he does not know how, the return 

 of the seasons with the Divine promise ? 'We do not want to 

 be told anything about the inclination of the earth's axis to the 

 plane of its orbit, we made up our minds about that and other 

 matters years ago ; but we li'ie to trace the result of great natural 

 laws back to the Law-maker, and recognise in them the unmis- 

 takeable evidences of an Omnipotence without 'Whose knowledge 

 not even a Sparrow falls to the ground. 



This has not much to do with Canary breeding ? but it has. 

 I am not going back to antediluvian times, and attempt to prove 

 that there were Canaries in the ark, though if I am to learn 

 anything from the contents of " Jacky's," there must have 

 been> spotted variety, now extinct — a kind which would not 



stand upright, but fell backwards, and supported itself with its 

 tail. It is not my intention to trace the early history of the 

 Canary, so that is not why I have opened this paper as I have. 



These few sober reflections were the result of a long ramble 

 I had in the country with a friend who, like myself, puts up a 

 score pairs every year. Oar walk is an annual institution. 'The 

 first sunny Saturday in March we go hunting for moss. This 

 walk is part and parcel of our Canary life ; and when, after long 

 months of dreary winter spent in the town, a man finds him- 

 self brought more closely face to face with Nature just rousing 

 from its long sleep, I do not envy him his feelings if he is not 

 led, even by so simple a form of vegetable organisation as a moss 

 or a lichen, to look " through Nature up to Nature's God." 



Our last ramble was through Eyhope Dene, a deep ravine 

 about three miles from the town, running from the seaside 

 about a mile inland, timbered from the margin of the little 

 brook which struggles for existence in the watercourse at the 

 bottom, to the top of the rugged banks on either side. A foot- 

 road led through the Dene when I was a boy, and the stream 

 was crossed by a rustic bridge. Now, at this point, the valley 

 is filled up from side to side with an embankment, over which 

 long trains of coal waggons continually pass and repass, and 

 underneath which the little stream creeps through a long cul- 

 vert, emerging on the side next the sea a dirty, commonplace 

 puddle, eventually losing itself in the sands of tlie shore. But 

 the Dene is still a pretty place, and I perform a spring and 

 summer pilgrimage thither annually. I take my children 

 where I went with my father when I was a child, "^""e fill our 

 kettle from the spring on the hillside, which trickled out its 

 sparkling drops long before I was, and will continue to do so 

 long after I am not, and we come home laden with wild roses 

 and honeysuckle. 



On Saturday I brought home a bag of treasures for my bird 

 room. I am just now putting up my breeding stock, and as I 

 have promised, in compliance with the wishes of many readers 

 of the Journal, to give a few simple, practical hints on the 

 breeding and management of the Canary, I shall do so in a 

 series of papers, at such intervals as will allow all who begin 

 the season with me to compare notes as we go on. I have 

 before written at some length upon the sama subject, but as 

 there are many who have since that time been attracted by the 

 charms of this interesting songster, and have been induced to 

 put up from a single pair to a score, and who may not have read 

 what was then written, I commence the new ABC for their 

 especial guidance. — W. A. Blakston. 



SUPERSTITION AMONG BEE-KEEPERS. 



It is strange how tenaciously we cling to old ideas. The 

 teachings of early days, even the sayings of our grandfathers 

 and grandmothers, have become as it were incorporated into 

 our very selves. No matter if ever so superstitious, we cling 

 to them, loth to give them up. Perhaps in nothing do we see 

 more of this than in the common ideas respecting the nature 

 and habits of the honey bee. 



So much is this the case, that even among bee-keepers of 

 considerable scientific culture there are still held wrong ideas, 

 detrimental to proper management. Doubtless we have escaped 

 from the dense fog of superstition in which Virgil wrote, when 

 he tells us that after killing a steer it was left in the sun until 



" The tainted blood in this close prison pent. 

 Begins to boil, and through the bones ferment; 

 Then, wondrous to behold, new creatu]-es rise, 

 A moving mass at first, and short of thighs. 

 Till shooting out with legs, and imped with wings, 

 The grubs proceed to bees with pointed stings." 



Tet there is much of superstition still clinging to us. Even 

 iu far more modern days the ideas so poetically expressed by 

 Virgil were entertained in England by one who was called the 

 "great husbandman of Cornwall, old Mr. Carew of Anthony." 

 Here are his directions: — "Take a calf, or rather a sturk (steer) 

 of a year old, about the latter end of April ; bury it eight or 

 ten days till it begin to putrefy and corrupt ; then take it forth 

 of the earth, and opening it, lay it under some hedge or wall, 

 where it may be more subject to the sun, by the heat whereof 

 it will — a great part of it — turn into maggots, which, without 

 any other care, will live upon the remainder of the corruption. 

 After a while, when they begin to have wings, the whole putre- 

 fied carcass should be carried to a place prepared, where the 

 hives stand ready, to which, being perfumed with honey and 

 sweet herbs, the maggots, after they have received their wings, 

 will resort." — "Bees, their Habits and Treatment," by the 

 Eev. J. G. 'Wood. 



