328 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



[ May 4, 1871. 



ling the hills -with gBano ; but as that in quantity would brown the grass 

 for a tiice, we wou)d iiour into the hills a solution of eoft soap, 3 ozs. to 

 the galJon, adding to every gallon a fluid ounce of spirits of turpentine, 

 and then dref s the la^n with guano at tlie rate of 3 cwt. per acre, apply- 

 ing it in moist weather. 



Kaues cp Plants {S. TT.).— SpsrmannJa africana. Propagate by cut- 

 t'ngs. It will befir^he v inter under grefnhcuse treatment without risk, 

 (ilf. D.)-~The shrub is Cotoneaster vulgaris; the herbaceous plant Sco- 

 polia carniolica. {M. C). — Illicinm fioridannm. (Melton Mowbray). — The 

 seedling state of some Pteris, we cannot say which, but possibly near 

 P. flabellata. {O. Kmght).—!, Chrysanthemum frntescens, the Antbemis 

 of the French ; 3, Begonia Ingramii. {J. E. P.). — Your Orchid flower was 

 so smashed as to be undeterminable. It probably may be some Eplden- 

 drum. allied to E. glaucum, but the column. &c .were so utterly mutilated 

 it is impossible to speak with any confidence. [East Sussex). — 1, Dredala- 

 canthus nervosus ; 2, Phymatodes Eillardieri ; 3, Balantium Culcita ; 

 4, Aspleniumviriparum ; 5, Elechnum Occident nle; 6, Spironemafra grans; 

 V, Acacia pulchella : 8, Rhododendron, not yet recognised ; 9, Peristrophe 

 specioea ; 10, Sanseyiera zeylanica. (E. B.). — 1, Deutzia scabra ; 2, Habro- 

 thamnns, not idfntified ; 3, Ageratum ginucum ; 4, Mimosa, not in flower 

 and undeterminable ; 5, An Acanthad, not in bloom, but apparently some 

 Thrysacanlhus. {F. W.). — T^arcissus Jonquilla flore-pleno. (J. H , Fota 

 Js7n7j(i).--3, Sasifraga crassifolia; 4, Aconitum NapeDus ; 5. Pulmonaria 

 angustifolia. {B. TV.). — 1, Begonia; 2, Sedum Sieboidii foliis variegatis ; 

 3, Srfsjfraga sarmentosa; 4, Opuntia micrantha ; 5, Cereus Mailisonii. 

 {Inquirer, Bromley). — The Oncidinm is O. sessile. As to the seedling 

 Azaleas, they are good, but not snfliciently distinct from others already 

 in cultivation. [J. P.).— Corydalis lutea. (Flora)^ — Eougainvillea specta- 

 biiis is most certainly not a native of Australia, and can only be culti- 

 Tated there. It is native of South America, of Brazil, Peru, &c. (A Feryi 

 Adtnirer). — No. 2 is the true Adiantnm Capillus-Veneris; No. i is A. cune- 

 atnm. [A. C.).— Primula cortusoides, the original condition of the plant, 



not the variety amcena. now so much grown. ( ). — 1, Clematis mou- 



tana; 2, an, Australian species of Olearia, also known as an Eurybiain 

 gardens. 



POULTRY, BEE, A3TD PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



OVER-FATTENING FOWLS FOR EXHIBITION. 



I -n-ODLD stroDgly advise " F. S. F." (see page 281) to in- 

 quire, before purchasing fowls of any kind, what the owner 

 generally feeds them upon. The Buff Cochin he mentions had 

 evidently been fed to a great extent, it not entirely, upon 

 maize, than -which I do not think there can be anything worse 

 for poultry, especially the large breeds. It enlarges the liver 

 exactly as he describes, and fills the birds internally with fat 

 of a deep yellow colour, which, as a matter of course, soon pre- 

 vents their laying, and eventually kills them. 



I had my attention drawn to this subject at first by the poor 

 appearance of my chickens wheo dressed for the table, having 

 expected the very opposite, from their great weight when 

 living. They had scarcely any flesh on the breast, and looked 

 altogether like half-starved creatures. Thinking their food 

 could not be suitable (maize, ground and whole), I changed it 

 for oatmeal paste in the morning, and whole barley at night, 

 with most satisfactory results. 



I think exhibition birds, such as Dorkings, Brahmas, and 

 Cochins, when size and weight go a long way with the judges, 

 should never have maize given them in any form ; it may do 

 for birds of more active habits on large runs, but even they in 

 time, I think, would fall victims to it — in fact, this winter I saw 

 a wild Pheasant opened, and it presented all the appearances 

 above described. On inquiry I find it is a common practice to 

 throw it down for them in the woods on account of its cheap- 

 ness. Now, I think this is the secret of its popularity as poultry 

 food ; it is fashionable to term low-priced things cheap, but, 

 nevertheless, a mistake. Peameal, which may often be bought 

 at about the same price, is far superior in every respect, par- 

 ticularly when mixed with a little fine bran (thirds flour), which 

 again reduces the price, and has this great advantage — it 

 lays the fat on in the right place, and the birds are easily 

 reduced in condition if required, which is not the case with 

 maize.— T. W. L. 



REARING CHICKENS. 

 I AM generally considered the most fortunate of mortals. I 

 lia?e not entered "the fancy" long, yet a very fair amount of 

 success has fallen to my lot. Three beautiful silver cups adorn 

 my drawing-room ; one, a centre piece to the table, attracts the 

 attention of all who enter the room, and they think me skilled 

 beyond all ordinary beings in poultry lore, and acquainted with 

 every secret at all worth knowing. My stock, too, sells as fast 

 as I could wish ; had I possessed three times the number I 

 could have sold them all last season. Fanciers send for my 

 photograph, so that I begin to think I must be pretty well 

 known in the poultry world. Correspondents write to me from 

 America. I have sent birds to the States, as well as to France 



and Australia. My eggs, too, sell for Is. a-pieoe, and if I Irked 

 the trade I could do quite a business in this line. 



Yet, if the truth is to be told, I consider myself the most 

 unlucky of mortals. I have a splendid yard ; birds are there 

 which have won high honours, and I had supposed I should 

 soon be able to face our first fanciers.. Bat alas for human 

 hopes ! I cannot rear my chickens. I read that Dorkings are 

 just as easy to rear as other sorts, and it may be so, but my 

 experience is very different. What ought I to feed my young 

 chickens on ? I give them oatmeal or ground oats slaked with 

 warm milk, and chopped egg, and now and then alittlemeat. For 

 a change they have rice boiled in milk mixed with the oatmeal, 

 and sometimes potatoes mixed in the same way. And yet half 

 of them pine away and die. I should like to try custard, but 

 none of the books tell me how to make it, nor have I ever seen 

 the receipt in the Journal. The damp (I carefully shut up my 

 chickens in the morning) may do some injury, though we are 

 on gravel, not on clay, but this cannot account for the constant 

 losses we are sustaining. Then we put sulphate of iron in the 

 water ; we try new ground, and keep our chickens carefully 

 in the dry, and yet wa cannot succeed. It is true we shall 

 probably rear seventy chickens in all ; but seventy out of a 

 hundred hatched, or even more, is a very poor proportion. 

 Pray tell me where I am wrong. li Mr. Wright, whose con- 

 tributions are always worth reading, or Mr. Kell, or any other 

 experienced fancier, will put me right, he will confer no slight 

 favour on — 0. P. Q. 



INFLUENCE OF THE MALE BIRD. 

 In 1869 I reared some Gold and Silver Poland chickens from 

 eggs bought of Mr. Beldon, and for convenience allowed all the 

 pullets to run together with a Golden Poland cockerel till about 

 Christmas, or it may have been a week or two later, when I 

 parted them for breeding purposes. I afterwards sold the 

 Silver pullets, with a cockerel which I had of Mr. Boothby, to 

 a neighbour, who bred from them about May, and of course 

 expected Silver chickens ; but to his surprise as well as my 

 own, about half of them were pure Golden, without a trace of 

 Silver, the others having no trace of Golden. He afterwards 

 tried another sitting with exactly the same results. This must 

 have been nearly five months after the separation from the 

 Golden cockerel. — J. Bloodwoeth, Oheltenham. 



STROUD POULTRY SHOW. 

 In reply to "An Ou) Exhibitoe's " appeal to the Managers of 

 the Stroud Poultry Show, to alter the date of their meeting so as 

 not to clash in point of time with that of the Bath and West 

 of England Society, to be held at Guildford, I beg to say, on 

 behalf of the Committee, that in making their fixture they 

 never intended clashing with that or any other meeting, and as 

 soon as their attention was called to it they seriously con- 

 sidered its postponement, but found it was impracticable with- 

 out coming into collision with other shows ; one argument 

 against it being that birds penned a whole week at Guildford, 

 would not be in condition to show again for some time after- 

 wards. Further than this, the Show has been advertised to 

 take place at Whitsuntide, which is a great hohday in this 

 neighbourhood, in connection with a pubhe fete, so that to 

 alter the date in any way would insure considerable loss, and 

 be breaking faith with the public. It is to be regretted on 

 account of its inconvenience to exhibitors that two important 

 meetings should be held on the same days ; but the Committee 

 are content to leave the matter to the discernment of exhibitors, 

 fully relying upon their splendid array of prizes and extensive 

 schedule of classes to insure a good entry. If, however, as 

 "An Old Exhibiiok" predicts, our Show suffer in point of 

 attractiveness through the absence of many of the best pens of 

 poultry in England, it follows, of course, that the valuable 

 silver cups and other prizes offered for competition at Stroud 

 will fall very easily to somebody. But the Committee beg to 

 differ with him in this, and believe that exhibitors generally 

 will show their appreciation of our eiiorts to establish a per- 

 manent annual gathering, by supporting our liberal prize 

 schedule, and send their best specimens to compete for the 

 best prizes. — E. Baeeett, Hon. See., Stroud. 



GREAT HARWOOD SHOW. 

 Me. AsnwoRTH, I find, though an entire stranger to me, was 

 introduced by the Secretary, though without the mention of 

 any name, as "the gentleman who would go round with me" 



