May 25, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



375 



inside, and just shut it off in a simple way to prevent dust getting into 

 the house, or damp the ashes before moving them. We approve of attach- 

 ing water-pipes to such a stove boiler ; but for a small house, if we studied 

 first cost, we would have the boiler alone, or even a good iron or brick 

 stove. AVe have an old stove in use, with a o-inch 9-feet iron pipe from 

 it as a chimney, that does wonders, but we run a pole through the pipe 

 often. By placing your stove inside you will save much fuel. 



Orange and Lemon Trees Infested with Mealy Bug {R. J. S. H.) 

 — Wash them with a solution of 3 ozs. of soft soap to a gallon of water, 

 and to every gallon add twenty drops of &i)irits of turpentine. You may 

 syringe them with this at a temperature of HO^, and wash afterwards 

 with a sponge and the same solution. This pest requires the greatest 

 patience and perseverance to get rid of it. 



Najtes of Plants {Eab, the G?-et;;i/ionO.— Sasilraga sarmentosa. (A 

 Constant Eeadtr).— I, Sasifraga Geum ; 2, Eibes speciosum ; 3, Allium 

 ursinum. (iUftr;/).— btatice sinuata. {F. il/.).— ilyosotis palustris. Give 

 your plants as good treatment as you can, and if any show superior ex- 

 cellence select them to propagate from. We see no other answer to your 

 question. (Z). W. £.)■— Berberis Darwinii (A Subscriber).— 'Eryihrino, 

 Humei. Possibly from Palermo, where it no doubt is cultivated, but 

 native of the Capo Colony. iR. I. S.).~ Rhododendron Dalhousias. 

 (F. H. r.).— 1, Erica Bauerea ; 3, E. jasminiflora ; 4. E. aristata ; 5, Hibis- 

 cus Cooperi. (H. £.).— Clematis montana. {Omega) —1, Cochlearia 

 officinalis; 2, Cardamine birsuta ; 3, Alchemilla arvensis. {J.L.,Sur- 

 biton).—We cannot name either florists' varieties or plants from leaves 

 only; your enclosure is of both. 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



REAKING CHICKENS. 



In reply to 'the letter ol " 0. P. Q,," respecting his chicken 

 losses, I am not quite sure that I should join with Mr. Kell in 

 calling them " prodigious." If I understand him, he expects 

 to rear about 70 per cent, of those actually hatched ; and as 

 his complaint is under date of May 4th, a large proportion of 

 these must have been hatched rather early. Now I certainly 

 •do not consider Doikings so easy to rear as other breeds, and 

 while 30 per cent, mortality is by no means satisfactory, for 

 March and April Dorking chickens, especially in such a biting 

 spring as we have had this year, I would not call it so very bad. 

 I think it is doubtful if breedicg-in be the cause, for Dor- 

 kings being bred more for size than colour, this one breed 

 is, perhaps, more free from that particular evil than any other. 

 What the cause may actually be it is very diiiicult to say, unless 

 " 0. P. Q." describe the size and nature of his nursery accom- 

 modation, whether grass or dry ground for instance, kind of 

 shelter or shedding, &c., and especially the symptoms which 

 have chiefly marked the losses. In the absence of these or 

 any other particulars, the only thing that strikes me in his 

 general treatment is that nearly all the food, highly nutritious 

 as it is, appears to be of a costive tendency. The egg, the rice, 

 the potatoes — all tend that way, but chiefly the egg, which I 

 am certain, from experience, is, as a continuous food, very in- 

 jurious. I should give the meat every day, and the chopped 

 egg only now and then to correct any symptoms of looseness. 

 Of the value of bone dust in rearing chickens I have repeatedly 

 spoken, and chickens regularly fed with it scarcely ever suffer 

 from diarrboja. Bat, on the whole, I am inclined to think 

 that the most important point in the feeding of young chicks 

 is to mis with the oatmeal a little bread and plenty of grass, 

 cut into green chafi an eighth of an inch long, which is easily 

 done by taking a quantity in the hand and cutting it off with a 

 large pair of scissors. Chickens thus fed will eat with real 

 appetite nearly half as much again, and the food mixed with 

 milk will keep nearly double the time before getting sour. 

 The green chaff may also be thrown down alone at intervals, 

 it is literally impossible for chicks to have too much grass, 

 and when thus fed their bowels, at least, scarcely ever go wrong, 

 for while an occasional surfeit of green food will cause danger- 

 ous looseness, a constant supply has with nearly all poultry an 

 exactly contrary effect. By thus mixing green chaff in the 

 food Dorkings may be reared with great success, even without 

 a grass run, so far as size and health go, though nothing but 

 grass will give that beautiful bloom which is so requisite in a 

 ■country-bred fowl. Many of Mr. Douglas's best birds were 

 reared in such gravelled yards ; and though it is not fair to 

 compare Brahmas with such a breed as Dorkings, I may per- 

 haps mention, as a proof of what may be done with care in a 

 limited space, that my chicken run consists only of a piece of 

 bare earth 22 by 25 feet, with a shed 6 feet wide up one side, 

 and that not one of the foity-six chickens I have hatched this 

 year has yet left it, notwithstanding which I have only lost 

 three— two by accident, and the third a weakly one, which 

 only lived till three days old. 

 But after general diet and treatment are determined upon, 



I believe very much of good or ill success in rearing depends 

 on adapting them to the varying circumstances of weather day 

 by day. The direction of a keen wind, for instance, should 

 always be noted, and the coop carefully placed, so that the 

 chicks may be sheltered. After several days' trying weather 

 there may be a tendency to looseness, and in such a case some 

 rice or chopped egg will be of great service. If the broods 

 seem suffering I always give some spice or condiment in severe 

 days. When the sun is hot, on the contrary, shade must be 

 carefully provided, for heat is nearly as bad as cold; and in 

 very dry seasons copious watering of the ground occasionally 

 will make a great difference to the broods. I need not carry 

 this further, as everyone's common sense will teach what is 

 proper to be done under not only these but other special cir- 

 cumstances of the hour. 1 may, however, add, that on two 

 occasions, when the fate of a brood was evidently doubtful 

 after many days of the miserable weather we had in April, I 

 saved them by putting them for about two days in an attic on 

 a wood floor well sanded. For permanent lodging I believe 

 wood the very worst floor that can be ; but for a few days in 

 such an emergency I never knew harm come of such a change, 

 and the effect of the perfect dryness and shelter on chicks a 

 week old, when nipped by several days' wet or biting winds, is 

 really marvellous ; mine came out into the air again totally 

 different creatures. 



Like Mr. Kell, I rarely use sulphate of iron when all is well, 

 but invariably add it to the water on a day either wet or much 

 colder than usual. I think he forgets that in a state of nature , 

 the hen rarely hatches earlier than May when all is bright and 

 warm ; and if we procure chickens in unnaturally cold weather, 

 " natural" feeding may, perhaps, be scarcely sufficient to bear 

 the trial. I do, however, believe that any unnatural stimulus, 

 whether it be iron, spice, ale, or anything else, must, if con- 

 tinued, be injurious. Special treatment should always be re- 

 served for special needs. 



In such seasons as the present many hens do not brood the 

 chickens enough for warmth, and I have myself, in fact, been 

 driven to making artificial mothers. They are very simple, ■ 

 consisting only of a sheepskin mat, 18 inches square, tacked 

 round the edges to the inside of the top of a shallow box, with 

 no bottom nor front. It is amusing to see how the chicks will 

 creep in for " a warm," even while with the hen ; and when 

 used to it they may be taken away from her almost at any 

 time, which is often a convenience. The box should be about 

 7 inches deep, and can be bedded into the loose dry earth of a 

 shed deeply enough to take the smallest chicks when needful. 

 By throwing food under it they readily learn to go in. I ought 

 in fairness to say that for this useful idea I was indebted to 

 the intelligent poultry manager of Mr. E. Jones. 



Custard is, I think, best made by beating up egg and milk, 

 cold, in equal parts, and then putting it in a saucer on the top of 

 a stove to set. Chickens are very fond of it, and it is undoubt- 

 edly good food, but is very expensive, and I am very doubtful if 

 they get on any better with it than on plainer diet. I never met 

 anyone who could say there was any marked difference. The 

 easiest and best change, when chickens become tired of oatmeal 

 slaked with milk, is to give them porridge. They may have 

 new milk to drink to any extent, so that it shall never be allowed 

 to stay till sour ; and I believe this to be equal, if not superior, 

 to custard in its effect on the birds. — L. Weight. 



GREAT HARWOOD SHOW. 



The paragraph in the Journal of the 4th inst. bearing my 

 signature was, as Mr. Ashworth has been already informed by 

 letter, part of a reply, quite too lengthy for publication, in 

 answer to the Editors' private inquiry of me, " Who is this 

 Mr. Ashworth ? " It was written as a private reply to a private 

 letter, for, I continued, I did not myself know Mr. Ashworth if 

 I met him, for he was an entire stranger, as I knew nothing 

 myself of his individuality. Even the portion of the letter as 

 now printed states it was by me written "for your (the Editors') 

 information." I have received so many anonymous, and also 

 other letters, bearin,; (now proved) fictitious signatures, from 

 the neighbourhood of the show since this affair, that I cannot 

 but regard many of them as purposely forwarded by the writers 

 to provoke further quarrels and misunderstandings. So much 

 for wilful intention on my part to criminate anyone unjustly. 



As to the suggestion of Mr. Ashworth, that " the wisest and 

 cleverest of men are liable to make mistakes," it is simply 

 trying to beg the question, as in the case of the prize Dragoons 

 at Harwood a mistake in colour was an impossibility. In 



