56 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 21, 1870. 



vain. My conclusion is that the three hives were too large, 

 and that, unless in very favourable situations, the smaller hive 

 is likely to be more productive than the larger. — H. 



NEW BOOK. 



Home-made Wines: How to Maize and Keep Them. By G. 

 Vine. London : Groombridge & Sons. 



This is a useful little book. The following extract will be 

 the best evidence of its contents : — 



" The following recipe to mate ten gallons of rhubarb wine ; or 

 British champagne, will do for unripe grapes with their leaves, tops, 

 and tendrils, currants, gooseberries, and similar sharp fruit, as well 

 as for rhubarb, and will give a general idea of the proper mode of 

 making a brisk wine. The time of fermenting, quantity of fruit, &c, 

 must be modified somewhat in each case to suit the peculiarities of 

 each fruit ; for which directions will be given under their respective 

 heads. 



"Provide a fermenting tnb that will hold from 15 to 20 gallons, or 

 larger if required. It should have a guard or rim on the inside, simi- 

 lar to that used for brewing beer, in order to keep back the husks of 

 the fruit, and a tap near the bottom. 



"Take 50 lbs. of rhubarb, and 37 lbs. of fine moist sugar. In the 

 tub bruise the rhubarb; when done, add four gallons of water ; let the 

 whole be well stirred together; cover the tub with a cloth or blanket, 

 and let the pulp stand for twenty-four hours ; then draw off the liquor 

 through the tap into another tub or pan ; add one or two more gallons 

 of water to the pulp, let it be well stirred, then allowed to remain, an 

 hour or two to settle, and then draw off; mis the two liquors together, 

 and in it dissolve the sugar. 



"Let the tub be made clean, and return the liquor to it, cover it 

 with a blanket, and place it in a room, the temperature of which is not 

 below 60° of Fahrenheit's thermometer ; here it is to remain for twenty- 

 four, forty-eight, or more hours, until there is an appearance of fer- 

 mentation having begun, when it should be drawn off into a ten-gallon 

 cask, as fine as possible, which cask must be filled up to the bunghole 

 with water, if there is not liquor enough ; let it lean to one side a 

 little, that it may discharge itself ; if there is any liquor left in the 

 tub not quite fine, pass it through flannel, and fill up with that instead 

 of water. As the fermentation proceeds, and the liquor diminishes, 

 it must be filled up daily, to encourage the fermentation, for ten or 

 twelve days ; it then becomes more moderate, when the bung should 

 be put in, and a gimlet-hole made at the side of it, fitted with a spile ; 

 this spile should betaken out every two or three days, according to the 

 state of the fermentation, for eight or ten days to allow some of the 

 carbonic acid gas to escape. When this state is passed, the cask may 

 be kept full by pouring a little liquor in at the vent-hole once a-week 

 or ten days, for three or four weeks. This operation is performed at 

 long intervals, of a month or more, till the end of December, when, 

 on a fine frosty day, it should be drawn off from the lees as fine as 

 possible ; the turbid or muddy part passed through flannel. Make the 

 cask clean, return the liquor to it, with one drachm of pure isinglass 

 dissolved in a little water ; stir the whole together, and put the bung 

 in firmly. Choose a clear dry day in March for bottling. They should 

 be champagne bottles — common wine bottles are not strong enough — 

 secure the corks in a proper manner with wire, &c. The liquor is 

 generally made up to two or three pints over the ten gallons, which is 

 bottled for the purpose of filling the cask as it is wanted. 



" To make a dry wine like sherry from the same kind of fruit, the 

 cask must be kept constantly filled up to the bunghole, daily, or every 

 other day, as long as any fermentation is perceptible by applying the 

 ear to the bunghole ; the bung may then be put in lightly for a time, 

 before finally fixing it ; it may be racked off on a fine day in Decem- 

 ber, and fined with isinglass as previously directed, and bottled in 

 March." 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Feeding Cochin-chinas (An Amateur).— Your food is not good enough. 

 Do away with the pollard and Indian meal. Feed on ground oats, good 

 heavy barley, a little Indian corn now and then for a change, and table 

 scraps of every kind, crumbs of bread, &c. We are not friendly to any 

 artificial food. 



Poultby-yard Arrangements (Constant "Reader). — As a rule where 

 fowls are kept no other poultry should be kept with them. The same 

 management with your Turkeys probably has the same result. The hen 

 is let loose too soon in the ago of the chickens, or the hour of the day. 

 A hen Turkey should not be at liberty till the poults are seven or eight 

 weeks old, and when that time has arrived she should not be at liberty 

 till 10 a.m., when the sun is well up, and the grass is dry. Separate the 

 Turkeys from the fowls; give the sickly ones green onion tops chopped 

 fine, and mixed with meal, give them two pills of camphor daily, the size 

 of horsebeans, and let their water be strongly impregnated with the same. 

 If they are sinking you must give them some strong beer. We can only 

 tell you how to combat the disease. If you tell us how you treat your 

 birds, we will do our best to advise how to prevent it. 



Chiceens Dying Wholesale IA Lover of Poultry).— Try some other 

 plan of feeding. Either Mr. Wright's disagrees with them, or they get 

 something besides his bill of fare. Do the yew trees drop any berries ? 

 If they do not, then the chickens get at something at times that is highly 

 Injurious, and causes these periodical and fatal attacks. We feed on 

 bread and milk, chopped egg, crumbled bread and cheese curd, and 



chopped scraps of meat. We give them beer to drink while they are not 

 more than a month old, and we lose none. 



Houdan CHrcKENs almost Featherless- (J. H. C). — Again let us 

 observe that the best food is the cheapest. Sharps, fourths, middlings, 

 bran, " chicken food," and all such appliances are as good for the chickens 

 ss a handful of sawdust each would be for a large family where the meat 

 would not hold out. Adopt the dietary we have mentioned in our last 

 aaswer. Wash the chicken that is suffering from inflammation with 

 warm water and soap, dry it thoroughly, and then rub it with sulphur 

 ointment. Your maggot- feeding probably helps to produce the disorder* 

 which arises from a heated system. 



Houdan Hen having a Brood (Frances Anne). — We have never had a 

 brooiy Houdan, but there is no rule without an exception, and we have 

 known both Pencilled Hamburghs and Spanish to sit, and fulfil all the 

 subsequent duties in a most satisfactory manner, as your Houdan hen is 

 doing. 



Snaith Show. — Messrs. Newbitt send the following as a correction of 

 our prize list :— Spanish, first, H. Eeldon; second, T. C. & E. Newbitt ; 

 third, C. W. Brierley. Jacobins, first and second, T. C. & E. Newbitt. 



Ants in a HrvE (Miss P.).— The ascent of ants to a hive of beea may 

 be prevented by nailing round the pedestal, a short distance from the 

 ground, a bit of sheepskin with tbe wool outwards, and anointed with 

 coal tar. 



Dwindled Stock (A. 0. L.). — Your stock has most probably dwindled 

 owing to the death of its quaea daring the winter, and can now only be 

 restored to prosperity by addia % to it a new swarm. 



Bees in an Old Hive (A Sub.).— If you had expelled the remaining 

 bees by driving at the expiration of three weeks from the issue of the 

 first swarm, little or no brood wouH have been found in the hive ; 

 wbereas, at tbis time there is probably a considerable quantity. Yon 

 may, however, now transfer them, combs and all, to a frame hive in the 

 manner described in page 72 of our seventeenth volume, or you may 

 drive and unite them to another stock in the autumn. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In the Suburbs of London for the week ending July 19th. 







BAT.03IETEB. 





THERMOSIETEI 



















Dati 









Earth. 



■Wind. 



Rain. 





Max. Min. 



Max. 



Min. 



1 ft 



2 ft 





Wed... 



13 



29.SK 



29.760 



76 



50 



64 



61 



S. 



.00 



Thurs. 



14 



29.977 



29.967 



83 



43 



67 



60 



S.W. 



.10 





15 



29.927 



29.773 



84 



53 



67 



61 



S. 



.00 



Sat. ... 



16 



29.882 



29763 



80 



47 



67 



61 



W. 



.00 



San. . . 



IV 



30 018 



29.963 



80 



52 



63 



61 



N.W. 



.00 



Mon. . . 



18 



30.050 



31.018 



71 



65 



67 



61 



S. 



•00 



Taes. 



19 

 n.. 



30.151 



30.115 



87 



61 



67 



61 



K.W. 



.60 



Mea 



29.977 



23.909 



8D.14 



50.86 



66.00 



60.86 



•• 



0.10 



13.— Overcast but fine ; showery; clear and fine. 

 14,— Fine, cloudy ; very fine ; clear and very fine. 

 15. — Very fine; exceedingly fine and hot ; fine. 

 16 — Very fine ; fine, heavy clouds ; clear. 

 17.— Very fine ; cloudy, fine ; densely overoast. 

 18. — Overcast ; densely overcast : heavy clouds. 

 19.— Fine but overcast ; fine ; very fine ana clear. 



COVEN T GARDEN MARKET.— July 20. 

 A very steady demand, and fair prices are realised for most of the 

 goods now coming. Continental and Channel Island supplies continue 

 heavy, and share the demand. Among the former are Peaches, Nuts, 

 Apricots, Melon?, Pears, and Apples. Potato trade is easier. 



FRUIT. 







s. 

 1 





 

 2 

 S 

 3 

 

 

 



8 

 3 



d. s. d 

 6 to 2 

 4 

 6 10 

 

 4 

 5 

 6 

 

 9 10 

 4 

 

 14 

 5 



VEGET 







s. 

 

 6 

 7 



5 

 

 2 

 2 





 

 

 



10 



1 



i. s. 

 OtoO 

 12 

 14 

 15 

 

 3 

 6 5 

 

 e 

 3 

 6 1 

 13 



o a 



a 





. bushel 











Pears, kitchen .. 



lb. 





 









n 





lb. 









lb. 



(1 



Grapes, Hothous 



e.... lb. 







r, 

 s 















S.BLES. 











s. 

 3 

 S 

 4 

 8 

 2 

 

 

 1 

 

 



1 



8 

 



2 



a 





 

 



8 



a. b. 



0to6 

 8 

 6 

 4 

 8 

 

 

 2 

 

 4 

 6 

 6 2 

 6 

 B 1 

 4 

 

 8 

 8 

 3 

 5 



d 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 8 

 

 

 

 6 

 

 

 

 

 

 





.punnet 

 . bushel 



bun ones 

 lb. 



s. 

 



1 



3 

 



4 

 

 3 

 



1 



4 

 6 



1 

 

 

 

 

 8 

 1 

 



4 



d. s. 

 4 to 

 1 

 4 

 2 O 

 6 

 4 

 

 9 1 

 1 

 6 

 8 

 

 

 

 

 6 

 

 3 

 6 1 

 



a 



Beans, Kidney . 



Beet Red 



Brussels Sprouts 



| sieve, 

 bushel 



. bundle 

 ..i sieve 



Mustard & Cress 

 Radishes .. doz. 



6 

 

 

 

 8 





 



r, 



Coleworts..doz. 



bunches 

 . bundle 









 

 

 

 

 H 











 





Vegetable Marrows . .doz. 







Horseradish ... 







