70 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 28, 1870. 



Parisian gardeners beat you— viz., the proper use of the watering-pot. 

 Goed, rather light, but rich soil, with an almost unlimited supply of 

 water, is what ABters like. If they have t hU there will seldom be any 

 green fly or curled leaves. 



Insects on Vine Leaves {J. Easton). — We do not know how you 

 packed your Vine leaf, bat on the closest examination we could discover 

 neither caterpillar nor red spider, and only found some little bits of red 

 wax. Such a leaf should have been securely enclosed in oiled paper. 

 "We can hardly understand your allusions to red spider, in connection 

 with caterpillars. This is just a season for red spider, where plenty of 

 water could not be used. 



Insects Attacking Conifebs (7. S.).— The resinous swellings at the 

 bases of the young shoots of your Pinus insignis are caused by the exuda- 

 tion of the sap, resulting from the attacks of the caterpillars of a small 

 handsome moth (Tortrix Buoliana), which is now being produced in the 

 perfect state, and which ought to be carefully sought for on the trunks of 

 the trees and killed. Later in the season smaller swellings (caused by the 

 caterpillars hatched from eggs deposited by the present brood of moths) 

 should be looked for and destroyed. We found no insect on the small 

 single shoot of Picea Xordmanniani. The shoots of the Abies orientals 

 and the Spruce Fir exhibit curious swellings like miniature Pine Apples, 

 caused by tbe minute Chermes Laricis, a fly allied to the aphides, which 

 is reared within the swellings. If they are so numerous as to become 

 injurious to the trees, the swellings should be cut out, especially before 

 the insects are developed, at which time the small scales which surround 

 the swellings burst open to allow of the escape of the flies. — I. O. W. 



NajIe of Insect (Ckesham). — The caterpillar sent by you is the re- 

 markable one known under the name of the Lobster caterpillar. The 

 moth is named Stauropus Fagi.— I. 0. W. 



Naites of Plants {Marten Cat). — No. 1, of which we had preserved 

 your flowering specimen, we now recognise as Cornus mascula. popularly 

 known as the Cornelian Cherry. >7o. 2, is the Calycanthus floridus, or 

 Carolina Allspice. {Constant Reader). — 1, Centranthus ruber; 2, Spirsea 

 salicifolia : 3, Bryonia alba, a poisonous plant, (67. A. N.). — 1, Escallonia 

 rubra: 2, Jasminum odoratissimum. (E. H. D.). — Pelargonium alcbe- 

 milloides ; Escallonia rubra. Your Tropaeolum has no merit to recommend 

 it. [A. 17.).— Oncidium sphegiferum. {Flora, Guernsey). — Fatsia japo- 

 nica, more commonly known as Aralia Sieboldi. (P. 7. Newton.).— Viola 

 cornuta ; Campanula ciespitosa of Scopoli, generally known as C. pusilla. 

 {W. H., Belbroughton'-. — Tour shrub is Rhus Cotinus, sometimes known 

 as the "Burning Bush." {Jn Old Subscriber).— Linaria Elatine. {Thos. 

 Pearson).— 1, GoniophleMum appendiculatum ; 2, Pteris tremula ; 3,Adi- 

 antum cuneatum ; 4, Pteris cretica albo-lineata ; 5, Pteris serrulata; 

 6, Asplenium balbiferum ; 7, Adiantum assimile, {A Young Gardener). — 

 Ganltheria bracteata. Henfrey's " Rudiments of Botany," is the work 

 we should recommend to you; its price will, we believe.be not more 

 than 3-s. 6tZ. Oliver's ,( Elementary Botany," published by Macmillan, is 

 also first-rate, and will cost about Ss. 6d. 



POTJLTftY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. 



Eecentlt at a meetiDg of the*Whitby Chamber of Agriculture, 

 William Storehouse, Esq., of Daraholme, himself a noted 

 poultry-keeper and prize-winner, read the following instructive 

 and amusing paper on the management of poultry : — 



It was not without some misgivings that I acceded to the request of 

 Mr. 'Wilkinson to read, to the members of the Whitby Chamber of 

 Agriculture, a paper on poultry. Knowing that, with farmers, and 

 indeed with many others, poultry is not a popular theme ; knowing 

 also that Chambers of Agriculture usually apply themselves to the 

 discussion of questions of greater importance, such as " The con- 

 siderationof legislative enactments affecting land," "Leases," "Tenant 

 Rights," " Eotation of Crops," "Deep versus Shallow Draining," "The 

 effects of various manures upon different soils, ",'and bo forth ; and 

 knowing, moreover, that in this society, small though it may be in 

 point of numbers, you have had able, and I might say exhaustive, 

 papers read to you on local taxation, the adulteration of seeds and 

 cake3, dairy farming, &c, I felt that you could scarcely be expected to 

 descend so far as to listen to a paper upon poultry ; for, somehow, 

 poultry-keeping has come to be regarded as a somewhat ignoble pursuit, 

 and a fit occupation only for women and children. If a man of mature 

 age busies himself about, or takes any interest in poultry, he is looked 

 upon as a sort of "harmless lunatic ;" and anyone who, in later life, 

 indulges in this hobby, must be prepared to endure a large amount of 

 gcol humoured " chaffing" from his friends, who will crack stale 

 jokes over him, and after inspecting his stock, will perhaps inquire if 

 he doe3 not keep any while mice, or monkeys, or racoonB. At an agri- 

 cultural show, your wives and daughters, your sons too, if they are not 

 more than ten or twelve years of age, may. visit and scrutinise the 

 show pens in the poultry department, but yon, yourselves, would almost 

 blnsh to be seen there. Even the judges of horses, cattle, and pigs, 

 at these shows, give the cold shoulder to the judges of poultry, and look 

 down upon them as persons occupying an inferior social status. At 

 one of the Whitby shows, some three or four years ago, sitting in the 

 tent during the brief interval which is devoted to luncheon, the judge 

 of horses was interrogated by the judge of sheep or pigs, or something 

 else : — " I say, who is yon chap, and what ia he judging?" " Which 

 chap?" inquired tbe judge of horses. "Yon chap with the white 

 waistcoat," pointing out a gentleman who was, on that occasion, one 

 of the judges of poultry, and who was of course conspicuously adorned 

 with the proper badge of office. The judge of horses rested his eyes 



for a moment or two upon the judge of poultry, a curious expression 

 settled upon his features — an expression eloquent of contempt, and he 

 delivered himself in this wise — " Him a judge — he's nea judge. He's 

 nobbut a chuckle greoper." 



Well, with a knowledge of fhia — may I say ? — prejudice which exists 

 against my feathered friends, there was an instinctive presentiment in 

 my mind that this paper would have to be read to a "beggarly 

 account of empty benches." At the outset, let me say that the paper 

 possesses one quality — that of brevity — which, if it does not commend 

 it to your favour, will. I hope, bespeak your indulgence and soften 

 Tour criticisms. The supply of food for an ever-increasing population 

 is a question fraught with deep importance, not only to the statesman 

 and political economist, but to all who feel an interest in the future 

 well-being of their country ; and if it be true that he is to be regarded 

 as a benefactor of his species who makes two blades of grass grow 

 where one only had previously grown, then also, in like manner, must 

 he be regarded who trebles and quadruples the produce of eggs and 

 fowls, especially when, in these islands, our present supply of those 

 articles i3 so inadequate to the demand that we have to import 

 annually about five hundred million eggs, besides an enormous 

 number of fowls, amounting altogether in money value to between 

 . three and four millions of pounds sterling ; and is it not wise to inquire 

 I whether the productiveness of our poultry could not be developed and 

 increased, so that these three or four millions of pounds sterling 

 annuallv, instead of going into the coffers of our continental neighbours, 

 might flow into the pockets of the English farmer? Does France 

 possess any peculiar facilities for breeding and rearing poultry ? for it 

 i3 from France that much of our poultry produce is imported. I know 

 of no advantage over England save that of climate, and that is not so 

 great as it might, at first sight, seem to be, because it is not in the 

 south, but in the north of France chiefly, that eggs and fowls for the 

 English market are produced. 



The secret of the success of poultry- breeding in France lies not so 

 much in any superiority of the climate as in superior management. 

 " Thev manage these things better in France " is a saying which ia 

 litteraily true with respect to poultry. There are in the northern parts 

 of France large numbers of small holdings of land, and on those small 

 holdings poultry -keeping is not unfrequently the leading object of 

 husbandry. The small farmer in France has found out that by the 

 application of care and skill poultry- keeping pays well ; and if the 

 small farmer in England would devote the same time and attention to 

 the pursuit, there seems to be no reason why it should not be equally 

 remunerative to him. When we hear persons complaining that poultry- 

 keeping does not pay, we should inquire whether any pains have been 

 taken to make it pay ; for when we know the way in which poultry is 

 treated, or rather maltreated, in too many instances around us, we 

 cease to wonder at these complaints. Any sort of a cockloft, without 

 light and without ventilation, is considered good enough for a "hen 

 house." The excrement from the birds is allowed to accumulate for 

 twelve months, or sometimes longer; the walls are never whitewashed 

 or cleaned. If you were, just to put your nose into a house of this 

 description some night when the birds had been roosting for a few hours, 

 you would at once admit that it is impossible for poultry, under such 

 circumstances, to do well. Then it is by no means an uncommon 

 practice for poultry-keepers to send the chickens of each year to the 

 market, and to keep the old hens for stock, instead of keeping the 

 pullets for stock birds and killing off the old hens. Again, it is very 

 seldom that any skill or judgment is exercised in the selection of stock ; 

 the birds are allowed to breed in-and-in, with little or no admixture of 

 fresh blood, and as a necessary consequence the progeny become feeble 

 and unproductive. In the pages of the Field and tie Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture, two publications which contain much poultry intelligence, 

 the question is often put — Does poultry -keeping pay? and if you read 

 the letters which appear in answer to the inquiry, you will be amused 

 and bewildered, some writers asserting that their fowls almost lay the 

 fabled golden eggs, and that the shortest way to wealth is to take a 

 large farm and stock it entirely with poultry. Others declare their 

 fowls eat their heads off two or three times in the course of the year ; 

 that eggs cost them, at least, Is. each ; that such of their chickens 

 as do reach maturity are the scraggiest of the scraggy ; and that, in 

 short, if you want to make ducks and drakes of your money, go in for 

 ponl try-keeping. 



Desiring to eschew the exaggerated statements of these writers, and 

 anxiously to guard myself against conveying the notion that I regard 

 the poultry yard as a veritablo " Tom Tiddler's ground," I do not hesi- 

 tate to affirm that a limi ted number of poultry, if properly managed, 

 will be as remunerative to the farmer as any other stock will be— that 

 is, in proportion to the amount of capital employed. This is the 

 testimony, after long experience, of many practical farmers, notably of 

 Mr. Mechi, who maintains that his poultry are more profitable to him 

 than his sheep. But perhaps you do not consider Mr. Mechi an in- 

 fallible authority. At any rate Mr. Mechi's works prove the sincerity 

 of his faith and words, and that is saying something, for he keeps up- 

 wards of three hundred fowls upon his Triptree Hall Farm, which are 

 allowed, and indeed encouraged, to roam over the corn fields up to the 

 time of harvesting, and in a letter to The Times newspaper he tells us 

 that a field of wheat immediately adjoining the poultry yard, and which 

 had been during the year the favourite resort of the fowls, yielded a 

 larger amount of grain per acre than any other field on the farm. Mr. 

 Mechi does not deny that the fowls eat some of the corn, but the loss 



