464 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 8, 1870. 



management somewhere. We believe your fowls laid find ate their eggs. 

 The Brahmas are not only good layers. 'but they are useful fowls iu every 

 way. Fourths floor and bran, and Indian meal, are all bad food. Feed 

 as we have adviBed "E. P." above. Watm your fowls, or let them be 

 watched when they go to nest, and do not give them the opportunity of 

 eating the eggs they have laid. If they continue to lay soft egg3 it is 

 because their secretions are at fault, and we attribute it principally to 

 their food. We have no dmbt more attention to that point will remove 

 all cause for complaint. 



Cochin-Chinas (J. i?.).— Your first case is not a disqualification, but it 

 is a disadvantage. In the second case we should send the finer bird. 



Dark- coloured Dorkin'GS (M. B. Z>).— There is so much difficulty in 

 breeding the Silver-Grey Dorkings, that we advise you to adopt (he "Dark 

 Dorking." You will occasionally breed Silver-Greys from Dark, and Dark 

 from Silver-Greys From the mixture of colour you mention you will 

 breed handsome birds partaking of the feather of both' parents, but the 

 probability is yon will not breed either pure. You will not injure your 

 dark birds by mixing th^ra with light, but you would spoil your light by 

 mixing with dark. As you say your fowls are for family uses, we advise 

 you to breed perfectly pure Dorkings without troubling yourself about 

 colour. The only work entirely devoted to Dorkings was oue published 

 some years ago by Baily, and called " The Dorking Fowl." It is now 

 only to be had bound up with the rest of his work on poultry. 



Chickens not True in Colour (E. D.). — You must choose your 

 Brahma breeders next year without a suspicion of brown. The chest out 

 patch on the wing of the cock is often seen, but it is not desirable. We 

 do not think tbe Light Brahmas breed more truly than the Dark. Both 

 are subject to the difficulties and disappointments that belong to all 

 breeding to feather. The best of every breed are the scarcest and the 

 most difficult to breed. Your buff shade is a disappointment to you, and 

 a disadvantage at a show. It is not a disqualification. 



Rue as a Medicine (•Berkharnp&tea&h — Rue is a very old-fashioned 

 poultry medicine. It is given chopped fine and mixed with butter. 

 Embryo eggs can always be found in a hen from the time she begins to 

 lay till she is past it. When in full laying they are more developed, and 

 show the order in which they will be laid. 



Exhibiting Brahmas (Novice). — It is not usual to wash the feathers on 

 the leg of a Brahma cock, but there is no difficulty in doing it. Take 

 some warm water, and for white feathers soma soap, rub the dirty feathers 

 with a piece of flannel, and dry before a fire or in a basket of clean soft 

 straw. As only the outer and exposed part of the feather is dirty, you 

 must be careful to wot only that part, and the cleansing must he done by 

 wiping the feather down. If the plumage be rumpled and wetted you 

 will have done harm rather than good. If the Birmingham prize was 

 unnoticed at a small show, either the bird had lost condition or the 

 judges were at fault. 



Brahmas (TF. C.).— Your Dark Brahma weighs well (9|lbs. at sovan 

 months old), and may be exhibited with good hope of success. Your 

 Light Brahma with a single comb is worthless to breed from, as he would 

 be sure to disappoint you. So far from breeding from a party- feathered 

 cock to improve any black breed, the difficulty is to breed cocks without 

 foul feathers. Buy a cook and two or three hens of the best you can get, 

 and cross them with jour own. A Spanish bird often helps, but it re- 

 quires a good deal of troublesome breeding-out. 



Black Red Game Fowls {Subscriber, Ireland). —Wherever -all the 

 points of a breed are required we, with all good feeling, advise our readers 

 to bay one of the many books published on the subject. Our limits will 

 not permit us to reprint. One essential in a Black Red Game cock is a 

 thoroughly black tail and breast— any white is a defect. The hens should 

 be brown all over ; they may have wheaten breasts, and must have 

 yellow striped hackles. All breeding in-and-in is in our opinion injurious. 

 We prefer breeding from hens with young cocks to young hens or pullets 

 with an older mate. The Cambridge Turkey should be spangled all over. 

 The cocks may be kept three seasons, and one bird will be enough for 

 twenty, thirty, or more hens. It is usual to run three Gees^ with a 

 gander. Embden Geese are average breeders, but not so prolific as the 

 Toulouse. 



Feeding to Increase Weight (ff. 31).— Your food is not good enough 

 for hens to attain top weights at this season of t lie year. In your morning 

 feed potato parings and boiled rice are bad. In your afternoon feed you 

 will get none that will do well on bran and barleymeal mixed. Bran is 

 abhorred by fowls. They do not masticate, they are obliged to swallow 

 it whole ; it tickles and induces thirst, and they drink too much. Give 

 your birds the kitchen scraps less the Potato parings and the rice. Let 

 them have them mix-sd with barleymeal. At midday give them whole 

 barley, and name on alternate days. In the evening feed as in the morn- 

 ing. If there be not enough of the kitchen scraps to make two entire 

 meals, divide the quantity equally. It is of no use to give oats to fowls. 

 Ground oats are the best food, and barleymeal the next best. 



Brahma Cockerel Losing hi3 Feathers (T. A. D.).~ Your bird is 

 heated, but if all your birds are fed alike, and this only loses its feathers, 

 it cannot be the result of their food. The skin is so heated that the 

 feathers are not fed, and the root itches ; this causes the bird to pull them 

 out. The cure is to purge freely with castor oil— a table-spoonful ever 7 

 day, to give lettuce freely, and to follow up with Baily's pills. You must 

 catch the bird, and keep him separate till he be cured, and it will not be 

 long. 



Poultry Feeder (A Fancier).— The feeder you mention is called a 

 "hopper." T 12 bird jumps on a treadle, which, falling with the weight 

 of the bird, opens the box that contains the food. It is made by Baily 

 anl Son, Mount Street, and is very durable and inexpensive. We do not 

 think such feeders good for poultry, as the correct theory is that fowls 

 should not eat com a mouthful at a time, but pick it up grain by grain, 

 with blades of grass, clover leaves, small stones, and many other things 

 good for healtb, and necessary for digestion. The plan we adopt is to 

 give Indian corn, which is too large for small birds. Wo have manv, but 

 not enough for a nuisance, till the hard weather sets in. 



Pullet3 AXD Cockerel (A Subscriber).— It you only need eggs, the 

 cockerel n<*ed'not be kept. 



Carrier's Head (T. C.).— The head of a prize Carrier Pigeon must be 

 long, narrow, and flit at the top, having 'a slight depression in the centre 

 Length, narrowness, and flatness, are the great points in the head ; if it 

 be round, it is callol barrel-heade-1, which is a great fault. Length of 



skull and beak Bhould be, in a cock, 2 J inches, in a hen 2£ inches. The 

 width of the skull should not exceed half an inch, measured at the back 

 of the head behind the eye-wattte. 



Dressing Rabbit Skins. — Wellwisher has sent us the following in 

 answer to a query from another correspondent—" Rabbits' skins may be 

 cured so as to remain soft and pliable, by the following method : — Soak 

 them for a short time in water, and then, if they require it, thin them on 

 the inside by scraping. Then place them for three or four days in a bath 

 made by mixing 2 lbs. of bran in one gallon of water. Next a paste made 

 with 1 lb. of alum, and 3 02s. ef commou salt, moistened with water and 

 worked together, is spread on the inside of the skin and left for about 

 eighteen hours. Then hang up the skins to dry, with the fleece or hair 

 outermost, and, it possible, in the sun. After this smooth the inside with 

 pumice-stone, then switch or brush the outside." 



Centrifugal Eonex-extracting Machine. — "Hive any of your 

 readers tried the above-named m-tchine ? If so, with what result ? Is it 

 easy to make from the directions given in 'our Journal?' and is it 

 efficient?"— J. R.J. 



Perry.— ".!. B." wishes to know how to manage perry sd that it wil 

 be sparkling in the bottle?. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS 

 In the Suburbs of London for the week ending December 6th. 





BAKOHETER. 





THEMIOMETET 





Wind. 





D±TB. 



Air. 



Earth. 



Raui 





Max. 



Min. 



Mas. 



Min. 



1 rt. 



2 ft. 





Wed. . . 30 



30.402 



30.028 



45 



21 



43 



42 



E. 



.0) 



Tkurs. . 1 



80.495 



80.432 



43 



24 



43 



42 



E. 



.00 



Fri. ... 2 



30 507 



30.372 



83 



21 



43 



42 



N. 



.00 



S*t. ... 3 



30.232 



300158 



43 



29 



41 



41 



N. 



.10 



Sun. . . 4 



80 340 



3U92 



38 



15 



42 



41 



E. 



.00 



Hon. . . 5 



30.200 



29 998 



86 



8) 



40 



40 



N. 



•44 



Taes.... 6 



29 300 



29.744 



39 



33 



42 



40 



N.W. 



.16 



Mean . . 



30.282 



30.119 



40.29 



2157 



42.00 



41.01 j .. 



0.60 



31. — Clear and flue ; densely overcast ; cloudy and cold, 

 1. — Fine and frosty ; overcist: cold wind, overcast. 

 2.— Densely overcast; overcast; line, frosty air. 

 3 — Sharp frost; overcast, slight rain; densely overcast. 

 4. — Clear and frosty; cloudy and cold ; fine, frosty. 

 5. — Sharp frost; densely overcast; overcast. 

 6. — Drizzling rain ; rain ; heavy rain. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— December 7. 

 The markets generally are supplied in excess of the demand, and many 

 •stands remain uncleared at lower prices, any improvement upon which 

 must not be expected for a week or two. The past season afforded an 

 abundant crop, and the imports of fruit continue heavy, and good prices 

 can only be obtained for cho'ce parcels. The Potato trade is somewhat 

 better, choice Regents bringing 70?. to S^s. per ton. 



FRUIT. 



b. a. 



Apples i sieve 1 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries -lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 10 



Currants $ sieve 



Black do. S» 



Fiers doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 2 



Gooseberries quart 



Graces, Hothouse..,, lb. 2 



Lemons ^lOO R 



Melons each 1 



to 2 

 



Mulberries lb. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges ^100 6 



Peaches doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 1 



dessert doz. 1 



Pine Apples lb. 8 



Plums 4 sieve 1 



Quinces doz. 1 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries lb. 



Walnuts bushel 10 



do ^100 1 



s. d. s. d 



Otor, 

 



VEGETABLES. 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus 3> 100 



Beans, Kidney ....£M00 2 



Broad bushel 



Beet.Red doz. 2 



Broccoli bundle 9 



Brussels Sprouts . . £ sieve 2 



Cabbage doz. 1 



Capsicums ^100 



Carrots bunch 4 



Cauliflower doz. 2 



Celery bundle 1 6 



Coleworts. .doz. bunches 3 



Cucumbers each 9 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 3 



Garlic lb. 8 



Herbs bunch 3 



Horseradish . ... bundle 3 



d. s. 



OtoO 

 



Leeks bunch 



Lettucw doz. 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress . .punnet 

 Onions bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley sieve 



Parsuips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Radishes .. doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb, 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



Turnips bnnch 



"Vegetable Marrows . . doz. 



d. s. 



4 to 



POULTRY MARKET.— December 7. 

 The cold weather and the approach of Christmas have somewhat im- 

 proved the tone of the market in all but Game. 





s. 

 2 



a. s. 



to 8 



2 

 a 2 

 9 a 

 7 

 9 2 



d 

 3 

 G 

 

 

 6 

 





s. 

 



d. s. 



9 to 

 4 1 

 • 9 

 G 3 

 4 1 

 2 



a. 



in 







1 



G 





Wild ditto 







2 







1 











2 









6 



