October 11 1877. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



297 



months old the points get a grey colour, and gradually get 

 darker, until at about six months old they become a light brown. 

 This darkens for another month or two, when they will be aB 

 <dark as they ever will be. The most critical period is when 

 they are about three weeks old, at which time they should be 

 very carefully looked to, for they pass through a moult and 

 disease in the same way as puppies pass through distemper. 

 The young Silver- Grey are born quite black, and continue that 

 ■colour for a few weeks, when by degrees a few light hairs make 

 their appearance, and the shade gradually increases in intensity 

 till the legitimate silver-grey is arrived at. The most annoying 

 feature is the nose, which is often white. The head generally 

 is darker than the rest of the body, and this is no defect, although 

 generally speaking the more uniform the shade the better. 

 Young Siberians are also born quite white, or rather pink, and 

 continue white for a couple of months or so, when the ears, 

 nose, and feet begin gradually to look dirty and by degrees 

 brown, till at about nine months th6y are at their best. _ They 

 should be kept dry and clean, and the hair should occasionally 

 be combed. The colour of the little Dutch, however, can be 

 discovered almost immediately after birth, and after a week can 

 be told to a nicety, an old hand being able even at that early 

 period to give the approximate worth of each member of the 

 family. They develope rapidly, and at three months the colour 

 is as good as it ever will be : hence it is that very young Dutch 

 often run off with prizes, while the young of other breeds 

 seldom do so, owing to their points not having developed. The 

 Dutch doe is the most prolific of all, and the beBt mother : hence 

 she is often sold and used as a nurse doe, either to relieve a doe 

 with a large litter or to take the place of a deceased mother. In 

 either case, with a little judicious care, they do their work well 

 and give general satisfaction. 



The delicate varieties, in which division we have placed 

 Angoras, Silver-Creams, and Polish, require more care and want 

 some little warmth to develope them properly. Polish Rabbits 

 are particularly delioate, and as they are not so prolific as the 

 others, nor does their scarcity make them more prized, we 

 hardly recommend their being kept, especially as it is only a 

 person who has seen the two together that can distinguish be- 

 tween a specimen of the breed and a common Rabbit white 

 with pink eyes. At present there is not much pure Silver- 

 Cream bred, nearly all the specimens ahown being the pro- 

 ducts of a cross. The young of the Angora are born pink and 

 bare, but the wool comes very quickly, and they are soon covered 

 with a thin layer of Bilk. They are very delicate, and seem 

 affected by the cold more than any other breed, except, perhaps, 

 the Lop, and if they are kept in outdoor or draughty hutches 

 they are a very long time getting properly fledged. For the 

 first two or three months they require a good deal of care. 

 This breed at all times requires a little extra care to prevent its 

 long woolly coat from becoming matted. A comb worked 

 through the hair gently once a-week is a good thing, taking care 

 not to lug when there are knots, as the poor animal's skin is 

 far from strong, and it will show plain signs of pain by wincing. 

 A specially roomy and clean hutch and a careful selection of 

 bedding are also necesBary to insure perfection. If the wool 

 becomes very badly matted the worstparts should be cutoff, and 

 the hutch kept a little warmer till it grows again. It you can 

 catch them at a moult it would be as well to cut the hair off 

 altogether, carefully combing the new hair as it makes its ap- 

 pearance. The best and prettiest Angoras are those with very 

 long wool parted down the middle. In fact, great care should 

 always be paid to the wool, which quickly degenerates into 

 masses of filth if not attended to; in fact, the easier it mats the 

 better the quality. . 



The three varieties last under notice all require some sort of 

 heat, as also do Silver- Greys. The Angora does are best with a 

 little warmth, but not too much. If there ia not heat the wool 

 will not be so fine as could be wished, and if there is too much 

 the ears will grow long and flabby, falling something after the 

 ■faBhion of the Lop. Both of these are to be avoided. The 

 Silver. Grey and Creams both want to be shielded from the cold 

 wind, and a little warmth will assist the shading process. The 

 Cream is certainly the more delicate of the_ two, and hence re- 

 quires more care and attention, and also a little warmer tempe- 

 rature. As a rule, however, the foreign varieties of Rabbits do 

 with but little artificial heat. — Geta. 



Chicken-feeding. — There is one ingredient in'chicken-feeding 

 which deserves special notice, being of the greatest assistance 

 to those whose space is limited. We allude to the bone-dust, or 

 ground dry bones, which is often used by gardeners in potting 

 plants. For the knowledge and use of this ingredient we had 

 originally to thank Mr. John Stuart of Helensburg, well known 

 in 'Scotland as a successful breeder, and to whose unvarying 

 friendship in many other ways and instances we feel pleasure in 

 acknowledging heavy obligations. After full and satisfactory 

 trial ourselves, we had no hesitation in recommending the use 

 of bone-dust to other breeders ; and the extent to which other 

 writers have followed us in various periodicals, and to which 



the substance is now advertised in the poultry papers, besides 

 the many private testimonies we have ourselves received, are 

 conclusive evidence of the value of an article of diet which 

 Mr. Stuart's kindness had enabled us to be the first to introduce 

 generally to poultry breeders. Bone-dust for mixing in poultry 

 food should be on an average about the fineness of coarse oatmeal. 

 There are usually larger pieces interspersed, but these need not 

 be taken out, as any too large will be rejected; though the meal 

 may be sifted free from any larger than peas if desired. The 

 price being never very much more per hundredweight than 

 good meal, it should be used liberally with all the soft food, 

 and about an ounce may be mixed with every half-pint of dry 

 meal before adding the milk or water. — {The Illustrated Book 

 of Poultry.) 



THE BEE SEASON IN HERTS. 



On former occasions I hive given your readers some account 

 of my bees aud their doings near Hitchin; and as we may now 

 consider the season for 1S77 closed, it is my purpose to tell a 

 little of my year's experience and of the lesBons I have been 

 taught by it. Last season was one of unusual abundance of 

 honey, this season has been a very different one, although I am 

 happy to say that I am not obliged to mourn with those who 

 have had no harvest at all. All my hives have done something. 

 Some have given me no surplus of honey in supers, but these 

 have one and all given me powerful swarms, which in five caseB 

 out of eleven not only filled their hives (all ten-framed wooden 

 hives) with combs and sufficient store to carry them on to next 

 March, but also filled sectional supers weighing from 10 lbs. to 

 35 lbs. each. 



This result was brought about by two causes. Each hive into 

 which a swarm was placed had its frames filled with clean old 

 comb purchased from cottagers whoEebees had died out during 

 the winter and spriDg, or the bars were furnished with from 

 4 to 6 inches of midrib moulded and fixed according to Mr. 

 Cheshire's method, and in the Becond place all the swarms were 

 thus hived before the second week in June. No swarms were 

 hived after thia period, but were returned to their parent hives 

 after the queen cells had been excieed. From experience I 

 knew that my honey harvest could only last for three or four 

 weeks, and that it would commence early in June. As it turned 

 out, the season was a late one, and the clover was not in flower 

 till about the 12th of June. After cold wet weather a sudden 

 change took place, for me in the nick of time, and a fortnight of 

 lovely sunshine and hot weather arrived. Honey was abundantly 

 secreted in the flowers, and my bees worked merrily up to the 

 2-lth, when a change came — a sudden unwelcome change. 

 Copying from my diary, I find : — " June 25th. Wind n.e., much 

 colder ; bees get out to work much later than yesterday, and are 

 all home soon after 5 p m. Many for;ake their supers during 

 the cold night." This proceeding went on until I find under 

 date June 28th — "Most of the clover cut." From that date 

 very little honey was stored in supers. On Eome hives where 

 the snpera were nearly finished a few fine days during the lime 

 blossoming completed them, but all my best supers were worked 

 before the 25th of June. The greatest quantity taken off one 

 hive, a stock which did not swarm, was 63 lbs.; two Lee's 

 Crystal Palace supers, 45 lbs., and the rest in sections worked 

 over the Lee's supers. Some time since Mr. Abbott inserted a 

 letter of mine which bore testimony to the wonderful results 

 brought about by the employment of midribs in supers made 

 from a plaster cast of natural comb. 



Mr. Hunter has told you of the midribs which are made by 

 an American invention. I hope to be able to test some of them, 

 and to note the reaults obtained from their use in comparison 

 with those obtained from the plaster casts. Given the casta, I 

 cannot see how the bars of frames can be supplied with guides 

 in a neater and more expeditious manner by the machine-made 

 sheets. But midribs whether made by one or the other method 

 are essential to bee-keeperB who wish for straight combs and 

 quickly filled supers. A Lee's super, seven bars, which when 

 sealed-up weighed 22i lbs., was filled from end to end with 

 comb worked on theBe midribs given the whole depth (4 inches) 

 of the super, Btored and sealed under sixteen days. Frames in 

 stock hives supplied with the same depth of guide sheets are 

 one and all built perfectly straight, and have given me this 

 autumn no trouble whatever to lift out one by one, full frames 

 being transferred from hives with bounteous stores to weaker 

 brethren, and the lighter put in their places, all fitting nicely 

 together, and affording me the greatest pleasure to manipulate 

 them. 



Next week I hope to tell you what advantages I have found by 

 the use of perforated zinc between the stock and supers, and of 

 some interesting and instructive accidents which happened 

 through its employment; also my experience regarding Ligu- 

 rian bees, which I have this year had for the first time, and to 

 which I have tried to give particular attention, carefully noting 

 any faults or excellencies in them as compared to our old friends 

 the so-called black bees. 



I think that my experience of the year has more than ever 



