July 4, 1E.72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



17 



amongst Tumblers a wider range of colour and marking than 

 amongst any other breed of Pigeons whatever. 



Although I approve of variety in colour and marking I am no 

 advocate of bad colour, but desire to have every colour rich and 

 good — a thing in no way difficult to accomplish with Tumblers 

 of any kind to anyone who has a knowledge of breeding for 

 colour. Indeed, it seems no easy matter to breed bad colour in 

 Tumblers, for where do we And such Blacks, Reds, or Yellows 

 as in this breed, in spite of their being often bred on wrong 

 principles for the purpose of matching for tumbling properties 1 

 As to the length of flight which they would take if properly 

 trained, I can say comparatively little, as I labour under the dis- 

 advantage of keeping them as feeders of Short-faces, and they 

 must consequently be well fed. If the weather is good, how- 

 ever, and care be taken to make them fly in the morning before 

 being fed, and after their flight shut up, they can easily be got 

 to fly for half an hour or so, which is as long a time as I can afford 

 to watch them. In wet weather, even when not raining at the 

 moment, if the air is full of moisture they do not fly very readily, 

 and it is then almost as well to keep them in. Young birds 

 during warm sunny weather, if allowed entire liberty generally 

 fly a good deal during the day, and as flying undoubtedly de- 

 velopes the tumbling, if I had separate accommodation for 

 them I would be inclined to give them their full liberty up to a 

 certain age. 



As to the tumbling qualities of the two sexes I do not think 

 there is any difference, but if there be, it is in favour of the hens. 

 I never saw any Tumblers where only the one sex tumbled, but 

 I should be inclined to think that in such cases the performances 

 are of but rare occurrence in either sex — in fact, it would be 

 difficult to tell which tumbled least. The bird that developes 

 into a house Tumbler is generally, indeed almost in every case, 

 for a time an Air Tumbler, and in my next letter I shall endeavour 

 to describe the differences between the two kinds in tumbling 

 ^properties and other points. — Scotch Thistle. 



SILVER DRAGOONS' BARS. 

 As I have frequently the honour of acting as a judge at Pigeon 

 shows, I have been requested by several fanciers to state my 

 views on this subject. Mr. J. Percival, an old fancier, and like- 

 wise judge, having already done so, I shall enter into no argu- 

 ment with anyone, for more than enough has beeu written and 

 said on the subject. What I wish to put forth is, that it is by no 

 means a new idea that Silver Dragoons should have black bars, 

 for nearly forty years ago I had some, and they were then 

 thought to be correct by a next-door neighbour, a Dragoon 

 fancier then of more than thirty years' standing. I hope other 

 gentlemen acting as judges will give their opinion, without any 

 further discussion, as to which way they would award the prizes, 

 both varieties being present — viz., Silver Dragoons with brown 

 bars and Silver Dragoons with black. Without any hesitation 

 I say I should give the prize to those with the black bars, all 

 other points being equal. — Harrison Weib, Peckham. 



GUINEA PIGS versus RATS. 



Seeing some remarks upon this subject at page 492, I wish to 

 state that a friend of mine has informed me that when he kept 

 Ptabbits in a place much infested by rats, he employed Guinea 

 ^pigs for the protection of his young stock, knowing that there 

 were some traditions on the subject. He had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of noting the results. As soon as a rat showed itself 

 an the neighbourhood they at once gave battle en masse, upon 

 the principle that Vunion fait la force. Single encounters, 

 however, were by no means rare ; in this case the Guinea pig 

 would go about his work in a business-like manner, following 

 the tactics of a ferret, and if he did not kill his foe would drive 

 'him bleeding from the field. Certainly, if we examine a fine 

 buck Guinea pig, he seems perfectly capable of coping with any 

 animal of his size, his strength and agility being remarkable. 

 My own experience is as foUows : — I used to keep Rabbits rather 

 extensively in a large, dry, and well- ventilated cellar or base- 

 ment, in which I had frequently seen rats. A portion of this was 

 railed off for the use of newly-weaned Rabbits, a rat's peculiar 

 weakness, as fanciers know well, taking the precaution to allow 

 two or three Guinea pigs to keep them company ; and duringthe 

 whole time (some two or three years) I never had a single one 

 Mlled, and never saw the nose of a rat in my rabbitry, though 

 there were plenty in the other cellars, and even holes com- 

 municating with the one I used. Whether their peculiar odour 

 was the deterrent or not I cannot say. I think that these cases 

 show that the idea is not quite such a delusion as our worthy 

 editors suppose. 



Guinea pigs, in my opinion, have not as a rule received their 

 due from naturalists and writers upon the subject. They are 

 generally dismissed as being pretty and so forth, but destitute 

 of intelligence and other attributes necessary for qualification 

 as " pets." One writer (I believe the Rev. J. G. Wood), says they 



" make little noise." If this be the rule all mine have been dis- 

 tinguished exceptions ; the irrepressible little creatures knew the 

 step of their feeder as well as their friends and companions the 

 Rabbits, and would set up such a chorus of squeaking as quite 

 to place them outside the category of dumb animals. They re- 

 semble the housewife's " black beetles" in the inappropriate- 

 ness of their name, inasmuch as the former are not beetles, and 

 their colour is by no means black (it is sometimes white), and 

 our little friends are not pigs, and do not come from Guinea. To 

 such an extent is their restlessness carried that their young run 

 about and eat on the very day they are born, the precocious Utile 

 animals boasting as good a coat and eyesight as their parents. 

 I will not trespass upon your space further than to say that I have 

 found them as intelligent and interesting, apart from their use- 

 fulness as " scarecrows," as any of the numerous pets I have 

 kept, but this, I imagine, was more owing to a little kindness and 

 good treatment, which brought out their good qualities, than to 

 any special happiness in the choice of specimens ; nevertheless, 

 I have never yet seen one to equal my original little friends 

 Toby and his spouse Topsy.— Sciolus. 



Dover and Cinque Poets Poultry Show. — We are glad to see 

 a report of the Committee, stating that after paying all expenses 

 a balance of £30 has been carried forward to meet next year's 

 expenses. A vote of thanks was deservedly bestowed on the 

 Honorary Secretary, Mr. J. W. Bacon. 



BEE MANAGEMENT. 



In your impression of the 6th inst. we have an account of some 

 experiments on bees by Mr. C. N. Abbott, of Hanwell. His 



method of putting wax 

 on the frames is nothing 

 new, only instead of an 

 old knife a piece of zinc 

 is generally used, which 

 answers the purpose 

 m uch better. I enclose 

 you an outline of mine. 

 The round hole is for 

 hanging it up. 



The second part of 

 Mr. Abbott's article 

 rather staggered me, I 

 must confess ; the idea 

 of applying a paraffin 

 lamp to a hive of bees 

 suffering from dysen- 

 tery at a temperature so 

 low (19°), is surely some- 

 thing new, and may 

 bring to mind the story 

 of the poor countryman 

 who put hot stones 

 under his hive to induce 

 the bees to swarm. Be 

 that as it may, I will 

 follow the example of 

 neither. It is true I am 

 not much of an apiarian, 

 although I keep a few 

 hives and have read a good deal about bees ; but if ever I should 

 be so unfortunate as to have a hive like that described by Mr. 

 Abbott, I should most certainly give the few remaining half-dead 

 bees notice to quit, and take better care next time I had a weak 

 stock to feed. - ,r. ; ;., .;;_ ; ; 



Autumn feeding is best, but when a stock cannot be got up to 

 the desired weight without danger, an extra covering and a dry 

 place to winter in have many a time been of service to me ; be- 

 sides, I am afraid were I to follow Mr. C. N. Abbott, I might get 

 my fingers burnt. — Novice. 



Value of Eanct Poultry. — By thus keeping a high standard 

 of artificial points, below which a bird is comparatively value- 

 less, conventionally perfect specimens will always be few ; and 

 we ensure a large number of birds which in these particulars are 

 below par, but which possess all the economic merits of the 

 variety to which they belong, and which are available for purely 

 commercial purposes at a very moderate price. That celebrated 

 breeders are often glad to dispose of such extra stock at only a 

 few shillings over the price of ordinary fowls is notorious ; and 

 as the hiring of a good ram at a high price is directly remunera- 

 tive in the increased fleece and mutton produced, so the effect 

 in the case of poultry is equally capable of being calculated. 

 Supposing a farmer's breeding stock of one ordinary cock and 

 seven hens is worth £1, or 2s. 6d. each bird, the difference in 

 value of a fair Dorking cock at £1 and seven Brahma hens at 

 10s. each (and we have often been glad to sell pullets possessing 



