121 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 8, 1872. 



are sometimes called cock and hen, but more frequently male and female. 

 Bewick calls them the latter. 



Phice of Creve-Cceurs <T. H.).—Ii yon. desire only pure-bred fowls you 

 can tny them in a month's time afc from 12s. to 11?. each. You ask for points. 

 If you mean to insist on them you will have to give more money. Square 

 bodies, short dark legs, good top-knot and beard, large size, or the promise of it. 



Skin of Silkies (Gf. B. F.}. — The skin of a Silky must be very dark blue, 

 almost black. The comb should be dark, and the face and deaf ear light 

 steel-blue. These are the distinctive marks of a Silky. "Without them the 

 bird is a pretender, and can only be disqualified if shown among pure birds. 



Houdans — G-AaiE (G. P.). — Excepting when it is necessary to have the 

 earliest eggs we should never discard bens only a year old. For breeding 

 chickens we prefer two-year hens, but they do not lay as early as pullets. 

 Houdan hens are better the second than the first year. Many other breeds — 

 Cochins, for instance — are never so good after the first year. They lay more 

 the second year, but not as early. The difference in Game fowls is only 

 in feather, but for satisfactory and easy breeding we prefer the Black and 

 Brown Reds. 



Ducks Contttlsed (3. S. C). — Your Bucks pick up something that dis- 

 agrees with them, and from your description we should say something that 

 swells and hardens in the weasand. A Duck has no crop. This would inter- 

 rupt the circulation to the brain, and cause the bird to roll over as you de- 

 scribe. If of frequent occurrence it would, of course, cause inflammation 

 and death. You can test this by shutting them up where they have only 

 that which is given. You will see whether they recover, or whether they 

 are still attacked. 



Ducklings Dying (E. H".). — You will in future save your young Ducks if 

 you put the old Duck and her brood in an old pigstye or such place, where 

 there is shelter within and opportunity without of foraging among loose and 

 irregular stones, and the puddles formed by inequalities of the outside. 

 They will do here for a fortnight or three weeks, and can then be let out with 

 the Duck. "We do not think the addition to the contents of the ditch would 

 account for mortality, as they are not squeamish in appetite or digestion. 

 "We do not admire your feeding. Ducks will die of poverty, starvation, and 

 vermin, although plentifully fed on rice. Boiled potatoes are very bad food 

 for all poultry; they cause extensive disease of the liver. Barleymeal and 

 whole corn are better feeding. 



' Hotjdans Lauxe (A. C, C. H.). — What do you mean by " the run ?" Is it 

 merely the roosting-house, or is all their space covered in a similar way ? If 

 it is, you need seek no farther for the cause of lameness. The feet of birds 

 will bear contact with gravel stones, however rough, without lameness, but 

 they cannot bear the sharp -corners of broken bricks, nor their indented 

 sides. If you have no other run, have all the brickbats carefully raked off, 

 and leave the rest as it is. It will not do to have the bricks broken and 

 rammed in, as it forms a surface too hard for the fowls to scratch, and also 

 holds damp, that is injurious to them. Unlessyou do this all will become lame. 



Carrier Laying Soft Eggs (J. B.). — This may arise from the bird not 

 being able to procure materials for the formation of the shell. If this be so, 

 put into your loft a pan filled with broken old mortar, and a little salt mixed 

 with it. If the bird has this already, the cause is inflammation, and give her 

 a calomel and rhubarb pill and low diet. 



Tarring a Pigeon House (Rat Trap). — Tarring the Pigeon house will 

 have no bad effect on the Pigeons. The best time to do it is any time while 

 the weather is dry. 



Preserving Kidney Beans and Peas (Note). — "We never succeeded in 

 keeping them green and palatable for winter use. Any reader who has been 

 successful will oblige many of our leaders by detailing the pi-ocess. 



Judging Judges (Don't bother me . — We quite agree with you in con- 

 sidering that a judge should not be assailed personally or in any way for his 

 decisions; but if by being so assailed he is induced, as you say, at some 

 future show to give a prize undeservedly to his assailant, then he is totally 

 unfit to be a judge. If he is discreet, a judge will not needlessly enter the ex- 

 hibition after giving his awards, for losers are not usually amiable in temper. 



Water for Babbits (J. A. A.). — Your Babbits should not be allowed t.o 

 go through the water, or even drink of that in the pond, at any rate not as 

 freely as you state. A little fresh water at times is beneficial to them, 

 especially if confined in hutches, and during hot weather in particular, but 

 three or four table- spoonsful every alternate day will be sufficient. 



Mice Pest. — " North Wilts" says, " My house being near a rick yard 

 is overran with mice; they have in fact taken entire possession of me and 

 mine. My cat, thouqrh an excellent mouser, appears to have given up her 

 vocation in despair. I am afraid of using poison lest mine enemies should be 

 more terrible in death than in life. Can any of your readers tell me of a 

 poison that will kill the mice in such a way that they will not retire to die in 

 their holes, and thus create a nuisance? Were I the Emperor of Morocco, a 

 second Whittington should be my prime minister." 



[We fear unless you use strychnine there is no poison of which it can be 

 truly said " eating is instant death." We believe that pills containing 

 phosphorus are the best poisons to employ for the destruction of these 

 marauders. The following mixture also lures and destroys them: — Black 

 hellebore root powdered, 1 oz.; seeds of stavesacre powder, loz.; oatmeal, 

 2 lbs. ; oil of caraway, thirty drops. Mix, and place little heaps of the powder 

 near their haunts.] 



Do Bees Always Bring Home Honey when Loaded with Pollen? 

 (B. S. H.). — When honey is abundantly secreted by the flowers, we believe 

 that bees gather both honey and pollen; it is probable, however, that the 

 greater part of the honey so collected is employed in the feeding of the 

 young brood. Pollen is often extremely abundant when the secretion of 

 honey is limited. 



Do HmrriLE Bees Sting? (C. R.). — The workers of the humble bees have 

 stings, and will use them when provoked. The males, like the drones of the 

 hive bee, have no stingy. The red-tailed bees defend their stores -with great 

 zeal and pertinacity. Whether the sting of a humble bee is more severe than 

 that of our hive bee, we have had no personal opportunity of demonstrating. 



The Ayrshire Cow (L. H. R.). — You had better advertise for one. We 

 only know that the Shetland cow is very small. The following is a description 

 or' the Ayrshire cows : — " They are a middle-homed cattle, excelling, perhaps, 

 any breed of dairy cows in the kingdom. Small in size, their want of sym- 

 metry is not so obvious. They afford milk of a very rich quality, and rather 

 oily. They fatten more rapidly than many other races of cattle ; for when 

 the butyraceous deposit is stopped by drying, the system soon accustoms 

 itself to secrete fat, which they soon acquire on a pasture inferior to that 

 required by more tender animals. There are two characteristics which seem 



so thoroughly belonging to this breed, that they ought not to be passed over. 

 The one is the black muzzle, and the other is the yellow-red, which seems to 

 be the natural colour of the race, arranged not in considerable quantities but 

 in blots or patches. Thus the animals generally present a sort of checked 

 aspect of golden yellow, red and white. The produce of these cows in milk 

 and butter is very great. An Ayrshire cow will give from 600 to 800 gallons 

 of milk in the course of the year; and five gallons per day is by no means 

 uncommon for three months after calving. This milk is also very productive 

 of butter. Three gallons and a half of such milk will yield a pound and a, 

 half of butter; so that as much as 260 lbs. of butter will be yielded by an 

 Ayrshire cow ; and it is no uncommon thing to have 8 or 9 lbs. of butter pro- 

 duced from one of these cows for some weeks after calving. About twenty- 

 six gallons of milk will afford 14 lbs. of cheese ; or a good cow will yield some 

 35 stone of cheese per annum, which, taken at 10.5. per stone, will produce in 

 this article alone as much as £18 per annum. There is another peculiarity 

 of the Ayrshire cows which is deserving of notice. They hold to their milk 

 to a very late period. They are cultivated and nurtured to give milk. Nature 

 would teach an animal to give a supply so long as its calf needed that nu- 

 tritious assistance ; but so far have the milking qualities of the Ayrshire cow 

 been brought out, that in some instances it has been known to yield milk all 

 the year round, and even retain it to an advanced age." — (Milburn.) 



Drying Everlasting Flowers (F. W.). — If thoroughly dried, and kept 

 in a dry room, they never mildew. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Caiiden Square, London. 



Latj. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. J 3' 0" W.; Altitude 111 feet. 



Date. 



A.M. 



In the Day. 









• S3 





o~ 



», 



Shade Tem- 



Radiation 



. 



July 





Hyjrrome- 

 ter. 



5| 



J*" 



perature. 



Temperature 



'3 



Aug. 



Dry. 



Wet. 



Max. 



Min. 



In 

 sun. 



On 

 grass 







Inches. 



deg. 



dec 





dost. 



dea. 



dee;. 



(Leg- 



de ? . 



_ 



We. 31 



29.893 



CIS 



53.1 



N. 



83 3 



69 



17.2 



121.8 



5n ?, 



— 



Th. 1 



29.«S9 



65 



56.1 



S.W. 



62 S 



73.7 



55.7 



121 7 



55.7 



0.162 



Frl. 2 



•29 614 



57.2 



55.0 



— 



62 3 



66.1 



51.3 



101.6 



55 8 



0.230 



Sat. 3 



29.762 



59 



511 



N. 



01.2 



71.2 



50.3 



1212 



19 2 



0.220 



Sun. i 



89.891 



55.8 



51.3 



W. 



61.2 



62 8 



53.9 



75 1 



516 



O.OSO 



Mo. 5 



29.633 



60.5 



58.2 



E. 



60.3 



63.2 



51.2 



88.8 



50.6 



0.2r0 



Tu. 8 



29.713 



65.5 



59 3 



W. 



60.0 



72.6 



53.2 



117.1 



51.1 



0.030 



Means 



29.789 



60.7 



55.S 





61.6 



68.1 52.7 



1C7.3 



52.5 



0.922 



REMARKS. 

 31st. — A very fine day, and very pleasant from being cooler than the weather 



we have had lately. 

 August 1st. — Fine day, with pleasant cool breeze. 

 2nd. — Rain in morning, thunder at intervals all day, from 11.30 a.m: to 8 p.m., 



some very loud, and the lightning very vivid ; rain at night. 

 3rd. — Fair in morning but cold ; rain afterwards occasionally during the day, 



which was on the whole a very uncomfortable one. 

 4th. — Rain in morning; dull, dark, November-like day ; but finer and brighter 



in the evening. 

 5th. — Fine for a short time in the morning; but rainy, cold, and uncomfort- 

 able afterwards. 

 6th. — Fine in early morning, but clouding over between S and 9 A.ai; rather 

 showery during the day, but much better than yesterday. 

 A wonderful change in temperature, the^oiean in the shade at»9 a.m., being 

 10^ lower than last week, and the mean in the sun 20° lower ; we have not had 

 so cool a week since the beginning of June. — G. J. Syhons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— August 7. 

 Business has fallen off very much, and the markets are not nearly so well 

 attended. Soft fruit is becoming scarce, and veiy few Apples or Pears of 

 home growth are offered. The supplies from France and other parts of the 

 South of Europe continue large. 



FRUIT. 



Apples £- sieva 



Apricots... doa. 



Cherries .per lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 



Currants J sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 



Cobs lb. 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, nothouse. . . . lb. 



Lemons. $*100 



Melons each 



Artichokes doz. 



Asparagus ^100. 



Beans, Kidney.... J sieve 



Broad bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 



Broccoli bundle 



Cabbage doz. 



Capsicums ^100 



Carrots bunch 



Cauliflower doz. 



Celery bundle 



Coleworts.. doz. bunches 

 Cucumbers each 



pickling ...doz. 



Endive doz. 



Fennel bnncb 



Garlic lb. 



Herbs bunch 



Horseradish bundle 



Leess : bunch 



Lettuce doz. 



B. d. 8. 



OtoO 



Mulberries ^lb. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges 3*100 



Peaches doz. 



Pears, kitchen doz. 



dessert doz. 



Pine Apples lb. 



Plums A sieve 



Quinces doz. 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries ^"Ib, 



Walnuts bushel 10 



ditto ¥"100 " 



VEGETABLES. 



s. d. s. 

 4 0to6 



















9 











6 







d 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress.. punnet 



Onions bunch 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



6 Parsnips doz. 



6 Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidoey do. 



Round do. 



Radishes., doz. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy ^bundle 



Savoys dox. 



Scorzonera .... ^bundle 



Sea-Kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes doz. 



2 Turnips bunch 



| Vegetable Marrows. .doz. 



n 



d. 



s. d 



1 



OtoO 



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10 



8 



II 



11 



8 



II 



18 







II 







2 



II 



1 



8 







6 



s 



























(i 



1 



1 



II 



2 



10 







25 



1 







2 



H. 



d. 



s. a 



8 



0to5 



(I 



2 







II 



1 











6 







8 







i 







9 



1 



1 



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1 6 



a 



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1 



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9 



1 n 











6 







9 



1 6 











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