460 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 5, 1872. 



a strong colony is the only one that preserves any value. "We 

 know that after a poor season the desire is strong to keep as 

 many stocks as possible, but in this matter our strength is not 

 in numbers. Better have one good one in the spring than a 

 dozen that have barely lived, through; you -will be better off' 

 even in point of numbers by June. In a good season, and under 

 favourable circumstances, one can increase very rapidly (if he 

 knows how ! ) In a poor season when all is unfavourable he had 

 better far unite than divide. We have often found this true. 



The exact amount of honey necessary to keep 'a colony 

 through the winter can hardly be estimated, so much depends 

 on the season, the locality, and the manner of wintering. Re- 

 member that bees do not waste it if they have a surplus, and 

 that if it is not too much in the centre of the hive, it is no dis- 

 advantage if they have more than they need. — (American Bee- 

 keepers' Journal.) 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Black Bantam Class at Manchester Poultry Show. — "In answer to 

 numerous inquiries relative to the Black Bantam class at the ahove Show on 

 December 26th and 27th, I can state upon authority that the class is for one 

 eock and two hens, any age. — R. H. Ashton, Mottram, near Manchester." 



Pigeon Lost (P. I* Anson). — If the Secretary can aid you with evidence 

 that the bird was delivered to the railway authorities, you could recover from 

 them in the County Court. 



Points in Blue and Black Pouters (H. TV. LX— Blues should be of a 

 clear and bright colour ; the sides of the wings, the head, breast, back, and 

 tail should be blue ; the wing-coverts should be crossed with two black bars ; 

 there is also a black band nearly at the edge of the tail ; a well-denned cres- 

 cent of white should be upon the front of the crop. Blacks should bs 

 marked similarly. As the Pouter has a great many important points and 

 properties, being a high fancy bird, and you wish to become an exhibitor, you 

 had better have Brent's "Pigeon Book," in which all are enumerated, sent 

 from our office post free for nineteen stamps. 



Loss of Song in a Canary while Moulting (A Fri-end to Canaries). — 

 The loss of song is one of the usual accompaniments of moulting. Even 

 though the moulting may be complete, the bird will not, probably, break into 

 full song this side of Christmas. He will be none the worse for a good rest. 

 The time occupied in moulting varies from three or four weeks to months. 

 Birds which are apparently fully moulted will, upon examination, frequently 

 show a great number of half-developed feathers. — W. A. Blakston. 



Breeding Higs-coloured and Dark-crested Canaries {E. Barker). — 

 Select for your breeding stock high-coloured birds, not quite clear, but having 

 some slight marks or ticks about them. An absolutely clear bird is perfec- 

 tion, and to breed from such is to ensure decline. From such as I have in- 

 dicated you may expect to get high-coloured clear birds. I give this as a 

 general rule without going into the theory of the matter. Tour Buff cocks 

 have what are known as grey crests. If you' pair them with close-feathered 

 hens having markings about them, you will get plenty of dark crests, and the 

 more exact the marking of the hens the greater chance there is- of getting 

 well-marked and crested young ones. By pairing two Buffs you will get 

 feather and compactness of crest, but at a sacrifice of colour. All marked 

 Canaries are not higher in colour than clear birds, but a depth of colour is 

 sometimes seen in a marked or ticked bird which is not attainable in a clear 

 one. — W. A. Blakston. 



Teaching a Bullfinch to Pipe (J. Arthur). — A bird organ can be had 

 at any musical-instruni* j nt shop. The bird must be taken in hand when very 

 young, and before he has had an opportunity of learning any other song. 

 Confine him in a dark closet, or prevent him from having his attention dis- 

 tracted by outward objects by covering his cage with a cloth. Then give him 

 his lessons early in the morning on an empty stomach, and reward a chirp 

 with a grain of hempseed. After morning lessons give him his breakfast and 

 eat your own in the exercise of great faith. Always play your tune from 

 beginning to end without a stop, with an organ — any other plan, of course, 

 is impossible, the difficulty sometimes being to get a refractory instrument 

 to stop when you wish it ; but if you vary your instrumental solo with 

 whistling, you must not whistle snatches of any melody, but the entire tune. 

 Teaching Bullfinches to pipe well is an art almost entirely confined to the 

 Continent, and well-drilled birds realise high prices. Many can pipe a simple 

 air almost to its close, but when they come to the last bar they finish with a 

 cadence scarcely more melodious than the fag end of a Cochin cock's melan- 

 choly ci-ow. — W. A. Blakston. * 

 Lark Declining (Liverpool). — Its ailment appears to he the result of in- 

 attention to the purity of its food and water, and exposure to draughts. If 

 it is not as yet so far gone as to warrant its ailment being termed consump- 

 tion, the following homoeopathic remedies (which may be obtained at any 

 homoeopathic chemist's in sixpenny bottles), would afford great relief, if 

 not effect a cure : — Aconite, phosphorus, and nux vomica. The first fox- 

 one day, given in its water in the proportion of one drop to a tahlespoonful, 

 and the second and third in the same way on alternate days for a few days, 

 and then again have recourse to aconite. Give up the treatment gradually as 

 soon as there are signs of improvement, or at once if there are none within 

 a week. The diet should be as natural as possible. Substitute a few drops 

 of cod-liver oil for the lard which has previously been given with its food. 

 The bird should be kept free from draughts, and at an even and moderate 

 temperature. — J. Parker. 



Bee House (J. P., of York). — You may have a zinc or tin tube if you like 

 as a passage through the wall of your bee house. We should prefer, perhaps, 

 to have a good-sized opening, say 6 inches wide and 1 inch high, in the brick- 

 work, and inside, against this, we should fix, the whole length of the bee house, 

 apiece of wood of- sufficient thickness, say 3 inches square, through which 

 we would make the various tunnels diagonally upwards. On the top of this 

 the different hive-boards would rest, each with its entrance let into it, and 

 corresponding with the tunnel in the block. This is, in fact, our own plan 

 in our bee house. You must be careful to allow of no crevices between the 

 brickwork and the wood block. 



Drones late in Autumn (Midland Counties Bee-keeper). — It is not a 

 normal condition of a hive to possess drones so late in the season as Novem- 

 ber, and we fear it augurs ill for the prospect, of its future prosperity. It 

 may arise either from the stuck having lost its queen, probably at the time 

 of removing one of the supers, in which case drones are frequently allowed to 

 remain alive during the whole term of their natm-al ex-stence, in the very 



forlorn hope, perhaps, of their services being required; or it may happen in 

 -the case of a queen being a breeder of drones only, owing to retarded or non- 

 impregnation. Also when queens become very aged, or sometimes in con- 

 sequence ofaccident, they are unable to breed anything but drones. From 

 whatever cause it may arise, there is little hope of saving such a colony, 

 unless means are taken to supply it with afertile queen. During the sum- 

 mer this is, of course, easy enough, hut at the present season it can only he 

 accomplished by the addition of a living queen or the bees of another stock. 

 It is for you to consider whether the preservation of the hive is worth the 

 expense and trouble which such a proceeding would at this time involve. 



Dark Honeycomb (G. S.). — The piece of comb sent, which you suppose to 

 be filled with " nasty brown waxy stuff," is simply densely filled with pollen, 

 a few cells only containing honey. You cannot expect to have good honey 

 extracted from such comb. To obtain better honey, you must either place 

 supers on your hives, or, if you will still work on the cottage system, you 

 must have larger hives and take up your swarms of the current year instead 

 of the old stocks occasionally, leaving a swarm or two to take the place of any 

 that may die or be worn-out. It is a great pity that stocks containing combs 

 such as you sent for inspection, so well supplied with pollen, should be sacri- 

 ficed for the very small portion of honey which they yield. They are always 

 worth double as'much to keep for the sake of the swarms. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, 



Camden Square, London. 



Lat. 51° 32' 40" N. ; Long. 0° 8' 0" W. ; Altitude 111 feet. 



Date. 



A.M. 



In the Day. 



tion 







. o c3 





^ 



Shade Tem- 



Radia 



. 



1872. 

 Nov. 



Baronie 

 ter at 35 

 and Se 

 Level. 



Hygrome- 

 ter. 



la 



So- 



perature. 



Temperature 



'3 







In 

 sun. 



On 



grass 





Dec. 



Dry. 



Wet. 



Max. 

 deg. 



Mir*, 

 deg 







Inches. 



deg. 



deg. 





dec. 



deg. 



deg. 



In. 



"We. 27 



29.710 



51.0 



47 1 



N W. 



47.2 



55 



4S8 



75.5 



43:9 



— 



Th. 28 



29 697 



4B.2 



45.8 



W. 



47 



49.5 



45 3 



52.1 



43 5 



0.030 



Fri. 29 



29.586 



42.2 



41-3 



s.w. 



46.2 



49.0 



S9.2 



73.3 



35.S 



0.170 



Sat. SO 



29.055 



47.3 



46.1 



S.E. 



45 9 



52 2 



41.0 



71.1 



39 2 



0.652 



Sun. 1 



29.074 



47.5 



10 4 



s. 



45.6 



50.6 



44 4 



62 9 



41.2 



: .1-15 



Mo. 2 



29 545 



43.2 



42 5 



N.K. 



45.0 



188 3S.ll 



61-6 



331 



093 



Ta. S 



29-13 1 



44.6 



43.7 



N.E. 



45.2 



45.8 j 42 3 



49 7 



38.8 



0.I/4O 



Means 



29.135 



46.0 



447 





46.0 



50.1 42.7 



64.2 



39 3 



1.080 



REMARKS. 

 27th. — Very fine early, rather cloudy towards noon, hut on the whole a fine 



day, though rather cloudy at night. 

 28th. — Morning fine, rain at noon, fair after, but dull in the evening. 

 29th. — Fair in morning, very bright from noon to 4 p.m., then rather dull, and 



rain at 7.30. 

 30th.— Fair at 9 a.m., rain at 10.30, and alternate sunshine and heavy rain all 



the afternoon ; fair in the evening, but wet all night. 

 Dec. 1st. — Very heavy rain at S a.m., fair by 9 a.m., and fine by 10 ; a shower 



about noon, and heavy rain between 6 and 7 p.m., and showery evening. 

 2nd. — Fair morning, fine forenoon, and till after 2p.m., then cloudy; rain 



at 5, fair for some time, but heavy rain again between 10 and 11. 

 3rd. — Wet morning, and very showery all day. 



Th£ barometer still continues low, and the temperature high, though not 

 quite so high as last week. The weather generally has been very wet and 

 uncomfortable. More than 1 inch of rain has again been registered, and 

 scarcely any sun has been visible. The clouds prevented the meteors being 

 seen in this neighbourhood. — G-. J. Symons. 



COVENT GARDEN MARKET.— December 3. 

 A very thin attendance at market, and consequently a general dulness 

 prevails. Hothouse Grapes are sufficient for the demand. Pines continue in 

 excess; and the late heavy consignments of Pears from the Continent and 

 other places have caused a considerable decline in price, the most of them 

 being ripe and fit for use. 



FRUIT 

 s. d. s. d, 



Apples £ sieve 3 to 5 



Apricots doz. 



Cherries per lb. 



Chestnuts bushel 12 20 



Currants A sieve 



Black do. 



Figs doz. 



Filberts lb. 1 16 



Cobs lb. 1 6 2 



Gooseberries quart 



Grapes, hothouse lb. 2 5 



Lemons ^ 100 6 10 



Melons each 16 3 



Mulberries *.$"»>. 



Nectarines doz. 



Oranges %*- 100 



Peaches doz. u 



Pears, kitchen doz. 1 



dessert doz. 2 



Pine Apples lb. S 



Plums £ sieve 



Quinces doz. 1 



Raspberries lb. 



Strawberries V lb. 



Walnuts bushel 15 



ditto q-H00 2 



s. d. s. 

 OtoO 



10 

 



VBGETA-BLES. 



d. 8. d- 



2 0to4 







Artichokes doz 



Asparagus # 100 



Beans. Kidney .^ 100 10 2 



Broad... bushel 



Beet, Red doz. 10 3 



Broccoli bundle 9 1 



Cabbage doz. 10 1 



Capsicums 1,+ HO 2 3 



Carrots bunch 6 



Cauliflower doz. 2 4 



Celery bundle 16 2 



Co?eworts.. doz.bum-hes 2 3 



Cucumbers eac.u. 92 



pickling doz. 



Endive doz. 2 



Fennel bunch 3 



Garlic lb. 6 



Herbs bunch 8 



Horseradish bundle 3 4 



Leeks bunch 2 



Lettuce doz. 9 1 



Mushrooms pottle 



Mustard & Cress . . punnet 

 Unions ^bushel 



pickling quart 



Parsley per doz. bunches 



Parsnips doz. 



Peas quart 



Potatoes bushel 



Kidney do. 



Pound do. 



Radishes., do?. bunches 



Rhubarb bundle 



Salsafy V bundle 



Savoys doz. 



Scorzonera.... ^bundle 



Sea-kale basket 



Shallots lb. 



Spinach bushel 



Tomatoes ■ duz. 



Turnips bunch 



Vegetable Marrows.. <b s. 



s. d. s. d 

 1 OtoS 



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