December 2G, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



527 



Ant other Varirtv.— 1, H. Beldon. 2. Rev. W. E. B.Gunn. 3, A. Fodd. he 

 W. Smith : R. S. S. WoodRflte ; H. Beldon ; J. Smart. 



Turkeys.— 1, Capt. M. Douga'I. 2 and 3, Lord Kinnaird. Poults.— 1, H. H. 

 Stephenson. 2. Capt. M. DougalJ. 3, D. Murray, he, J Mitchell. 



Geese — 1, Lord Kionaird. 2, H. H. Stephenson. 3, H. Ogilvie. 



Ducks (Aylesbury).— I, H. H. Stephenson. 2, A. STackie. 3, H. White, he, A. 

 Burnett; Lord Kinnaird. 



Ducks (Rouen).— 1. Capt. M. Don^all. 2, Lieut-Col. C. Rice. 3, A. Bowie, he, 

 A. B. Esson . H. H. Stephenson (2). 



Ducks (Any other variety).—!, G. H. Nicholl. 2, H. H. Stephenson. 8, J. C. 

 Jameson. 



Selling Class.— 1, 1. J. Harrison. 2, J. 'W. Morrison. 3. A. Shepherd, he, 

 T. \V. Mitchell: Mrs. J. Sinclair; T. Bellman: J. Selkirk; D. Gellatly ; A. 

 Shephard ; H. White ; J. Henderson ; P. Synion ; J. Scott ; A Bowie ; W. Smith ; 

 Lord Kinnaird {2J. 



NATIONAL PERISTERONIC SOCIETY'S SHOW. 



This Society is a great institution of London in connection 

 with the Pigeon fancy, and has hitherto confined its attention 

 to a series of meetings during the winter season. The members 

 bring their birds to these pleasant gatherings, and compare their 

 merits and indulge in friendly criticism. Among the supporters 

 are all the London judges of Pigeons. The Society thus offers to 

 its young members the advantage of the advice of those whose 

 great experience is acknowledged by their being called upon con- 

 tinually to arbitrate at our greatest shows, and who doubtless 

 would confess that in imparting their knowledge to others they 

 are simply paying back as a debt much of that knowledge which 

 they have obtained through the medium of the National Peris- 

 teronic Society. 



In connection with this Association a competitive Show has 

 been organised, confined strictly to the members and the birds 

 bred by the members during the year, and held at the Covent 

 Garden Hotel on the 17th inst. It was largely patronised by 

 the friends of the members and those interested in the charming 

 pursuit of breeding these birds. 



The prizes were of a nominal value, a small entry fee being 

 paid by each exhibitor, which was divided proportionately be- 

 tween the prize winners ; and some friendly challenges were also 

 made through the Association, which caused considerable ex- 

 citement, and added much to the interest of the Exhibition. 



Of course in an institution of this description, nothing but 

 birds of the highest class would be expected, and few who visited 

 the National Peristeronic Show on this occasion would leave 

 disappointed, the birds fully maintaining the reputation of the 

 Association. The Dragoons were a grand class of birds ; the 

 Owls very beautiful, and the Jacobins and Barbs particularly 

 good. Mr. Jones Percivall was elected to fill the very important 

 position of Judge, Messrs. Esquilant and Tegetmeier exhibiting, 

 and indulging their friends with a peep at a few of their grand 

 studs of birds. 



The arrangements were in every way satisfactory, and no com- 

 mendation is too great for the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Jones, for his 

 indefatigable exertions in making this Show so great a success. 



Carbiek.— Bfacfc.— Cock — 1 and Sweepstake, M. Hedley. 2. — Heritage. 

 Hen.— 1. — Heritage. Dun.— Cock— 1, Col. Hassard. Blue.— Cock— 1, J. 0. 

 Ord. Hen.-l, J. C. Ord. 



Balds or Beards.— 1. 2, and 3, W. Woodhouse. 



Barbs.— Black or Dim.— 1 and Sweepstake, P. H Jones. Any olher colour — 

 1 and Sweepstake, P. H. Jones. 



Dragoons.— Blue.—l and Sweepstake. F. Esquilant. 2 and S, J. South. Silver. 

 — 1 and SweeDStake, V. Graham. 2, J. South. 3, W. B. Tegetmeier. Bed or 

 Yellow.— 1, F. Graham. 2 and 8, S. 0. Betty. Any other colour.— I and 3, 

 — Greenfield. 2. F. Graham. 



Owls.— English— 1 and 2, P. H. Jones. 3, F. Esquilant. 



Fantails.— 1 and Sweepstake, A. A. Vander Meersch. 2, F. Esquilant. 



Jacobins.— Red or Yellow.— I and Sweepstake, J. South. 2 and 3, A. A. Vander 

 Bleersch. Any other colour.— 1 and 3. H. F. Nalder. 2, E. E. M. Koyds. 



TuaBiTS— Blue or Silver.— 1, P. H. Jones. 2 and 3, J. South. Any other 

 colour.— 1, F. Esquilant. 2, H. F. Nalder. 3, W. E. Easton. 



Magpies. Nons, Swallows, or Spots.— 1, W. E. Easton (Nun). 2 and 3, P. H. 

 Jones (Nun and Magpie). 



Any other Variety.— 1, W. B. Tegetmeier (Pigmy Pouter). 



Cumberland and North of England Poultry Show. — At 

 this Show, to be held at Whitehaven on January 22nd-24th, the 

 prizes are very good, three or four in each class, and in addition 

 there are fifteen cups and plates varying in value from £5 to £2. 

 There are prizes also for Canaries and Cats. 



THE NORTH BRITISH COLUMBARIAN 

 SOCIETY'S COMING SHOW. 



Our friends at Glasgow are to have their Pigeon Show in 

 their old quarters, the Drill Hall, on the 16th and 17th of 

 January. This is well, for in 1S70 and 1871 they had no show, 

 and a Glasgow show is much missed. I have looked over the 

 schedule of prizes; of course there are many for Pouters, be- 

 cause Pouters and Scotch fanciers are two united ideas, but 

 other varieties are remembered as well, and liberally. There 

 are seventeen silver cups ; and as long as exhibitors so much 

 prefer, as they seem to do, cups to money, so it is wise in com- 

 mittees to take care and provide these prizes. All committees 

 may be warned by the falling-off at Birmingham not to fall 

 into the like error, for it is not well surely for a show, in round 

 numbers, of sis hundred entries, to dwindle and shrink at once 



to four hundred. Let, then, in future, all committees beware. 

 At Glasgow the entries are to be in single birds, with two ex- 

 ceptions — viz., " Any other variety of fancy Pigeon not before 

 specified ;" and in the Selling class " Any variety, price not to 

 exceed Mo per pair." In both these classes the birds are to be 

 in pairs. I trust that the Show will be a success, for I wish 

 that the good old North British' Society should again come to 

 the front after its temporary withdrawal, and show itself, as of 

 yore, a first-class exhibition. — Wiltshire Rector. 



BEE-FARMING IN 1872. 



This season, like 1870 and 1871, has not on the whole been 

 favourable for the bee-farmer. In the north of England there 

 has been too much rain and too clouded a sky for our little 

 honey-gatherers. In the spring and early summer months bees 

 had to be fed pretty constantly. At the commencement of July 

 the weather became more propitious, and continued so till the 

 floods came about the middle of the month, when the hives 

 began to lose weight very fast. The month of August this year 

 was very favourable for honey-gathering, enabling the bees to 

 fill their garners pretty full. During fifteen days of this month 

 I had fifty hives of bees that gathered more than 1500 lbs. of 

 pure speckless honey. While Squire Tollemache and party were 

 knocking down and bagging more than one hundred grouse per 

 day, the bees in the same locality were bagging and storing-up 

 more than 100 lbs. of pure honey every day. Grand work this 

 for our liliputian subjects and servants to accomplish ! What 

 will they not do when a good season comes ? 



My income from bee-farming this year is £95 ; expenses £28, 

 profit £67. My object in presenting annually a balance-sheet of 

 bee-culture is to quicken the attention of the rural population 

 of England to the value of bees. The price of butter is so high 

 that labouring men cannot buy it for their families. Honey is 

 an excellent substitute, quite as healthy, and better liked by 

 children. Well, around more than half the towns, villages and 

 hamlets of England hundreds of tons of honey remain un- 

 gathered. Honey of an inferior quality is largely imported 

 from foreign countries. When English gentry want good honey 

 and honeycomb they have to get them from Scotland and Ire- 

 land. An old aunt of the writer's, about eighty years of age, 

 makes £'10 a-year (200 lbs. of honey) from four hives in ordinary 

 seasons. What is done by this old Scotch lady might be done 

 in thousands and tens of thousands of instances by the rural 

 population of England. One thousand pounds weight of honey at 

 least may be secured by a few working people in almost every 

 hamlet and village of this country. When the working com- 

 munity open their eyes to this fact we shall probably have honey 

 fairs in more towns than the solitary one of Wrexham. 



My bees are of the common sort, which I much prefer to the 

 Ligurians. The hives are made of straw — large, cheap and 

 beautiful ; and I consider it right to state, in the interests of 

 bee-keeping and new beginners, that straw hives are very much 

 better for bees and honey-gathering than wooden hives of any 

 kind or construction. — A. Pettigrew, Priory Vineyard, Sale, 

 Manchester. 



THE STEWARTON SYSTEM. 



Tour valued contributor, Mr. J. Lowe, graphically describes) 

 at page 395, the wretchedly poor bee season of 1872 in Scot- 

 land ; but I must take exception to the doctrine he there enun- 

 ciates, that granting a good season and district, and strong 

 hives, the results following are " equally good," whatever 

 description of hive is employed, and that . . . " it is an 

 old error to suppose that we can compel our little favourites to 

 augment their sweets." 



In a paper on foul brood so far back as No. 410, Mr. Lowe, on 

 the same principle, was good enough to assume that the " mighty 

 results " attained by the present writer were due to the " Ca- 

 naan in which he dwells," such unfortunately being very far 

 from the case. With the exception of an avenue of old limes, 

 and a sprinkling of venerable planes, his camp is pitched in a 

 comparatively desert land to such a bee-keeper's paradise as 

 Carluke, for instance, where, Mr. Pettigrew has told us, second 

 swarms come up to 80 lbs., and prime ones to 168 lbs., 162 lbs., &c; 

 whereas in the days of my noviciate, when working exclusively 

 on the old straw-hive swarming principle, 22 and 35 lbs. respec- 

 tively were as good weights as I can recollect of. Ours being a 

 continuous green cropping district is less favourable for bee- 

 keeping than nearer the moors, in the less cultivated and older 

 pasture neighbourhoods, where results used to be attained I 

 had never hoped to emulate ; but thanks to the Stewarton hive 

 and the hybrid Italian bee, the secret of my success, I can 

 now put the feats of former competitors pretty much into the 

 shade. 



I must own to a feeling somewhat akin to the humiliating 

 stealing over me on perusing the confession from the pen of 

 so advanced and excellent an apiarian as Mr. Lowe, that in 

 these days of progress we had adopted a common hobby, so 



