20 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 5, 1864, 



the remedy and calls the " croup," is that of decline and 

 derangement of functions, to which chickens of a few weeks 

 old are so liable, and drop their wings in that desponding 

 mode which we have heard called " Putting on their Mourn- 

 ing Cloaks."] 



I observed in your Journal of June 21st that your cor- 

 respondent "A. K. C." complains of losing his Dorking 

 chickens. I found great difficulty in rearing such from 

 their being affected with drooping of the wings, after they 

 were a week or ten days old, in the same manner as stated 

 by " A. K. C." 



I was recommended to try cow's liver boiled in water with 

 a piece of soda the size of a walnut, and found it most bene- 

 ficial. I have lost none of my chickens this year, although 

 they began to show signs of drooping. The liver should be 

 crumbled and given in their food. — H. A. F. 



[Another correspondent recommends Baily's poultry pills.] 



THE PRESENT POULTRY SEASON. 



In the last Number of the "Poultry Chronicle" you ask 

 poultry-keepers to favour you with their progress this 

 season : if mine is worth inserting it is at your disposal. 



I have a mixed stock, but the Cochin element predomi- 

 nates ; and on the 29th of February I commenced the hatch- 

 ing season by setting thirteen Cochin eggs. This was fol- 

 lowed after a few days' interval by other two being set. 

 Out of the three lots my produce was two birds. Many of 

 the eggs were filled, but the birds were dead. I attribute 

 this unsatisfactory result to the cold weather then prevail- 

 ing — cold enough in the south, but more so in Scotland. 

 My hatching-boxes were placed outside, at the back of the 

 garden wall, and covered on cold nights with matting. That 

 plan succeeded well with me formerly; but this season's ex- 

 perience will lead me to be more careful, and place the boxes 

 in a more sheltered situation in future. 



After my three failures, however, I succeeded better. 

 There was a fortnight's interval between the third and 

 fourth sitting ; and as by that time the season was farther 

 advanced and the weather more moderate, I had no reason 

 to complain of my success. From six to, in one case, four- 

 teen chickens were the usual hatchings, and fine, strong, 

 healthy birds. Of the fourteen lot the hen has brought up 

 thirteen, one was accidentally killed by being trampled on. 

 Of all I have hatched I have not lost one from disease ; and 

 I do not recollect in previous seasons having seen them so 

 advanced at their age. I have a great respect for pure- 

 bred fowls, but for iisefulness find the cross-bred ones far 

 excel them. The advantages they possess are that they 

 arrive more quickly at maturity and have a hardier consti- 

 tution ; and these are advantages which those who look 

 principally to their useful properties cannot afford to de- 

 spise. 



I was told some years ago, when beginning poultry-keep- 

 ing, that every egg would cost me 2c?. I have never found 

 that to be the case, but, on the contrary, the eggs we sell pay 

 for the food consumed, and we have the eggs and chickens 

 used in the house for our trouble ; and all that is necessary 

 to secure this result is to give them personal and particular 

 attention. — An Amatetjk. 



UNHOUSING BEES— PRICE; OF HONEY. 

 On the 14th of May I hived a swarm and put a super on 

 immediately ; this they filled, and on the 8th of June they 

 began to cluster. On the ISth of June I thought they 

 would have taken flight. I took off the super, which was ap- 

 parently full of honey, but which turned out to have some 

 brood in a very forward state in the centre of it, and put on 

 another. I should state the front of my bee-house is boarded 

 up, and in consequence of the boards warping a little the 

 bees can get into the house. On the 20th of June and follow- 

 ing days much rain with a rather high wind prevented any 

 chance of a swarm, so that thousands took possession of a 

 corner of the bee-house adjoining their hive, and built a 

 great deal of comb. What ought I to do therefore f for I 



cannot fumigate^them, the house, of course, not being suffix 

 ciently air-tight. 



I have put on several glasses this year, but not one have 

 the bees worked in, although each had a ventilator. I have 

 put on three straw supers, but only the one above mentioned 

 has been at all used. How do you account for it ? 



Once more : I find poor people cannot get more than ' 

 6cZ. a-pound for their honey here, however good it may 

 be. Where is the best place, therefore, to send it ? — 

 Duupling. 



[Put on your bee-dress and gloves, and after blowing a 

 little smoke from the fumigating-tube amongst the combs 

 built in the bee-house corner, cut them boldly out and brush 

 off the bees with a feather. They will supply excellent decoy- 

 combs for your glasses, the want of which is the most probable 

 cause of failure. Messrs. Neighbour &, Sons, 149, Regent 

 Street, and 127, Holborn, give a fair price for honey accord- 

 ing to quality.] 



LIGURLANISING AN APIARY. 

 Wotod " B. & W." say how he keeps his Ligurian and 

 black bees from crossing in the same apiary. — A. W. 



[In reply to the above inquirer, " B. & W." would state 

 that he has hitherto not attempted to keep the Ligurians 

 from crossing with the black bees, knowing it would be futile. 

 By getting rid of all his black bees this year, "B. & W." 

 hopes another year that all the drones in his apiary will be 

 pure Italians, be they the offspring of his original purely 

 impregnated Italian queen, or of those he has bred from her, 

 but which are all, probably, impregnated by black drones. 

 If not, there is no trust to be placed in the doctrine of par- 

 thenogenesis, for "B. & W.'s" apiary is a considerable dis- 

 tance from any other.] 



STJPERING. 



I have a stock of bees in the common old straw hive with 

 hole at top. On the 19th of May last they threw off a first 

 swarm ; same evening placed a small straw-cap hive on old 

 stock, expecting them to fill it ; they will not work in it. 

 Will you kindly inform me what I am to do to obtain honey 

 from them this season without destroying the bees ? 



My first swarm, which came off the 19th May last, now 

 show strong symptoms of swarming. Can I do anything to 

 prevent it or let them do so ? Most probably both the old 

 stock and first swarm will throw off a small cast each if 

 allowed to do so. Wiat shall I do with them? — 0. O. 



[If you wished to prevent swarming altogether you should 

 have put a full-sized super on the stock in April. After 

 swarming a super of moderate size may be placed on the 

 swarm, not on the old stock, and this will, probably, prevent 

 the issue of a "maiden." If you get two casts you had 

 better unite them at once.] 



OUR LETTER BOX. 



Ducklings Dying {Co?i$tant Header). — It has been a very bad Deck. 

 season, and they have been scarce in consequence. The compl .ints we have 

 heard have been more about hatching' than rearing. Whenever Ducks are 

 out of condition, they show it by a film on the eye. They are subject to 

 cramp and it is fatal to them, We have never kndwn one to recover when, 

 it proceeds from illness ; but where it is caused by roostirjgin a hou^ewith a 

 brick, stone, or wooden floor, they often get well if they are removed irom 

 it. Give them some oats put in a pan or other vessel with gravel. 



Dousing Cock Buhble-footed {Inquirer).— The large lumps in the feet, 

 and the swollen legs indicate, we are afraid, a bad case. Dorking fowls, from 

 their great weight, and the fineness of their skin, are always liable, after 

 two or three years, to become " bumble-footed ;" but their doing so is not 

 ine\uable; and if they have low perches, and proper floors, with a crass 

 ran, thty may, as we have often seen, remain clean-footed, eveu though rive 

 or six years old. 



Small Bantams {T. S.).— Those who wish to keep rheirbirds very small, 

 generally breed tltem late, so as to rear them when the weather i^ getusg 

 colder. We know no food that prevents growth. 



A Moths in Corn Bin (A. TT.).— Perhaps airing and turning the corn to 

 prevent the moths breeding in it, and scalding the hoppers and corn boxes 

 frequently, will prevent the evil. 



Banishing Bees (Grateful Heart, IpsuhJi\—V*e cannot tell you how to 

 keep your neighbours bce= out of your guraen. 



Hoeses' Mangees {J". Friggs).— We never heard of the machine. 



