364 



JOHRSAL OF HORTICULTURE AN T D COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 1, 1861. 



that involves gambling. A tradesman, owner of a racing 

 pony, known to me in early days, ended his career a suicide 

 in a county jaiL 



Well, then, having settled it that an industrious, careful 

 tradesman ought not to be away from home in business 

 hours, where may he find a suitable hobby ? And, in passing, 

 let me add, that in these days of much travelling and sight- 

 seeing, home pleasures are apt to be despised. Our truest, 

 our best pleasures are at home, easy pf access, close to us — 

 like the daisies they lie very near, if we will but look for them. 



In what, then, I ask, may the man, much by necessity 

 and duty at home, find an innocent hobby ? First, in 

 flowers, and especially in florists' flowers. These are better 

 as a hobby than a general garden, for they require such 

 constant looking after, and like children, care of them in- 

 creases our love. " People talk of a proper pride, sir, you 

 might as well talk of a proper dunghill," said a stern 

 divine of old days ; but he was wrong, quite wrong. There 

 may be a proper pride : thus a man may have a proper pride 

 in his flowers. How well do I remember the pride, yes 

 proper pride, with which a grocer showed me his bed of 

 Ranunculuses. There, under an awning, carefully tended, 

 were the glorious flowers, glowing, bright, and beautiful, 

 the result- of days and weeks of care. 



Then, is there not a proper pride when a prize has been 

 won ? Before exhibition-day what family consultations 

 there are, why the whole household is concerned in the 

 matter — " Shall it be this flower or that ? " — and the pride 

 of all when the prize is brought home ! I once found a 

 schoolmaster whose hobby was his orchard-house, garden 

 he could have none, for that was all playground ; but on the 

 little space to spare he built an orchard-house, and there he 

 forgot his woes, the boys' noise, and the false quantities 

 and bad syntax. 



But not only flowers, there are birds, fowls, pigeons, and 

 rabbits, all these prove excellent and harmless hobbies. 

 The eye of Crabbe, a town-bred man like myself, saw the 

 use of hobbies, and what they were. After describing a 

 small tradesman's family, he says — 



" True pleasure hails them from some favourite source, 

 And health, amusement, children, wife, or friend, 

 With life's dull views their consolations blend. 

 Nor these alone possess the lenient power 

 Of soothing life in the desponding hoar. 

 Some favourite studies, some delightful care, 

 The mind with trouble and distresses share ; 

 And by a coin, a flower, a verse, a boat, 

 The stagnant spirits hr.ve been set afloat; 

 They pleased at first, and then the habit grew. 



him stay at home, have a home hobby, and it will bring him 

 no injury — not the hunter, nor the racehorse, but rather 

 the florists' flower, or the bird, the fowl, the Pigeon, or even 

 the despised Rabbit. High Street may have some of the 

 former, Back Lane some of the latter. — Wiltshire Rectok. 



" Oft have I smiled the happy pride to see 

 Of humble tradesmen in their evening glee, 

 When of some pleasing, fancied good possessed, 

 Each grew alert, was busy, and was blessed. 

 "Whether the call bird yield the hour's delight. 

 Or, magnified in microscope, the mite, 

 Or whether Tumbler3, Croppers, Carriers seize 

 The gentle mind, they rule it and they please." 



Fowls Crabbe does not mention, though he well might; 

 for into how many a backyard have I gone to see them — 

 how many a cockloft have I climbed into to see Pigeons — 

 how many an outhouse to examine the wondrous ears of 

 some prize Rabbit; or stood in the little walled garden to 

 watch the habits, or hear narrated to me, of now a Hawk, 

 and then a Plover ! 



As to the benefit derived from a hobby, of that, as well as 

 the pleasure afforded, I am quite confident. A hobby is a 

 relief to the mind, it employs some of its loose faculties. Tea, 

 it promotes good temper, soothes a ruffled spirit. A brief run 

 from the ledger to look at fowls or flowers is refreshing. 



Then a man's little plans for the improvement of his birds, 

 his pleasant intercourse with other fanciers. I own that I 

 think live things are better for hobbies than anything else. 

 A man may become tired of collecting stamps, or of auto- 

 graphs, but rarely will he tire of birds. A bishop was 

 accustomed to get up and say, after a hard day's work in his 

 library, " Now, then, I will go and have a look at my pigs ; " 

 and a witty friend of mine declares of a super-Calvinistic 

 divine, that it was wonderful how less terrific his opinions 

 became after he took to Cochins. 



So I say, let every man have his hobby, and he will be the 

 better for it, so long as he rides it, and it does not run away 

 with him. And further, let every man whose duty makes 4 



OUR LETTEE BOX. 



" Y. B. A. Z."— We have a letter for this correspondent— whither shall it 

 be directed . ? 



Laced Faxtail Pigeons (A. P. L ).— If Lace Fantails could be produced 

 of equally good carriage, and with as ample tails as the common Fan tail, 

 they would compete well in a general class for this beautiful variety of 

 Pigeon, but as yet none have been publicly exhibited at all equal to the 

 usual White Fantails in these most essential peculiarities. If a pen of Lace 

 Fantails were equally good, we believe that almost every one of our principal 

 Pigeon arbitrators would decide in their favour, simply in recognition of 

 their peculiar feather and comparative scarcity; but the bird3 hitherto 

 shown were dec'.dedly open to great improvement before they could claim, 

 an approach to equality with our best Fantails. It is quite impossible, 

 nevertheless, to give any opinion on birds we have not seen. 



Times' Bee-mastek. — We have received various communications— some 

 attacking and some defending him ; but we think it best to occupy no more 

 space concerning so unworthy a boob. Ihe line of defence adopted is, 

 that though the book is very faulty, yet errors are to be found in other 

 works on bee-management, which is no more a defence than was the excuse 

 offered for a bad pic'ure — "Yes, it is bad ; but Jones painted a worse." 



Beginning Bee-keeping (_F. CO.— "We should recommend your begin- 

 nicg with flat-topped straw hives, such as are described in *• Bee-keeping* 

 for the Many," under the name of "Payne's Improved Cottage Hive," but 

 made rather larger — 16 inches diameter inside, by Sor9 inches deep, is a good 

 size. These hives have a central aperture in the top, 4 inches in diameter, 

 over which is placed a small super, which, is not, however, intended to 

 prevent swarming. If you wish to adopt the depriving system vou may 

 have straw hives made after the pattern described by Mr. Woodbury ia his 

 paper on bee-keeping, which appeared in the " Journal" of the Bath and 

 West of England Agricultural Society. Mr.*Wcodbury says— "Stock-hives 

 may be 16 mch.es in diameter by 9 "deep, inside. As "a flat-top of thi« size, 

 when made of straw, is apt to sink with the weight of the combs, it may be 

 formed of two circular pieces of half-inch, wood, glued and nailed together, 

 with the grain crossed, to prevent warping. There should be a two-inch 

 central aperture for feeding, and two slits, half an inch wide, by G inches 

 long, on either side, and a snear to the sides of the hive as possible. The two- 

 inch hole should be closed by a bit of tin oi zinc when the bees are admitted 

 into a super through, the side apertures, as the queen is apt to lay eggs in 

 the super when central communication is permitted. "When not in u-e all 

 egress through these apertures is stopped by means of wooden blocks." 

 Either of these hives will enable yoa to commence bee-keeping economically, 

 conveniently, and profitably. Whenever you wish to step beyond them we 

 advise you to go at once to Woodbury frame-hives, of which you will fiud 

 a working description, with illustrations, in "Bee-keeping for the Many." 

 Frame-hives have become almost universal in America, and they present so 

 many advantages that we cannot but believe they will rapidly supersede all 

 others in the apiaries of suchof onr British bee-keepersasaim at something 

 beyond the oid-fashionec straw hive and brimstone-pit. 

 Feeding Bees (J. F. N., Wandsworth). — No bee-feeder is equal to 



the inverted bottle 



whenuseaasshown 

 in the engraving. 

 A common pickle- 

 bottle does admir- 

 ably for copious 

 feeding, and a four- 

 ounce or sis-ounce 

 phial for spring- 

 feeding. The mouth 

 of the bottle should 

 he covered with 

 coarse net, and if a 

 bit of perforated 

 zinc be interposed, 

 it will facilitate its 

 being refilled with- 

 out annoyance 

 from the bees. The 

 supporting wooden 

 block should rit so 

 close that neuut-r 

 bee nor waso shall 

 be able to obtain a 

 surreptitious sip on 

 the outside. 



Dr. Cumming's Bee Lectcre {A Constant Header). t-We did not notice 

 the lecturer saying that Virgil gives an account of bees in one of his 

 " Eclogues," instead of "Georgics," because this was not a mistake from 

 ignorance. Dr. Cumming is not without classical knowledge. 



Tomato Sauce. — Mrs. G. Dowdeswell, seeing a wish expressed in the last 

 Number for a recipe for making tomato sauce, begs to mention a very 

 simple mode adopted by herself for some few years past, by which she can 

 have the same prepared by the cook as required, fresh at any time, The 

 tomatoes are gathered perfectly ripe, free from cracks or bruises, and are 

 gently wiped with a soft cloth, and placed in a wide-mouthed jar. Some 

 vinegar, having been boiled and allowed to stand until cold, is then poured 

 over them, sufficient being used to entirely cover them. The jar is then 

 covered with wetted bladder, and the tomatoes keep perfectly fresh and 

 good until those of the following season come in. The peasantry in the 

 south of France keep the tomatoes in this simple manner. Their mode of 

 making since Mrs. Dowdeswe'l, unfortunately, has not perfectly; but the 

 tomatoes, in the manner described, can be made as required Into sauce by 

 any cook.— The Down Some, Worcestershire. 





