
KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

Soo iris Rear enn RR DIN NS Iy elfen te ob le ev ote oe menawy) donc rr Riya is eee ee ee 
their remote habitations, sometimes situated at an 
amazing distance, each carrying on her back a 
kaross of network containing from twelve to 
fifteen ostrich-egeshells, which had been emptied 
by a small aperture at one end; these they fill 
with water, and cork up the hole with grass !— 
The above, added to the valuable remarks you 
have before inserted with reference to this animal, 
can hardly fail to prove interesting to your 
readers.—C. A. T. 

Peculiarities of Lightning.—A. very surprising 
property of lightning of the zig-zag kind, especially 
when near, is its seeming omnipresence. If two 
persons, standing ina room, looking different ways, 
and. a loud clap of thunder, accompanied with zig- 
zag lightening, happens—they will both distinctly 
see the flash at the same time. Not only the 
illumination, but the very form of the lightning 
itself, and every angle it makes in its course, will 
be as distinctly perceptible as though they had 
both looked directly at the cloud from whence it 
proceeded. If a person happened at that time to 
be looking on a book, or other object whichhe held 
in his hand, he would distinctly see the form of 
the lightning between him and the object at 
which he looked. This property seems peculiar 
to lightning, and not to any other kind of fire 
whatever.—Rosa B. 
On the Manuring of Gardens.—There is 
scarcely any one operation so generally neglected 
in small gardens as manuring, and also too much 
avoided in many large ones. So long as the ground 
will bring a flower or a vegetable, the gradual 
decline ef quality of the productions is scarcely 
seen until the soil is in its last stage of exhaus- 
tion. Now, let us strongly recommend everybody 
who has forgotten to feed the ground, to give it 
some sort of dressing at once. If they can get 
stable-dung, well rotted, be it so; and, ifthey can- 
not get this, use cow-dung ; and supposing neither 
to be had, they must resort to artificial, or, at least, 
other manures. If stable-dung orcow-dung be used, 
lay it three inches thick all over the ground, and 
dig it in as the soil is turned over ; that is, lay it at 
the bottom of the trench, about aspade deep. They 
may not, with their light crops, have all the benefit 
the first year ; but all cabbage, carrot, and crops 
whose roots descend afew inches, will be better for 
it directly. Ifthe dung be well rotted into mould, 
or nearly so, it may be forked in, and mixed with 
the top spit, and the benefit will be felt directly. 
Artificial manure must be used according to these 
directions, but the most effective dressing is the 
peat charcoal, through which the sewerage of 
London is filtered at the works at Fulham, and 
which effects what some people would call a 
miracle. The foulest filth of the sewers is put into 
the filter in a state the most offensive that can be 
imagined, and comes through as pure as from a 
fountain. It is drunk with impunity, and nobody 
could tell that it had not come pure from the 
spring. The charcoal stops and gets saturated 
with the strong manure, and, when dried, is sold 
by the ton, the sack, or the basket ; and this must 
first be sowed over the ground, at the rate of three 
pounds weight to a rod of ground, which should be 
previously dug, and washed in a little way by a 
shower or two of rain, or by watering it well 




once or even twice. The easiest way of sowing it 
is to mix it with its bulk or twice its bulk of sand ; 
it enables us to distribute it better. _ You may 
then sow or plant or do as you like with it; and 
there is the great advantage, that, besides 
the peat charcoal, which in itself is always good 
for the land, you have a strong and stimulating 
dressing obtained from the sewage. Mix it with 
three times its bulk of sand, or light soil, and it 
makes a first-rate top-dressing for anything. 
There are other stimulants sold by all the seeds- 
men; but, rely on it, that if ground will not pay 
for good dressing, it will never pay with starving. 
—GEORGE GLENNY. 
Questions about a Piping Bullfinch.—I bought 
this Spring, a Piping Bullfinch, my dear sir, for 
which I gave £3. 3s. He piped delightfully one 
air; and all the household, I may say, have be- 
come attached to the little fellow. Since he began 
moulting in the beginning of August, he has not 
piped a single note, and searcely chirped his own 
natural note. Still he eats well, and looks fat and 
saucy. Will he not sing the tune he has been 
taught till next spring? And may I hope that he 
will certainly do so then? According to your in- 
structions, which I carefully note, I give him very 
little hempseed, but why ?—as he is so greedily 
fond of it, can it do him harm? I thought the 
instinct of Nature was sufficient to guard all 
animals from taking what would harm them. A 
paragraph on the subject, for the benefit of your 
subscribers, would do good to many as uninstructed 
as myself. It is curious to observe the cunning- 
ness with which the little fellow eyes the hemp- 
seed, and how instantaneously he selects it in 
preference to anything else given him. I feed 
him almost entirely upon canary and flax seed, 
adding an occasional pinch of maw seed, and also 
plenty of groundsel and plantain. He likes the 
sow-thistle. Is this bad for him? [No.] Some- 
times I give him a little scalded and bruised rape 
seed. He had lost one of his claw nails before I 
bought him, and often looks gouty about the feet. 
I try to wash them for him; but he does not like 
being handled, and he resists all attempts pertina- 
ciously. I now coax him into a little wooden cage, 
by putting his favorite food into it, where, through 
the bars, I can brush his claws with a soft brush 
and water. He does not relish this, however. 
Can you tell me of a better way? Ofcourse I 
clean his cage daily, and give him plenty of fresh 
sand. You will believe I am anxious to preserve 
my pet, when I tell you I commonly rise and 
attend to him and a mule canary at half past five 
every morning. I am sorry to say we have not 
found the Zollverein cages fanswer as well as we 
had expected from your report. My daughter 
bought one on your recommendation, and finds her 
birds scatter their seed from it more than they did 
from the old-fashioned cage. It is fair, however, 
that I should state it is not one of those that take 
off from the top,—but it opens with a drawer. 
Yet it is of zinc_—A Constant SupscRiBEr, fant, 
September 26. 
[Keep your bird warm till he has thoroughly 
moulted. He will not sing till next Spring. You 
may fully anticipate the pleasure of hearing your 
favorite sing again if he has been well taught. 
Hempseed is not good for bards. It is heating,— 

