JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
84 
[ January 27, 1881. 
beauties and new perfections to his favourites. Writing for him 
we must undoubtedly answer the question which we first pro¬ 
pounded to our readers in the affirmative, and declare that the 
adoption of in-breeding is essential to the success of the fancier. 
In this view we are supported, as we have always stated, by the 
recorded results of the methods of breeding adopted in regard to 
cattle, sheep, and dogs, by what we know of the methods adopted 
by successful breeders of poultry and Pigeons, and by our own 
experience in this matter extending over a period of nearly twenty 
years. 
(To be continued.) 
EGGS IN WINTER. 
Every farmer who knows anything knows that it pays to have 
eggs to sell in winter, but not one farmer in twenty takes the 
slightest pains to persuade his hens to lay in cold weather. Many 
farmers who use common sense in caring for their horses, cows, 
sheep, and swine, exhibit a wonderful amount of ignorance and 
stupidity when it comes to managing poultry, and the flocks of 
twenty or thirty hens, instead of being a source of revenue, barely 
pay their way in summer and eat their heads off in winter. 
Whose fault is it ? Not the hens’ surely. A hen cannot run an 
egg machine without a supply of raw material to work on. What 
would these farmers think of a man who sheltered his cow in a 
rail pen, fed her on straw, let her go without water, and then 
growled because she did not produce as much milk as when on 
Clover pasture in June ? 
A medium-sized egg contains 127 grains of albumen, 94 grains 
of fat, 13 grains of ash, and 666 grains of water. To those who 
have never studied these things the amount of water seems large, 
but it is less than in beef, while the amount of fat and of muscle¬ 
forming material is greater than in fat beef. Now does anybody 
imagine that hens can manufacture such a highly nutritious 
article of food unless they are provided with plenty of raw mate¬ 
rial in the shape of egg-making food, and a comfortable house to 
live in ? 
It is just as easy to have eggs to sell in winter as in summer, 
and a great deal more profitable. Don’t tell me that it is not 
natural for hens to lay in winter. It is just as natural for hens to 
lay in winter as it is for cows to give milk in winter. Give your 
fowls comfortable houses, and with proper food and care they 
will lay, because they cannot help themselves. 
No live stock on the farm will pay as well in winter as a flock 
of hens properly managed. Farmers, look to this ; turn over a 
new leaf with the new year, and give your fowls the same care 
that you give to other stock, and you will never have cause to 
complain that hens eat more during the winter than all the eggs 
they lay in a year would pay for.— Fanny Field (in Prairie 
Farmer.') 
TOY PIGEONS—HELMETS AND SPOTS. 
These two varieties are nearly related ; we place them before 
many more popular breeds because they are old-established, and 
descriptions of them are to be found in the older Pigeon books. 
The breeding of Toy Pigeons has certainly of late years been 
carried on in a more scientific manner than formerly, and conse¬ 
quently fanciers are attracted to varieties with many fancy 
points. Helmets and Spots have few, and have consequently 
gone out of favour. The “Any other variety” classes, too, at 
shows are now everywhere overfilled, and judges in their per¬ 
plexity look to striking novelty and pass over old-fashioned 
favourites. For a real fancier who loves his birds for their beauty 
and interesting ways, apart from their exhibition value, there are 
few breeds of Pigeons which we think more suitable than these. 
They are agile and light on the wing, good breeders and mothers, 
and in all Pigeons the contrast between finely defined white and 
coloured feathers is very beautiful. Our old friend “ The Dove¬ 
cote and Aviary ” says of the Helmet—“ The Helmet is about 
the size of a Nun, or somewhat bigger. The head, tail, and flight 
feathers of the wings are always of one colour, as black, red, 
yellow, and I believe there are some blue, and all the rest of the 
body white, so that the chief difference between them and a Nun 
is that they have no hood on the head and are commonly gravel¬ 
eyed.” “ The Treatise ” says, “ They are called Helmets from 
their heads being covered with a plumage which is distinct in 
colour from their body, and appears somewhat like a helmet to 
cover the head.” 
The Helmets which we have ourselves seen, and which are now 
occasionally shown, have the coloured head and tail but not the 
flights; indeed, we do not believe that there are now any to be 
procured with coloured flights. The head marking must of course 
be very “ clean-cut,” like a Bald Tumbler, though the reverse as 
to colour. This marking unfortunately leaves some scope for 
“trimming,” and Helmets should not be bought from chance 
vendors. We once had a Yellow hen which the late Mr. B. P. 
Brent, a true fancier and a great judge of Pigeons, procured for 
us from Germany. She was a Crested Helmet— i.e., her head 
like a Nun, but with white flights, and a very pretty bird. Spots, 
instead of a coloured head, have a coloured spot over their beaks, 
coloured tails, and the rest of their plumage white. They are 
scarcely so pretty as Helmets, but increase the variety of a flight. 
—C. 
Dorchestek Show. —Owing to the great snowstorm which 
prevailed throughout the country last week, our reporter was 
quite unable to reach Dorchester Show in time to furnish us with 
a report. Much the same birds will no doubt put in an appear¬ 
ance at Yeovil this week, and we hope to be able to give our 
readers a full report of the Show there. We fear the storm will 
have proved disastrous to many birds through exposure to cold, 
occasioned by the delays in the railway service. We would 
counsel owners not to send their favourites on long journeys while 
this severe weather lasts. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Pigeon Unhealthy (II. A., Manchester ).—Your Pigeon is evidently suffer¬ 
ing from a bad form of canker. Cut or scrape away the diseased parts, wash 
well with Condy’s Bed Fluid, and touch with lunar caustic. If the inside of 
the mouth be much affected, a small indiarubber ring should be put on the 
lower mandible of the beak to keep the parts from touching each other. In 
that case the bird will have to be fed by hand until the wounds heal, and the 
ring can be removed. Books such as you want are the “Practical Pigeon 
Keeper,” price 3.9. 6 d., and the “Book of Pigeons,” price 3D. Cut, both published 
by Cassell, Peter, Galpin, & Co. The latter work is now being published in 
shilling parts. The Long-faced show Antwerps are the flying birds, but the 
Short-faced have been known to be good homers occasionally. Homing Pigeons 
are bred exclusively for flying, not for show purposes, and have been produced 
by crossing several varieties. The term you refer to is merely local, which 
carries its own explanation with it; there is no such variety. 
Turkeys not Thriving (./. F. Brambles ).—Your Turkeys are suffering 
from indigestion. Have they plenty of gravel or lime rubbish ? If not, supply 
it at once. A good dose of castor oil followed by soft food moistened with 
boiled milk, or having a small quantity of powdered chalk mixed through it, 
will be the best treatment to adopt. If the food has been long in the crop you 
must soften it with plenty of warm water; have the bird held up by the legs, 
and gently press the food out through the gullet. This requires to be done 
rapidly, and care must be taken that the bird is not suffocated by continuing 
the process for too long a time at once. Afterwards feed for some time only 
upon soft food. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE,LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long.0°8'0" W.; Altitude,111 feet. 
date. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1881. 
• O 
V c* oj_ 
g 60 S u 
ots 50 > 
Is 9} 
r-H *-> C3 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
©•d 
& 
5o 
*4-1 „ 
c . 
p,— o 
a -sz 
Oh 
Fh 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
3 
*3 
Jan. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Sun. 16 
Mon. 17 
Tues. 18 
Wed. 19 
Thurs. 20 
Friday 21 
Satur. 22 
Inches. 
29.810 
29.818 
29.248 
29.200 
29.804 
30.188 
30.235 
deg. 
17.8 
15.4 
30.4 
26.8 
20.7 
22.1 
18.5 
deg. 
17.0 
15.3 
30.4 
26.8 
20.5 
21.8 
18.0 
N.W. 
S. 
S.E. 
N.E. 
N.W. 
N.E. 
N. 
deg. 
35.0 
34.6 
84.3 
34.0 
84.1 
33.9 
33.8 
deg. 
27.4 
29.9 
30.4 
29.4 
31.8 
80.4 
32.2 
deg. 
14.2 
11.8 
13.7 
22.2 
18.5 
15.7 
15.2 
deg. 
47.0 
34.6 
31.3 
30.0 
77.2 
55.0 
34.6 
deg. 
11.2 
2.3 
8.9 
20 07 
17.0? 
0.6 
7.6 
In. 
1.083 
0.188 
Means. 
29.758 
21.7 
21.3 
34.2 
30.2 
15.9 
44.2 
9.7 
1.271 
REMARKS. 
16th.—Bright fine morning, cloudy afternoon, clear in evening ; intense cold all 
day. 
17th.—Misty and bitterly cold ; slight sunshine in middle of day. 
18th.—Very boisterous, with piercing cold wind and drifting snow all day. Up 
to 1 P.M. snow 3 inches in depth, 8 P.M. 7£ inches, 9 P.M. 8.J inches ; wind 
decreasing after 5 P.M. 
19th.—Snow commenced again at 9 A.H., and continued most of the day ; high 
wind in evening. 
20th.—Bitterly cold but very fine, with much bright sunshine ; fog in evening. 
21st.—Bright, clear, and very cold. 
22nd.—Few flakes of snow at 9 A.M.; frosty and overcast great part of the day; 
bright at sunset. 
The week has been equally remarkable for low temperature and for deep snow 
The air temperature has not been quite as low as in 1860 and in 1867 (6.7° in 
each case), but the exposed thermometers have been very low. On Monday, 
before the great snow, the minimum thermometer lying on the snow of the 12th 
fell to 2.3° ; then on the 19th and 20th it was buried in the deep snow, but being 
dug out and, with several others, laid upon the snow it fell cn the morning of 
the 21st very nearly to zero. The remarkable effect of a covering of snow in 
keeping the earth warm is shown by the earth at a depth of 1 foot remaining 
considerably above freezing point, although last year—with much higher air 
temperatures but without snow—it stood at freezing point for more than a 
week.—G. J. Symons. 
