JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
452 
mowed over to cut off the flowers and seed heads of these weeds, for 
they are very pernicious, not only injuring the butter but also they 
interfere with the proper consumption of the grass, being distasteful 
to the cattle. 
Live Stock. —Cattle in the boxes fattening should now receive 
Clover cut up and taken to them daily ; if not Clover let it be Trifo¬ 
lium, Vetches, or Lucerne. Each of these pay well to feed bullocks 
with, or young stock intended for baby beef. If some Mangold has 
been retained it may be cut and mixed with the cake, corn, or pulse 
meal; in the absence of Mangold, however, succulent grass may be 
passed through the chaff-cutter to mix with the cake meal. In this 
way there is not only far less waste of the superior food, but it has a 
better effect upon the animals consuming it. The ewes and lambs for 
stock may now be changed from the Saintfoin or old leas during the 
day to the Vetches and other catch crops at night; and if they are 
to have cake it should be on the arable land in their night quarters, 
and if possible it should be given in admixture with Mangolds, in the 
same way as recommended for the cattle, in order to avoid waste. 
The cake or corn should never be given alone but mixed with some 
materials, such as hay damped after being cut into chaff, or otherwise 
sweet straw chaffed and moistened with molasses—anything to which 
meal will adhere readily, in order to prevent waste. It will soon be 
time now to wean the lambs, in doing -which we prefer that the lambs 
should remain on the ground they have been accustomed to for some 
little time, because they will always be better satisfied when the ewes 
are removed than when they are removed to other pastures apart 
from the ewes. If the lambs have been properly fed in advance of 
the ewes pi-eviously it will render the weaning much easier. Where 
the Somerset and Dorset horned sheep are kept they should now- 
have a choice Hampshire down ram with them, and if early lambs 
are required shearing should not be done too soon. This applies to 
ewes off-going in the autumn. The regular stock flocks on the chalk 
and limestone hills may be shorn directly ; they may then be ex¬ 
pected to produce lambs in the latter part of November and early in 
December—quite early enough for breeding flocks of either Dorset or 
Somerset horned stock. This sort of sheep have an importanc future 
before them, and it behoves all the breeders to select rams of the 
choicest and purest Somerset blood, for in case the old Dorset type 
should be lost the exchange for the best stock of Somersets would be 
advantageous. 
VARIETIES. 
Pea Fowls. —A correspondent desires to know -where he can 
procure a few Pea-hen’s eggs for sitting purposes and the price. 
Those who have eggs for disposal should advertise them. 
- The British Goat Society. —At the second annual meet¬ 
ing of the British Goat Society, on Thursday last, the Duke of 
Wellington was unanimously elected President for the year, on the 
motion of Dr. A. L. Grace (Berwick-on-Tweed). The report of the 
Hon. Secretary, Mr. Holmes Pegler, stated the Society continues to 
increase in members, the list having now reached a total of 202. The 
late successful entertainment of a kid dinner is to be repeated in con¬ 
nection with a Show of Goats at the Alexandra Palace. 
- The Hop Crop. — There is said to be every prospect of a 
good Hop season in the Kentish fields. The recent warm weather 
and the refreshing rains of the past few days have caused the plants 
to make considerable progress. The bine is reported free from 
insects, and with a continuance of the present weather growers 
will become very hopeful. 
- Staffordshire Agricultural Society.— The annual Ex¬ 
hibition of this Society will be held on September 14th and 15th at 
Stafford. The Show will include stock, implements, and poultry. 
Entries for stock and implements close August 13th, and poultry 
August 27th. 
•-Poultry at the Birmingham Dairy Show.—P oultry are 
well represented, as will be seen by the following figures, which ex¬ 
press the number of pens of each kind of fowl :—Brahmas 114, 
Dorkings 70, Cochins 151, French and Game 107 ; Ducks, Geese, and 
Turkeys, 58. These are exclusive of the classes for barn-door fowls, 
dressed poultry, eggs, &c., of whieh there are over twenty classes, some 
being confined to Warwickshire tenant farmers or cottagers. The 
proposed trial of incubators has been abandoned, as it was thought 
better to show the machines to the public during the week of the 
Exhibition, and it was found that nothing short of a twenty-one or 
twenty-eight days’ trial would be considered satisfactory by the bulk 
of the exhibitors. Poultry feeding by machinery will be carried on 
daily at stated hours, and short practical addresses will be delivered 
by Canon Bagot on “Continental Dairying;” Mr. Jas. Long on 
“ Poultry-keeping for Farmers ; ” and also by Professor Sheldon. 
[ June 2, 1881. 
- The Wings of Birds. —Look at a quill feather, and you will 
see that on each side of the central shaft or quill there is a broad 
thin portion, which is called the vane. The vane on one side of the 
shaft is quite broad and flexible, while that on the other side is 
narrow and stiff ; and by looking at a wing with the feathers in their 
places, you will find that they are placed so that they overlap a little 
like the slats on a window blind. Each broad vane runs under the 
narrow vane of the feather beside it; so that, when the wing is moved 
downward, each feather is pressed up against the stiff narrow vane 
of the one beside it, like a blind with the slats closed. After the 
down-stroke is finished and the up-stroke begins, the pressure is 
taken off from the lower surface of the wing and begins to get on the 
upper surface, and then to press the feathers downward instead of 
upward. The broad vanes now have nothing to support them, and 
they bend down and allow the air to pass through the wing, which 
is now like a blind with the slats open. By these two contrivances— 
the shape of the wing and the shape and arrangement of the feathers 
—the wing resists the air on the down-stroke, and raises the bird a 
little at each flap, but at each up-stroke allows the air to slide off at 
the sides and to pass through between the feathers, so nothing is lost. 
— {St. Nicholas.) 
- The Flight of Homing Pigeons.—T oo great attention, said 
Mr. Sparrow in a paper read before the Balloon Society, cannot be 
given during the rearing of the young. Arrangements should be made 
in the loft so that when the young can fly around strongly they can 
be let out by themselves for their morning fly. If let out with the 
old birds the latter will, after a few circles, pitch, bringing down 
with them the young, the old birds returning to their lofts in order 
to attend to their parental duties. But if the young are let out by 
themselves early in the morning, with a little attention they will at 
once dart off, and on a clear bright morning get up to a great height, 
and frequently keep on the wing for two or three hours at a stretch, 
and clear away out of sight for an hour and upwards at a time. By 
this sort of exercise they get a good knowledge of the neighbourhood 
around their home, and it aids them in getting into condition—an 
essential requisite if birds are to be called upon to perform long 
journeys. All amateurs do not follow the same system of training ; 
but a little extra care and trouble is never thrown away, but well 
invested. The system preferred is to take them about a mile from 
home, selecting a spot as free from buildings as possible, or the young 
bird, in its initial performance, might “ pitch ” on some housetop, and 
this is a bad habit to acquire. In the first “ toss,” to give them more 
confidence, two or three might be started together ; but afterwards 
they should be started singly, letting each bird get clear away before 
another is started. It is surprising how soon they understand what 
is required of them. Plenty of this sort of exercise for a few miles 
in different directions around home, will be of good service to the 
birds. When the route has been decided upon, the birds should be 
kept in as nearly a direct line as is convenient. In England, 100 to 
120 miles for young birds is very fair work, this being equal to 200 on 
the Continent where the country is flat, and the atmosphere, as a rule, 
clear. In order to bring out fully the working capabilities of the 
birds it is necessary that they should be trained during the first 
season, and it is best to keep them at work in the same direction. 
Some excellent work is recorded of English birds trained by English 
societies. The average rate at which Pigeons travel is forty miles 
per hour, and they generally prefer flying at a height of some 100 to 
200 yards. 
GROWING CHICKENS. 
There are times of the year when the energies of poultry 
fanciers are wont to flag. The buying and mating of our breeding 
pens in the autumn is interesting ; we watch eagerly for our first 
eggs and save them with care ; we busy ourselves in the early 
spring over our sitting hens or incubators, and bestow much 
attention on our early broods; but when our chickens have 
become legion, when the weather becomes hot and tiring, above 
