432 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 26, 1881. 
the entrance fees with their entry forms properly filled up, in time to 
reach the Assistant Secretary (Mr. J. Huckle, King’s Langley) on or 
before Saturday, July lGth. 
-Bath and West op England Society and Southern 
Counties Association. —The visit of the Bath and West of England 
Society and Southern Counties Association to Tunbridge Wells in the 
first week in June will be the fourth which the Society has made to 
the south-east of England. In the department of live stock the 
entries amount in the aggregate to 7G7, a number which is, with two 
exceptions, the largest ever reached by the Society. As might have 
been expected, the classes for Sussex cattle and Southdown and 
Kent sheep will form the great feature of the Show, while the collec¬ 
tion of Jerseys will be one which both for extent and quality has been 
seldom surpassed. In the poultry department the “single-bird 
system ” has been strictly reverted to. The total number of entries 
is 519, and includes specimens from nearly all the leading exhibitors, 
some of whom, however, have been prevented by the concurrence of 
one or two other large shows in the same week from entering so 
largely as usual. A novel and interesting department has been 
added this year to the Exhibition. A working dairy for the purpose 
of exhibiting the recent improvements in the treatment of milk and 
cream for the manufacture of butter, the process of butter-making, 
its curing and packing for transit, and the treatment of milk for 
travelling, will be in constant operation, and arrangements have 
been made to erect a stand, commanding a full view, for the con¬ 
venience of) those who wish to study the processes. Another new 
feature of the Show will be an exhibition of bees and bee appliances 
in a tent designed for the purpose, and the delivery of lectures at 
frequent intervals, with practical illustrations of the most approved 
methods of bee management and manipulation. The horticultural 
department will also maintain its attractiveness, and will include 
many choice specimens from the gardens and greenhouses of floricul¬ 
turists of Kent and Sussex. Silver cups are provided for Orchids, 
and are expected to incite good competition. 
- The Royal Agricultural Society.—A general meeting 
of members was held last Monday at the Society’s rooms in Hanover 
Square, Mr. W. Wells, President, occupying the chair. Mr. H. M. 
Jenkins, the Secretary, read the report of the Council, which showed 
a total membership of 7979, being a decrease of 103 since December. 
On the motion of the Earl of Eeversham, seconded by Lord Ren- 
dlesham, Mr. John Dent of Ribston Hall, Wetherby, was elected 
President for the ensuing year. 
- The Birmingham Dairy Show.— The entries in all depart¬ 
ments closed on Saturday last, and it will be seen from the following 
returns that there will be a very large and interesting Exhibition— 
Cattle, 122; Goats, 22; cheese, butter, and cream, 352; bees, hives, 
and honey, 20; poultry and eggs, 615 ; collections of dairy and 
poultry appliances, 57; wool and other farm produce, 13. The 
poultry will be such as is considered best adapted for the farmyard. 
The supply of home-grown poultry and eggs for sale is by no means 
equal to our requirements or capabilities of production, and it is 
thought much good may be done if farmers’ wives and daughters can 
be induced to devote more attention to the subject, which would be 
to their own advantage and to that of the populations of our towns 
by increasing the supply of eggs and poultry. Arrangements are in 
progress for the delivery, on some of the Show days, of short popular 
lectures on butter and cheese-making, poultry-keeping, &c., which it 
is hoped will be of much practical value. 
- Sale of Shorthorns. —The bulk of Mr. D. M’lntosh’s 
famous herd of Shorthorns at Havering Park, Essex, were sold last 
Thursday. Five bulls realised 543 guineas, the highest price for one 
animal being 310 guineas. Thirty-four cows and heifers realised 
the substantial sum of 1503 guineas. Two animals were bought 
for the Queen, seven to go to Belgium, and one, at 100 guineas, to 
go to America. 
- The Rot in Sheep.— The reports of the Commissioners 
appointed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England to investi¬ 
gate the disease known as liver rot, which has entailed such serious 
losses upon the agricultural community, have just been issued. In 
1879 it is estimated that in England and Wales three million of 
sheep died or were sacrificed from rot, and that equally great losses 
occurred in 1880, and still continue. With regard to preventive 
measures, the Commissioners advise several methods for the capture 
and destruction of the fluke ova. Foremost amongst preventives is 
the removal from the land of superfluous wet, and towards this end it 
is stated that draining and ditching in many districts are being prose¬ 
cuted with unusual energy. The protective effect of penning sheep 
on dry land at night time is also recommended. Again, concentrated 
dry food given systematically limits in a very striking manner the 
disastrous effects of flukes. Further, the regular use of common salt 
is well entitled to rank as a preventive of rot. 
THE HATCHING SEASON. 
At page 410 you say you will be glad to hear from your readers 
respecting this matter, and we beg to send you a few notes on the 
subject. Here and hereabouts hatching has been about on a par 
with last season, and it was not considered very good. The best 
of all our eggs to hatch have been the Scotch Greys, then Dorkings, 
Sultans, and Buff Cochins. The latter have been very bad. 
Indeed, although we set many dozens of eggs of the Cochins we 
are ashamed to tell our increase, but of the Greys we are proud. 
Nearly every egg of these hatched, and we never had a greater 
per cent, of the right-coloured ones amongst them. Did we speak 
of Scotch Greys alone we would have no hesitation in saying 
that our hatching season had been a most successful one, but 
including all kinds it has only been half so, as our chicks only 
number about half the quantity of eggs set. 
In March the eggs were much more fertile than in April or the 
early part of May. According to many poultry authorities the 
reverse of this should happen, as warm days and short nights are 
considered more favourable for the production of fertile eggs than 
severe weather ; but we are beginning to think that this is hardly 
true in all cases, as for several years our early eggs have been the 
best, and we hear from other extensive poultry rearers that they 
have experienced the same thing. Why this should be so there 
may be many opinions. The actual reason may be nearly the 
same throughout. Early in the season, when fanciers first com¬ 
mence to hatch, they are most anxious to secure fertile eggs and 
strong healthy chicks, and as they secure a few of these and the 
season advances they may get more careless in keeping up the 
condition of their breeding stock ; the best food and other atten¬ 
tions being transferred from the parents to the progeny, and a 
sudden falling-off is the result. Again, damp weather is, accord¬ 
ing to our observation, far more favourable to the fertility of eo’gs 
and the production of chicks than drying winds, which we all 
know occur frequently, too frequently in April and May. A 
damp corner for hatching does not seem to serve the purpose so 
fully as a general humidity. 
Further experience, then, is forcing us to think that March is the 
most fertile month of the year for hens’ eggs. It would be of in¬ 
terest to know if others are inclined to think the same. Indeed this 
is an interesting point altogether, and if opinion generally could 
be ascertained as to it, much good might follow. 
Some may object to March chicks owing to their being liable 
to suffer from the cold for a number of weeks afterwards, whereas 
nothing of the kind is experienced further on ; but this does not 
by any means always hold good, and a little shelter during April 
winds lightens their ill effect wonderfully. 
No one about here goes in for poultry-keeping wholesale, but 
many of the farmers and cottagers keep a good many birds. 
Nowhere have we heard of any great hatching taking place. 
Failures are spoken of enough, and altogether as to hens’ eggs 
the season has been, as you say, a doleful one as a rule. 
Geese are kept in large quantities about here, and goslings are, 
as some of your garden hands would say, “ a grand crop.”" Ten, 
eleven, and twelve from a dozen eggs are quite the rule. Tur¬ 
keys, too, are well spoken of, but Ducks are not at all satisfactory. 
We have not seen one good batch of them this season, although 
we know of plenty of eggs having been set. They, like the 
accompanying Green Peas, appear to have been affected by the 
east winds which have all along been very prevalent. 
Mortality amongst our juvenile stock was never lighter than it 
has been this season. We have not lost a chick from disease, and 
