JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
314 
In this way the home farmer may foil the grubs and improve 
the value of his crop simultaneously ; in fact, when situated near 
towns the young Carrots when pulled, if of the red sort, may be 
sold in bunches at the time of pulling and thinning the crop. 
Such a plan, however, could not be carried out with Mangolds 
and Turnips with advantage ; if, therefore, the attack of grubs 
is serious, some may be trapped by placing slices of Potatoes or 
other roots on the surface. But the safest, though most costly, 
manner of riddiDg the land of them is to employ women with 
short pointed sticks to seek for insects by the removal of the earth 
round the roots of the plants which show the most damage done 
by their injured growth. It is only in very dry seasons, when the 
growth of the plants is slow, that much real injury is inflicted, 
and which makes it desirable and profitable to incur the cost of 
examination of the growing roots, and hand-picking the grubs and 
carrying them away to be destroyed. In some dry seasons we 
have employed women to search for the grubs; but in ordinary 
seasons when the weather is favourable and induces the root 
plants to grow fast, we do not heed the attack of grubs, for fair 
crops can be obtained although these insects may be found at 
work to some considerable extent, and thus save a rather heavy 
expense. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME HARM. 
Eorte Labour .—Not a day should be lost now, the first and most 
important work being to drill the Mangold seed. If the land has 
not received any yard or town manure either in the autumn or lately, 
the application of artificial manure should be more liberal at the time 
of seeding, which may be applied by the drill; but in case of the land 
being bouted or stetched it may be distributed broadcast by hand 
and the stetches reversed by the plough; this will bury the seed in 
the centre of the ridges. Yet it may be done as in the Scotch or 
northern counties, where ridge and manure and seed drills combined 
answer every purpose ; the little rollers attached buries the seed well 
and leaves the land close and moist. Two cwt. of best Peruvian 
guano and 4 cwt. of bone superphosphate mixed with ashes is a 
sufficient dressing to produce a full crop if applied by the drill either 
on the flat or stetch, but when strewed broadcast 3 cwt. of guano 
and 4 cwt. of bone superphosphate will be none too much, simply 
because the guano will not be likely to injure the seed when it first 
vegetates, as when applied by the drill in contact with the seed. In 
some cases we have grown fine Mangolds on the stetch, the seed being 
dibbled by women, or drilled by the garden hand drill. 
POULTRY IN CONFINEMENT. 
“ Grass runs are essential for poultry ” is the stereotyped advice 
that is given in books, and possibly it may be good advice; but now 
and then we find poultry kept profitably where grass cannot grow, 
and the term “run” becomes a misnomer, for the birds have scarcely 
room to walk in their “run” of coal ashes. During my Easter 
holiday I observed in the suburban garden of an artisan a wire pen 
15 feet long and 4 feet wide, in which twelve birds, the picture of 
health, were kept, and which by good attention and judicious feed¬ 
ing not only paid their way but left a pleasant margin of profit to 
the owner. On inquiry I found he had kept fowls in the same 
pen for the last seven years and “never had any trouble with 
them.” Green food, such as the refuse from greengrocers’ shops, 
is given in abundance, and house scraps scalded and mixed with 
meal constitutes their staple food, with a feed of dry corn at night. 
No birds are kept more than two years except a favourite hen, which 
is a “ good setter and fine mother.” The breed appears to be a 
Dorking and Brahma cross, the latter preponderating. I never 
saw a more satisfactory instance of poultry-keeping, and in this 
case a grass run is certainly not essential. There is no doubt what¬ 
ever that many persons with small conveniences may have a supply 
of fresh-laid eggs who now have to pay 2d. each for them, if they 
will consider the requirements of the birds and studiously minister 
to their wants.—A Countryman. 
EARLY CHICKS IN THE FAR WEST. 
Chicks that are hatched in midwinter, or even in early spring, 
need much care to rear them up to a marketable size. In addition 
to well-lighted, well-warmed, and well-ventilated quarters they 
must have plenty of the right kind of food, and must be fed regu¬ 
larly and often. 
[ April 13, 1882. 
For two or three hours after the chicks leave the shells they 
should remain in the trays. At the end of that time they will be dry 
and lively, and should be removed to the artificial mothers and 
then left undisturbed for twelve hours. Do not feed too soon. Lots 
of infant chickens come to an untimely end because their owners 
will stuff them as soon as possible after they get into this world. 
Twelve or fifteen hours after hatching is soon enough to give the 
first meal, which should not be meal at all, but just hard-boiled 
eggs crumbled fine. The clear eggs that are taken from the in¬ 
cubator at the first testing should be saved for chicken feed. For 
the first few days the food should consist of hard-boiled eggs, curds, 
stale bread moistened with milk, and a little cooked rice. When 
four or five days old commence feeding cooked com meal, oatmeal, 
boiled potatoes, and as soon as you quit the boiled eggs a little 
cooked meat every day. The food may be seasoned slightly with 
salt and pepper, and two or three times a week give a little bone 
meal mixed with the food. Green food must be given once each 
day—it is indispensable. 
How to obtain in winter a constant supply of green food suit¬ 
able for little chicks is one of the many problems that the poultry 
raiser mu3t solve. We have settled the question, so far as we are 
concerned, by raising Lettuce, grass, and Oats in shallow boxes 
hung around the room where we keep the chicks. A small box of 
Lettuce lasts quite a while, for we only cut off the leaves with 
sharp shears, and the roots soon send up a new crop. 
Early chicks must be fed often, not three or four times a day, 
but six times between daylight and dark. Feed each time all that 
the chicks will eat up clean, but do not leave any food around to 
sour. As soon as the chicks are big enough to swallow the grains, 
the last feed at night should be wheat, wheat screenings, cracked 
corn, millet, &c., and just as soon as they leave the artificial mother 
and go to pecking and scratching around in the dry gravel or sand 
which should cover the floor, it is a good plan to scatter wheat, 
cracked corn, &c., among the gravel, and let them scratch it out. 
The object in feeding early chickens is to get the largest and best 
chickens possible in a given time, and in order to do this we must 
keep them eating about all the time. There is but little danger of 
overfeeding growing chicks, but there is much danger of under¬ 
feeding, and the wise poultry raiser will avoid it. Remember that 
if your chickens once get stunted from lack of food no amount of 
cramming afterwards will ever make first-class broilers of them. 
As to when to market: l o so when your chickens are well 
feathered and will weigh from 2 to 3 lbs. each, live weight, or from 
1^ lb. to 2 lbs. dressed, they are ready to figure in the markets 
as “ spring chickens.” Do not send chickens that are “ long and 
lean ” and not more than half feathered, and do not send those 
that are no larger than quails, even if they do happen to be well 
feathered. - A few weeks ago I saw in an agricultural journal the 
following quotation, “ The smaller the chicken, if well feathered, 
the greater the price per lb.;” but several years’ experience in 
raising and marketing chickens for broilers has taught me that a 
2-lb. chicken will sell quicker and bring more money than a 1-lb. 
chicken .—(Prairie Farmer .) 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51* 32'40" N.; Long.O 0 8'0" W.; Altitude.lll feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
1882. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32® 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
0 . 
O ^ 
£> 0 
or* 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Rain. 
April. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
££ 
5 o 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Sun. 
Inches. 
29.849 
deg. 
50.3 
deg. 
46.8 
S.E. 
deg. 
45.8 
deg. 
58.0 
deg. 
39.0 
deg 
103.3 
deg. 
35.0 
In. 
Mon. 
8 
29.939 
46.3 
45.6 
E. 
46.5 
67.6 
45.0 
101.7 
45.2 
— 
Tues. 
4 
30.065 
47.8 
43.2 
S.E. 
46.6 
56.6 
42.0 
103.4 
37.7 
— 
Wed. 
5 
30.0.56 
45.7 
42.9 
N. 
46.8 
54.8 
40.5 
105.6 
35.8 
— 
Thurs. 
6 
30.210 
47.4 
40.0 
N. 
45.4 
64.4 
37.4 
107.0 
28.4 
— 
Friday 
7 
30.302 
51.0 
46.0 
E. 
46.5 
60.6 
38.2 
110.3 
31.6 
— 
Satur. 
8 
30.350 
53.3 
46.9 
N.E. 
46.8 
64.1 
37.8 
111.2 
32.1 
— 
30.110 
48.8 
45.3 
46.3 
59.4 
40.0 
106.1 
35.1 
— 
REMARKS. 
2nd.—Morning fine and bright; overcast in afternoon with cold wind. 
3rd.—Dull cloudy morning, afterwards finer with bright sunshine. 
4th.—Fine, bright sunshine, cold winl. 
5th.—Cloudy, cold, sunshine at intervals ; very slight rain in forenoon. 
6th.—-Very fine, bright, and sunny ; misty evening. 
7th.—Bright hot sunshine ; almost cloudless sky; cold wind. 
8th.—Very fine and bright; wind still cool. 
The weather continues dry and fine, and although the nights are cold the 
average temperature continues greatly in excess.—G. J. SYMONS. 
