July 21, 1881. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
71 
Live Stock .—A good supply of water is of the utmost consequence 
for all kinds of stock, and in the absence of rivers or brooks, ponds 
must of course be made and kept in condition to hold water. We 
call the attention of farmers occupying the hill districts to our 
description of making ponds, with illustrations, given in these 
columns on May 2nd, 1878, page 846. To dairy cows access to water 
is extremely important, perhaps more than any other stock ; never¬ 
theless, sheep require water in the hill districts, especially where 
they are not receiving succulent food, such as Yetches or Rape, and 
only feeding on old leas or down pastures. We must again call atten¬ 
tion to the summer management of sheep, for we have recently seen 
a flock of 150 or more all huddled together under a tree at the side of 
a canal bank, and where they were allowed to remain for six or seven 
hours, and of course leaving both the dung and urine where it could 
do no good. This brings to our mind the plan we have pre¬ 
viously named in these columns—our practice of folding the sheep 
during the day from ten o’clock until four in the afternoon upon 
the arable land, giving them a fold of green fodder early in the morn¬ 
ing, and allowing them to graze on the Saintfoin or Clover leas or 
pastures and parklands during the night. Where some such plan 
is not adopted a serious loss of manure must be the result. It 
should be borne in mind that one of the principal objects of feeding 
sheep ought to be considered—that of manuring the land, especially 
of the outlying and hill districts. We address these observations also 
to the home farmer having parklands under his care, because where 
there are spreading trees the sheep ai - e sure to resort to them for shade, 
and under such circumstances the manure must be totally lost. 
VARIETIES. 
Commencement of Harvest. —Winter Oats are being cut on 
a farm at Datchet, and with a continuance of the present splendid 
weather harvest operations will soon become pretty general in the 
home counties of Middlesex, Berks, Bucks, and Surrey. All the 
cereals are looking well, but the root crops greatly require rain. A 
Sussex correspondent informs us that the corn is ripening rapidly, 
and that the cutting will commence in many places this week ; and 
next week, if the present fine weather continues, the harvest will be 
general. The corn is generally short in the straw, but the yield is 
expected to be'.better than that of laBt year. 
- Grouse in the Highlands. —Grouse prospects in the West 
Highlands are reported as favourable. Coveys are numerous and 
healthy, though young ; birds as a rule fully a month behind last 
year. The weather during the past week has been wet and drenching, 
but the birds have had capital shelter. Most of the moors in the 
west are already let. 
- Grass Cultivation.—T he Prince of Wales had his special 
attention directed hy Lord Leicester to the production of grass in 
growth exhibited by James Carter & Co. at Derby. Messrs. Carter 
explained to His Royal Highness that the grass was sown on June 
2nd, mown for the first time June 20th, and since mown six times in a 
period of about three weeks. This is admitted to be a most mar¬ 
vellous result, and His Royal Highness expressed his approbation 
of the exhibit.—( The Daily Chronicle .) 
- The Derby Agricultural Show. —We are requested to 
state that the winners of the prizes recently awarded by the Royal 
Agricultural Society at their Derby Meeting for the best farms, used 
seeds supplied by Messrs. Webb & Sons, Wordsley, Stourbridge. For 
Dairy Farms above 150 acres.—First prize, 100 guineas, Mr. Geo. 
Bryer, Markeaton Park, Derby; 2nd prize, 50 guineas, Mr. Jno. 
Hellaby, Twyford; 3rd prize, 25 guineas, Mr. Arthur Stretton, 
Whichnor Bridge, Lichfield. For Dairy Farms not exceeding 150 
acres.—First prize, 50 guineas, Mr. Alfred Milner, Alfreton. For the 
Best Arable and Mixed Farm.—First prize, 50 guineas, Mr. F. Price, 
Baynes Heath, Atherstone. 
- The Royal Show at Derby. —This has proved a great 
success so far as regards the weather and the number of visitors, the 
former having been magnificent and the latter very numerous—con¬ 
siderably exceeding one hundred thousand. The stock department 
of the Show was by no means equal to the previous great displays of 
the Society. There was a considerable falling-off in the number of 
horses ; cattle were also represented in diminished numbers. Sheep 
were generally good, some of the classes being admirably filled, and 
pigs were seen in as fine condition as at any previous gathering. The 
display of implements was of great magnitude, the articles sur¬ 
passing both in numbers and quality those exhibited at any past 
meetings of the Society. 
-British Bee-Keepers’ Association.—T he following is the 
programme of arrangements for the South Kensington Show :— 
Tuesday, July 26th: Judging commences at 10.30 a.m., Show opens 
at 1 p.m. ; 2 P.M., commencement of driving competition in the bee 
tent; 3 P.M., quarterly meeting of the Committee for the pui'pose 
of conferring with representatives of county associations ; 5 r.M., 
Mr. Frank R. Cheshire has kindly promised to deliver a lecture— 
subject, “ Bees as Florists, Hybridisers, and Fruit-producers,” illus¬ 
trated by new and original diagrams. Wednesday, July 27th : Show 
opens at 10 a.m. ; displays of manipulations, accompanied by short 
lectures, given at intervals throughout the afternoon in the bee tent; 
5 P.M., general meeting of the members of the Association, the 
Baroness Bnrdett-Coutts, President of the Association, in the chair. 
Thursday, July 28th : Show opens at 10 A.M. ; displays and lectures 
in the bee tent throughout the afternoon ; 5 P.M., distribution of 
prizes by Her Royal Highness the Princess Christian. All the above 
meetings will take place in the Committee-room adjoining the Show. 
Friday and Saturday, July 29th and 30th : Show opens at 10 A.M.; 
no displays or lectures will be given in the bee tent on these days. 
Monday, August 1st: Show opens at 10 a.m. ; displays and lectures 
in the bee tent throughout the afternoon, admission 3d. Members 
attending the Show will be required to bring their tickets of member¬ 
ship, which have been forwarded to all those who have paid their 
subscriptions for the current year, otherwise they will have to pay 
for admission to the Gardens. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
On looking through M. Lemoine’s interesting work on the 
poultry yard we came upon a passage which seems specially 
appropriate to the present season. Having observed that birds 
which plucked out and eat their own or other birds’ feathers ceased 
to do so upon having an abundant supply of feathers thrown 
down in their yard, M. Lemoine had some feathers analysed, and 
found them to be composed of the following materials :— 
Carbon .52.42 
Hydrogen . .. 7.21 
Azote .17.89 
Oxygen and Sulphur.22.48 
100.00 
M. Lemoine hence concluded that feather-eating was simply the 
result of an insufficient supply of sulphur, and he recommends that 
during moult a liberal allowance of flowers of sulphur be given to 
the birds. Some of our readers have, we know, found a few doses 
of flowers of sulphur an efficacious remedy for feather-eating, but 
M. Lemoine’s experience goes to show that sulphur will in all 
cases facilitate moult. This seems well worth a trial. 
/ 
A CORRESPONDENT of a contemporary, writing over the sig¬ 
nature “ S. H.,” gives a somewhat amusing account of a variety 
of fowls “made” by himself with a view to checkmate the 
poultry thieves of the northern suburbs. Upon moving to a new 
house, called Hermitage, somewhere near Seven Sisters Road, 
he found the thieves too much for any ordinary breed of poultry. 
It thus “became suddenly necessary to secure a race of non- 
thievable poultry,” and the result of some time and thought was 
a breed which, in “ S. H.’s” own words, “ may be described 
roughly and with a touch of the longbow as follows :—They lay 
all the year round, are perfectly restricted in range by a 2-feet 
fence, are good scratchers, good sitters, good mothers, and as 
hardy as any race known ; they are perfectly silent, utterly in¬ 
visible, and never use their wings.” He called his fowls “ Her¬ 
mits,” and professes to have spent three years in making the new 
breed, and three more in fining it down to a standard. “ S. H.” 
does not say whether any of the breed are still in existence, and 
unless it may be inferred that Dark Dorkings and Cochins had 
something to do with its origin, we are not enlightened as to the 
process of manufacture. If the whole story is anything more 
than a shot from the longbow. “ S. H.” would confer a benefit 
upon metropolitan poultry-keepers by informing them how the 
Hermits were made, and also as to their present existence or non¬ 
existence. 
In this dreadfully hot weather special care must be given to 
