392 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 27, 1881. 
last few days are lambing fast, and show that the lambing will be 
completed about the end of November. The ewes which have lambed 
should be fed upon the Clover seeds at daytime, but a fold at night 
of mustard or rape is better for the lambs. The ewes should have in 
addition once a day cut Turnip and cake meal mixed in troughs, and 
this is essential although they may have plenty of grass, as it pre¬ 
pares them for eating trough food in the future ; for we have seen 
them rather severely checked in condition when removed suddenly 
from good grass into Turnips or Swedes, which they should be when 
the lambs are about three weeks or a month old. The mode of feed¬ 
ing the lambs will be matter for consideration further on. The fat¬ 
ting cattle in the boxes or stalls must now receive great attention, 
in order that those which are intended for sale at Christmas may be 
ready for the butcher at that time; and a slight increase of bean 
meal, say 2 lbs. per day, in addition to the usual allowance of oilcake, 
will make them firm and fleshy at the time of sale. The home farmer 
in putting his cattle into the boxes at first must not give them any 
hay with their roots, but only good sweet straw; for if they are 
allowed hay at the commencement of feeding they will not take to 
straw afterwards without receiving a check. The feeding with straw 
in preference is extremely important, for hay is not only too costly to 
turn to profit in feeding, but in our experience for many years we 
have found it unhealthy for the bullocks if they receive a liberal 
allowance of cake and meal with the roots, as we have frequently 
found them refuse their food for many hours in succession, but never 
when they get only straw as fodder whether cut into chaff or other¬ 
wise. The milch cows should now receive, as supplementary to the 
grass food, some cut roots mixed with straw chaff and decorticated 
cotton cake in the racks at milking time, and another bait afterwards 
if they lie in the pens at night, as they ought very soon to do. 
Kerry Cattle. —The sale of pedigree Kerry Cows at Streame 
Farm, Horeham Road, Sussex, which was postponed a few weeks 
ago. will positively take place on the 8th of November. Particulars 
will be found in our advertising pages. 
The Harvest in Scotland. —The harvest in the Lothians is said 
to be the worst that has been experienced for many years. The 
grain generally is seriously damaged by long exposure, and the stock, 
Barley especially, is so deteriorated in quality that it is practically 
unsaleable to maltsters. The Potato disease is still spreading. In 
some localities th ■ i mps are not worth lifting, and in others there is 
only one-tenth of the Potatoes sound. The disease spreading so 
rapidly, farmers are fast digging the Potatoes and sending them 
into the market; consequently prices are falling rapidly. The 
Potatoes now being sold in London contain a large per-centage of 
diseased tubers. 
the laying-on of fat is, at this season especially, a great hindrance 
to laying, and this should be guarded against. A small feed of 
oatmeal three times a day will often work wonders in bringing 
in a few eggs, when other means have failed to check the tendency 
to fatten. Oatmeal alone is expensive food, but then eggs for 
hatching in December are worth some extra expense. 
We are not advocates of artificial heating as a means of pro¬ 
ducing early eggs, but any method of preserving the natural heat 
of the body from too speedy exhaustion may with advantage be 
adopted. We one winter had an unusually abundant supply of 
eggs from our Spanish pullets, and found that our poultry keeper 
had replaced the ordinary roost by a 9-inch plank covered with 
straw. A few ties of straw rope or cord kept the straw from 
falling off the plank, and, as the most of the droppings fell clear 
of the plank, an occasional renewal of the straw was all that was 
necessary. This plan is better than bedding the birds in straw 
on the ground, as it is more to their taste and effects a consider¬ 
able saving in straw. 
In very unfavourable weather it a good plan to confine the birds 
to their houses, but this can only be done when these are fairly 
large and well lighted, and it should only be done in really bad 
weather, or the stamina of the birds will be lessened, and the 
chance of fertile eggs decreased. 
We will suppose that the expected eggs are forthcoming early 
in December. The next trouble will be as to getting them hatched. 
We generally employ an incubator for hatching purposes, and 
when once the season has commenced the eggs are put into the 
incubator as they are laid. It must be borne in mind, however, 
that eggs which are some days old do not hatch quite so well in 
an incubator as uuder a hen, and as there may be some eggs 
which have been laid some little time before the 11th of Decem¬ 
ber it is well to provide a hen or two for these. If there are any 
surplus pullets laying towards the end of November, these should 
be confined to their house and a few eggs left in the nest. These 
will generally lead to one or two of them clucking. If this can 
not be managed, a general search amongst friends and neighbours 
is the only other course. We well remember a few years back 
instituting such a search just before Christmas. We visited some 
six or seven villages and some forty or fifty cottages without 
result. We at last came upon a solitary cottage with some well- 
kept hens about the door. We were met by an old woman, who 
answered our “ Have you such a thing as a clucking hen?” with 
an apparently surprised query—“ What would anybody be want¬ 
ing with a clucking hen at this time of year?” Taking this for 
a denial we turned to go with the reply, “ That anyone who had 
a lot of valuable eggs to set would be glad of a hen even then.” 
It was a lucky remark, for it softened the old lady’s heart and 
led to a confession that she had two clucking hens which were 
intended to be set upon Duck eggs. A good deal of persuasion 
and a promise of a setting of Aylesbury Duck eggs led to a 
transfer of the hens to our possession. 
The difficulty we experienced on that and other occasions led 
us to try an incubator for early hatching, and except for the eggs 
gathered for hatching out on the 1st of January we have found 
that it answered all purposes. For the collected eggs the hens 
are better, but even these should be placed in the incubator if a 
hen cannot be found. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32'40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude,lll feet. 
JANUARY CHICKENS. 
The passing months render it necessary for the prudent fancier 
to prepare for next year’s work in the breeding yard. If early 
chickens are to be hatched, it will be expedient before very long 
to mate up a yard or two of suitable birds. The 11th of December 
is the day upon which the setting season opens, and lucky is the 
fancier who on that day has two or three settings of eggs collected, 
and either hens or a reliable incubator to entrust them to. The 
birds wanted for the Palace and Birmingham Shows must not be 
counted upon to furnish the necessary eggs. They will come in 
a little later, but must be supplemented at first by a few others. 
Two difficulties present themselves—firstly, to procure eggs at 
the right time, and secondly to insure the fertility of the eggs. 
Both difficulties can be overcome if proper foresight has been ex¬ 
orcised, and if the advice which we gave early in the year has 
been followed. There should now be in every yard where early 
chickens are desired two or three hens of last year which have 
almost moulted out. These should be mated about the 1st of 
November with a suitable cockerel not intended for the show pen. 
There should also be some pullets just about ready to lay. The 
best mate for these will be a late-hatched cockerel of last year, 
which has now come to maturity and has up to this period been 
kept apart from the hens. Either or both of these plans is pre¬ 
ferable to mating a cockerel with pullets ; but if this last course 
be inevitable, then the birds of each sex should be as fully matured 
as possible. Not more than two or three hens or pullets should 
be .allowed to each male bird. 
Having mated up the breeding pens, it will be desirable to 
allot to them the warmest houses and driest runs, and to give 
them as much liberty as possible. A moderate portion of meat 
or some other stimulant and a liberal allowance of non-fattening 
food are the next points to be attended to. We have found that 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
• o 
a> <ni gj_ 
Hygrome- 
a . 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
d 
_ - ^ 01 <u 
ter. 
C a 
© 
perature. 
Temperature. 
a 
03 
October. 
~ V a*- 3 
o r si __ 
In 
On 
—■ 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Qo 
P-< 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
dei'. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 16 
30.355 
37.6 
35.6 
N. 
47.6 
49 6 
31.2 
89.4 
24.3 
_ 
Mon. 17 
30.416 
32.6 
31.7 
N.E. 
45.7 
51.0 
27.3 
87.5 
20.6 
_ 
Tues. 18 
3i'.307 
37 4 
37.3 
N.E. 
44.6 
51.7 
30.8 
86.9 
23.6 
_ 
Wed. 19 
30.177 
4.3.3 
39.3 
E. 
44.4 
49.9 
35.5 
88.3 
26 0 
_ 
Thurs. 20 
29.853 
45.7 
42.4 
S.E. 
44.4 
52.4 
38.3 
93.2 
27.3 
0.280 
Friday 21 
29.631 
44.9 
44.3 
E. 
44.8 
48.3 
43 6 
63.4 
34.8 
— 
Satur. 22 
29.457 
43.3 
42.0 
E. 
45.6 
49.2 
44.6 
52.0 
44.3 
1.028 
30.028 
40.7 
38.9 
45.3 
S0..3 
35.9 
80.1 
28.8 
1.308 
REMARKS. 
16th.—Fine, bright, and cold. 
17th.—Cold foggy morning ; fine afternoon, but <ontlnuing hazy 
18th.—Slight fog in morning, afterwards fine and br ght. 
19th.—Very fine bright day. 
20th.—Pine and bright, with gusty N.E. wind. 
21st.—Rain in early morning ; hazy dull day. 
22nd.—Fine till 10 a.m. ; rain rest of the day. 
A cold week with several very sharp frosts on gras 3 . Heavy rain on 22nd and 
during night of 22nd—23rd.—G. J. SYMONS. 
