September 2, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 225 
“ There are other cock Canary birds so mischievous that they 
kill the hens that are put to them ; but sometimes it happens 
that those cocks have some other qualities which make some 
amends for that fault; as for instance, they sing very sweetly, 
have very fine feathers, and are very familiar, therefore there is 
no need of getting rid of them since they have good qualities to 
recompense" for the bad. Besides, if for want of another cock 
ybu are resolved to have a breed from them you may do it as I 
will here prescribe.” The writer’s system of preparing a couple 
of hens to place to one cock bird is practically good, but although 
his particular system has long been adopted by most of the 
London fancy breeders, still I prefer the mating of only one hen 
to a cock bird if for breeding with in a cage. However, here is 
his plan :— 
“ Take two very strong hens, and if possible let them be a year 
older than that mischievous cock you design for them ; put these 
two hens sometimes together into the same cage that they may 
grow very well acquainted, and by that means not grow jealous 
and fight when they have but one cock between them. A month 
before they are put up in order to sit they are both to be turned 
into the same hut, and when the proper time for coupling is come 
put in the cock to the two hens; he will be sure to beat them, 
especially during the first day he is with them, but both the hens 
joining to defend themselves against him, they will at length gain 
an absolute ascendancy over him, so that he, perceiving he can 
gain nothing upon them by force, he will in a little time grow so 
familiar with the two hens as to gain them by kindness, and thus 
these weddings by force often prove more successful than others, 
from which great hopes were conceived, and in the end came to 
nothing or very little. I have taught this way of coupling mis¬ 
chievous Canary birds to some who have owned that it has proved 
successful.” 
The above method is very good when matters run smoothly, 
but in seven cases out of ten when two hens are placed in a cage 
with one cock bird one of the two becomes a favourite, and this 
leads to jealousy. If one hen should obtain a choice scrap of 
building material in the shape of a spray of moss or a feather the 
other hen will not rest until she obtains it, and this leads to un¬ 
pleasantness in the household. The nests thus often become 
damaged, and in the hens’ eagerness to protect their respective 
building places I have not only seen the entire nests dragged out, 
but also the eggs scattered about the cage.— Geo. J. Barnesby. 
VARIETIES. 
The English Harvest. —We have, says the Agricultural Gazette, 
been privileged with a glorious commencement to our English 
harvest, and we have some reason to hope for a continuance of the 
same favourable conditions. It happily does not always rain here ; 
and the longer a tolerably fine season is overdue the more likely is its 
immediate arrival to be. We may encourage ourselves by remem¬ 
bering that we are now entering upon the most settled period of the 
year, when dewy mornings, bright days, and cooler and keener air 
prevail than in the dog days. Over the southern counties harvest 
is rapidly drawing to a close. In many places the Wheat has been 
garnered, and a little late Barley or Oats is all that remains out. In 
the midlands rapid progress is being made, and in the north the 
splendid weather which has enabled south country farmers to secure 
them crops has been filling ears of corn beyond the hopes which 
farmers dared to cherish a month ago. 
- Preparing for Boot Crops.—T he same paper observes 
that the next three months is the season for laying the foundation 
for heavy crops of Mangolds, Potatoes, and Swedes in 1881. Now is 
the golden time for steam cultivation, for ripping up stubbles— 
cultivating, cross cultivating, and dragging them—getting off couch 
and turning it. Much of success in farming matters depends upon 
taking time by the forelock, and performing every operation rather 
before than after its recognised season. The early worm can do but 
little injury to the early crop, and the early farmer is the man to 
meet times in which late and lazy men have no chance. 
-Food Production in America.—O ne of the strangest cases 
of speculative discomfort, says the Prairie Farmer, is the fear 
expressed by some that there will be an over-production of food in 
the United States, and that such over-production will lead to financial 
embarrassment. It is true that the Dutch, upon gaining possession 
of the Spice Islands, cut down a large portion of the spice-yielding 
trees in order to enhance the value of what remained. On this 
principle some croakers would have us kill off half our cattle and 
burn half our crops before reaping, or what would be about the same 
thing, refrain from raising more than one-half of what our soil and 
industry are capable of producing, lest, forsooth, there be a plethora, 
a glut, or an over-production of bread and meat, and food be a drug 
in the market! Nonsense. There is no such thing as over-produc¬ 
tion, and in articles of food even the appearance has not been pre¬ 
sented. The American people are the only ones in the world now, 
or in the history of the world, that have had enough to eat. The 
Germans have not enough to eat; they cannot get it. The Erench 
have not enough to eat; they stint themselves. The English have 
not enough to eat, but try to supply the want by the use of cheap 
beer. The Irish certainly have not enough to eat and never had. 
The people of Asia are all on the brink of starvation. The people of 
Africa make cakes out of mosquitoes. The tribes of South America 
fare no better. With ninety-nine hundredths of the people of the 
world insufficiently supplied with food, what nonsense it is to talk 
about an over-production of breadstuffs. 
- New Hops.—T wo pockets of Hops, the first of the season in 
this district, were sold to a resident at Hereford on Tuesday at £12 
per cwt. They are the earliest pick on record in that neighbourhood' 
and are of an exceptionally superior quality for so early a gathering' 
The Hop crop promises to be one of the finest known for years. 
- Mortality of Cattle from America.— Referring to this 
subject a correspondent makes the following remarkable statement : 
—Out of 375 cattle shipped for England in the “ J. C. Stevenson” 
357 died ; 175 were shipped in the “ Glendawe,” and 157 died ; 
2C6 were shipped in the “Canopus,” and 219 died, the cause being 
attributed to the rough weather in the Atlantic at that time ; but he 
further states that during the late calm weather the “ Edward ” lost 
30 out of 130 cattle, and the “ City of Bristol” 127 out of 460, which 
is attributed to improper stowage and defective ventilation. 
- Harvest Prospects in Scotland. —The Leith correspon¬ 
dent of the Marie, Lane Express writes under date August 28th :— 
“ The harvest makes rapid progress all over Scotland. [In the Lothians 
and in the adjoining counties much has been cut down'diiring the 
past week, and a considerable quantity carried and stacked in safety. 
Some small portion of the Oat and Barley crops has also been 
thrashed and brought to market; the samples, however, can scarcely 
be reckoned as fair representations of either crop. 1 Hats were gene¬ 
rally of good colour, but some of the lots gave evidence of too rapid 
ripening, and therefore showed a somewhat shrunken or shrivelled 
appearance. Barley.—The two sample sacks shown in Edinburgh 
Market on Wednesday were high-coloured and rough though of good 
weight; but these do not represent the crop properly, as there will 
be much fine-coloured and weighty Barley ; but there will also be 
a considerable portion of secondary colour and quality. Wheat 
promises well, but that crop does not come on so quickly] as either 
Oats or Barley. There will be good quality and an excellent yield, 
perhaps a full average. Potatoes still promise largely, and, though 
the disease does exist, with fine dry weather for the next three weeks 
we hope to hear little of it. The yield will be large, and if disease 
keeps off will probably range from 8 to 12 tons per acre. Turnips 
are irregular, but there are many fine fields in the Lothians, Stirling¬ 
shire, Perthshire, and Eife—except, indeed, the ‘ East Nenk,’ where 
so little rain fell.” 
UTILITY OF DRONES. 
A small pamphlet on “ Bee-keeping for Amateurs ” from the 
pen of Mr. Thomas Addey of Epworth has been published lately. 
I am not going to review the work of Mr. Addey here further than 
to say that it might be improved by revision and correction. The 
neighbourhood of Epworth has many bee-keepers, and Mr. Addey 
collects hundreds of swarms of condemned bees every year, and 
sends them to bee-keepers in all parts of England who want such 
to strengthen their own stocks and for feeding into stocks. I 
think no other person in England has saved with his own hands 
more bees from the brimstone pit than Mr. Ad ley has. “Drones,” 
says Mr. Addey, “ are male bees, and are necessary to a prosperous 
condition of the hive, not only for the fertilisation of young queens, 
but as a means of keeping up the heat of hives during spring when 
