540 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r December s>, xaso. 
the pressure upon our time caused by the necessity of our going so 
early to press we had merely time to take a casual glance at this 
incubator. We hope before very long, however, to have an oppor¬ 
tunity of examining it in detail, and giving our readers the particulars. 
In the class for Buff Cochin cocks the first prize and cup was won 
by Mr. Procter, and not by Mr. Tomlinson, as inadvertently published 
in our report. 
In our last issue we perhaps hardly sufficiently acknowledged the 
general excellence of the management and the great improvement in 
many points effected this year both in regard to penning, arrange¬ 
ment of pens, and feeding. Everything was thoroughly well done, and 
we congratulate the management upon their success. 
Our comments upon the various classes will have sufficiently indi¬ 
cated to our readers our general views as to the judging; but in one 
case—that of Mr. Leno—we desire to say an extra word of recogni¬ 
tion. He is comparatively a new hand at the Brahmas—sufficiently 
tough subjects for adjudication—and his awards in the classes upon 
which he adjudicated were, as far as we could learn, accepted with 
entire approbation. That it should have been so speaks well for the 
manner in which he discharged his difficult duty. 
VARIETIES. 
The Royal Agricultural Society. —At the last meeting of the 
Council the Hon. W. Egerton, as Chairman of the Veterinary Com¬ 
mittee, brought up a report in which it was stated that foot-and- 
mouth disease was still on the increase. They had reason to believe 
that the disease has been introduced by Trench cattle into Deptford 
Market, and they recommended that the Privy Council be urged to 
take additional precautions to prevent the spread of contagions 
diseases from that market. Mr. Chas. Whitehead, on behalf of the 
Seeds Committee, reported in favour of withholding the prizes offered 
for new varieties of Wheat, as the competitors had not satisfactorily 
proved that the Wheats entered by them were distinctly new varie¬ 
ties. On the motion of Mr. Dent it was decided to set aside a sum of 
£500 for educational work during the ensuing year; and on the 
motion of the Hon. W. Egerton the Council made a grant of £250 to 
be expended in veterinary investigations. Various standing Com¬ 
mittees were appointed, and some business in reference to next year’s 
Show at Derby was transacted. Mr. Jacob Wilson was re-elected 
Steward of general arrangements at the Society’s Shows for a term of 
three years. 
-Preserved Australian - Rabbits. —The Australian Meat 
Preserving Companies, which have during the last year or two taken 
to cooking and “ preserving ” rabbits which have been killed in such 
enormous numbers, have found their resources unequal to the task 
of boiling and tinning in a fresh state all the rabbits which have 
been offered to them. The Colac Preserving Company, for instance; 
whose works are situated about ninety miles from Melbourne, had on 
an average 7000 of these rodents brought in every night for the first 
four nights of the past season’s operations. How the supply would 
have increased as the season advanced it is impossible to say, but 
orders were given to limit the daily quantity to 2700 pairs. This 
number cooked and <c canned” for five days a week and during a 
season of twenty-five weeks gave 675.000 rabbits as the return for 
one establishment—a quantity which is 50 per cent, more than was 
dealt with in the season of 1879. 
- The Milk Trade.—A t the sixth anniversary dinner of the 
Metropolitan Dairymen’s Benevolent Association, which was founded 
in 1874 for the relief of aged and infirm members of the trade and 
their widows, and which is supported by voluntary contributions, the 
Chairman said that there were no less than four million cows kept in 
this country, and the value of that stock was worth seventy millions 
of money. In addition to that, dairy produce was yearly imported 
to the value of fourteen millions of money. The trade was growing 
and increasing in importance, and the yearly growth of the popula¬ 
tion in this country required an annual increase of sixty thousand 
cows to meet the wants of dairy produce. He incidentally referred 
to the foreign importation of milk, and said the Privy Council should 
prohibit the bringing into this country of that commodity from places 
where the foot-and-mouth disease was known to exist, as there was 
danger of its breaking out here. 
- Agriculture in Ireland. —The Royal Agricultural Society 
finds some difficulty in getting a place for its Show of 1881. Mul¬ 
lingar has been spoken of, and a member of the Local Committee 
attended the monthly meeting of the Council in Dublin, and stated 
that the subscriptions promised amounted only to £840. The opinion 
was expressed that less than £2000 would be insufficient. It was 
stated that under ordinary circumstances there would have been 
no difficulty in getting the requisite amount subscribed. The Chair¬ 
man said if the Show was not held in Mullingar there would be no 
Show at all next year. It was ultimately resolved to postpone the 
decision for two months, to give time for getting further subscriptions. 
The Show is usually fixed four months before this period of the year. 
Mr. Rochefort Boyd, D.L., stated that the rents in the centre of 
Ireland were being remarkably well paid, and that the landlords of 
that part of the country had no excuse for not coming forward and 
subscribing towards the expense of holding the Society’s show next 
year at Mullingar. 
- Proposed Bristol Channel Observatory. —Mr. E. J. 
Lowe, F.R.S., who for the last forty years has carried on a regular 
series of meteorological observations at Highfield, near Nottingham, 
has recently purchased the Shirenewton estate, near Chepstow ; and, 
being convinced of the real importance of establishing an observatory 
which may be carried on through future years without interruption, 
has generously offered to present the whole of his valuable collection 
of meteorological instruments, together with his books and papers; 
towards the establishment of such a permanent observatory, for 
which ke also offers to give the site, together with such stone and 
lime as may be required for the erection of the necessary buildings, 
provided a sufficient sum can be raised in the district to build the 
same, and to provide a small endowment towards the maintenance of 
a limited staff of assistants, who would in the first instance be under 
his gratuitous guidance and supervision. Mr. Lowe, if his offer is 
accepted, proposes to vest the property in the following trustees :— 
The Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Bute, the Duke of Somerset 
the Earl of Cork and Orrery, the Earl of Cawdor, the Earl of Ducie, 
Lord Kensington, M.P.; Lord Tredegar; C. R. M. Talbot, Esq., M.P.; 
Sir W. Y. Guise, Bart.; Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P.; Sir John 
Maclean ; J. A. Rolls, Esq., M.P. ; S. S. Marling, Esq., M.P. ; 
Samuel Morley, Esq., M.P. ; Christopher J. Thomas, Esq. ; and 
W. R. Edwards, Esq. 
- American Dairy Cattle. —The Shorthorns are largely in 
excess of all other pure bloods in the United States ; and although 
their influence is felt mainly in the improvement of beef cattle, many 
dairymen hold them in high favour. Mr. Harris Lewis, one of the best 
known dairymen of New York, writes :—“ There is no way known to 
me by which our dairymen can so easily and certainly improve the 
milking qualities of our native herds as by using a thoroughbred 
Shorthorn bull, and raising the heifer calves of the best milkers. 
The bull should be from a good milking family of Shorthorns. I 
commenced this practice several years ago, and the result has been 
so favourable to the Durhams that I am now running into the 
thoroughbreds for my dairy. The first cross of the native cow with 
a Shorthorn bull usually produces better results than subsequent 
crosses, but this rule may not hold good if the bulls used for the 
second or third crosses are of superior milking stock to the one first 
used. I find that our Herkimer County dairymen, with all their 
prejudices against Durhams as milkers, will first select from droves 
of cows brought in for sale the Shorthorn grades, and pay better 
prices for them than for superior natives.”—(From “ Dairy Farming ,” 
by Professor Sheldon , for December.) 
HINTS FOR THE SAFE WINTERING OF BEES. 
Repetition of oft-given instiuctions needs no apology in the 
particular case of bee-keeping, because from the peculiarity of 
their management the wants of bees are very apt to be overlooked. 
It is only for three or four months in the year that the cares of 
the apiary are engrossing. Active interest from clay to day in the 
progress of each hive lasts only from May to August inclusive in 
most apiaries in the kingdom. The rest of the year is, in com¬ 
parison, a dull and dreary time with little to interest the bee¬ 
keeper ; therefore he is apt to forget his bees and so to neglect 
them—not intentionally, but other matters press upon his attention, 
till he finds, too often to his chagrin and loss, that mischief has 
been going on among his hives past remedy. 
