572 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December , 1888 
CUT FLOWEBS. 
8. 
d. 
s. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
8. 
d. 
Abutilons 
12 bunches 
2 
0 to 4 
0 
Lily of the Valley, 12 sprays 
2 
0 to 4 
0 
Arum Lilies •. 
12 blooms 
4 
0 
6 
0 
Marguerites .. 
12 bunches 
2 
0 
6 
0 
Asters 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Mignonette .. 
12 bunches 
1 
0 
8 
0 
Azalea .. .. 
12 sprays 
i 
0 
1 
6 
Narciss, Paper-white, hunch 
0 
4 
0 
6 
Bouvardias .. 
per bunch 
0 
6 
1 
0 
„ White. English, bunch 
1 
8 
1 
6 
Camellias 
12 blooms 
3 
0 
4 
0 
Pelargoniums, per 12 trusses 
0 
9 
1 
6 
Carnations .. 
12 blooms 
1 
0 
8 
0 
„ scarle 
, 12 trusses 
6 
0 
9 
0 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Roses 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Chrysanthemums 12 bches. 
6 
0 
12 
0 
„ (indoor), 
per dozen 
0 
0 
2 
0 
12 blooms 
0 
6 
2 
0 
„ Tea.. .. 
0 
9 
8 
0 
Cornflower .. 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
,, red 
.. dozen 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Dahlias 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Parme Violets (French'' 
4 
b 
5 
9 
Epiphyllam .. 
doz. blooms 
0 
6 
0 
0 
Poinsettia 
12 blooms 
4 
0 
9 
0 
Eucharis 
per dozen 
4 
0 
8 
0 
Primula (single) 
per bunch 
0 
4 
0 
8 
Gardenias 
12 blooms 
6 
0 
12 
0 
„ (double) 
Pyrethrum .. 
per bunch 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Gladioli 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Hyacinths. Roman, 12 sprays 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Stocks, various 
12 bunches 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Lapageria, white, 1*2 blooms 
2 
0 
4 
0 
Tropzeolum .. 
12 bunches 
1 
6 
2 
0 
Lapageria, red 
. 12 blooms 
1 
0 
2 
0 
Tuberoses 
12 blooms 
1 
0 
2 
0 
„ longifiorum,12 blms. 
6 
0 
8 
0 
Violets .. 
12 bunches 
1 
0 
1 
6 
Lilac (white), French, bunch 
6 
0 
8 
0 
„ Czar, French, pe bunch 
1 
6 
2 
0 
A WELL-STOCKED HOMESTEAD. 
Poultry rearing for market on a large scale has repeatedly 
been recommended as a means of affording some alleviation 
of the distress affecting so many farmers under the agricul¬ 
tural depression. So regarded it is worthy of particular 
attention as a branch of farming the profits of which are 
both sure and speedy, while the risks of loss may be fairly 
calculated beforehand. But we do not recommend Poultry 
farming to be taken up on a large scale at once by all 
farmers. Due regard must be had to locality, to many 
matters of detail, before the investment of much capital iu 
such an undertaking is ventured upon. We showed last 
week how, by means of incubators, chicken hatching had 
ceased to be an uncertain and wasteful process, but there 
will always be a certain per centage of loss among very 
young chickens. We have known hundreds of them to die 
from gapes simply from being kept on tainted land. It was 
our own serious losses upon a home farm in the centre of the 
Sussex poultry district which set us thinking about the 
cause of a disease common to all poultry and also to game. 
The probability of taint and infection occurred to us, and we 
resolved to put it to the test forthwith. About a hundred 
yards from the homestead we had about a quarter of an acre 
of grassland that was literally an island, for it was sur¬ 
rounded by a stream of water wide enough to form an 
effectual barrier to fowls, and here, as each brood was 
hatched, hen and chickens were brought and established in 
coops. Success full and perfect followed; not a single loss 
from gapes had we that season, for the chickens were kept on 
our island till large enough to be safe from attacks of a 
disease to which only very young chickens are subject. The 
knowledge so gained was subsequently turned to profitable 
account by many of our neighbours, as will be readily under¬ 
stood when we explain that the Sussex henwives get £20 
per hundred from the dealers for early spring chickens. We 
commend this fact to the notice of farmers—may we venture 
to add of farmers’ wives generally ? One notable farmer’s 
wife who is well known to us rears such a large number of 
chickens for the London market that a very handsome 
annual sum is realised. She has the able assistance of two 
of her daughters, one of whom superintends the poultry, and 
the other has charge of the dairy, the butter from which is 
in such high local repute that the demand for it is always in 
excess of the supply. 
Regarded from such a reasonable point of view as an aid 
to successful farming and not as a substitute for corn¬ 
growing, the rearing of poultry and the production of eggs 
can hardly meet with serious objection from the most obsti¬ 
nate stickler for old customs. We concede the fact that a 
certain number of poultry are to be seen at every farm, but 
they are generally kept for home use and not for market. It 
must be owned that there is room for considerable improve¬ 
ment here. Why should any farmer practically ignore the 
value of poultry as a marketable commodity ? There are 
very few farmd where from £100 to £200 or £300 a year 
might not be added to the income of the occupant from this 
source alone if only the matter was taken up in real earnest 
instead of being sneered at as women’s work. It is by 
attention to such so-called trifles that many a man has been 
able to hold his own under difficulties to which so many 
others have succumbed. Depend u L ;on it poultry manage¬ 
ment under good hands is anything but a trifle. It is worthy 
of our best efforts, and affords so ample a margin upon our 
outlay that though returns are quick, profits are the reverse 
of small. Curious indeed is it that such a matter should be 
so seriously affected by custom or locality. We are accus¬ 
tomed to hear of Norfolk turkey, of Surrey and Sussex 
chicken, as being offered at special prices in London markets, 
yet we know that both turkeys and chickens can be reared 
with equal facility and of equal quality in other counties. 
In Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex—all great corn-growing 
counties—:t is customary to see large flocks of turkeys out 
upon the corn stubbles after harvest, but then it must not 
be forgotten that there are other corn stubbles stretching far 
and wide—aye, even in the great dairy counties in the west, 
where few if any turkeys are ever seen. Why do we see 
poultry imported in such large quantities ? Is it not because 
the general attention which we claim for it here obtains on 
the continent ? We recently heard this matter discussed by a 
Cambridge professor, a keen political economist. Said he, 
“ If I were a farmer I should certainly be inclined to rub 
my head and see if I could not obtain a share of the large 
sums annually paid for importations of eggs and poultry.” 
Here is a fact which cannot be ignored, that while many of 
the farmers of this country are crying out for protection and 
other forms of State aid, they are apparently content to see 
large sums going into the pocket of the foreign farmer for 
an article of farm produce which might just as well be sup¬ 
plied from their neglected farms. 
(To be continued.) 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Hens not Laying—Plymouth Rocks (M. B. D .).—Old bens cannot be 
depended on for laying in tbe winter, and the probability is that you will 
not have any eggs worth mentioning from yours until tbe spring, no matter 
how well you may feed them and how good their “ run ” may be. For egg¬ 
raising in winter you must have strong pallets hatched early iu the spring. 
These commence laying in the autumn, and afford eggs for many weeks. A 
Dorking and Brahma cross is good for egg-producing and table, but some of 
the chickens have yellow legs. Plymouth Rocks are large, hardy, and 
handsome, good layers, and good table fowls. You would p;rhap3 like them. 
The breed is not described in old poultry books, as it is of comparatively 
recent introduction from America. Mr. J. OUerliead, Wimbledon House 
Gardens, Wimbledon, has one of tbe finest stocks we know of this valuable 
breed of fowls. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camdkn Square. London. 
Lat. 61° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.: Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATB. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
P 
"5 
1886. 
December. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
detr. 
deg 
In. 
Sunday . 
12 
29.342 
42.4 
39.8 
s.w. 
41.0 
49 3 
4L.2 
64.b 
35.3 
— 
Monday. 
13 
29.726 
43 8 
41.2 
w. 
40 8 
45.3 
40.6 
48.8 
32.8 
0.091 
Tuesday. 
14 
29.il 2 
41.4 
39.8 
E, 
41.2 
48 2 
38.8 
55.3 
83.8 
0 612 
Wednesday .. 
15 
29.091 
46.1 
44.1 
8. 
41.2 
47 9 
40.1 
50.8 
33-7 
0.038 
Thursday .... 
16 
29.402 
37.7 
37.1 
calm 
41.4 
4L.2 
36.9 
53.6 
30.6 
— 
Friday. 
17 
29.684 
30.9 
30.9 
E. 
4 i.2 
336 
30.1 
34.2 
25.8 
0.056 
Saturday .... 
18 
29.719 
25.6 
25.0 
W. 
39.2 
337 
23 9 
47.4 
*27.2 
_ 
29.497 
38.3 
37.0 
40.7 
42.7 
359 
50.7 
3L3 
0.827 
* Covered by snow. 
REMARKS. 
12th.—Bright morning, fair throughout. 
13th.— Dull, with slight rain at intervals, and fog in early afternoon. 
14th.—Dali early, w.-t morning from about 10.30, wiih squalls of ram and hail, and 
darkness at times; sunshine in afternoon. 1 
15th.—Heavy rain in tbe small hours ; dull, damp morning ; rain at noon and 5.80 p.m. 
sunshine in afternoon. 
16th.—Overcast morning, sunshine in afternoon, bright evening. 
17th.—Foggy all day, dense at times ; snow in late evening. 
18th.—Hard frost, bright and fine, with snow on ground. 
A week of variable weather, bright sunshine, fog, heavy rain, and hard frost, tem¬ 
perature a little below the average.—G. J. Symons. 
