154 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 3. 
nice dry grass. A space is fenced off in front of the rip, with 
three planks about four feet long by two-and-a-half wide, 
and covered over with netting. It requires to be shifted 
every day, and therefore the usual and most convenient way 
is to fasten each board with three pegs driven into the 
ground. The poults must be fed with egg boiled hard, 
and chopped very fine, with dough made of barley or oat¬ 
meal (mixed with milk to such consistence, that when 
thrown on the ground it scatters in small pieces), and ant’s 
eggs. When they are grown larger, and better able to care 
for themselves, the planks are removed, and the hen being 
still under the rip, the poults are allowed to run at will. 
When they have made still further progress, the hen is 
tethered by the leg to a peg by a string about four feet long, 
with a short strap at the end, which encircles the hen’s leg, 
and thereby prevents injury—a hole being made at the end 
of the strap, through which the string passes, forming a ring 
for the leg. While the hen is tethered, she must still be re¬ 
placed under the rip every night. 
“ The general rules are, to keep them on a dry spot; if 
possible with southern or western aspect; to feed them 
frequently ; to change their water two or three times a day ; and 
above all, TO FEED THEM SOON AFTER DAYBREAK.” 
[To this it may fairly, and in justice be added, that Mr. 
Baily’s Registered Fountain, of which I have had practical 
experience, is an excellent apparatus for supplying water to 
delicate chicks of any kind. The material is pure, it is 
easily managed, and it is scarcely possible for the foolish 
little things to drabble themselves in it.] D. 
ENEMIES OF BEES. 
From the great interest taken on the subject of bees by 
your correspondent, Mr. H. W. Newman, I am induced to im¬ 
part for his information, as well as for the “ Country Curate,” 
and your other valuable contributors, the following facts— 
viz., that “ earwigs,” which are not included in his list 
enumerated in page 89 of your last number (No. 188), are 
bitter enemies to the poor bees; and for lack of this know¬ 
ledge I have bought my experience dearly, as I lost a hive 
last year entirely from placing it next to a rose-tree, and 
other shrubs, the leaves whereof, by increase in the summer, 
joined the hackle, and served as a ladder; and on turning 
up the hive we discovered a colony of those vermin nu¬ 
merous enough to fill a common-sized hat, and of a most 
enormous size, doubtless owing to their luxuriant feed, as 
they had consumed all the honey, and many hundreds of 
bees, which lay on the stone and in the empty combs with 
their heads eaten off, and many as skeletons, their interior 
having been devoured also. It is true the stock appeared 
weak, but I conceive the earwigs are so offensive to the 
bees that the majority w T ent off to sojourn elsewhere and 
escape destruction. 
Mr. Newman also seems to entertain the opinion that 
“ hornets ” are not great enemies, because they have not yet 
been found to attack the hives ; but I can assure him I dis¬ 
covered a serious onslaught last summer by two nests of 
hornets, which infested my mignonette beds near the hives, 
and pounced on the bees whilst taking up the farina from 
the flowers, and invariably carried them off to their nests. 
I consequently had both nests found and destroyed in- 
stanter, but should like to be informed w'hat plan of destruc¬ 
tion Mr. Newman adopts when he speaks of their being 
“ much more easily killed than wasps." I presume he must 
intend his remark to allude only to a single hornet, and not a 
nest. The position of them, which is frequently in old 
thatched roofs, as well as the strength required to suffocate 
the hornets, render them much more formidable opponents. 
I beg to suggest to your readers, that a far more certain 
and simple way of destroying the wasp nest than by the 
introduction of a gunpowder squib, is by putting in at the 
mouth a small phial of spirits of turpentine, and leaving it 
to run into the opening, which on being closed up, as in all 
cases, and returned to in an hour, you will find them all 
victimized. As I give a premium for all nests found in my 
district, I am interested in trying divers ways, and find this 
latter the best. Camphine is equally successful if applied. 
I regret to say I never saw, during all my experience, so 
strong a flight of wasps as the last mild winter has pro¬ 
duced. I have counted more than twenty at one time on 
several of my pear blooms, and of course destroyed all we 
could ; but they were not to be captured by their usual 
liquid beverage on hanging-up bottles, and I am very sorry 
to see the public pay such slight attention to the killing of 
them, which I am eager to recommend, and more urgently 
now than at a later season, for the reason of the great i 
probability of destroying “breeders.”—V erax. 
CURE FOR THE WHITE-COMB IN COCHIN- 
CHINA FOWLS. 
The question has been asked, I believe, more than once 
in The Cottage Gardener, “ What causes the whiteness 
and scurfy appearance so commonly seen in the combs of 
the male birds of this magnificent breed of fowls, and if 
there are any means of prevention, or of cure ? ” The first 
question I am quite unable to answer; it has been con 
sidered by some persons to arise from fever, caused by too 
many roosting in a small and confined house. This cannot 
have been the cause either with mine or those of two other 
persons in this neighbourhood, where not more than one 
lias been kept, and these roosting, or rather sleeping, in a 
large and airy house, for roost mine will not. Others have 
attributed it to cold. However, be the cause what it may, it 
sadly disfigures the birds ; for the disease is not confined to 
the combs only, but spreads itself down the neck both in 
front and back, and takes off all the feathers as far as it 
goes, leaving the slumps. I saw a bird very lately with his 
neck and breast entirely stripped of feathers, but the stumps 
all left, so that no hopes of their return can be entertained 
till the time of moulting. 
Now to the remaining question, How can it be cured ? I 
am happy to say I can reply in a much more satisfactory 
manner; for a lady friend of mine, who has just returned 
from India, after a residence of eight years, happened to see 
my fowls, and told me that the “ Kulm Fowl,” which I 
believe is the “ Malay,” and of which she kept a consider¬ 
able quantity in India, were subject to the same disease, 
and that the natives upon discovering it applied cocoa-nut oil 
and turmeric. She strongly advised me to do the same, 
which I did immediately, and with the most complete suc¬ 
cess, for it stopped the spreading of the disease at once, and 
very soon restored the comb to its original colour; but for 
the return of feathers I fear I must wait till the moulting 
season. J. H. Payne. 
COTTAGE COMFORTS: THE MILCH GOAT, 
AND ITS FOOD. 
BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 
(Continued from page 140.) 
Mr. J. H. Fennell has given an amusing account of the 
various substances upon which the goat is content to pasture 
{Quart. Journal of Agric. 1847, p. oil)—“ When left to graze 
for themselves,” he observes, “ goats generally select for 
food bitter and slightly astringent plants, as the leaves and 
buds of spurge, hemlock, birch, privet, and bird-cherry, and 
the tender tops of furze and heath. Theocritus alludes to 
the eagerness with which they seek the laburnum, and Virgil 
celebrates that tree for increasing their quantity of milk. I 
Fraurius, who observes that goats are delicate feeders, 
biting off only the tops of branches, says, ‘ they most of all 
love to feed on the bark of the beech-tree, as also on the 
leaves of shrubs and hedges.’ He adds, that those in Arabia 
do exceedingly love cinnamon, and if you have any cinna¬ 
mon about you, they will follow you anywhere. Phillips 
speaks highly of the leaves and young branches of the 
single-seeded broom ( Sparlium monospermum) as food for 
goats. Loudon says, that in France, willow leaves, either 
green or dry, are considered the very best food for them ; 
but their most favourite food appears to be the honeysuckle, 
hence the French call it Chevre-feuille, or goat’s-leaf. Goats 
are fond of hellebore, and will fatten upon it, although it is 
poisonous to man. Linn reus states that they will eat of the 
yew tree with impunity, though horses and cows refuse to do 
so. The author of * Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela ’ 
says, goats will browse without injury on the leaves of the 
