December 22. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
231 
be broad across the beak, short from the head to the point 
of the bill, and tilting forwards from the head ; if otherwise, 
it is said to be pegwattled, which is a very great fault. It 
is not in the quantity of wattle, but in the right form and 
style of the wattle. 
We must, therefore, altogether lose sight of first-rate and 
valuable Carriers being made flying birds; Antwerp, Dra¬ 
goons, and other cross-bred sharp birds are used instead. 
Therefore, the time has arrived, that we must look upon 
Carriers, not as in former days, as birds of extraordinary 
flight, but as fancy pigeons altogether. 
A young lady might be truly beautiful at twenty years of 
age; a vast number of engravings of her might be sold; 
she entertaining a bad opinion of men is determined to die 
a virgin; her life is spared afterwards for fifty years, and not 
altering her name, some persons seeing her at this great 
age, would exclaim, “ call her truly beautiful, she is any¬ 
thing but that! ” not making allowance for time; it is equally 
applicable to Carriers. It is one thing to see a Carrier in 
the prime of life, and quite another thing to see it when it is 
very old and in the last stage of its existence. I admit, then, 
the wattle does not look handsome, the Carrier being 
altogether out of condition. —Jno. Matthews Eaton, 7, 
Islington Green. 
MISCELLANEOUS POULTRY MEMORANDA. 
The Contagion op Rour.—The following extracts from my 
Poultry Correspondence, bears so directly on this subject, 
that I feel no apology is requisite for their insertion.—“ The 
first time that I had it (viz. roup) amongst my fowls was 
after the purchase of two Chittagong hens, which I soon 
found were roupy.”—J. H. B. Chew Magna, near Bristol. 
This gentleman informs me, that he never loses any 
Turkeys by roup, even when most prevalent in the district, 
which exemption he attributes to feeding them largely with 
onions during the first two months of their lives, and that 
some Polands, hatched with the Turkeys and fed with them, 
have been exempt, though running with others suffering 
from it. 
“ I just noticed the disorder, brought by a fowl purchased 
in London, and which fowl certainly impregnated all the 
others." “ I brought a cock from a distant run, being 
partly persuaded that roup was not contagious ; he was in 
brilliant condition when he came, in two days he was moping 
about, and on the third day showed a discharge from his 
nostrils, which has continued for three weeks.”—E. A., 
Malvern. 
“ I bought some fowls at Birmingham, who introduced it 
to our neighbourhood, and it has already killed a large 
number.”—J. R. T. 
“ I killed a pair of Hamburglis that brought it on my 
premises.”—R. B. T. 
“I have some hens very bad; the complaint attacks all 
new comers, and two or three have died very shortly after.” 
—W. W. 
“ I think the following fact proves the disease to be con¬ 
tagious. Four pullets were sent to me, about four months 
old, in a perfectly healthy condition, they were placed with 
the other fowls, and three of them have taken the disease 
and suffered severely.”—T. W. T. 
As the contagious character of this disease is now under 
discussion, I have selected the above extracts, all of which 
have a reference to facts rather than to mere opinions; 
they are not, I am sure, more than a small portion of those 
that I might have gathered by wading though all my corres¬ 
pondence. I would strongly caution all breeders to be upon 
the safe side, and not to allow any expression of a new 
opinion, unsupported by any publication of facts, to tempt 
them to place an infected breed along with sound and 
healthy stock. 
On looking over my last paper on this subject, I find that 
I omitted to mention several points of minor importance ; 
firstly, as to the mode in which the disease is communicated. 
I imagine, that the foetid purulent discharge from the 
nostrils of affected birds running into the water, or mixing 
with soft food, is the usual mode of propagation; and, in 
other cases, it may spread from one fowl picking the in- 
crusted discharge off the beak or feathers of another. 
AVith regard to the susceptibility to contract the disease, 
I find that amongst my own stock the Dorkings were the 
most liable ; next in order, the Spanish ; and least of all, the 
Shanghaes, whose comparative immunity from this scourge 
I regard as a strong point in their favour. 
I may also mention, that owing to some mistakes in the 
punctuation, there is much obscurity in one or two passages, 
thus, by the misplacing of a period, I am made to speak of 
sulphur and purgatives as tonics, and then to say they were 
employed as external applications.—AV. B. Tegetmeier. 
Flower of Sulphur for A r ERMiN. —One of the most 
successful exhibitors of Shanghaes told me that he had 
acted on my advice respecting the use of this remedy, and 
that he purchased twenty-four pounds of it to fill a dusting 
hole, and that his flock of more than two-hundred birds 
are now as free from lice as they were infested formerly. 
On looking over the latest American Poultry Book (namely, 
Miner’s) which has been just imported, I was pleased to 
see the remedy has been adopted in America, and that it is 
found that it may be more conveniently applied by means of 
a flour dredger than by the hand. 
Maggots for Fowls. —Many persons are in the habit of 
hanging up some animal substance, such as refuse meat, 
dead poultry, &c., for the purpose of furnishing a supply of 
maggots for fowls. The plan is objectionable, in many points, 
the offensive odour of the putrifying meat is unpleasant and 
unwholesome; nor can I regard the maggots falling un¬ 
cleansed from the putrid flesh as particularly wholesome 
diet. By accident, I discovered a better mode of proceeding. 
It is customary with me to have the dead fowls which I am 
so frequently receiving buried in the fowl run; it frequently 
happens that they are fly-blown before burial; in that case, 
the maggots continue to live, and grow to their full size, 
when their natural instinct leads them to quit the carcase 
and work their way towards the surface of the ground before 
they change into the perfect insect, the well-known blue 
bottle or flesh fly. The living fowls soon discover their 
approach towards the surface, and, by constant scratching, 
obtain a plentiful supply, and if the decaying flesh is buried 
a couple of feet deep, there is no fear of their exposing it, 
nor does it even become offensive to the smell. 
I regard this plan as far superior to hanging up flesh to 
putrify. In the first place, it is not offensive ; secondly, the 
maggots, by working their way through eighteen inches of 
earth, are thoroughly cleansed from any adhering putridity; 
thirdly, the supply is gradual, and the scratching affords 
constant amusement and occupation for the poultry. It is 
hardly necessary to state, that if the meat is buried before 
it is fly blown no maggots will ever make their appearance. 
At the date of writing this memorandum (November 14) I 
have observed several fowls diligently scratching over the 
graves of some of their kindred interred a few weeks back, 
and on turning up the earth with a spade, I saw that there 
was a sufficient number of maggots to furnish them with 
amusement and animal food for some time. Although I 
think this by far the best mode of giving maggots; yet, even 
given in this way, I regard them as vastly inferior to the 
diet of worms.— W. B. Tegetmeier. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Feeding Bees (E. B. S.). —The hive, weighing about seventeen 
pounds, exclusive of hive and board, will not require feeding till the 
spring, and then with barley-sugar. The one weighing only five pounds 
requires liberal feeding now , certainly not during severe frost; the food 
most proper for them is syrup, one pound of loaf-sugar, quarter-of-a-pint 
of water, and a quarter-of-a-pound of honey, simmered together over a 
slow fire till the sugar is melted; when cold, given to the bees at the top 
of the hive. Let both hives remain where they now are. 
Moist Heat (A. B. H.). — Greenhouse plants do not require this 
except when they are growing. It is useless to apply the liquid-manure 
to any plant except wdiea growing and healthy. Wait until the spring. 
Pelargoniums are what formerly were called Geraniums, but they are 
now divided and quite distinct genera. Dorking ( Coloured ) Fowls 
equally pure in race, are produced and exhibited with single as well as 
double combs. Under the greenhouse shelves will do very well for 
dormant Fuchsias. 
Neglected Garden (A. Mudeley). —This, so infested with rank 
grass and other weeds, you had better have the top six inches pared off, 
and thoroughly charred. It will destroy the weeds, &c., and give you a 
good dressing for the soil. 
Binding the ‘‘Cottage Gardener” (J. Pennington 1.—If you 
state the number of your volumes, you may obtain Indexes and covers 
for them, through your bookseller, of Messrs. W. S. Orr and Co., our 
publishers. 
