October SO. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
73 
which only happens when they are retained by their young 
in a dirty dovecote, they droop, contract diseases, and perish. 
It is, therefore, necessary frequently to sweep the iloor, so 
as to remove the dung before it ferments, which will happen 
whenever it is collected together in a. heap. This operation 
ought to be repeated every month, or, at least, four times a 
year. In this last case we should choose those times when 
the pigeons are least occupied in brooding: the first time 
we should clean it in spring; the second, as soon as the 
first flight is passed ; and the fourth time, at the beginning 
of winter, when the laying is over. We should be very 
careful to thoroughly clean all the boxes and nests every 
time, for when the dung is allowed to accumulate there, it 
is very injurious to the young; it heats them, and produces 
vermin, especially worms, which are sometimes so numerous 
that they attack their feet, and even belly. The person 
employed to remove the dung must do it as gently as pos¬ 
sible, because the dust arising from it is excessively annoy¬ 
ing both to man as well as pigeons. They must also be 
careful not to get any of it in their eyes, for, if old, it will 
occasion a long and painful inflammation, but if fresh it 
might cause loss of sight. (?) 
Every time we take any young pigeons we must not 
l neglect to rake out the nests, to mb them with a hard brush, 
and even to wash them, if we can do so conveniently. By 
this means we shall destroy the lice, which are the greatest 
scourge to young pigeons. These insects stick to them by 
thousands, suck them, make them thin, and prevent their 
growth, or, at least, greatly retard it. We should try to 
tame the pigeons, so as not to frighten them so much when 
we enter their dwelling. Some are apt not to return to 
their eggs when they have been frightened from them. We 
have already said that the best manner of familiarising 
them is to whistle every time we throw them any gram. On 
entering the dovehouse we should knock at the door before 
opening it, to give those that may chance to be on the 
ground tune to gain the upper pan of the building without 
too much hurry, which might occasion them to break their 
eggs. 
We must never allow any dilapidations in the dovecote 
without repairing them immediately; we must also be par¬ 
ticularly carefid to keep it clean ; we must never suffer any 
unusual filth in the interior; occasionally, to purify it, we 
should take advantage of the time when they are in the 
country to fumigate it, but this must be done with prudence 
and moderation, because it may become dangerous. Per¬ 
haps it would be better to content ourselves with burning a 
little straw, and hanging up, at certain distances, small 
bundles of mint, sage, lavender, and other aromatic plants, 
the smell of which they are very fond of. 
pigeons’ dung. 
We shall refer to an article extracted from the New Dic¬ 
tionary of Natural History relative to the utility that 
agriculture may derive from pigeons’ dung; for, in certain 
countries, it is a very important production. “ Pigeons’ 
dung is one of the strongest manures we possess ; in a very 
short time it fertilizes the damp and cold meadows; it 
doubles the harvest of leguminous plants, and especially the 
hemp, when we know how to use it properly; it is also very 
good for trees, at the stem of which we must put it after 
the rain has deprived it of its first heat, otherwise it would 
bum the roots as it does the weeds on which it is thrown. 
This manure being easily removed, is particularly valuable 
in the mountainous and barren countries, where the land, 
being some way from the dwelling, is difficult of access by 
any vehicle.’’ 
Pigeons’ dung from the domestic dovehouse has the 
inconvenience of sowing with it the vetch, barley, hemp- 
seed, buckwheat, and millet, which the birds have dropped 
in their nests; for although it kills weeds, the good grain, 
protected by nature, resists it. 
Pigeons’ dung is so filled with salt and extractive matter, 
that unless it is exposed to the air for a certain time, espe¬ 
cially in rainy weather, by scattering it quickly, or without 
mixing it with vegetable mould, and a very considerable 
quantity of it, we should run the risk of spoiling and destroy¬ 
ing the principles of germination. It may be thinly sown 
on heavy land every time any seed is sown, or even with 
the seed. 
In some places they mitigate its activity by mixing it with 
horse-dung or rotten cow-dung ; but this mixture, which is, 
nevertheless, very good, ought to be made in any other 
place than the dovehouse. Some agriculturists scatter 
pigeons’ dung on a piece of wheat after the frost, but this 
method only succeeds when the spring is wet, and the land 
heavy; for if it is a dry spring, and light land, this manure 
doeshaim; it would be better to spread it in the autumn 
before the last ploughing. The rain moderates the heat of 
it, which, no doubt, suits the corn, but especially the hemp- 
close and meadows, where it destroys the moss, bulrush, 
and other destructive plants, whilst it causes the good herb 
to grow abundantly. 
Some gardeners, following the judicious observations of 
M. Thouin, Professor of the Museum of Natural History, 
make use of pigeons’ dung in the composition of earth for 
foreign plants reared in pots; but care must be taken not to 
employ more than a sixteenth part of it, and when reduced 
to mould, for if it is used when more fresh, and in larger 
proportions, it would only dry up the roots of the plants. 
If this dung, well decomposed and reduced to mould, is 
mixed with heath-mould, which is now generally used for 
all haired-rooted plants, and even still finer, it will rectify 
that poorness and dryness which causes a great number of 
valuable vegetables to droop. It is also employed to take 
off the rawness of water from a well, and particularly to 
neutralize the salt it sometimes contains, and render it less 
liable to evaporation from the soil. For this purpose they 
throw the thirtieth part of a pound of this manure at the 
bottom of the casks which receive this water, and every time 
they are going to make use of it for watering they stir up 
this mixture. This fluid thus charged with pigeons’ clung is 
employed in the kitchen-gardens to water those fruit-trees 
which are young and unhealthy; it frequently produces a 
very good effect. 
UTENSILS FOR THE DOVEHOUSE AND AVIARY. 
1. The swinging ladder (Jig. 1) is extremely convenient 
for those dovehouses, in 
the shape of a rouncl- 
tower. By this means, 
we can visit all the nests 
with out trouble, and with 
out any great motion 
likely to frighten the pi¬ 
geons. It is made in 
several ways; but we shall 
confine ourselves to de¬ 
scribing the most simple 
and easy. We must search 
for the precise middle of 
the flooring of the dove¬ 
house; and when we have 
found it, we should take up 
a square, and replace it 
with a large solid stone, 
in the middle of which a 
hole has been made large 
enough to receive a pivot, 
as we shall explain pre¬ 
sently. The hardest stone 
ought to be preferred, be¬ 
cause it will not be so 
soon worn out by fric¬ 
tion. The free - stone, 
however, is not good, because it is so easily worn away by 
the iron; but the jasper and flint are excellent. By means 
of a beam across the upper part of the dovehouse, we shall 
place vertically on the stone a strong piece of wood, fur¬ 
nished at each extremity with an iron pivot, of one inch 
diameter. The lower pivot will be placed in the hole of the 
stone, but in such a manner as to turn freely ; and the 
upper pivot will be fixed in an iron plate, in which it can 
also turn with the least possible friction. We imagine that 
this piece of wood, which we shall call the axletree, ought 
to be placed perfectly upright. On the upper part of the 
axletree, and the lower part, that is to say, at a foot from 
the floor, we shall fix, at a right angle, two pieces of wood 
parallel and solid, supported by two other pieces exactly 
like a double crutch. The two ends of the pieces of hori- 
