106 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
May 12. 
very pleasing manner, with a subdued voice; but I believe 
they never sing with us so as to exert their whole vocal 
powers. Mr. Hewetson states, that in the course of his 
journey in Norway, the Redwing was but seldom seen, and 
then perched on the summit of one of the highest trees, 
pouring forth its delightfully wild note. It is called the 
Nightingale of Norway, and well it deserves the name.”] 
BREEDING PURE CHICKENS. 
From some things that happened during the breeding 
i season of last year, I was disposed to think your corres- | 
pondent, “ B. P. B.,” “ careful overmuch,” in his note on j 
“pure bred chickens ,” in The Cottage Gardener of the 1 
27th of January last; and the trials I have made since then, 
go to prove that he had a great excess of caution, a thing 
certainly more frequently attributed to the canny Scot than 
to John Bull. My impressions, on reading the note referred 
to, differed materially from it. Yet I did not wish to give 
publicity to a mere impression; but having now put the 
matter to the test, in two different instances, I think it 
right to send you the results, to prevent many of your 
correspondents from losing their eggs during the breeding 
j season. They are as follows ; and they and you can try, and 
| judge for yourselves. In the lirst instance, I had a Cochin 
hen going with a Polish (black, with white topknot) cock; 
the birds from that cross were dark-coloured, and appear to 
have all taken the colour of the sire. I removed the hen 
(laying at the time) to a cock of her own kind, and took ■ 
ihe fifth egg laid, after removal, and the production of that 
egg is as different as possible from the bird produced from 
the last egg, laid previous to removal from the Polish cock ; ! 
in fact, the one is a cross, and the other a pure Cochin; and 
in the second instance the circumstances were very similar to 
the first. I had two Hamburghs (Bolton Greys) going 
with a Spanish cock, the crosses in this instance were also 
all dark-coloured. I separated one of the hens, and put 
her beside a cock of her own kind, and took the fourth egg 
laid, after the separation, and the production of that egg, i 
and the subsequent dozen (those of them that hatched), 1 
are light-coloured, and I cannot distinguish the chick from 
the fourth, from that of the fifteenth egg (two of the eggs 
were broken previous to sitting) laid after separation, and I 
hesitate not to say they are all pure Hamburghs; indeed, I 
have no doubt of the fact; and facts are stubborn things. 
It is curious, that in each of the crosses, the chickens 
(amounting to fifteen in number) have all taken the colour 
j of the male birds. I have no doubt, however, as they 
j advance, and get feathered, their appearance will be very 
much modified by some of the colours and characteristics 
of the female. If an opportunity occurs again this season, 
I will next try the third egg, and it would not surprise me, 
if it also would be from the male the hen is with. 
I have not yet tried how long a hen will lay fertile eggs 
ivhen not put to another cock. It is stated of the Turkey 
hen, that a short time with the male is sufficient to fertilise 
the whole of the eggs laid previous to hatching, but for the 
truth of which I cannot vouch, never having kept them.— 
A. S. W. 
[We shall be obliged by a report of your further ex¬ 
periments. All such answers from nature are interesting 
and valuable.—E d. C. G.] 
. 
DRIVING BEES. 
I see everywhere the advantage of 1 driving’ over ‘ burning’ 
Bees dilated on. I proved the advantage last autumn in 
one case, but in several instances of observing the practice, 
during the summer, in joining casts and colts (for some of 
my hives would swarm) to first swarms, I almost invariably ! 
found the ground in front of, and around the hives, strewed ' 
with considerable numbers of dead bees. Last Saturday 
evening,-April 30, I endeavoured to drive the bees of a hive ! 
that I saw were doing nothing, to ascertain the state of the 
hive. I proceeded in the regular way, having an empty hive ! 
to fit close, string, sticks, &c., everything correct, according 
to the “Country Curate’s” mode. After rapping for a con¬ 
siderable time, we took off the top hive; not a bee in it, the 
bees being clustered about the lower edges of the comb of 
the reversed hive; we set it on again, with cloth, &c., and to 
work I went rapping and hitting this time fiercely. “ Now it’s 
all right," we said; for we heard the noise of the bees in tin- 
upper hive; presently we took it off, and only a portion of 
the bees were in it, spread round the sides. I then took 
my knives and cut out two of the combs, and observing no 
trace of grubs, young bees, or eggs, or honey (I had been 
feeding the hive for some time), I determined, of course, on 
its destruction, and the brimstone-pit soon put an end to its 
remaining occupants. I may observe, that every cell was 
empty; there were more than a dozen queen cells, perfect 
or imperfect, in the hive. The bees in the empty hive 1 
then proceeded to join to another hive, knocking them out 
on the cloth, and acting according to directions, we set them 
up on the stool as soon as the business was completed, and 
went to bed. The next day (Sunday) the working of the 
hive was suspended for the amusement of fighting, and 
scores of the bees lay dead in front and about the hive. “ We 
did more harm than good,” said a man to me, whom 1 am 
endeavouring to instruct in the depriving and driving system ; 
and I doubt but we did ; and so last night T burnt a lot of | 
bees who had no queen, and I have three more must,go the . 
same way, I fear. 
Now what I want to know is, how to render driving • 
certainly useful, and to avoid the slaying, and fighting, and 
slaughtering, I allude to.—C lericus, Beds. 
OPENING THE CROP OE FOWLS. 
Refertng to an extract of a letter that appeared in The 
Cottage Gardener of the 14th of April (p. 23), from j 
“ M. B.” respecting a “ Diseased Hamburg Hen,” I quite 
agree with Mr. Tegetmeier, when he says, “ It is impossible j 
to determine the nature of a malady from so short a descrip- j 
lion of symptoms.” There are, however, other ways of I 
accounting for the bird “ vomiting a whitish fluid,” than by 
the digestive organs being diseased. Fowls, after eating 
hearty of any oily substance, will often vomit; but by the 
hen “ moping, with her eyes shut," and generally inactive, 
induces me to think that the bird is crop-bound, which, if 
the castor oil does not remove, the crop must be cut open, 
the contents carefully removed, and then the lip of the 
wound„sewn together with silk. The method of performing 
this operation will be best described by the following note 
that I wrote some time since, and which appeared in “ Kidd’s 
Own Journal." 
“ Many thanks for your kind advice, so freely given me in a 
former Journal, as to how I ought to treat one of my fowls—a 
Shanghae cock. You recommended, amongst other things, 
change of air, diet, and exercise. Well, what with your 
advice, my skill, or luck, which you will, L have succeeded in 
restoring the poor bird to perfect health ; and for the benefit j 
of that portion of your readers who keep valuable poultry, i 
and may, perhaps, some time or other be in a similar ‘ fix,’ 
I send you my mode of operations. Let me first state the 
symptoms of illness the bird exhibited: these were, loss of 
appetite, dung of a dark green colour, ruffled feathers, comb ; 
and wattles on the edges turning blue, forsaking the company 
of the hens. These being the symptoms, I consulted thereon 
with my neighbours who keep poultry. Some said the 
invalid had got the pip; others that he had swallowed 
poison ; and several of the ‘ oldest inhabitants,’ by way of 
consolation, told me the bird was sure to die in a day or two. 
It is said, that ‘ in a multitude of counsellors there is 
wisdom.’ Not so, however, in this case; for all the advice 
I obtained only puzzled, confused, and made matters worse; 
until the thought struck me that the bird might have 
swallowed something indigestible. But how to arrive at the 
solution of the mystery ? After a few words with myself 
(and when a man talks to himself it is generally to the 
point), I made up my mind to imprison, and keep the bird 
without food for twenty-four hours. I then visited him, and 
felt the crop of the now hungry bird. Guess my surprise 
