328 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
J ULY 28. 
in this country ; they are not the Chittagong fowl, they are 
an entirely different looking fowl; the Chittagong are worth 
nothing to keep. 
“ With us Cochin-China and Shanghae fowls are distinct; 
Cochin-China fowls have no feathers on their legs, always 
smooth, close feathered, and of a different form, and much 
higher on their legs than the Shangliaes. The Shanghaes 
are more feathery, their feet and legs are heavily feathered, 
i and their legs are much shorter than the Cochins; our 
j Shanghaes are of all colours, from a pure white to jet black, 
and the Cochins are red or brown; all of these Chinese 
fowls are known here by the importers names, such as 
| Marsh, &c.” 
Having given you the opinion of one of the best breeders 
i of poultry in the United States (and it must not be forgotten 
that this gentleman assisted Dr. Bennett to write one of the 
largest, if not one of the finest, works on poultry), I think 
it may, in a measure, set at rest the question, whether the 
Brahma Poutra fowls are a distinct breed.—W. B. S. 
[It will require the experience of more than one season 
to settle this question. If they continue to breed chickens 
like to themselves, and these chickens produce others 
equally true, it will go far towards establishing them as a 
distinct variety.—E d. C. G.] 
BEES CONSUMERS OF HONEY-DEW. 
As I was looldng over, the other day, a late number of 
The Cottage Gardener for any notices as to the good or ill 
success of your apiarian correspondents, my eye was arrested 
by a note at the foot of one of the columns, acquainting 
your readers with the (supposed) fact of my having emigrated 
to Australia. This reminded me of an intention I had 
formed of winding up my contributions to your paper with 
a few words of “ farewell,” before my actual departure (an 
event still fiituro) ; and I do it now with the more willingness, 
as, within the last few days, I have become eye-witness to 
the fact, which has been often doubted about in your 
columns, and of which, it should seem, very few bee-keepers 
have had personal knowledge; I allude to the question, 
whether bees gather honey-dew or not. I am happy now to 
be able to reply to the question in tho affirmative, though I 
once doubted the fact as strongly as any one, never, till the 
day before yesterday (July 12), having distinctly observed 
hive bees collect the “ dew.” 
I chanced to be wandering in the vicinity of St. Breladg’s 
Bay, in the Island of Jersey, the day being bright with a hot 
sun, when my attention was at once caught by a loud 
humming in some pollard oaks, beneath whose shade I took 
refuge from the heat. On looking up, I was delighted to see 
a large number of my old friends busily at work sucking a 
sweet glutinous substance from the oak leaves, some of 
them being either so heavily laden, or so drunk, with their 
feastings, that they found it difficult to fly away. On minute 
inspection of the trees, I found that this substance was 
none other than the common secretion ejected from the 
stomach of a green aphis, which abounded on these oaks, 
differing in no respect, so far as I could see, from the 
common aphis (except that it seemed to be a small kind); 
nor did the “ dew ” differ, either in taste or appearance, from 
that which I have often seen every summer on almost 
every kind of forest-tree in England, and which I knew to 
be a similar secretion ejected by the aphis fly. There were 
such vast quantities of aphides, and all so eager to discharge 
the contents of their stomachs, that the “dew” might be 
seen in the stmbeams dropping on all sides, very much as 
if a fine Scotch mist were falling. 
I may observe, that this has been a singularly bad honey 
year in this island, the hives having, till quite recently, 
remained quite as light as they were months ago at the close 
of winter. Query: Is this excrement of the aphis of a 
more saccharine quality this summer than is ordinarily the 
case? (for I maintain it is very rarely that bees will touch 
it); or else, Are the bees so hard pressed for food that they 
find it is “ Hobson’s choice” with them this year—“this, or 
none ? ” 
Were it not that I dispersed my apiary in February last, 
and have been a stranger to tho active work of a bee-master 
this spring, with plenty other work on hand, I should, 
doubtless, have continued to bore some, and to amuse others, 
of your readers with notions of my bee-experience, as in 
former seasons. I go now to a land where the honey-bee 
is said to thrive amazingly; doubtless, I shall resume my 
favourite pursuit,, as time and opportunity shall permit 
(please God to favour my voyage and its object), and I may, 
with your permission, forward some account of the bees of 
Australia, and my individual success in their management, 
from time to time, as occasion shall serve. In the mean¬ 
while, allow me to suberibe myself still a hearty good 
wisher to your apiarian readers in particular, and in general 
to all your subscribers. A Country Curate. 
[We are selfish enough, and very many of our readers will 
be equally so, to rejoice that the writer of this welcome letter 
has not yet departed for the other side of our globe, because 
there is yet a hope that some tempting preferment may 
occur to keep him among us. Should it be ordained other¬ 
wise, and another sphere of usefulness is in store for him, 
he will carry with him our sincere wishes for his welfare, 
and we assure him that his handwriting will always be a 
welcome sight.—E d. C. G.j 
POTATO CROPS—DUCKS. 
You ask particulars respecting the Potato crop. In this 
neighbourhood (on the Cotswold Hills), they are looking 
very well, seldom better, with no appearance of disease, that 
I have seen. A gentleman, however, informed me that the 
leaves of some of his had the appearance of the disease. 
A plan that I have adopted for the last three years, and 
with much success, is the following : I plant in rows, three 
feet apart from row to row, running north and south; and 
when the sets are placed in the row, I have them well 
covered with burnt ashes from weeds, &c., a layer of dung 
being underneath. In this way I have had very good crops, 
and very free from disease. Mine are looking well now; 
about an acre; they are planted as I have described. I 
have also some planted a yard apart each way with single 
sets, and others in clumps, four together, but a yard each 
way from clump to clump. If you care to know the result, 
I will send it you at digging time. (Pray do.) 
A correspondent in your paper (but I cannot put my 
finger on the place) says, he finds that the incubation of 
ducks’ eggs takes place with him in twenty-six days, though 
thirty days is the time allowed. I have found the same; and 
I should like to know whether the opinion I have formed is 
correct. It is this: that when duck eggs are put under a 
hen they are hatched, on account of the greater warmth, 
sooner'than when under a duck. I have never seen such a 
fact stated, but it has struck me as probable. 
Clericus R. 
ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SILKWORMS. 
WITH COMMENTS AND ADDITIONS. 
By the Prior Jacopo Ricii. 
AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRECEDING TREATISE. 
( Concluded from page 288. ) 
The Silkworm is an insect brought from the South of 
China, as many writers tell us. There are various tradi¬ 
tions as to how and when the breeding of this useful i 
creature was introduced amongst us; but that which is of 
most importance is, that the agriculturist should shut his 
ears against all the old women’s absurd stories regarding 
the treatment of the worms in their own country, which may 
lead to the belief, that in this our variable climate they do 
not require the careful attention which is really essential, 
and for lack of which, the worm now naturalised amongst 
us has been neglected as less valuable than under proper 
management it will become. 
Those who wish to cultivate the worm with success 
