THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December^, 1860. 
the Show bids fair to be one of considerable importance. We 
would recommend the New Corn Exchange as the locality, and 
that the Show be held for chickens only ; that the time should 
be about the end of October, not to clash with Worcester ; and 
that some plate should be awarded for leading classes, and, above 
all things, that collection cups should be avoided. 
Mr. j. K. Eowler, of thePrebeudal Farm, Aylesbury, officiated 
as J udge of the poultry. The following is the prize list:— 
Spanish.— First and Second, Mr. Wright, Northampton. Highly Com¬ 
mended, Mr. Shaw, Hunsbury Hill. 
Dorkings.— First, Rev. F. Thursby. Second, Mr. Jno. Shaw. Chickens. 
First, Mrs. Jno. Shaw. Second, Rev. F. Thursby. 
Cochins. —First, Mr. Knight. Second, Rev. F. Thursby. 
Game (any colour). — First and Second, Mr. Wright, Northampton. 
Chickens.— First, Mr. Page. Second, Mr. Boraston. 
Game Single Cocks.— First, Mr. Wright. Second, Mr. Chamberlain. 
Third, Mr. Page. 
Brahmas. —Prize, Rev. F. Thursby. 
IIamburghs. —First, Mr. Arlington. Second, Mr. Sharp. Third, Mr. 
Fitzliugh. 
Polish. —Prize, Mr. Taylor. 
Bantams. —First, Mr. Wright. Second, Mr. Lillyman. 
Game Bantam3. —First, Mr. Shield. Second, Mr. Heusman. 
Ducks.— First, Mr. Shaw, Hunsbury Hill (Aylesbury). Second, Mr. 
Heusman (Wild). Third, Mr. Barratt (Wild). 
Any other Variety op Fowls.— First and Second, Sir C. Wake, Bart. 
RABBITS IN MINIATURE WARREN. 
I have a large piece of waste ground, about six or seven acres, 
unlit for cultivation, there being no depth of soil, yet there is plenty 
of herbage on it. From the articles lately appearing in your 
paper, it occurred to me that it would be a good investment to 
convert it into a miniature warren. Being surrounded by my 
own property it would be secure from poachers, and all around 
being grass land they could not injure crops. I am given to 
understand, by an old keeper, the skins of Chinchilla Rabbits 
have been worth as much as 25 s. to 35s. per doz., and the 
Himalayas a great deal more. 
Which kind would you recommend me to turn off? and are 
the skins as valuable as stated to me? I suppose March would 
be time enough to get them, or will they breed through winter ? 
—An Old Subscriber. 
£1 have no doubt your waste ground might be converted into 
a warren, and if well managed return a good per centage. A 
great deal depends upon the skill of the warrener in getting his 
skins the right colour, which should be medium between light 
and dark. The value of the skins depends upon the time of year 
they are taken off, and if free from stains, &c., are worth from 
18s. to 30s. per doz. Either the Chinchilla, Silver Grey, or 
Himalayas will do. Turn them out at any time.—R. S. S.] 
RABBIT-KEEPING. 
I want to carry out the suggestions of your correspondent 
by keeping Rabbits in a pit instead of in hutches, but cannot 
understand bow it is to be done. My ground is clay, and the 
part I thought of appropriating is a sloping bank, something 
like one side of a railway cutting. As soon as I dig an open pit 
the water (as with all pits however situated), will drain into it, 
and the rains will fall into it; and if I erect a summer-house 
upon it, as suggested, either the Rabbits will bp covered over by 
the floor of it, or the summer-house will have no bottom. It is 
also said that the plan of the pit saves the trouble of cleaning 
out. How can that be? If I keep on throwing litter and 
things to the Rabbits, these and their dung will quickly accumu¬ 
late.—A. C., Hampstead. 
[Taking into consideration your soil and situation, I should 
advise you a paved court, unless you turn the -whole of your 
ground into a warren. A large stock may be kept in the follow¬ 
ing manner :—Keep the breeding does in hutches, and turn the 
young ones when weaned into the court, which you can make 
any size your convenience will allow. The bottom should be 
paved with twelve-inch flat tiles, or old bricks, and a coating of 
Portland cement about half an inch thick, with a gentle fall to 
carry off urine or rain. The sides should be boarded about three 
feet high, and galvanised netting a yard wide, 2i-mesh, and 
covered with the same to prevents cats getting in. There must 
be a projecting roof from the back about five feet, and about four 
feet from the ground. Under this roof should be filled up 
with earth, clay, and sand, in which the Rabbits will burrow 
freely, and afford them protection from cold and wet. Their 
feeding-troughs should also be protected from wet, and especially | 
the green food. The breeding does may be turned out in the 
court and taken up three or four days before their time of 
kindling ; and, in the first place, it would be better than to turn 
out the very young ones first, as they would make the burrows 
for the young. A large quantity might be bred by keeping 
about a dozen does and a buck. The does either in hutches, or 
in the court, and tlie buck must always be kept a prisoner. The 
Chinchilla or Silver Greys, and Himalayas, are, perhaps, the 
best on account of the demand and ready sale for them — 
R. S. S.] 
APIARIAN NOTES.—No. X. 
Bee-feeding and its Effects. —Having been solicited in 
your No. 634, at the close of your answers to “ A Young Bee¬ 
keeper,” to give you the results of my experience in the feeding 
of bees, I feel bound to respond to the appeal, though fearing 
that there is little probability of my being able to eontribute 
anything new on tlie subject. It will, however, be a source of 
considerable gratification, if I shall be enabled to render any 
assistance to others interested in the management of our little 
favourites. 
At the commencement of my career as a bee-keeper, having 
eagerly devoured all the treatises on apiarian subjects with, 
which I could meet, I came to the conclusion that feeding could 
not be too largely carried on. Accordingly, numerous were the 
feeders of every kind which I manufactured, consisting of foun¬ 
tains, float-feeders, and others. The food itself was the nasty 
mess of ale and sugar—sometimes consumed, but as frequently 
left almost untouched. Occasionally considerable quantities 
were taken down and stored, generally to be followed in the 
early spring by fermentation in the cells, attended by los3 of 
; bees and hives from dysentery, from being dogged by the sweating 
of the food, or from disgust at the state of affairs within. For 
many years, beer as an ingredient in the composition of food has 
been totally discarded iu my apiary. Sugar, either brown or 
white, boiled to a syrup, with a considerable dash of honey 
added, and stirred in while yet warm, has been substituted. The 
proportions given in the answers to correspondents, in the pages 
of The Cottage Gardener, are very good—viz., 6 lbs. of 
sugar to 4 lbs. of water, boiled for three or four minutes. To 
this I always add from lib. to 2lbs. of good sound honey, 
although it is by no means necessary to do so. A little salt is 
also by some believed to be an advantage, and I am inclined to 
think more especially for spring feeding. 
As to the kind of feeder to be recommended, there has been 
none with which I have been so much pleased as the bottle 
lately described by “ The Devonshire Bee-keeper,” with the 
net stretched over the mouth. It can be used with any kind of 
hive. For flat-topped boxes, a loose block must be made suffi¬ 
ciently thick, wide, and heavy to prevent the overturn of the 
bottle, having a hole into which the neck fits sufficiently tight, 
on one side of -which (that next the hive), a piece of perforated 
zinc is nailed. For round-crowned straw hives, a small hole 
about the size of the neck of the bottle may be cut out, into 
which the neck is thrust, resting any way on the combs. A 
cork will close the aperture when done with. 
For autumnal feeding I have U3ed large sized wine bottles, 
choosing those of clear glass, and with as thin a lip as possible. 
For spring use, a smaller bottle holding a few ounces only 
would, probably, be preferable. 
I have in a previous communication expressed my belief that 
bees will live and do well with a smaller amount of food in their 
combs than is commonly believed. Having frequently weighed 
hives in September, and again early in March, I have found the 
food consumed to have been from 4£lbs. up to 7a lbs.: there¬ 
fore, if I find any hive to weigh from 8 lbs. to 10 lbs. above the 
weight of bees and comb I do not feed it in autumn at all, pre¬ 
ferring to supply them with small quantities from time to time 
in spring, after pollen-gathering has commenced. I have almost 
invariably remarked that such hives, provided they are not 
deficient in population, prove the most profitable either in the 
way of swarms or in the honey produce the succeeding season., 
On the other hand, a hive heavily stored with sealed honey will 
frequently completely disappoint the expectations of the owner. 
Whether it is that the bees do not equally feel the necessity for 
exertion, or that the queen is cramped for room to deposit her 
&aa3 I cannot say; but am convinced that it is by no means 
advisable to leave the stocks too heavily provisioned for the 
winter. In talking with cottagers, how frequently have I been 
