3 88 
THE COXf AGE GARDEN EE AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Juki: 28, 1859. 
cellent flavour, and in great quantitj—so much so, indeed, that 
few persons who have not seen these birds when dressed ready | 
for cooking would accredit how plump and well-developed they 
really are, simply from inspecting such birds at a poultry ex¬ 
hibition. It is only when taken in hand that the extraordinary 
substance of these fowls about the breasts, wings, and merry- ; 
thoughts can be ascertained by the uninitiated in such matters. 
By judicious crossing, however, with this breed, no doubt better 
table fowls may be produced than even the Malays themselves. 
The highest and best-flavoured cross breed will be from Game 
and Malay. The next, in point of quality of flesh, will arise 
from crossing the Golden Hamburgh and Malay (these latter 
will also prove excellent laying fowls, and excessively hardy). 
With the Grey Dorkings, too, a most useful product is obtained. 
Experience proves, however, that cross-bred chickens from the 
Malay and the Black Spanish are the very opposite of satis¬ 
factory. These lay indifferently, and the chickens are ill-shaped 
birds for cooking: besides which, they are an insipid fowl. 
For such reasons it is waste of time and trouble to cross them. 
From the consideration only of utility, I will next proceed to 
notice how much of late years the number of entries has im¬ 
proved in the classes for Malays, and that, too, combined with 
great advancement towards perfection of character. Let any 
amateurs who have closely inspected the Malays at the late Bir¬ 
mingham Show, the Hereford, Beverley, or Barnstaple Ex¬ 
hibitions, and I think they will quite agree with me the ad- ! 
vancement in this class has been most extreme and satisfactory. 
It is needless to say Committees cannot give valuable pre- ! 
miums where entries are limited; silver cups and first prizes of 
several pounds value, must ensure a fair amount of competition, i 
otherwise the funds available will be unduly entrenched upon. 
This was, I believe, one and the chief cause why Malays have ! 
been frequently expunged from prize lists at Poultry Shows. I 
am exceedingly glad to find, however, that such complaint 
cannot be longer fairly urged. The breed is a most useful one, 
and even to novices, who attend exhibitions simply as casual 
visitors, Malays are never passed over unheeded; therefore, 1 
they become not only subjects of remarks, but attraction ; con¬ 
sequently I hope no apology is needed for my thus urging a 
word in favour of Malays.— Edward Hewitt. 
HENS EATING THEIR OWN EGGS — PRICE 
OF HONEY. 
Ip “ S. II.” will give his hens a piece of raw meat about once 
a-week to peck at, it will effectually prevent this propensity. I 
have tried it and found it answer. 
If “ F. H.” will send his honey, in glasses, to Messrs. Eortnum 
and Mason, Piccadilly, they will give him Is. 6 d. per lb. for it, 
but it must be perfectly clear and free from bee-bread, &c.—J. R. 
ON BEES USING OLD WAX. 
I made some remarks in the last volume on bees repairing ; 
their com bs with broken remains of old wax. To which “ B. & W.” 
observes, at page 371, “It remains to be proved that bees 
make use of the broken remains of wax.” If be will give 
bis address, I can send him a piece of a new comb made of old 
wax, which I lately took out of a hive in which a fresh swarm 
had been only one night. The piece of comb is the same 
colour as old ones, which shows that the bees did not alter, or 
refine, the materials. This reminds me of “ B. ifcW.’s” re¬ 
marks at page 143 of the present volume, that I stated that 
“bees import wax as a ready-prepared substance into their J 
hives,” wuereas I distinctly said, at page 108, “ more probably 
they collect wax from plants, and refine it in their stomachs by j 
a process impossible to explain.” With regard to my “ seeking 
to father ' his new theory about beeswax on Mr. Taylor,” and ! 
“B. & W.’s” extracts from the last edition of that writer’s book, 
I refer bi n either to the first or second edition, in which Mr. 
Taylor sp: aks of bees, at the time of comb-building, frequenting 
laurels in search of materials to form them. I am speaking 
from memory, and cannot give his words. However, I have to 
refresh his own memory, in reference to his observations, in 
No. 559, connected with tins subject, of having “ no recollection 
of ever having bad correspondence with Mr. Wighton on any 
subject whatever.” It is now some years back since I noticed 
his book in the Norwich Mercury, which led to a discussion 
between us on his statements respecting the titty notion of the 
sex of bees being changed by food or royal jetty, ventilation 
or Nutt’s theory, which Mr. Taylor advocated. I replied in 
a rather long article on the old and new systems of bee-keeping. 
To that Mr. Taylor curtly said, that 1 advocated the barbarous 
plan of destroying bees. The truth of this may be seen by the 
following extract:—“Having thus placed the two systems in a 
fair point of view, as to profit, I wish it to be understood, that 
I most heartily concur in the now general feeling against the 
practice of destroying bees by suffocation, provided the means 
taken to deprive the industrious collectors of their store, be not 
injurious to them in the main.’’ 
1 now pass to Gundlach being “ an eminent German apiarian.” 
This refers to “A Devonshire Bee-keeper,” who observed, 
however, that his views on the subject in discussion agreed with 
“ B. & W.,” a part of which was, that bees collect pollen when 
flowers contain no honey. Sometimes old Stocks die off in 
May, as they did this season, leaving ample supply of pollen, 
which is generally the case at other times. But as 1 mentioned 
in my last papier, that the same state of weather which is favour¬ 
able for flowers producing pollen is equally so for honey, also 
for the insects being abroad. I may note, that bees never 
collect pollen alone, though, of course, they often do bone.y. 
That curious process is little known ; however, when the insects 
suck with their ptroboscis, they also brush off pollen with their 
fore feet, and retain it amongst the hairs of their hinder thighs. 
When I said, “Were I to write scientifically, perhaps I might 
bo less understood.” That, of course, did uot apply to an 
amateur apiarian who wrote thus:—“ I much wonder at the 
hardihood which sets up to be a teacher of others in matters 
which are evidently res incognita; to the teacher.” This is not 
the first time I have been taunted by writers under disguised 
signatures for having exposed false theories and exaggerated 
statements of produce from bees, for which treatment I care 
but little, while I have the confidence of our best apiarians, 
such as Dr. Dunbar, Dr. Bevati, Mr. Golding, and others, who 
always affix their real signatures to their replies to—J. 
Wighton. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
The Beveiu,ey and East Riding of Yorkshire Poultry Exhibition 
was carried on by a Committee consisting of seven Members, an Honorary 
Treasurer, and an Honorary Secretary; and not by “the sole management 
of Messrs. Boulton and Calvert,” as incorrectly stated in your report of 
the Exhibition on the 7th inst. I am desired by the Committee to make 
the above alteration.— Fras. Calvert, Surgeon, Hon. Sec. 
Bath and West of England Poultry Show. — In The Cottage 
Gardener of the 14th inst. you report—“ In Buff Cochins, to the cele¬ 
brated pen of Mr. Tomlinson, of Birmingham, was awarded the cup. We 
very much doubt the policy of Mr. Tomlinson in exhibiting so very fre¬ 
quently his first-prize pen.” If you refer to the birds I took the cups with 
at the Birmingham and Liverpool last Shows, I beg leave to inform you 
that they have not been exhibited until the Bath and West of England 
Show since they were shown at Preston in February last. What I have 
exhibited at other Shows since Preston have been quite different birds.— 
Henry Tomlinson. 
Roup (IF. G. Cock ).—Wash the head once or twice daily with tepid 
water, and give one grain of sulphate of copper daily, mixed in oatmeal 
mashed with ale. Separate the infected fowl from the others; give it onlv 
soft food, but an unlimited supply of grass, lettuces, and other greens. If 
not better in a week, kill it. 
Swarms uniting spontaneously ( A Subscriber ).— There is nothing 
remarkable in a well-peopled apiary, when two or more small swarms, 
issuing at the same time, unite and settle together ; an evident advantage, 
as second and third flights of bees are rarely of much value hived sepa¬ 
rately. Your case, however, is not altogether quite so easily explained, 
the three families having commenced work as distinct communities. It 
is conceivable that Nos. 1 and 2 might have proceeded from the same 
original stock; for tire interval between a second and a third swarm is 
often very small. Moreover, the queens accompanying ail issues after the 
first are necessarily young ones, and unimpregnated. Under such circum¬ 
stances these would have comparatively little consideration, and no brood 
could he possible ill the hive, so that the usual impulses of the bees would 
be weak. In this position of affairs is it much to be wondered at if tho 
new associations are scarcely strong enough to outweigh older ones, 
especially in hives perhaps placed in close proximity? Be this as it may, 
there is no cause for regret that you are now in possession of a single 
strong colony, instead of three nearly valueless small ones. 
LONDON MARKETS.— June 27. 
POULTRY. 
The supply of poultry has been larger this week, and the trade has been 
dull. Prices were hardly maintained. 
Each— s. cl. s. d. 
Large Fow ls. 5 fi to 6 6 
Smaller ditto . 4 0,, 4 6 
Chickens . 2 3 ,, 8 0 
Geese. 6 0 „ 6 6 
Ducklings... 3 0 „ 3 6 
Each— s. d. s. d. 
Turkeys. 0 0 to 0 o 
Pigeons . 0 8 „ 0 9 
Guinea Fowls . 0 0 ,, 0 9 
Rabbits . 1 4 ,, 1 A 
Wild ditto. n 8 ,, 0 9 
