700 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 2, 1905. 
Good. Feeding Essential. 
As soon as the birds are mated, thought 
must be given to the feeding. Good feeding 
means a good and early supply of eggs, fol¬ 
lowed by strong, vigorous ducklings. The 
food should be plentiful and of the best, but 
must not be of a fattening nature. Fat ducks 
cannot lay ; further, they become unhealthy 
owing to the generative organs becoming over¬ 
loaded and weakened by fatty deposits. Now 
one grain of which many people are very fond 
must not be used, except in very small quan¬ 
tities, and only then when the weather is 
very cold. This one particular grain is maize. 
The best food for ducks, and it should be 
the staple food, is good barley meal and mid¬ 
dlings, mixed stiff and given in about equal 
quantities. Let both be of the best. Do not 
feed upon inferior food. It may be cheap in 
its first cost, but it is really dear , the best 
feeding stuff is always the cheapest. Two or 
three times a week a little coarse oatmeal 
or Sussex ground oats may be added by way 
of a change. 
Meat Diet Needful. 
Meat in some form or other must be given 
if a plentiful supply of eggs is desired. 
Butchers’ offal, liver, and horseflesh are good, 
but all must be boiled and cut up finely be¬ 
fore being given to the birds, and when given 
should be mixed in with the meal. When 
fresh meat cannot be obtained, then recourse 
must be had to dried meat of some kind, and 
here Spratts’ Crissel comes in very handy ; it 
is one of the best of the prepared dried meat 
meals. Then tallow chandlers’ greaves can 
also be used. This is good feeding, and will 
make ducks lay very freely. The way to pre¬ 
pare the greaves is to break up a small quan¬ 
tity very finely and boil it slowly in water for 
about a couple of hours ; by this time it will 
have become quite soft, and can be mixed with 
the meal, the water in which it has been boiled 
being used for the mixing. 
ordered, and disease will quickly make its 
appearance. 
How to Mix the Meal. 
The meal should be mixed so that it is 
just holding together in a nice crumbly state. 
Never give it sloppy, as much is then wasted. 
In the cold weather a little spice of some kind 
may be mixed with the meal ; that known as 
Ovum is very good, and acts powerfully upon 
the egg-producing organs. 
The best time to feed is early in the morn¬ 
ing and then in the evening, about one hour 
before the birds retire for the night. At each 
of these meals the food should be as above 
described. At midday they may have a hand¬ 
ful or two of oats thrown into their water, 
say two handfuls for each pen of ducks. 
Where the birds are kept in confined runs 
they should also be provided with fresh vege¬ 
table food of some kind. Garden refuse of all 
sorts is eagerly picked over and enjoyed by 
a flock of ducks. Then the vegetable refuse 
from the house may also be utilised. Turnip, 
Carrot, Parsnip, and Potato peelings may be 
boiled and mixed with the meal, whilst the 
peelings of Apples, Pears, and other fruits 
may be cut up into small pieces and given 
in a raw state. 
To Ward Off Disease. 
Vegetable foods help to keep the liver work¬ 
ing freely and ward off disease. Many people 
overlook this fact, seldom give their birds 
vegetable food of any kind, and then wonder 
why it is they get such a poor return. 
The Water Supply. 
Although a pond or stream is not absolutely 
needful, they are, of course, of great benefit 
to a duck-keeper. Where such does not exist, 
good, big, flat tubs of water should be given 
the birds. Water is a duck’s natural element, 
and even when they have not enough in which 
to swim they delight in dabbling. Next week 
I shall have something to say as to the hatch¬ 
ing and rearing of ducks. 
Sound Meat only. 
A word of warning concerning the use of 
meat is necessary. Never on any account use 
meat which is not sound. Horseflesh is the 
best of all meat foods when thoroughly sound, 
but do not under any circumstances what¬ 
ever give horseflesh which does not look 
healthy or which is tainted in any way. The 
same with greaves; never use them if they 
smell stale or fusty. Finally, so far as meat 
is concerned, do not give too much. If too 
much meat is given, the bir'ds will become too 
fat, and, further, their livers will become dis- 
Plentt of Apples. —The Apple harvest is 
an abundant one. In Kent, Hereford, Devon, 
and Somerset the trees are loaded with 
Apples, and the supplies for the next six 
months from those centres will be ample. As 
the Continental,. .Canadian, and American 
crops are large, there will be no shortage from 
now till May. Apples will be plentiful and 
cheap. 
Xew Garden Plants. The list of new gar¬ 
den plants for the year 1904 has been pub¬ 
lished as Appendix III. to the “ Kew Bul¬ 
letin.” This list not only affords information 
Answer to Correspondent. 
Rosecomb Bantams (Inquirer).—Rosecomb 
bantams are very easily kept. They require 
little room, eat little food, and lay a goodly 
number of eggs—infact, are about the best 
of the bantam family for laying. You could 
easily keep a cock and five hens in a house 
4 ft. square with a run 12 ft. by 4 ft. The 
morning food should be Spratt’s poultry 
meal, and good, sound wheat is all that is 
needful at flight. Grit, of course, must be 
given them, and a liberal supply of green 
food. 
i—h d—H—b-i—Fl-H—r-1—r H—b+^--r-b !—b-r-r-i—b-j—b 
respecting new plants, but also gives official 
authentification to the names, thereby pro¬ 
viding an accurate guide for horticulturists. 
Kew Odours for Stale Flowers. —Odours, 
either natural or artificial, are given to flowers 
by a French chemist. Fading flowers are re¬ 
stored by immersion in a weak solution of 
chloride of ammonia, and are then sprayed 
with artificial perfume. To reinforce natural 
odour, the flower is placed in a glass contain¬ 
ing glycerine, and enclosed in a box through 
which is sent a current of carbonic acid gas 
charged with the odour of the flower. 
b *1—b fl—b -1—b -h ~b H—b — 
OBITUARY. 
Mr. Richard Dean, V.M.H. 
Much regret will be felt at the departure 
from among us, at Ealing on the 21st ult., 
at the ripe age of seventy-six, of this note¬ 
worthy horticulturist, one who had unmis¬ 
takably left his mark in many capacities on 
the horticulture of this country. 
In the year 1866, now some forty years ago, 
he and I were brought together on the occa¬ 
sion of that ever-to-be-famous great Inter¬ 
national Horticultural Exhibition at South 
Kensington, which comprised an area of 
some 4g acres of ground—a huge tented 
field, on ground now occupied by the fine 
buildings of the Natural History Museum. 
He acted as the very capable assistant secre¬ 
tary at that magnificent assemblage—prob¬ 
ably never equalled or surpassed—of all the 
choicest and best of Nature’s products. In 
the following year (1867) we also worked to¬ 
gether on the occasion of the commencement 
of that great series of fine provincial exhibi¬ 
tions inaugurated by the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society at historic Bury St. Edmunds ; 
and it was my privilege since those now far- 
off days to be associated with him, particu¬ 
larly in connection with the earlier exhibi¬ 
tions of the Ealing Horticultural Society, of 
which he was the energetic secretary for many 
years. Marvellously as this beautiful suburb 
has grown, things have altered for the worse. 
For many years Mr. Dean occupied a seat 
on the Royal Horticultural Society’s Floral 
Committee, where he was looked up to, and 
rightly so, as an expert on florists’ flowers. 
He grew Auriculas, Polyanthuses, hardy 
Primulas, and plants of that type well. His 
services as a lecturer were often called into 
request. He was a very fluent and capable 
speaker, and to hear his racy reminiscences 
of the florists of fifty years ago, with whom 
he was intimately acquainted, was to listen 
to something well worth hearing. As a young 
man he commenced with that prince of florists 
the late Charles Turner, of Slough, and 
Richard Dean drank in deeply there from the 
wise teachings of such a great master in the 
art. Until infirmities came, the subject of 
this notice was greatly sought after as a 
judge at our leading exhibitions all over the 
country. In any movement for the ameliora¬ 
tion or betterment of the gardeners’ position 
this body had in him a warm advocate. As 
one of the original founders of that truly 
grand charity, the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, 
be did most excellent work both by voice and 
pen; and the excellent sister charity, the 
Gardeners’ Benevolent, ever had in him a 
stalwart champion of its truly beneficent work. 
Both institutions will miss him much. He 
was a prolific and practical writer to the 
horticultural Press generally. He proved 
himself to be a worthy successor to his old 
friend, William Holmes, of Hackney, as secre¬ 
tary of the flourishing National Chrysanthe¬ 
mum Society, and the position will be a diffi¬ 
cult one to fill efficiently. He also did ex¬ 
cellent service as organising secretary of the 
Dahlia Union. In 1902 horticulturists of all 
sections presented him with a very hand¬ 
some testimonial, and latterly they also ral¬ 
lied round the fine old horticultural chieftain 
once more. 
It is a melancholy pleasure for one who 
had known him so long to pay his memory 
this last, but by no means adequate, tribute 
of respect. He belonged to a famous old 
school, of horticulturists, whose ranks have 
been sadly thinned of late years by relentless 
death. J- B. 
