158 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER . 
August  14,  1902. 
Gardeners’  and  Farmers’  Friends. 
Amongst  the  numerous  feathered  friends  of  the  gardener 
and  farmer — the  different  species  of  the  family  of  Strigidse — 
the  owls  certainly  occupy  a  prominent  position,  so  far  as  their 
limited  extent  will  allow,  their  narrowed  limit  being  due 
principally  to  the  prejudice  of  the  game  preserver,  who 
wages  an  incessant  war  of  extermination  against  them  and 
all  other  birds  and  animals  of  prey,  not  without,  however, 
some  little  cause  for  justification,  considering  that  such  as 
the  owls  and  the  hawk  tribes  do  indeed  occasionally  indulge 
in  a  “  titbit  ”  in  the  shape  of  a  young  partridge  or  pheasant 
for  the  delectation  of  their  young  during  the  breeding 
season  ;  but  this  is  more  than  compensated  for  by  their  de¬ 
struction  of  vermin,  such  as  mice,  moles,  rats,  and  night- 
flying  moths. 
Apart  from  their  utility  there  are  no  more  interesting 
members  of  our  wild  feathered  fauna  than  the  owls,  whilst  at 
least  two  of  the  species,  the  barn  owl  (Strix  flammea)  and  the 
brown  or  tawny  owl  (Syrnium  aluc-o),  may  claim  to  be 
“  domestic  ”  owls,  from  their  frequenting  and  breeding  near 
the  habitation  of  mankind.  Remarking  upon  the  folk  lore 
of  the  owls,  an  ornithologist  writer  remarks  as  follows  : 
“  The  owls  have  in  most  ages  been  classed  by  the  ignorant 
among  birds  of  ill-omen.  Yet  it  is  a  question  whether  any¬ 
one  encountering  an  owl  for  the  first  time,  and  as  an  un¬ 
known  bird,  would  have  any  other  feeling  excited  in  him  save 
that  of  the  ludicrous.  Its  upright  posture,  round,  flat  face, 
strangely  set  ears,  or  horns,  as  we  may  choose  to  call  them, 
large,  staring  eyes,  always  turned  to  the  spectator  with  such 
unmeaning  solemnity,  are  irresistibly  comical  ;  and  our 
merriment  is  increased  by  the  absence  of  all  sympathy  in  the 
bird,  which,  in  spite  of  its  human  cast  of  features,  is  neither 
angered  nor  amused  by  our  laughter,  but  retains  the  same 
grave  expression,  making  no  sign  of  response.  It  was  pro¬ 
bably  on  account  of  its  grave  looks  and  seeming  power  of 
abstraction  that  the  Owl  was  dedicated  by  the  Greeks  to  the 
goddess  Minerva,  and  honoured  as  the  Bird  of  Wisdom.” 
This  evidently  refers  to  the  “horned”  section  of  owls,  and 
not  the  “  barn  ”  and  tawny  owls.  The  so-called  horns,  or 
ears,  are  technically  termed  egrets,  consisting  of  a  tuft  of 
feathers,  possessed  by  such  as  the  long-eared  owl  (Otus  vul¬ 
garis),  the  scops-earecl  owl  (Scops  aldrovancli),  and  the 
short-eared  owl  (Otus  brachyotus). 
Some  of  the  species  are  less  nocturnal  in  their  habits  than 
the  others.  The  short-eared  owl,  for  instance,  has  been 
known  to  catch  up  chickens  from  the  farmyard,  and  has  been 
seen  in  chase  of  pigeons.  The  only  specimen  of  the  long¬ 
eared  owl  the  writer  ever  saw  alive  was, captured  amongst 
the  rocky  hills  in  Westmoreland.  The  two  species  that  he 
was  most  intimately  acquainted  with  were  the  brown  owl 
and  the  tawny  owl,  wThen  resident  many  years  ago  in  South 
Warwickshire.  In  proof  of  the  boldness  of  the  barn,  or 
screech,  owl  in  defence  of  its  young,  the  writer  once  had  a 
l'emarkable  experience  with  the  mother  of  a  nest  of  young 
ones  situated  in  the  long  and  spreading  branches  of  Ivy, 
almost  encasing  the  tower  of  a  dismantled  ancient  church  in 
the  grounds  of  the  ancestral  home  of  one  of  Warwickshire’s 
most  illustrious  families.  The  Ivy-mantled  tower  and 
ruinous  walls  of  the  nave  of  the  church  in  question  afforded 
an  excellent  abode  for  such  as  owls,  doves,  house-sparrows, 
and  starlings,  and  upon  one  occasion  the  aforesaid  writer 
ascended  a  ninety-“  round  ”  ladder  to  inspect  the  family  nest 
of  a  pair  of  old  tawny  owds,  and  when  in  the  act  of  inspect¬ 
ing  the  “  hissing  ”  young  and  their  well  supplied  larder,  con¬ 
sisting  of  a  mole,  a  sparrow,  and  two  or  three  field  mice 
spiked  upon  the  ends  of  the  decaying  branchlets  of  the  Ivy, 
also  the  curious  large  deposit  of  “  pellets  ”  of  undigested 
feathers  and  fur,  ejected  apparently  by  both  old  and  young, 
and  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  rejected  bones  of  then 
prey,  proved  to  be  not  of  an  over-savoury  scent  for  one’s 
olfactory  organism — suddenly  a  sharp  blow  on  the  right 
ear  was  felt,  and  when  quickly  looking  round  to  ascertain 
the  cause,  one  of  the  parent  birds  was  observed  to  fly  off 
and  settle  in  a  neighbouring  tree.  It  had  evidently  been 
roosting  in  an  adjacent  part  of  the  Ivied  nave-wall  watching, 
and,  on  hearing  the  cries  and  hissing  sounds  of  the  young, 
boldly  attacked  the  enemy.  One  of  its  claws  pierced  a  hole 
through  the  lobe  of  the  ear,  from  which  the  blood  freely 
dropped.  Fearing  another  attack  from  the  same  quarter, 
the  interested  intruder  elected  to  descend  from  the  eyrie  as 
quickly  as  possible,  and  not  run  the  risk  of  having  possibly 
an  “  ear-dropper  ”  hole  unceremoniously  made  through  the 
lobe  of  the  left  auricle. 
Remarking  upon  the  voracity  of  the  barn,  or  white,  owl, 
Mr.  Waterton  says  :  “  The  service  which  the  barn  owl  renders 
to  the  agriculturist  by  its  consumption  of  rats  and  mice  must 
be  exceedingly  great,  yet  it  is  little  appreciated.  When  it 
has  young  it  will  bring  a  mouse  to  the  nest  every  twelve  or 
fifteen  minutes.  But,  in  order  to  have  a  proper  idea  of  the 
enormous  quantity  of  mice  which  the  bird  destroys,  we  must 
examine  the  pellets  which  it  ejects  from  its  stomach  in  the 
place  of  its  retreat.  Every  pellet  contains  from  four  to  seven 
skeletons  of  mice.  In  sixteen  months  from  the  time  that  the 
apartment  of  the  owl  on  the  old  gateway  was  cleared  out, 
there  has  been  a  deposit  of  above  a  bushel  of  pellets.” 
Another  authority  avers  that  as  many  as  twenty  rats  have 
been  discovered  at  one  time  in  the  larder  of  a  pair  of  barn 
owls.  What  has  been  remarked  on  the  barn  owl  very  nearly 
applies  to  the  less  common  tawny  owl,  and  -which  is  an 
habitue  more  of  the  woods  than  the  barn  owl. — W.  G. 
The  Garden  City. 
The  prospectus  of  the  company  has  been  issued,  and  £20,000 
is  asked  in  ordinary  shares  of  £1  each,  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  the  initial  steps  in  building  a  Garden  City.  Messrs. 
Ralph  Neville,  K.C.  (chairman);  Edward  Cadbury  (of  Cadbury 
Bros.,  Bournville);  T.  H.  W.  Idris,  J.P.  (chairman  of  Idris  and 
Co.,  of  London,  Southampton,  and  Canterbury);  Franklin 
Thomasson,  of  Bolton;  T.  P.  Ritzema,  J.P.,  Newspaper  Pro¬ 
prietor,  Blackburn ;  Ebenezer  Howard,  author  of  the  Garden 
Citv  idea;  and  Aneurin  Williams,  the  well-known  co-operator. 
Among  the  subscribers  are  Mr.  Alfred  Harmsworth,  £1,000; 
Mr.  W.  H.  Lever,  £100  to  £1,000  as  required  ;  Mr.  Geo.  Cad¬ 
bury7,  £1,000;  and  Mr.  J.  P.  Thomasson,  of  Bolton,  £1,000- 
The  two  last  being  conditional  on  the  whole  amount  being 
raised.  This  company  has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  into  effect  the  scheme  suggested  by  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Howard,  in  his  book,  entitled  “  Garden  Cities  of  To-morrow  ” 
(Swan,  Sonnenschein  and  Co.),  and  to  assist  in  relieving  the 
congestion  in  crowded  cities  by  the  redistribution  of  the 
industrial  population  upon  the  land.  Mr.  Howard’s  scheme 
is,  shortly,  as  follows: — The  purchase  of  a  large  agricultural 
estate  of,  say,  6,000  acres,  with  the  object  of  establishing  a 
Garden  City.  The  retention  by  the  community  of  the  Garden 
City  of  the  increased  value  of  the  estate.  The  estate  selected 
to  be  carefully  planned  under  the  best  expert  advice,  so  that 
as  the  town  grows  its  factories  and  workshops,  the  houses  of 
the  people,  the  parks  and  open  spaces,  schools,  churches,  and 
other  public  buildings  may  be  placed  in  the  most  convenient 
positions.  The  provision  of  a  broad  belt  of  agricultural  land 
around  the  town,  under  such  restrictive  covenants  as  may 
secure  to  the  inhabitants  the  enjoyment  for  all  time  of  the 
combined  advantages  of  town  and  country  life,  while  the  agri¬ 
cultural  tenants  may  have  a  market  for  their  produce  brought 
to  their  doors.  The  scheme  provides  for  the  retention  of  a 
very  large  amount  of  open  space  for  recreative  purposes,  and 
for  the  allowance  of  land  for  a  fair-sized  garden  to  each  house. 
It  provides  for  a  population  of  about  30,000  people,  protected 
against  overcrowding  by  strict  covenants.  The  method  proposed 
is  to  form  a  company  to  acquire  or  purchase  a  site,  and  let  land  to 
tenants  on  building  leasesand  otherwise.  The  first  charge  on  the 
net  profits  of  such  company  would  be  a  cumulative  dividend  to  the 
shareholders,  but  such  dividend  would  be  limited  so  as  not  to 
exceed  a  rate  to  be  determined  at  the  formation  of  the  com¬ 
pany,  say,  4  or  5  per  cent.  Any  remaining  profits  would  be 
applied  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  and 
estate,  who  would  also  have  the  right  collectively,  after  a 
certain  period,  say  seven  years,  to  purchase  the  undertaking 
of  the  company  at  par. 
All  wishing  to  promote  this  promising  scheme  should  apply 
to  the  secretary7  of  the  Garden  City  Pioneer  Company,  77, 
Chancery  Lane,  London,  W.C. 
Potatoes  in  Germany. 
While  greatly  improving  the  Potato  the  Germans  have  sc 
increased  the  crop  that  new  ways  of  disposing  of  it  have  had 
to  be  sought.  They  now  feed  about  two-fifths  to  farm  animals, 
and  the  alcohol  makers  are  striving  to  increase  the  demand  for 
their  product.  So  much  of  the  Potato  is  water  that  3J  tons 
may  be  reduced  to  one  ton  by  drying.  The  dried  Potatoes  keep 
so  much  longer  and  are  so  much  more  readily  transported 
that  those  interested  in  the  industry  feel  justified  in  offering 
30,000  marks  as  a  .prize  for  the  best  process  of  drying. 
