circumstances have to be considered. If large size, early maturity,
and white appearance for the market are required, the Aylesbury
will be found pre-eminent. If, on the other hand, small size with a
strongly pronounced suspicion of wild duck is required, then choose
a smaller variety, as the small black, called with equal inaccuracy
East Indian, Buenos Ayres, and Labrador, or, still better, the
tame-bred wild, or a cross between the two; but for family use
Aylesburies must be relied on.
The great error in the usual management of ducks is not bringing them
to rapid maturity. A duck should be so fed as to be large enough
to kill under 10 weeks old. If it is allowed to live longer, it
begins to moult, and consequently is not so good in flavour, and the
nourishment given to it goes to form feathers, and not to increase
its weight. It is obvious that if one duck can be made ready for the
market in 2 months, it must yield a larger profit than another that
is not fit for use till it is 4 or 6.
Ducks should be always shut up during the night, as they generally
lay at that time, and, if allowed to be at large, drop their eggs
in the water, where they sink and are lost. As early as possible in
the season they should be set under large hens. A good-sized Cochin,
Brahma, or Dorking will cover 12 or 13. The hens should not be set
in the crowded, vermin-infested nest places that are usually seen in
fowl-houses, but on the ground or in a circular basket or American
cheese box, nearly filled with moist earth, and covered with a very
little bruised straw, not hay; this earth should be kept moist during
the whole time of setting, so as to imitate the conditions of the
nest in a state of nature.
The young should be hatched on the twenty-eighth day, that is, the
same day of the week one month after they are placed under the hen.
When the young are hatched they should be left with the hen till
well nestled, well dried, and strong enough to stand. Many scores of
ducklings are lost by inexperienced persons through their impatience
to remove them from the nest. The little duckling is at first clad
with soft yellow down, which gradually disappears as the feathers
grow. After a few days, 3 or 4 broods are put together with one hen,
who is quite able to take care of them all. For market purposes the
treatment of the ducklings is as follows: They are not allowed to go
into any water, but are kept in hovels, or the rooms of cottages,
each lot of 30 or 40 separated by low boards; it is no uncommon
thing at Aylesbury to see 2000-3000 all in one establishment. They
are kept very clean and dry on barley straw. Their food consists
of hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, and mixed with boiled rice and
bullock’s liver cut up small. This is given to them several times
in the day for about a fortnight or more. When they are capable of
consuming more, they are fed on barley meal and tallow greaves mixed,
together with the water in which the greaves have previously been
boiled; some also use horseflesh to mix with their other food. This
constitutes all that is necessary to produce early ducklings for the
table.
They are killed at 10-12 weeks old, just before the adult feathers
come; as the energy up to that time has been spent in the growth of
flesh, but is then directed to the feathers, and a duck at 5-6 months
when plucked often does not weigh so much as one of 3 months. The
hens should be set in December and not later than March, for then the
demand for ducklings is greater than the supply.
As to the treatment of such as are intended for breeding and
exhibition. To produce birds of great frame and weight, the same
food is given during the earliest stage; but, after about 3 weeks,
they are allowed to go to the water, and their food is varied as
soon as possible, by giving them maize (or better, oats) and barley
alternately, when they can eat the same. They should be fed 3 times
a day, and always have a trough of water by them, or the grain be
thrown into the water; and it is an advantage to have some gravel
or sand at the bottom, so that when drinking they also get hold of
some grit, which helps digestion, and tends to keep the bill in
proper colour. Maize is apt to render the birds too fat, and increase
the tendency to accumulate internal abnormal fat, and to go “down
behind,” in which condition they are perfectly useless as stock birds.
=Geese.=--Geese can only be profitably kept where there is abundance
of grazing ground, as they derive the greater part of their
nourishment from grass. Under suitable conditions no birds can
be more profitable, but under other circumstances they cannot be
recommended.
Of the three varieties, namely, the pure white or Emden, the grey
or Toulouse, and the common saddle-back, the first name is to be
preferred, as the birds pluck much better and clearer than the grey,
and are much larger than the common parti-coloured breed.
The management of these birds in suitable localities is attended with
very little trouble. In the early part of the year the old geese
should be well fed with oats thrown into water, so as to stimulate
them to early laying in February, if possible. When she has laid from
eight to thirteen eggs, the goose remains on the nest, and her eggs
may then be given to her.
The nest should be on the ground, without any intervening boards;
and, if in a dry situation, should be watered, so as to keep the
mould moist. The hatching goose should be well fed with oats thrown
into a pan of water when she leaves the nest, and she should be
allowed to go on to the pond or river.
When hatched, the goslings require grass, meal slaked with water, or
porridge made with oatmeal. After a few days, oats, in water, may be
given, and with the food they find by grazing, the young will do well
until fattening time, when they should be fed on oats, in water. In
many parts the geese are partially plucked two or three times a year
for the sake of the feathers. Nothing can be more injurious than the
practice; the small sum obtained for the plumage is much less than
the deterioration in the value of the bird.
In rearing geese for the market, every endeavour should be made to
attain early maturity. Young birds should never cease growing from
the time they are hatched until they are ready to kill. If they are
so fed as to be kept without growing, not only is all the food they
eat during the time wasted, but they are deteriorating in quality and
in tenderness of flesh.
=Turkeys.=--Turkeys dislike all that is necessary for their
well-doing. They like to roam far and wide like peafowl, and will
roost, if allowed to, in the open air, whereas they should sleep
under cover, have an elevated roost, and a well-ventilated sleeping
room. A turkey hen sits on her eggs for 32 days; she is a very gentle
constant sitter, but a very careless mother, for she will, unless
carefully watched or cooped, lead her chicks out in the damp grass or
into a bed of stinging nettles, both of which proceedings are fatal
to the brood, for wet kills them, and so does nettles; but boiled
nettles are good for their health, and should be given chopped small
mixed with barley meal.
The young birds should be left to effect their exit, if possible,
unassisted, and allowed to remain for 12 hours afterwards under the
mother’s wings. After that time they must be continually attended to
and fed on curds, hard-boiled eggs, and crumbs, having a good boarded
coop. Meal and grits must be given after the lapse of about 10 days;
and when they are 5 weeks old, boiled potatoes, turnips, nettles, and
lettuces may be chopped and mixed with their food.
Norfolk turkeys are considered the best breed to keep. When turkeys
are put up to fatten, barley meal, bran, and potatoes well mashed and
mixed, are the best food for them. Half-a-crown’s worth of meal and
potatoes, with other garden produce, is about the cost of feeding
each bird for one month, when it is considered fat enough for the
table; but the birds will generally be in pretty good case when put
up, if they have been allowed the run of the fields and the woods,
for turkey chicks are only delicate in their first stages of growth.
Some poultry-keepers cram their birds, but such turkeys are never so
delicately flavoured as those fed in the natural way. (Helen Watney.)
Turkey hens are such admirable mothers, that they are largely
employed in France to hatch and rear ordinary chickens. When young
turkeys are hatched, they should be left undisturbed until they come
out from under the mother, about 20-30 hours, and fed at first with
equal parts of egg and milk beaten up together and set by heat.
Fresh-ground oatmeal and milk should be given, and lettuces running
to seed, full of bitter milky juice; this old and young will eat in
large quantity and thrive exceedingly on it. Turkeys are much larger
green vegetable eaters than fowls. In dry situations and seasons they
are not delicate if properly fed and cared for. (W. B. Tegetmeier.)
=Pigeons=.--First and foremost comes the selection of the birds. The
old-fashioned English so-called carrier is perfectly useless as a
messenger or homing pigeon. The only breeds of any real value are
Belgians. Of these, several somewhat distinct types exist, which are
known as Liege, Antwerp birds, &c. In these birds the homing faculty
has been developed by training for many generations, until at last
an acquired instinct of indomitable perseverance in seeking their
distant home has been developed, and this has become hereditary.
Hence the necessity of breeding from good birds, and those which have
been accustomed to fly long distances. To breed from birds without
pedigrees is useless. So high a value is placed on the performance
of the parents, that amateurs will spare no pains or expense in
getting good, well-trained birds. Good birds, however, can be bought
for moderate sums, when amateurs in Belgium are selling off the
superfluous birds after the racing season is over; 1_l._ 10_s._ to
2_l._ a pair will often procure birds that have done good work.
A flight of birds may be established in two modes. First, by
obtaining pairs of old birds, shutting them up as prisoners, breeding
from them, and turning out the young as soon as they can feed
themselves and fly. The second is by buying young birds as they leave
the nest, and letting them fly after they have been confined a few
days in their new home.
As old birds would not remain in a new locality, they have
necessarily to be confined as prisoners. For this purpose never
select a close room or loft. A dry shed, not exposed to the north
or east, if wired on the open side, is always filled with pure
air. Shelves or open lockers, in which the birds will build their
nests and rear their young, should be attached to the walls. A
long, straight inclosure, covered at the top and sides with wire
work, should communicate with the shed. In this the birds can take
exercise, flying from the perch or landing-place at one end to
that at the other. This open flight place should be, if possible,
some 10 yd. long, and, being open-wired above, the birds enjoy the
three great luxuries of fresh air, bright sunshine, and, above all,
exposure to the rain.
For food, wheat, small round maize, sound beans, dark peas, and tares
may all be given, and also millet, if it be accessible; some old
mortar rubbish mixed with salt should be provided for the pigeons
to pick at, this being most essential to their health; and, above
all, a supply of clean water to drink, placed in vessels in which
it cannot be defiled, is indispensable; also water for bathing,
which may be put in a milk pan or shallow trough in the open flight
place. Thus treated, the old birds do not suffer in health. (W. B.
Tegetmeier.)
Homing pigeons are protected from birds of prey in China by means
of a whistling machine made of about 10 small bamboo tubes, which
is secured to the bird’s tail in such a manner that the rush of air
across the tubes produces a shrill sound.
=Bees.=--The modern system of bee-keeping is entirely opposed to
the older method, in which honey was obtained by the destruction of
the bees, and almost equally to the more recent plan of removing
the surplus honey in large supers. By the present system the hives
and bees are under perfect control. The sizes of the former can be
increased or diminished at the will of the owner to any required
extent. The combs are in movable frames, which can be transferred
at will from one hive to another without the slightest difficulty.
The formation of new colonies can be accomplished as desired, or
prevented altogether, and the whole energy of the bees devoted to
honey gathering. The waste of honey in the secretion of wax can be
in great part obviated--a most important matter, as each lb. of wax
requires the consumption of 15-20 lb. of honey for its formation; and
the pure honey, uncontaminated with brood or pollen, can be stored
in small boxes, each containing 1-2 lb., capable of being conveyed
by rail without injury, and possessing a marketable value at least
3 times as great as that of ordinary run honey. But in order to
accomplish these desirable ends, bee-keeping must be followed with
some amount of intelligence and interest, and a certain amount of
capital must be invested in the pursuit. The knowledge of the modern
system of bee-keeping has been very greatly extended by the labour
of the British Bee-keepers’ Association, which has published an
admirable series of tracts, with a sixpenny handbook for cottagers,
has organised annual shows and expositions in many parts of the
kingdom, and has raised bee-keeping in England to its present
standard of excellence. Through its exertions a fixed size for frames
has been determined, so that in a well-arranged apiary any frame of
honey or brood comb can be transferred from one hive to any other
with the greatest facility. The honey harvest is now gathered in
great part in convenient sectional supers of a most marketable and
attractive character, obtained without the destruction of a single
bee; whereas it formerly consisted merely of run honey, acquired by
the suffocation of the bees and the crushing of the comb, when honey,
the fluid contents of the bodies of the larvæ, pollen, propolis, and
wax, were all mixed indiscriminately together--the market value of
this mess obtained by the destruction of the colony being less than
one-third of the value of pure honey in virgin comb, as is obtained
by the modern system.
Improved hives such as are now employed by all intelligent
bee-keepers are made, as before stated, on one uniform standard, and,
thanks to the energy of the association, may be procured of a number
of makers in various parts of the country. In the modern system the
old-fashioned bell-shaped straw skep is discarded, and bees are
kept in wooden hives, the best of which have double sides, with an
interval between, so as to equalise the temperature. The combs are in
frames, each of which is movable, so that the hive can be enlarged
or diminished at any time, movable partitions, termed dummy boards,
being used to shut off the empty space.
As an example of a practically useful modern hive may be taken
one made by Baldwin, of Bromley, Kent. A flat platform or floor
supported on 4 stout legs, and having a large oblique alighting
board projecting to the front, supports the body of the hive. This
has double sides, with air spaces, which may be filled with any
non-conducting material, as powdered cork. On the front is a grooved
penthouse, to prevent rain entering into the hive. The interior
contains 9 movable frames, each of which is fitted with a thin sheet
of pure wax foundation, which the beep utilise, to the great saving
of honey, labour, and time. There are 2 dummy boards, so as to adjust
the size of the interior to the number of frames in use. One section
frame is made broader than the rest, so as to contain 6 sectional
boxes, each fitted with a triangular piece of wax comb foundation.
These in the season are rapidly filled with honey in virgin comb, and
can when filled be removed and utilised separately. This frame is
filled with sections, each with a triangular piece of wax foundation.
In order to prevent the queen bees laying eggs in any of these
sections, a piece of perforated zinc is placed when required between
the section frame and the front of the hive. The perforations are
sufficiently small to prevent the queen passing through, but the
workers pass readily.
The section frame is of use when the quantity of honey collected
is comparatively small. In general the surplus stores, those that
are available by the bee-keeper, are stored above the frames in a
sectional super. This holds 21 sections, each perfectly distinct from
the others, and all are furnished with triangular slips of foundation
comb. As fast as these supers are filled they can be removed and
marketed. The costlessness of these supers is one of their most
remarkable qualities. Each is made of a slip of wood partially
divided and stamped, so as to form the four sides of the super when
folded, the ends being tongued so as to interlock when pressed
together. The demand for these sectional supers may be inferred from
the fact that they are made in thousands by means of machinery, and
are so cheaply produced that their cost varies from ⅓_d._ to less
than ½_d._ each.
Such time as the supers are not in use the frames are covered over
with warm quilting, which gives access to the frames and interior
of the hive at any time, as it is easily removed. Apertures are cut
through the quilts, so as to permit of feeding when requisite. The
top of the hive is covered by a deep capacious roof, which protects
the interior, sheltering the supers when being filled, or the feeding
bottle when in use, and keeping the quilts dry and snug during winter.
The demand for improved hives of the construction recommended is so
great that machinery is brought into play in their construction, and
the consequence is extreme cheapness. The hive described can be sold
at somewhat about 20_s._, and cheaper hives, of the same kind, not
quite so elaborately fitted, are made from 10_s._ to 15_s._, and can
be obtained of Baldwin, Bromley; Neighbour, London; Abbott, Southall;
Walton, Newark, and many other makers. (W. B. Tegetmeier.)
SUPPLEMENTARY LITERATURE.
Sir F. Fitz-Wygram, Bart.: ‘Horses and Stables.’ London, 1886. 5_s._
M. Horace Hayes: ‘Riding on the Flat and across Country: a Guide to
Practical Horsemanship.’ London. 10_s._ 6_d._
Mrs. Power O’Donoghue: ‘Ladies on Horseback: Learning, Park-riding,
and Hunting, with Hints upon Costumes, and numerous anecdotes.’
London. 1882. 5_s._
James Long: ‘The Book of the Pig: its Selection, Breeding, Feeding,
and Management.’ London, 1885. 15_s._
Modern Bee-keeping. London. 6_d._
T. W. Cowan: ‘British Bee-keeper’s Guide Book.’ London, 1885. 1_s._
6_d._
F. R. Cheshire: ‘Bees and Bee-keeping.’ London, 1886. 7_s._ 6_d._
L. Wright: ‘The Practical Poultry-keeper: a Complete and Standard
Guide to the Management of Poultry, whether for domestic use, the
markets, or exhibition.’ London. Latest Edition. 3_s._ 6_d._
J. Coleman: ‘The Sheep and Pigs of Great Britain; being a series
of articles on the various breeds of sheep and pigs of the United
Kingdom, their history, management, &c.’ London. 18_s._
I. E. B. C.: ‘The Farm.’ London. 5_s._
I. E. B. C.: ‘The Stable.’ London, 5_s._
_THE GARDEN._
GARDENERS’ CALENDAR.
_January._--Wheel out manure, trench and make ground for crops, mend
fences, clean the stems of fruit-trees, do rough pruning and felling,
and complete all arrears in winter work, as weather may permit.
Every effort should be made to lay up as much land in the rough as
possible; the more it is frozen through, the greater will be its
fertility. In hard frost, wheel out manure; in rain, clear up all
rubbish and let it smoulder in a heap, using the ashes as manure.
Make ready for sowing peas, beans, cabbages, lettuce, silver-skin
onions, radishes, carrots, and spinach in warm borders or frames.
Protect artichokes. Manure asparagus beds without digging. Sow beans
in rich deeply-dug ground in the open in the last week. Plant out
cabbages. Sow cauliflower in frames for putting out in March-April.
Plant crowns of horseradish 15 in. deep in dunged trenches. Sow peas
in wooden or old zinc troughs in frames, and put out in the last
week. Sow mustard and cress (separate) in pans or boxes in frames.
Cover seakale with pots or plenty of litter.
Lawns should be well rolled after wet weather, and kept clear of
rubbish. Walks should be re-gravelled and rolled, and the edgings
kept level and regular. In favourable weather all empty borders may
be manured and deeply dug, leaving them as rough as possible on the
surface, so that the soil may be acted on by frost. Rose-beds should
receive a heavy dressing of a mixture of pig-dung and horse-dung,
lightly forked in during dry open weather; and see that the plants
have the necessary protection. Planting may still be done when the
soil is dry, but November is the best time for planting roses.
Standard roses must be well secured to stakes. After severe frost,
carnations, pinks, wallflowers, alyssum, arabis, pansies, and other
spring flowering-plants should be examined; if heaved or loosened,
the soil when dry should be made firm round them. Hyacinths,
tulips, and kindred flowers will be benefited by a mulching of
old mushroom-dung or leaf-soil, and must be protected from heavy
rain. If slugs are troublesome, occasional dustings with soot and
dry wood-ashes will keep them in check; but hand-picking, resorted
to early on mild mornings, is the best remedy. Examine crocuses
frequently to see if they are discovered by mice. Keep conifers and
evergreen shrubs free from snow, to prevent them from being broken
or disfigured by its weight; and prune any deciduous trees and
shrubs that may require it. Choice trees, shrubs, and any herbaceous
plants that were set out in autumn or early winter should have their
roots protected from frost by a mulching of fern or litter. Keep
shrubberies free from fallen leaves and weeds; but digging amongst
shrubs cannot be too severely condemned, for many of the fibrous
feeders must be destroyed, and the plants injured in consequence.
About the middle or end of the month place stock bedding plants
(ageratums, alyssa, heliotropes, lobelias, verbenas) in moist heat,
when they will readily furnish cuttings, which can be propagated in a
hotbed of leaves and dung if no house is available. Calceolarias and
pelargoniums must be kept cool and dry by ventilation, and decayed
leaves should be picked off. Dahlia roots should have rotten portions
removed with a sharp knife. Sow lobelias early in heat, and prepare
to sow all subtropical plants. Get ready for potting pelargoniums.
_February._--All empty ground must be dug deep and thrown up rough
to admit the frost. On cropped ground, prick over lightly between
the plants. Sow several sorts of cabbage for filling up blanks;
also broccoli, in pans and on warm slopes. Sow early beans in warm
dry situations, and late ones on strong land. Sow frame plants
(capsicums, cucumbers, melons, tomatoes) in moderate heat, and
avoid over-watering while frosts endure. When capsicums are large
enough, prick out in good light soil, in greenhouse or a hot corner,
for pickling pods. Early carrots may be sown in frames or warmest
borders; and parsnips in very deep-dug ground. Cauliflower, sown in
mild heat, on richest soil, well watered, should be pricked out in
good mould when quite small, and finally transplanted at 2½-3 ft.
apart. Plant early potatoes in warm, sheltered, dry ground, in open
weather. Alternate 2 or 3 rows of potatoes with a row of early peas,
at the same time; they help each other. Sow long radishes for early
crops and round ones for stock, in old frames with plenty of manure.
Let celery for September use be sown in gentle heat, and pricked
out 3 in. apart on an old hotbed, watering well. Plant garlic and
shallots on dry, strong, deep land. Make new rhubarb plantations, and
cover old plants to induce early growth. Sow lettuce in frames and
warm borders; plant out when hardened. Make very small sowings of
mustard in frames at successive intervals. Sow parsley, and sow or
divide most other herbs. Round-seeded spinach and small white turnips
can be sown in warm borders.