potatoe grass r

mixed with sharps. They have an unlimited an; soil, sandy loam. Casualties-Brahma cock killed by a stone; one chicken killed by cat. Breeds kept-Eleven Dorking hens, two Minorca hens, two Brahma hens, one Minorca cock, and one Brahma cock.

The Brahma cockerel was only twelve months old when killed by accident, but the eggs laid by the hens produced the large proportion of nine cockerels out of fourteen chickens. I should never keep so young a bird again for breeding purposes, being convinced that with young hens you should have a two or three-year-old cock to produce a large proportion of pullets.

Eighty-six eggs were fertile out of 124; several of the remainder contained dead chickens. My first chickens were hatched March 23; my last (of the 124 eggs) in July.

My advice is to get the chickens out as early in February as possible, giving them eggs and milk cooked as custard (for which I am indebted to a recipe in your columns), with rice four times a-day (for the first month); they then have ground oats, potatoes, and sharps, and at six weeks take their chance with

the other fowls.

The Dorking hens are very indifferent layers-eggs,

too, are small; and I think the hens are too heavy for hatching purposes. The Minorcas lay capitally, and very large eggs; they have not sat. But commend

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me to the Brahmas; their eggs are large, they lay almost as frequently as the Minorcas, and their chickens are as hardy as possible. I have only lost one. The chickens from the cross with the Dorking hens are excellent for table purposes, and I have sold them at 4s. each, unfatted, average weight 3 lb. 10 oz., sixteen weeks old.

I have over fifty pullets to begin this coming winter with. My March birds are shewing for laying. I hope to give them good warm roosts, with liberal and stimulating food. I trust to be able to send you a better balance-sheet some other day, as I am convinced that fowls may be profitably kept if you have a well-selected stock to start with, and if you will but look after them as carefully as you do after farming stock generally.

We trust other correspondents who have experimented with poultry, and kept records of their cost and returns, will furnish us with the results, as we are quite convinced, along with the writer of the above communication, that fowls can be profitably kept if stock be well-selected at the beginning, and if the poultry receive the same amount of careful attention that is usually bestowed upon the live-stock on the other farm.

MR

R A. PETTIGREW, Rusholme, Manchester, has communicated the following letter to the Times:

The letter on this subject for 1870, which you kindly inserted in your columns, was extensively copied by the provincial press of this country, and actually appeared in the Australian newspapers. I believe it did more to awaken attention to the subject of bee culture than the Handy Book of Bees, and all other treatises besides, have done. My little cottage for weeks was flooded with letters of inquiry from clergymen, chaplains, officers in the army and navy, farmers, station-masters, ladies interested in the welfare of cottages, and working men. One letter from a poor labourer in Suffolk, who has been toiling all his life long for 10s. a-week, pleased me more than all the rest, for he seemed greatly pleased with the idea of increasing his income by bee keeping, and thus saving himself and wife from the painful anticipation of shortly becoming dependent on and a burden to the parish. Who would not take pleasure in lending help to put such as he in possession of the power and "privilege of being independent?" I had hoped that the balance-sheet this year would be a good one, and be a great stimulus in turning the attention of working men in country towns and rural districts to the art of bee keeping, for I still hold that a few hives of bees, properly managed, would be to them a boon of greater value than a row of cottages à la Peabody. Who can accurately estimate the value of the bee-pasture of Great Britain and Ireland? I would much like to see a fair trial between agriculture and apiculture-say, between the farmer and his labourer. And if any farmer, amateur or practical, will pit 5 of his best acres, cultured to the highest degree, against ten hives of bees,

I will accept the challenge, and put down the hives on any spot that can be found be tween Manchester and Knutsford. No trial could be much more interesting than this, or likely to lead to happier results. course, the trial would last three years to cover a rotation of crops by the farmer, and give the bees a chance of getting a favourable year for gathering honey.

The present year has been one of the most unfavourable in Lancashire and Cheshire for honey that we have had for eight or ten years. Last winter and spring were severe and protracted. Even in May, gentlemen had to wear their overcoats. July, usually the best for honey, was very unfavourable, raining almost every day. In these northern parts, the human body yielded but little sweat, and flowers but little honey. I am not aware that a dog of any kind was ever seen panting in Lancashire this year. The last few days in August were the most favourable for honey gathering. About 200 lb. of honey would be collected daily then by the bees, turning the scale in my favour. It will be remembered by some that the profits last autumn were £58, leaving a possession of fortyfive hives as stock. The income this year from the sales of honey and honeycomb, swarms, and hives of bees, with increase of stock, is £72. Expenses are unusually heavy. New hives and boards, £9; rent, £5, 5s.; carriage, £5, 15s.; feeding, £3, 5s. ; felt for covers, 1; sundries and gratuities, £5-altogether, £29, 5s., leaving a profit of £42, 15S.

Three or four swarms only became fugitive, and were lost for want of time to hive them. Eight or ten young queens were lost on their marriage tours and never returned to their

Forest.

They are found attached to the Heath and Gorse in May, when the moth

appears.

Some of the Australian cane makers are of a large size. The case formed by the larva of Oiketicus Saundersii is grey, of a silky texture, and strengthened or protected by the addition of pieces of stick. At the lower end is a flexible aperture, through which the excrement is discharged. Through a tube at the upper end the larva comes out to feed. These cases are attached to various shrubs. Similar cases are found in South Africa.

The generations of the female Psychida have been observed to succeed each other without the production of or access to the winged male, through seven successive years. -(See Siebold on Parthenogenesis.)

The family of Noctuide is the most extensive of all the families of Lepidoptera, and to it belongs the bulk of the night-flying moths, and they are consequently aptly named Noctuidae. In this country alone upwards of three hundred species are found. The prevailing colours of our indigenous species are sombre brown, black, grey, or these intermixed occasionally with dull reds. Some of the exotic species are much more highly coloured. In this family the body is robust; the antennæ are usually simple; the fore wings are narrow, under which the hind pair are folded in repose; the larvæ are usually naked, have sixteen legs, and undergo their transformation under ground. To this family belongs the common Yellow Underwing (Triphæna pronuba), so frequent in gardens, in Strawberry beds, &c. Some species are, however, very local, as Agrotis lunigera from the Isle of Wight, A. Ashworthii from North Wales, and others we have no space to enumerate.

The Pyralidæ is an extensive family, if we include the exotic species, but of very moderate extent in this country. The Sarrothripus cribralis is a remarkable species. It

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has been named Four-foot moth from its curiously hairy fore legs.

A species of this family indigenous to Jamaica (Diatræa sacchari) is very injurious to the sugar cane. It is a pale yellow dotted moth. Its larva destroys whole acres of cane in dry seasons, by boring into the stems of the canes.

The family of Tortricidæ is so called from the habit the caterpillars have of twisting up leaves so as to conceal themselves. There are nearly three hundred species in this country. They are usually small dull-coloured moths, and when at rest somewhat resemble a bell in shape. A species of this family (Carpocapsa pomonello), the Apple moth, is one of the most destructive enemies to the Apple crop. The eggs are laid in the newly-formed fruit, within which the larva feeds, and all that are thus attacked fall prematurely to the ground. The Plum, Apricot, and other fruit trees, suffer from the attacks of species belonging to this family.

The family of Geometrida is equally extensive with the Noctuidæ, but in this country probably not quite so numerous. The caterpillars are called loopers, or geometricians, whence the family name. They are rather slender bodied, but their wings are ample. Their larvæ have only ten legs. Their mode of progression is very peculiar ; having no legs in the middle of the body, they attach themselves firmly with their fore legs, and then bring up their hind legs close to them, thus curving or looping the body in the form of the Greek letter 2. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various plants, and, when disturbed, drop down swinging by a thread, up which, when their alarm is past, they remount. In some few species the females are quite, or nearly destitute of wings, and would never be taken for moths by non-entomological persons. Some species do great damage to fruit trees; others to forest timber.