JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t Fobruary 3, 1873. 



coincnt on the face of the brickwork becomes crackel. We fear the 

 asphalt wonld not serve you better than cement. Your only plan will be 

 to form a sort of bank of earth ill round the pond, bringing it up about 

 a foot higher than the brickwork, and you may make it interesting by 

 rockwork. 



Vines Breaking i.-f Working Mechanic). — It is not too early to com- 

 mence forcing the Vines. To obtain very early Grapes, forcing is com- 

 menced in November. Begin with a temperature of 45\ You can have 

 *' Indoor Gardening"' post free from our office if you enclose twenty 

 postage stamps with your address. It contains weekly directions for 

 Vine culture. 



Grafting VraES {A Vin?-riroicer).—The usual mode is thus described 

 in " The Vine Manual,'' which you can have from our office post free if 

 you enclose thirty-two postage stamps with yonr 

 address. It contains much on the subject, as 

 well as on ail modes of cultivating thj Grape 

 Vine. " The right season fur grafting the Vine 

 is just when the buds of the stock to be grafted 

 are beginning to swell, the scions being kept 

 at rest till that time arrives. Vegetation in the 

 stock should always be in advance of that in 

 the scion. The best mode is the common one, 

 named whip or tongue-grafting. The engraving 

 illustrates this mode— a, the Bcion ; 6, the stock. 

 Choose a well-situated branch or lateral near 

 the bottom of the Vine ; cut the head off slant- 

 ing at a part where a scion can be fitted on 

 best; then cut a slice (iff upwards about l.^inch 

 long, slanting inwards ; make an incision down- 

 wards about the centre of the last-made cut, 

 taking great care that the knife does not slip 

 through nor yet injure the bark on each side ; 

 then prepare the scion. The scion should have 

 ono bud near the top, and another near the 

 bottom ; make aslopingcut downwards as near 

 the same length as that on the stock as pos- 

 sible, and in or near the centre of this make 

 an upward cut, which forms the tongue ; lay 

 the knife down, and gently thrust the tongne 

 into the cut on the stock. Every part of this 

 operation must be done with a knife as sharp 

 as a razor, and every part should fit neatly and 

 perfectly. One point must be particularly at- 

 tended to, and that is, that th;- bark of the 

 scion and the bark of the Btock meet exactly 

 together on each side if possible ; but if the 

 scion is smaller than the stock, then the barks 

 must meet on one side and at the bottom. This 

 being successfully accomplished, tie, w ith matting, the scion pretty firmly 

 to the stock, and then cover the whole of the cut parts with either the 

 grafting-wax or the grafting-clay, excepting the uppermost bud of the 

 scion. If a little moss is tied ger.tly round the clay ball, it will keep it 

 moist and preserve it from cracking." 



Fairy Rings on Lawn [A. M. L.).— They are produced by the my- 

 celium of a fungus. The only remedy that we know is to make holes 

 with a crowbar about 6 inches a Dart, and 1 foot deep, where the grass 

 has the peculiar dark creen hue. and fill the hcles several times with 

 lime water, made by placing 14 Us. of lime in 30 gallons of water, allow- 

 ing this to stand for forty-eight hour", and employing the clear liquid. 

 Fill up the holes after the thin', watering, and sprinkle salt over the 

 patches, making them just white but no more. 



Thunbergia Harrisii Casting its Flowers (.7 H S ) — 



reason we can give^for the^plant not flowering is its roots hi 



aud the watering with sheep-dropping 



The leaf sent is a good specimen, 



We think the plant 



only 



limited room in the bord'i 



liquid at this season is not desirabl 



but the cause of its browning wo cannot 



will flower finely when the season is more advanced. 



Raising Quince and Paradise Apple Stocks {W. B.).— These mav 

 SiVm i! r P r °P; 1 « at<:d •>? la 5-e™ or cuttings. If by layers, a few plants 

 Should be planted out in some odd corner at about 4 feet apart, and cut 

 down rather closely to the surface of the ground. The shoots produced 

 should be .ayered in the following winter, the layering bein" done by 

 pegging them down flat on the surface of the ground, or a little below it, 

 and young upright shoots with roots will be produced in the following 

 summer ; these taken off in winter form the stocks. If by cuttings, put 

 them in as you would those of the Gooseberry, in some light soil, where 

 the Apple stocks will root freely. The Quince, however, requires more 

 warmth than we have here naturally, so that they are benefited by being 

 placed upon a bed of some slow fermenting material early in spring. In 

 this way they root freely. 



Names of Fruits (C. C. E.).-We are not quite sure about the name 

 ' '- a great beauty. 



of your Apple. It is i 



POULTRY, BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



POLISH FOWLS. 

 ■ Some of yonr correspondents have been pleading (and most 

 justly, I think), in favour of separate classes at poultry shows 

 for their favourites, the French varieties. I venture to urge 

 that whilst these new sorts are remembered, our older friends, 

 the Polands should not be forgotten. What show, I would ask, 

 can be considered complete where these most ornamental fowls 

 are not represented ? And yet, how often we see them obliged 

 to compete in the "Any other variety" class! I maintain 

 tnat this is not as it should be, as the Poland is one of the 

 handsomest and likewise one of the most distinct (I would also 



add, that I believe it to be one of the purest), of the known 

 varieties. 



The Poland has scarcely justice done to it from another and 

 a very important point of view, for in addition to its being ona 

 of the most beautiful of all, it is also one of the most useful. 

 It is an excellent fowl for the table, not very large, but very 

 plump, fleshy, and particularly well-flavoured. The Polish 

 hen is a very good layer, and lays a large and rich-tasted egg. 

 She rarely wishes to sit, but when she does, she performs her 

 duties as incubator and mother in an exemplary manner — 

 none better. 



The Polish chickens are very hardy. I believe this ia in 

 opposition to the general belief, but I do not hesitate to assert 

 its entire accuracy. I think they are more easily reared than 

 the generality of fancy poultry ; indeed, some farmers' wives 

 in this neighbourhood (Louth), consider them to le hardier 

 than Cochins, and I think that must be something in favour 

 of the robustness of their constitution. 



I was pleased with a remark made by, if my memory serves 

 me well, " Wiltshike Rector," when he said that there should 

 be more numerous classes for the different varieties of fowls. 

 I think it a very sensible suggestion, and one that if acted 

 upon would tend to make poultry exhibitions much more 

 popular than they are even now. The committees of poultry 

 shows should study to obtain as much variety as possible. I 

 am aware that, generally speaking, the great difficulty would 

 be a financial one, but the prizes for the less popular varieties 

 must be of smaller value than those for their more numerous 

 brethren. Some of these classes might not pay at first, but I 

 fancy they would in the course of a short time. The Polish 

 fowl should have three classes at any rate — one for Golden, one 

 for Silver, and a third for White-crested Black ; and at the 

 winter and autumn shows, and where it can be done, there 

 should also be classes for adults and for chickens, as no fowl 

 so imperatively needs them as the Polish. 



We seldom hear now-a-day3 of the other varieties of Polands, 

 and I am afraid several of them are pretty nearly extinct. 

 They have languished for want of more encouragement. I once 

 possessed twelve varieties of these fowls — viz.. Golden and 

 Silver-bearded, ditto unbearded, Black-crested Black-bearded, 

 a fowl of great beauty, being perfectly black throughout ; 

 White-crested Black, White-bearded and unbearded, Grey, 

 Blue, Buff, and Golden- pencilled — exactly like the Golden- 

 pencilled Hamburgh in colour and marking. Several of these 

 are, I think, no longer in being, at least in this country, al- 

 though, I should think, they might be met with on the Con- 

 tinent. However, the three best known sorts, the White- 

 crested Black, Silver, and Golden, are now sufficiently well- 

 known, and general to merit separate classes. They are more 

 cultivated now than they have been for some time past, and I 

 feel sure that were they awarded due encouragement they 

 would not fail to make still greater progress. 



The White-crested Black is a fowl that never fails to strike 

 the beholder with the beauty of the contrast between its snowy- 

 white crest and its coal-black plumage. The Silver is also a 

 very prepossessing fowl with its beautiful large full crest, its 

 extremely bushy neck, and its correctly-marked body; but. I 

 confess to a preference for the Golden-spangled over all the 

 other varieties. What can be more beautiful than a Golden 

 Poland cock in full feather and in good condition ? His colours 

 are of the richest, and his shape the most perfect. For my 

 own part I must say that I care more for shape, brilliancy of 

 colour, and perfection of marking, than I do for enormous size 

 in the crest. Of course, crest being the distinctive feature in 

 the Polish fowl, none with a decidedly small crest should merit 

 a place in a good collection ; but I do think that brilliancy of 

 oolour in both cocks and hens should be more sought after 

 than it has been hitherto. I should like the Golden Poland 

 hen to be shown with a perfectly clear tail, as clear as the best 

 Silvers, and still to be of a rich, dark, golden brown colour ; 

 and I feel confident that when this fowl is more generally 

 cnllivated than it now is, we Bhall see specimens more perfect 

 than any which have hitherto been exhibited. As far as my 

 fancy goes, I do not care for very dark fowls, because these 

 nearly always have the drawback of a black crest until their 

 first moult ; nor yet do I care for the very light ones. I think 

 the shade of colour which should be set up as a standard, 

 should be about halfway between the colour of the darkest 

 Golden-laced Bantam and that of the Golden-spangled Ham- 

 burgh. The shade of the latter is too much of a brown and 

 too little gold to please me in a Poland. As to their marking, 

 I must own that I have no great preference between spangled 



