4 52 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 11, 1866. 



Cateepielars on Ferns (Dr Foix).— As the caterpillars arc those of a 

 species of Noctua which ordinarily secreto themselves in the earth, wo 

 should rather think they were introduced into your stove in the efjg stftte 

 in the earth. Se irch c - fully at the roots of your plants, laying slices 

 of Turnip or Potato there beforehand as trans for them, anil continue 

 your night watch.— W. 



Nambs op Far/iTS (Bro a).— dpsles : 1, Dumelow'a Seedling; 2, Au- 

 tumn Penraiain ; 3,Ca1ebaSSe; 4, Emperor Alexander ; 5, Sussex Scarlet 

 Pearmainj 12, Scarlet Pearmaiu ; IS, Dumelow's Seedling; 11, Reinette du 



Canada; 17, King of the Pippins ; 18, Gravonstein. Penis : 4, Duchesso 

 d "Angoul.'me ; 0, Beurrc Diel ; 7, Baronne do Hello ; 9, Vicar of Winkfleld ; 

 lfi, Beurrc Diel. 



Names of Plants (S. F.).— A Citrus, but wo cannot from a leaf sav 

 which of the numerous varieties it is. (A Sulitcrilicri.—l. Phymatodo's 

 'i ormale; 2, Polypodium appendicul.-.tum ; 3, Aspleuimn Candatum. (Bus- 

 (feus).— 1, Cheilanthes vestita; ;>. Blecbnum, insufficient for determina- 

 tion ; 3, Asplenium cicutarium ; 4, Cincinalis flavens; 5, Pellsea tcruifolia ; 

 6, Pellsea liastata- 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the Week endiM December 8th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



WHO SHALL DECIDE WHAT IS BEAUTY.' 

 Durin-g the last few weeks I have been sometimes ami] 

 by, and sometime, ye 1 .A, " Newmarket," for sweeping out I 

 of the hen-house nearly every occupant to make room for his 

 Game, and I feel that I must say my say. 



At first I thonght " Newmarket " must be a wag writing 

 strange notions for a " lark,"— as it were throwing stones 

 among other peopled pets, just to enjoy the cackling, flutter- 

 ing, and quacking of the ugly ducklings, A-c. Here I leaned 

 my head upon my hand to think over what had been < 

 by him, and in reply U, him, and falling into a kind oi 

 dream, methought the proud black prince of Spain drew up 

 his majestic form and muttered to himself, "No great beauty 

 —insipid indeed;" then he added, "Newmarket, racehorses, 

 and cock fights," and he laughed a quiet laugh. Then the 

 Malay gladiator with bated breath was heard to hiss, " Mosf 

 worthless, cowardly, euar.se ! Pish ! He has never visited our 

 peninsula, or dined with our Persian friend."- Then the 

 portly Dorking said quietly. " So we are ugly, heavy, clumsy, 

 insipid, too much cried up, eh? Is 'Newmarket' a'man with' 

 only one idea, or ; bi > than all the poultry world beside?' 



. . . . . Here came the broom again, and swept away the 

 Cochins and Brahma Pootras at one stroke, for being "large, 

 awkward, heavy, and clumsy;" and amidst the clatter would 

 be heard additional reasons for ousting them— viz., " Quite 

 unfit for table, coarse, yellowrfleahed, too much offal;" while 

 from among the rolling mass of heads, leg:, and win^s just 

 ejected came hoarse screams for Miss Maitineau, &o. A little 

 Silver-spangled Hamburgh hen, mantling with offended pride. 

 tossing her little head, said, " Beauty eclipsed !' Pooh ! p. oh !" 

 whilst the Bantams were too full of their own importance and 

 too self-satisfied to notice their neighbours' little troubles. 



Here I remembered that when I had read the letters from 

 " G. E. B.," the " ItecTOP.," and others, and had noticed how 

 kindly they put "Nrt . ■ :■.... " right, I said, Now we shall 

 have an explanation from friend '.' Newmarket " if he is aman, 

 and " Y. B. A. Z."say: be must be a man; but Newmarket 

 reminds me of .Mile-.': boy when a certain lord wanted him 

 to alter the Derby day, because the parliament men would not 

 be at liberty. He said* " My lord, alter the course of the sun, 

 stop the falls of Niagara with a pitchfork, convince my old 

 woman on any subject on which she has had her own think, 

 and then, and not till thro, attempt to alter the Derby." It 

 is evident " Newmarket " has had his own think. I conclude 

 " Newmarket " is proof against the magic of kindness, and is 

 like the owl, who was held to be the wisest of all the birds : 

 but so perverted was his sight, that what was sunny to others 

 was darkness to him, and his cry is, " It is a dark and dismal 

 (poultry] world, and there is nothing good [but Game] in it." 

 And when the skylark invited him to soar upwards and look 

 down upon the beauty of the earth, he found it impossible to 

 make a skylark of an owl. 



One author, whose work I have before me. writes, " I con- 

 sider the Cochin a more beautiful bird, and capable of com- 

 parison with the most graceful and high-coloured of our poultry. 

 Its exquisite feathering and lovely tints, from the palest buff 

 to deep orange, make the bird peculiarly a lady's pet. All 

 must appreciate its massive build, small head, rich full hackle, 

 and majestic carriage — true types of the high-caste Cochin." 

 Another writer says of Hamburgbs, " This race is very elegant 

 in foim and graceful in movement. Lovers of bird beauty 

 linger before specimens of variegated Hamburgbs, enraptured 

 over perfection of pencilling, spangling, barring, and lacing, 

 and clouding, tinting and blending. Gold, silver, brown, black 

 and rich red, with marvellous nicety of fiuish in the line and 

 ing of each separate feather, are delightfully contrasted 

 with blue legs, brilliantly white ear-lobes, and thick vermilion 

 combs of manifold spikes." So after all it seems to be only a 

 matter of taste ; and if " Newmarket " chooses to keep kissing 

 his cow, I don't know why the ladies he slights need be offended 

 — they have no lack of admirers. — Trent SinE. 



' y. B. a. z: 



MALAYS AND "Y.B/A.Z." 



Having bred Malays when a boy of eleven years old, in 1831, 

 and for a year or two afterwards, I am well enough acquainted 

 with them to discuss them a little. I must reiterate my well- 

 considered expressions about them. I consider their flesh to 

 incline to a brownish yellow when cooked, and they are, in 

 my opinion, the worst of poultry for the table. I think they 

 " truss up " badly as well. In my opinion they possess not 

 one whit more courage than any other sort of poultry. The 

 false reputation that some people have given the Malays for 

 courage, arises in my opinion from their having a tendency 

 io bully smaller and weaker pouliry than themselves. They 

 have been tried with steel and will not stand it at ail, but soon 

 " find a corner." They have been crossed with small and weak 

 strains of Game fowls to give bone to them, and the cross has 

 resulted in an utter failure as to any increased courage, and 

 has only given a clumsy slowness. 



I crossed my Malays with an Indian Game cock brought by 

 an uncle of mine, then a Captain in the Royal Artillery, from 

 St. Helena, while on his passage from the Mauritius to Eng- 

 land. This cross made them rather gamer. The Indian 

 Game were yellow-eyed Black-breasted Beds, and yellow-legged. 

 The Malays and Hindoos never fight the Malays at all, as 

 Malays are much too long in the shank to use their spurs with 

 any effect, and are much too clumsy for it. The Malays and 

 Hindoos fight their own Indian Game fowls, a far different 

 bird from the Malays, which, like the Cochins, are only the 

 common fowl of the country. Malays are never hard-feathered, 

 but are coarse, loose, long, and weedy in feather. None but 

 the Game-breeders know the true, hard, close. Game feather. 

 The Gallus Sonneratii is often fought in India, but is in no 

 respect like the Malays. I have known an instance of a fine 

 Malay cock being driven quite out of a farmyard by a fine, 

 red-coloured, red-eyed, white-legged barn-door cock, and after- 

 wards killed by him. I also know another instance of a large, 



