JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 335 
same time Potatoes are a good alternate crop upon farms where the 
root-cultivation has prevailed for a series of years, as both Wheat 
and Lent corn may be secured with more profit than when grown 
after Swedes. Potatoes are also a good cleansing crop, and we have 
generally succeeded in securing a good plant of Clover when sown 
in either Wheat or Lent corn grown after Potatoes. Barley-sowing 
should now be finished, for it is seldom a good malting sample can 
be obtained by late seeding, especially after Turnips fed off by sheep 
eating cake, or if rich ammoniacal manures have been applied, such 
as guano or nitrate of soda. If Barley fails to yield a malting sample 
it does not compare favourably with white Oats or dredge, as both 
these latter crops yield a large produce when the land is in high con¬ 
dition, but Barley is frequently the reverse. 
Hand Labour .—It would be well to now examine the Mangolds in 
heaps or in stores, for in case they are growing out much with yellow 
sprouts this may further on induce heat and partial rottenness. Our 
plan has always been, the first week in May to turn the heaps and 
make them up again, carefully removing any roots partially decayed, 
and any yellow infant leaves ; after which, if the heaps are again 
thatched with well-wetted straw they will preserve the roots in fine 
condition until after harvest if required. Top-dressing for any corn 
needing it should be applied now, and especially in those cases 
where the land is very dry by nature, such as gravel or thin chalk 
and sand. One cwt. of nitrate of soda mixed with the same quantity 
of fishery or common salt will serve to induce a quicker growth, 
even in very dry weather, and where the wireworms or other insects 
might have thinned out the plants. These remarks apply to all 
kinds of grain looking sickly and requiring assistance, but the 
application must not be now delayed. 
Lire StocJc .—It is gratifying to be enabled to report the flocks of 
sheep in nearly all districts as being in good health and full of con¬ 
dition. It is very much in favour of the stock flocks that the catch 
crops, such as Bye, Trifolium, Vetches, and Italian Bye Grass, are all 
very forward, and this, together with abundance of grass in the irri¬ 
gated meadows as well as pastures and park lands, affords a fine 
change of food for the animals. The mode of feeding and change of 
food now in course of being carried out is a folding of Bye, with 
Mangold cut and mixed with cake in the fine state or meal in the 
troughs ; at daytime the sheep run on the pastures or ai - e folded in 
the water meadows. This course of feeding will maintain both ewes 
and lambs in high condition. On various strong-land farms the 
Trifolium will be now fit for folding by the sheep, to be followed 
with the Vetches. In both cases cut roots, either Swedes or Mangolds, 
should be given in the fold, but in some cases the root crops have 
been preserved for feeding on the land where grown, and when the 
sheep have done feeding the land will yield another crop of sheep 
food, or it may be a green crop like Mustard to be ploughed in and 
the land sown with Wheat. Upon some strong land this is good 
farming and likely to secure a full crop of Wheat, which may be 
followed with another cereal or pulse crop. Upon the rich marsh 
lands of certain counties, and the fertile pastures of the midland 
and northern districts, the cattle for fattening may now be turned 
out; and if they have been receiving cake or meal in the yards or 
boxes they should still receive some food in the meal state mixed 
with cut roots in troughs on the pastures. Although we do not 
generally advise that cattle should lie out night and day until the 
first week in May, yet if the weather should continue dry the food 
will be hearty and the lying healthy for the animals, for it is heavy 
rains and frosty nights succeeding which injures the cattle. Store 
cattle of different ages may go out at daytime and return to the 
yards at night to receive their cake. Undecorticated cotton cake 
when pure answers well for young and growing animals, especially 
when the grass is young, or when they are soiled in the yards with 
green fodder, such as Bye and Trifoliura, as it prevents diarrhoea, 
and is the cheapest cake for store cattle or sheep which can be given. 
Farm horse3 being now hardly pressed with tillage work should con¬ 
tinue to receive a full allowance of hay, corn, and about 10 tbs. per 
day each of pulped Mangold until the green fodder crops, such as 
Trifolium and Vetches, are ready for soiling purposes. Swine should 
now be attended to by having good roomy breeding pens for the 
sows whilst they have young ones suckling ; but as soon as the young 
are weaned the sows should be allowed a well-littered yard with 
earth at bottom and sheds to lie in, and be fed with green fodder. Any 
sort in use on the farm will do for them, but they should have a few 
peas or some maize twice a day. 
POULTRY IN CONFINEMENT. 
SOME remarks iu a former Journal on poultry keeping by an 
“Old Farmer” interested me so much that I decided there and 
then to keep a few birds. When I have had them a time longer I 
shall very likely 6end the result to the Journal, as I keep a strict 
debtor and credit account. “ Old Farmer ” promised to send 
details of his special treatment to the Journal how he kept sixty 
hens in health in a run of 1G yards by 3 or 4. I for one shall be 
glad to hear further when he can find time to communicate his 
treatment.—T homas Owen. 
Thanks to “ A Countryman ” (see page 314). Since I wrote 
my first remarks to this Journal I have made a run within a run 
for two reasons—first, to have pure eggs of a distinct breed and a 
first cross, and seeond to convince myself that hens will lay in a 
small space as well as in my large run. This inner domain is 
15 feet long and 24- feet wide, and contains five hens and a cock. 
Five eggs have been gathered every day for three weeks, and we 
still collect one from each hen daily. Of course they have as much 
food as they choose to eat and a full supply of pure water with 
vegetables from the garden ; the birds are in splendid order. 
The hens are three Scotch Greys and two pure Brahmas. My 
birds never saw a grass run, and my run has been thirty-three 
years on the same place, a death in it being very rare. There 
are two cocks, twenty-two hens, and four Ducks in the space 
which I gave you before—1G by 3 yards. Hens if they are properly 
attended may be kept on a drawing-room table, and even then 
they will pay for their keep. It is good policy not to keep them 
too long, as they run too much to flesh ; but then, what is better 
for the table than a good fat bird from a well-kept small run ? 
The balance sheet of my poultry yard on my last year of farming 
is at your service if of any use.— Old Farmer. 
P.S.—The inner run gives the birds in the large run a dry 
promenade, as the small one is only 3 feet high covered with wood. 
The large one is 6J feet covered with wire netting all over. 
[We shall be very glad to see the balance sheet of our experi¬ 
enced correspondent, as its publication could scarcely fail to be of 
interest to our readers.] 
CAPTAIN NORMAN HILL ON THE POUTER. 
We have lately received a pamphlet on “The Pouter Pigeon” by 
Captain Norman Hill, published by the National Peristeronic 
Society. The gallant gentleman is evidently a great enthusiast 
about his special fancy. He traces the cultivation of the Pouter far 
back into ages past, when he believes that the Greeks, the Romans, 
and even the Egyptians bred it as a science. He states that he has 
travelled among the classic sites of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, but 
now finds no traces of the Pouter. From this he arrives at the 
broad conclusion that it is “a sure indication of the decadence of a 
nation where the Pouter is neglected and not cultivated as a high- 
class pet.” As a rule, an effete and nerveless nation cultivates 
nothing well, from Potatoes to Pouter Pigeons, so we must own 
that we see no very pointed connection between the decline of these 
great empires and that of large-cropped Pigeons. At the same time 
a little latitude of imagination is generally allowed to an enthusiastic 
author when treating of his favourite hobby; and surely when the 
subject be so light a one even some flight of fancy is permissible. 
The critics, however, think otherwise; and we have been much 
amused to read in the pages of a contemporary how some of them, 
taking the Captain’s statement as serious, have severely taken him 
to task for it, as if he were trying to bring in some new and false 
principle of historical interpretation. 
Apart from this curious question of the connection between civili¬ 
sation and Pouters, the little essay is an interesting one. Captain 
Hill describes well what are the beauties of the breed. When 
passing through a Pigeon show we mu-t confess to having often 
heard the uninitiated making by no means complimentary remarks 
on the Pouters. To admire them duly a trained eye and cultivated 
taste is of course requisite, but Cap fain Hill points out in a popular 
way in what their chief attraction consists. “ All the movements, 
attitudes, and actions of this aristocratic-looking Pigeon are stately 
and dignified; its immoderate pride is innate, and is visibly dis¬ 
played in the desire to puff up and elevate itself above its less 
exalted fraternity.” This is a true description of first-rate Pouteis. 
We have always thought that we have never so thoroughly appre¬ 
ciated the characteristics of the breed as when once we saw a 
splendid pair together, the property of Captain Hill, at one of the 
shows of the Peristeronic Society at the Crystal Palace. 
The sociability and confiding nature, too, of the Pouter, which 
make it so suitable a breed for a fancier who lives among his birds, 
he sets forth pleasantly. “ Pouters are naturally of a very sociable, 
sensitive, and fine disposition, becoming very tame and familiar, 
even showing a considerable amount of intelligence when attention 
and kindness is bestowed on them. I have known them instantly 
to distinguish at a considerable distance their master, and even the 
sound of his voice, when not in sight, in a crowded exhibition, by 
suddenly changing to expressions of pleasure from being sulky or 
shy to strangers around them. No one can form a just estimate of 
