April 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
seed-leaf, causes it to run to seed afterwards, before it 
| forms anything of a bulb ; in vvliat way to account for 
' this we are at a loss, but as we would rather retard this 
part of the progress, we must protect our crop from this 
j iron king’s forcing properties; and as a bunch of nice 
' young turnips are always acceptable in the kitchen, we 
must see what can be done to hasten them on. 
Some cultivators sow their first crop under trees, 
thinking the shade lessens the tendency to run to seed, 
while others sow on the warmest border they have, and 
are too often deceived by the whole crop showing blue 
in the centre all at once—a sure sign of their running 
away; while, on the other hand, some sow on some 
prepared bed under glass, and, forgetting to give them 
i their due of water, &c., are mortified by the same results; 
i while the patient horticulturist sows his seed on some 
border not too dry, and, spreading a few boughs over 
the ground, is enabled to cover his crop up at nights 
with garden mats, but even that is not always a suc¬ 
cessful mode of doing it; so that, after adopting many 
plans, we have found out that early sowing is rarely 
to be depended on, and we seldom sow the principal 
spring crop before the first of April. A small quantity 
is generally sown before that time on a bed prepared by 
digging a sort of trench, which is filled with leaves, or 
other gentle heating matter, over which the soil is 
spread, and the seed sown, and defended from cold 
rains, frosty mornings, &c., by any contrivance we find 
handy at the time, and often a few boughs supporting 
garden mats serves the purpose pretty well. Of course 
glass would be better, but the many demands there are 
on that article at this season makes it very scarce. We 
must not omit to mention that good new seed is also 
indispensable, as it is less likely to run away than that 
of older date. The best variety is the Snowball, it being 
more globular in shape than the Dutch, but the latter is 
equally hardy, as is also the American Stone. The 
principal merit is earliness, and the quality of resisting 
that natural tendency they have to run to seed, which 
they sometimes do when least expected, and as it were 
from mere motives of caprice; certainly sudden atmo¬ 
spheric changes, or a lack of moisture at the roots, may 
have a great influence in the matter, yet we know of no 
other crop over which we iiave so little control as this, 
unless we adopt the extravagant plan of growing them 
under glass, which the requirements of other things are 
likely to deny. We therefore advise our amateur friends 
to sow their early turnips in more places than one, so 
that if one fails (as may very likely happen) another 
may succeed, besides which, they must not forget to sow 
in succession as well, and to be sure to guard against 
those insidious enemies the slug, fly, birds, &c., to which 
the cabbage-wort family are exposed. 
We remember once sowing a plot of early turnips in 
a very wet spring, in which the first-named of these 
marauders abounded in great numbers ; and a large 
dog, who by virtue of some of his real or imaginary 
services had access to the garden, took a fancy to make 
the turnip bed his basking place, and presently had 
flattened the centre of it as hard as a road-side footpath : 
this was just before the plants made their appearance. 
Incensed at what I thought an irretrievable injury, I had 
the dog denied the garden, and contemplated re-sowing 
the spot, but other pressing work prevented it being 
done immediately, and the seed vegetated, and though 
with lime, soot, and other preventives, we tried to save 
our crop, the part on which our canine friend had 
operated was the only one where we could save a plant, 
and on it they did well. This lesson, like that of many 
others (the result of accident), I determined not to throw 
away, and have frequently since had recourse to beating 
or flattening the top of beds of seeds of that kind ; but 
the above case was one out of the usual way—the ground 
was naturally stiff, and a wet spring had made it ad¬ 
9 
visable to lay it as open as possible, in order to benefit 
by the kindly influence of the atmosphere; but then its 
openness afforded so many retreats for those enemies of ! 
infant vegetation, that a medium less congenial to their 
growth seemed the only one capable of saving them 
from annihilation; and that sealed-up condition of the 
ground, though unable to prevent the expansion of the j 
cotyledons of seeds near its surface, was such as to pre¬ 
sent a barrier to the upward advances of those enemies 
ensconced below, until such time as the plants were j 
better able to resist their attacks. 
Sundries.— The fine dry weather in March has made 
the ground in fine order for sowing, or planting, any¬ 
thing the season requires, so that we suppose the cul¬ 
tivator will have put in all his spring crops. If not, we 
entreat him not to delay another day in sowing or plant¬ 
ing everything which has not a tropical origin. Of this 
latter class are Kidney Beans, ridge Cucumbers, Marrows, 
&e., but these things must be forwarded under glass, in 
order to plant out when all danger from frost shall have 
passed away; but seeds of Basil, Sweet Marjoram, 
Savory, &c., may now be sown in the open ground, and, 
if not done before, the principal crop of Celery ought 
also to be sown, and a part of that sown under glass 
some time ago must be forwarded by pricking out in 
pans, boxes, &c., prior to finally planting out at the end 
of the month. The principal crop of Carrots may now 
be sown, and Peas and Beans sown in succession, as 
likewise must Lettuce, Cauliflower, and sundry other 
crops, besides which due attention must be paid to order 
and neatness in all that is done. J. Robson. 
THE GOLDEN AND THE SILVER PHEASANTS. 
(Continued from paye 401, Vol. vii.) 
Of hybrid golden pheasants, M. Tennuinck thus speaks :— 
“ Another sort of mongrel, much more difficult to obtain 
(than that between the common pheasant and the common 
fowl), is the offspring of the golden pheasant with the com¬ 
mon or Colohic pheasant. This bird, adorned with a 
dazzling livery, has lived several years in my menageiie; its 
skin is now in my cabinet. 
“ The bird I am now describing is the produce of a male 
golden pheasant with the hen of the common pheasant; its 
magnificent plumage, adorned with the most brilliant colours, 
is not inferior in beauty to the elegant attire of the golden 
pheasant. 
“ This hybrid was not hatched in my menagerie. I ob¬ 
tained it from a dealer in birds, who offered it to me as a 
new species of exotic pheasant; a fraud which was made 
plausible by the novelty and brightness of the colours which 
overspread the plumage of this bird. I managed to prove 
to him its true origin, and he ended by confessing that he 
had procured it from a menageiie in Erabant. Being curious 
to make experiments with this pheasant, I bought it; my 
intention was to assure myself whether it were a sterile or 
mule animal. I immediately lavished upon it all sorts of 
nourishing and stimulating food; it was confined in a ward 
communicating, by means of some bars, with one containing 
some hens of the common pheasant, which I judged fittest 
for tbe purpose; towards the time of mating, I allowed him 
access to the ward with the hens. They were not ill-treated; 
on the contrary, the natural impulse was expressed in an 
unequivocal manner by the actions of the male ; the naked 
part of the cheeks was coloured with a livelier scarlet, &c. 
When 1 found that no young were produced with the hens 
of the common pheasant, a second year I tried hens of the 
golden pheasant, with the same result. Every experiment I 
tried, confirmed me in the opinion that this mule bird was 
unfertile. 
“ I have since made many attempts to obtain similar 
mules from the male golden pheasant, and the female com¬ 
mon pheasant, but all my trouble has been thrown away; 
tbe eggs which I obtained were almost always clear. 
“ Buffon mentions two hybrids which he obtained from 
