THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
139 
May 27. 
Ordinarily the female never lays more nor less than two 
eggs, but it sometimes happens that she only lays one, 
and this caprice may arise from two causes. The first, 
which is the most common, proceeds from the youth of 
the bird; in this case pigeon-fanciers call this production 
a forward egg, and do not trouble themselves about it, 
because they are sure that at the next laying she will 
return to the general rule. In the second case it proceeds 
from a defect of conformation difficult to explain, but proved 
j by her never laying more than one each time of setting. It 
only remains to remark it is an essential fault, which will 
last during her whole life. 
(To be continued.) 
DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 
{Continued from page 73.) 
TWENTY-FIRST RACE. 
Sam, ter Pigeon ( Columba g gran a). —They are a little 
stronger than the Tumbler, have a slight filament round the 
eyes, black iris, and shod feet. These birds have been dis¬ 
carded by amateurs for some time, because they turn over 
in flying, even in their dovecote. Whatever the space may 
be where they are inclosed, they rise at first to the top of it, 
then come down again by making circles first to the right 
and then to the left, exactly like a bird of prey which hovers 
and pursues in the air. Their character being quarrelsome 
and jealous, when they see two pigeons caressing they gene¬ 
rally place themselves on the back of the male, and cramp 
him in such a manner that he is quite unable to defend 
himself. They often drive the sitting females from their 
nest in the same way, and these continued tricks, which 
greatly disarrange a dovecote, occasion also a quantity of 
barren eggs. 
Common Smilter Pigeon ( Columba yyrans vulgaris ).— 
This pigeon is grey, with black spots on the wings, or red, 
1 or peari white, with a pure white horse-shoe on the back. 
It frequently breaks some of its wing feathers by the violence 
of its movements, which seem to resemble convulsions. 
; Usually it is very productive. 
(To be continued.) 
COTTAGE COMFORTS: THE MILCH GOAT, 
AND ITS FOOD. 
BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 
The subject of the following paper is so much in accord¬ 
ance with the best interests of many readers of The Cottage 
Gardener, that I deem no apology necessary for inserting 
in this place a considerable portion of what, in another 
valuable periodical, I not long since had occasion to remark 
( Farmer’s Magazine, vol. 10, page 295, third series) :— 
The comfort derived by the inmates of a cottage from a 
regular supply of new milk need hardly be dwelt upon. 
Every cottager’s wife, over her tea, every poor parent of a 
family of children fed almost entirely on a vegetable diet, 
will agree with me, that it is above all things desirable to be 
able to have new milk as a variation to their daily food of 
bread and garden vegetables. Now it is very true that many 
a kind-hearted farmer helps them with skim milk ; but it is 
only now and then that this source of comfort and health is 
available to the poor cottager, or even to those who are able 
and willing to pay liberally for good milk. The inhabitant 
of towns, and of suburban districts, we all know, is at the 
mercy of the milk dealer ; the milk he procures is rarely of 
the best quality, and under the most favourable circum¬ 
stances he receives it with suspicion, and his family consume 
it with sundry misgivings as to its wholesomeness. 
Having personally experienced these difficulties, and 
having about three years since commenced the attempt to 
supply my family with goat’s milk, and as our experience is 
cheering, I desire to advocate in this paper the claims of 
the milch goat to the attention of the cottager, and the other 
dwellers in the suburban and rural districts. 
Few persons are perhaps aware of the gentleness and 
playfulness of the female goat—how very cleanly are her 
habits, and how readily she accommodates herself to any 
situation in which she is placed. Confined in an outhouse, 
turned on to a common or into a yard, tethered on a grass plot, 
she seems equally content. I have found her readily accom¬ 
modate herself to the tethering system, fastened by a leathern 
collar, rope, and iron swivel, secured by a staple to a heavy 
log of wood. The log is the best (and this with a smooth even 
surface at the bottom), because it can be readily moved 
about from one part of the grass plat to another. The goat, 
too, uses the log as a resting place in damp weather. The 
goat should be furnished with a dry sleeping-place, and this, 
in case of its inhabiting open yards, can be readily fur¬ 
nished ; anything that will serve for a dry dog-kennel will 
be comfortable enough for a goat. 
The milk of the goat is only distinguishable from that 
of the cow by its superior richness, approaching, in fact, 
the thin cream of the cow’s milk in quality. The cream of 
goat’s milk, it is true, separates from the milk with great 
tardiness, and never so completely as in the case of cow’s 
milk. This, however, is of little consequence, since the 
superior richness of goat's milk renders the use of its cream 
almost needless. The comparative analysis of the milk of 
the cow and the goat will show my readers how much richer \ 
the last is than that of the former; 100 parts of each, ! 
according to M. Regnault, gave on an average— 
Cow. Goat. 
Water. 84.7 82.0 
Butter . 4.0 4.5 
Sugar of milk and soluble salts .... 5.0 4.5 
Caseine (cheese), albumen, and in¬ 
soluble salts. 3.0 9.0 
So that, while the milk of the cow yields 12.C per cent, of 
solid matters, that of the goat produces 17.10 per cent., 
goat’s milk yielding rather more butter, rather less sugar of 
milk, but considerably more caseine (cheese), Arc.,than that 
of the cow. 
It must not be supposed that the taste of the milk of the 
goat differs in any degree from that of the cow; it is, if any¬ 
thing, sweeter, but it is quite devoid of any taste which might 
very reasonably be supposed to be derivable from the high- 
flavoured shrubs and herbs upon which the animal delights 
to browse. 
The amount of the milk yielded by the goat varies from 
two quarts to one quart per day; it is most abundant soon 
after kidding time, and this gradually decreases to about a pint 
per day—a quantity which will continue for twelve months. 
This is not a large supply, it is true; but still it is one which 
is available for many very useful purposes; and be it re¬ 
membered, that when mixed with more than its own bulk of 
lukewarm water, it is then in every respect superior to the 
milk supplied by the London dairymen. 
In regard to the best variety of goat to be kept, I would 
recommend the smooth-haired kind, which are quite devoid 
