July 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Delians, were celebrated. They, however, preferring 
large-bodied fowls, and fowls courageous and obstinate 
in fighting, selected chiefly the Tanagrian and Rhodian 
kinds. They scarcely less preferred the Chalcidian and 
Median , which the ignorant vulgar, by changing a letter, 
call the Melian. For our own part, we chiefly prefer 
our own Italian breed, for we have no taste for that 
pursuit of the Greeks, who prepared the fiercest to fight 
for their amusement. We prefer to show our opinion 
how an industrious housekeeper may provide a yearly 
income, rather than to instruct a master of cocks, or a 
keeper of quarrelsome fowls, whose whole patrimony 
often is hazarded and carried off by the victor in this 
poultry pugilism.” 
Varro tells us that the Median variety was brought 
from Media on account of its large size, and their off¬ 
spring continuing to resemble them the name was 
retained. Media, it is worthy of remark, was a country 
of Asia, that quarter of the globe still celebrated for the 
size of its fowls. The Tanagrian breed came from 
'J'auagra, a Grecian town greatly celebrated for cock- 
fighting; and the Chalcidian variety from Chalcis, a 
town in one of the Greek Islands. 
We shall next detail the points which the Romans 
considered characteristic of excellence in fowls. 
FORSYTH MSS. 
At page 79 of our 5th vol. we gave a memoir of Dit. 
.John Coakley Lettsom, and we must refer our new 
subscribers thither for particulars relative to that amia¬ 
ble man. We have nothing to add to that memoir, but 
the following letter is so characteristic of him, that we 
publish it as an illustration of his biography. Tt is 
dated February 20th, 1804. 
de. i,ettsom to me. eoesyth. 
Dear Mr. Forsyth,—I hardly could have expected that 
in the multitude of your engagements you would have 
remembered an absent friend, I am, therefore, the more 
obliged to you for your kindness in sending me the vines, 
whose roots will, I hope, afford good shoots this year. .My 
trees are undergoing the medical and surgical operations 
recommended in your invaluable work; even the goose¬ 
berries have each got on a new spencer. Some I have cut 
down low, to gain new shoots; and I hope you will take an 
opportunity this spring to visit your patients at Grovehill. 
By the change my only daughter is soon likely to undergo, 
I shall claim Colonel Filiot, of Pimlico, my son, whom I 
desired to visit you, and I am sure you will take a pleasure 
in showing him your hospital of invalids. I am as well 
persuaded that he will be happy to see you at rimlico, 
where he possesses a magic habitation, with twenty acres ot 
useful and ornamented land. Although in the city of West¬ 
minster, he is about erecting hot and greenhouses, which 
will altogether render his residence a paradise, and I know 
you like to see a terrestrial one, which, indeed, is an excel¬ 
lent preparative for enjoying a celestial one; but although 
you have a fair title to the latter, I hope you will be long 
kept out of possession, and that you may long long continue 
to enjoy the former, is the wish of your friend, 
J. C. Lettsom. 
GOSSIP. 
One of the judges of the Liverpool Horticultural 
Shotv has obliged us with the following notes of that 
meeting. 
The second floral and horticultural exhibition of this 
influential and growing society, took place in the Botanic i 
Gardens, at Edge Hill, on Thursday, the 24th of June, and 
a more auspicious day could scarcely have been selected. 
A spacious tent was specially erected, and so arranged as to 
offer several very broad promenades to such a stream of 
ladies and gentlemen as such towns as Liverpool alone can 
pour forth. A select baud, stationed on an elevated orchestra 
at the entrance of the delightful tents, discoursed most ex¬ 
cellent music; and, indeed, the whole arrangement of the 
tents, and the carrying out the objects, reflected the utmost ' 
credit on the officers concerned. Having for many years I 
acted as a judge at these interesting gatherings, which was j 
the case also on this occasion, I may be considered capable of | 
estimating the position of this society and its rate of progress, i 
On the v'hole, then, this is highly satisfactory, and quite 
in proportion to the general advance of horticulture; indeed, i 
this season, as far as culture is concerned, it may be said to 
have made a bound; for in some classes the advance was i 
beyond my expectations, which w r ere not of a very moderate 
character. 
First, I may particularise the Pelargoniums. These, espe¬ 
cially the fancies, were a glorious group, and little behind 
our great metropolitan shows. Orchids, too, which some 
three or four years since were scarcely represented, w r ere 
very respectable, although not of great rarity, and contained 
some fine specimens of Onc.ids, Cattleyas, &c. Amongst 
stove and greenhouse plants I would point to good specimens 
of Allamanda, Cleroclendron, Aphelexis, Ixora, Ivalosanthes, 
Chironia, Stephanotis, Schubertia, Nerium, Erytbrina, &c., 
and such new or singular things as Hoga bella, Mitraria coc- 
cinea , Musstrnda, Cyrtocera, Curcuma Roscoeana, Pleroma 
elegans, &c. The Heaths were not by any means remark- 
: able, and the Roses far beneath my expectations. The 
Gloxinia section was very rich—one of the most interesting 
features—and a nice group of Exotic Ferns graced the ex¬ 
treme end; amongst them some choice species. Some rare 
Conifers , from Skirvings, formed an interesting group, and 
some beautiful wax flowers, by ladies, formed a feature of 
much interest. Those by Miss Newton, one of the “Min- 
tern ” school, a young lady from Newcastle-on-Tyne, were 
much admired, and carried off the prize. The Bouquets were 
rough. John Bull is still much behind his Gallic neighbour 
in these things. 
With that liberality which distinguishes such opulent 
towns as Liverpool, a cold collation was placed on a table 
appropriated to the purpose, in a shed at the back of the 
house, where the officers, judges, and exhibitors, many of 
whom came from a long distance,might recruit their strength. 
I am not aware of the number of visitors, but should 
imagine they might range from three to four thousand. I 
may add, everything passed off delightfully. The judges i 
were Messrs. Dwerrihouse, Ellison, and Errington for the j 
fruits, plants, &c.; and Messrs. Slater, of the “ Northern 
Florist,” and Chadwick, for the florists’ flowers. 
We have been favoured with the following report of a 
sale by auction of choice poultry , which took place on the j 
29th of June, at Mr. Stevens's Rooms, in King-street, 
Covent Garden, and was the first of the sort which he 
has conducted. 
“ There were between thirty and forty lots. A middling ! 
good Cochin-China cock sold for four guineas ; an exceedingly , 
good Cochin-China hen (but not grand in either size or ] 
colour), the same; a nice coloured Cochin-China cock, but j 
small, .£3 5s. There was one very nice pair of Cochin- j 
China chickens sold for £3 12s. (Id. The rest of the 
chickens went, what I consider cheap, as any which are | 
not first-rate generally do ; the prices varying from 10s. to j 
24s. the pair. One good pullet sold for 28s. Of course I 
cannot tell whether all the sales were real. 
It was a great illustration of the tameness of these pretty 
creatures, that all the Cochin-China full-grown fowls were 
taken out of their baskets, and placed on the table amidst 
a number of persons. They only looked a little surprised, 
quite self-possessed, and very much as if they would have 
been grateful to have had a handful of coni spread on the 
table. A Spanish fowl got out by accident, and behaved in 
a very different manner. A pair of silver Hamburghs were 
not good, and badly matched. 
