280 
i 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August o. 
“ That it is agreed by compositions that the Fellowship 
! of the Poulterers shall serve the King’s Majesty (Henry 
j VIII.) with these hinds of poultry stuff following, on the 
' price as here after appeareth.” 
j “ Pecokks, old, the pece, 2s. • 
l’ecliykks, the pece, lid. 
Capons of gr(owth) of the best, the pece, 20d. 
Capons good the pece, lid. 
Capons the pece, 8d. 
Henues of gr(owtli) the pece, 7d. 
Grene Gesse from Ester tyll mydsommer, the pece, Id. 
j Geese grett (great) from mydsommer tyll sliroftyde, the 
pece, 8d. 
Eggs from Ester to Myghelmas, l(id. (tlie dozen.) 
Eggs from Myghelmas tyll Ester, 20d. (the dozen.) ” 
! Passing over Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Hus- 
• bandri/, which barely touch upon the subject of poultry, 
l we come next to Barnaby Googe’s translation of Heres- 
bacli’s Four Bookes of Husbandrie, published in 1578. 
The text of Heresbach is no more than a compound 
from the works of Cato, Varro, and Columella, but 
Googe introduces some additions, one of which we shall 
separate from the less interesting contents : 
“ Your Henne houses must bee made in that parte of 
your house, as lieth in the Winter towarde the risyng of the 
Sunnc, and ioynyng as nere as maie'be to some Kille, Ouen, 
or Chimney, or to the Kitchin, so as the smoke maie come 
amongeste them : for smoke is verie holesome for this kinde 
of foule. And that was (I thiuke) the cause that the old 
people made clioise in their quitrentes of smoke Hennes, as 
of the beste, as it appeareth by olde llentalles. Lette the 
front of your Henne house stande alwaies towardes the 
Easte, and to that ooaste let the doore open. Let the inner 
roomes bee well furnished with Loftes and Lathers, and 
small windowes openyng Eastward, at which your Poultrie 
maie tlee out in the mornyng, and come into the roust at 
night. Looke that you make them close at night, and let 
the windowes bee well lettised for feare of Yermine. Let 
your nestes and lodgynges, botlie for laiyng and broodyng, 
bee orderly caste, and against euery neste and roustyng 
place, place steppes and boordes to come up by, making 
them as rough as maie be, that tlic Hennes maie take good 
hold when thei flee up to them, and not by their ouer 
smootlienesse, bee forced to flutter and hurtc their Egges. 
It shall not bee amisse, if you pargetto the house botlie 
within and without with good Plaister, whereby neither 
Weesell, nor other hurtfull Yermine maie enter in. Boordod 
floore are not for foule to rouste upon, whiche almoste all 
kinde of Birdes refuse, because of the hurte that thei 
receiue by their dounge, whiche if it cleaue to their feete, 
breedeth the Goute. And therefore to roust upon, you 
must make them perches, which Columella would, should be 
made fower square: but it is better to liaue them rounde, 
so that thei be not too smoothe for them to take holde by. 
Let the Perches reache from one side of the wall to the 
other, so as thei stande from the floore a foote in height, 
and twoo foote in distaunce one from the other: and thus 
haue you the fashion of your Henne house. The Courte 
where thei goe, must bee eleane from doting and durtinesse, 
not hauyng water in it, sauyng in one place, and that must 
be verie faire and eleane: for if it bee pudled, or durtie, 
it breedeth (as I saie'd before) the Pippe. To keepe their 
water eleane, you maie haue faire earthen, or stone vessel, 
or troughes of Wood, couered in the toppe, in the whiche 
there muste bee seuerall holes so bigge, as the bed of the 
foule maie easely enter: for if you should not keepe them 
thus couered, the Poultrie would in their drinkyng defile 
and poison it with their doung. Their meate muste be 
given them betimes in the morning for straiyng abroade, 
and a little before night, that thei maie come the tymelier 
to their reste. Those that hee in the Coope, must (as 
Columella saieth ) be fedde thrise in the daie: the others 
must be used to an acquainted voice, that thei maie come at 
the callyng. The number must bee well marked: for thei 
sone deceiue their keeper. Beside, you muste haue rounde 
aboute by the walles, good plentie of duste, wherein thei 
maie bathe and proine them selves: For as the Swine de- 
lightetli to wallowe in dirte, so dooeth this kinde to bathe ^ 
and tumble in the duste. And this is (I thinke) almoste al 
that is to be saied of Pullein." 
FORSYTH MSS. 
The letters of the next person eminent in the republic ol 
science, which occur among these manuscripts, are a 
few—would they were more—from Francis Masson. He 
was of French extraction, hut being well skilled both in 
the botanical and cultural knowledge applicable to \ 
garden plants, he was enrolled among the number ol | 
the Royal gardeners at Kew, and was the first, in modern ' 
times, we believe, despatched under royal patronage 
from England especially for the purpose ol collecting 
from other lands their floral novelties. The first region 
he was required to examine was the Cape of Good 
Hope, and the results of his researches are narrated in 
the 06tli volume of the Philosophical Transactions. A 
contemporary thus epitomises the narration— 
“ Our botanical traveller, in his first journey, which 
was performed in Dec. 1772, and Jan. 1778, went as far 
as Scliwellendam, a place about 150 milos N. E. from 
the Cape Town; but, finding the season too far spent 
for making any considerable collections, returned hack 
to the Cape by the same road he went. He was at¬ 
tended by a Dutchman, and a Hottentot, who drove his 
waggon, which was drawn by eight oxen—the manner 
of travelling there. In this journey, however, he col¬ 
lected the seed of the many beautiful species of Erica:, 
which have succeeded so well in the Royal Garden 
at Kew. 
“ His second journey, begun in Sept. 177o, was per¬ 
formed in company with Dr. Thunberg, a native of 
Sweden, who was sent out by the Dutch to collect plants 
at the Cape, and is now on that errand in the East 
Indies. In this journey, which lasted four months and 
fourteen days, our travellers were very successful in 
their botanical researches, collecting many plants and 
shrubs that were new, hut which were dearly purchased, 
considering the fatigues and dangers here recounted, 
x\ud probably neither they nor their plants would have j 
been heard of more, had not the servants been wiser 
than their masters, by refusing to advance farther, or to 
venture among the Caffres, a savage race, who, they 
said, would kill them, were it only to get the iron be¬ 
longing to their waggons. 
“In his third journey, Dec. 1774, Mr. Masson pro¬ 
ceeded as far as the last Dutch habitation, 550 miles N. , 
from the Cape, and then changed his course, going 
S. E. On the whole, he has reason to congratulate | 
himself on being now safe in Kew Gardens—escaped 
from torrents and precipices—from deserts and lions; 
and as to the succulent plants and aromatic shrubs thus 
procured, we cannot help comparing them to the water 
of Bethlehem, which three mighty men drew, in jeopardy 
of their lives, and which David therefore, though he had 
longed for it, nevertheless would not drink, but poured it 
out unto the Lord." (2 Sam. xxiii. 10.) 
