THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
j August 12. 
the rarest qualities of mind. Various interesting traits of 
j Governor Phillips’ character are still mentioned hy the 
! older inhabitants of the colony. Ono of these is sufli- 
ciently characteristic. On seeing any person with a dog 
in the course of his walk through the settlement, indignant 
! at, the maintenance of one useless month in the colony, 
j and yet desirous that the owner of the dog should have 
a more -v aluable domestic animal, he would say, ‘ Kill your 
I dog, sir, and I will order you a pig from the store.”’ ( Gen- 
j tinman's Magazine.) 
Of the difficulties the first settlers encountered, the 
i . ’ 
following letter among the Forsyth MSS. bears testi¬ 
mony. It is dated Norfolk Island, August 23rd, 1790, 
but bears no signature. It coincides with Governor 
Phillips’ despatch, dated in the February of the same 
year, which may be perused in the Gentleman s Magazine 
for 1791, page 271. It will be seen in the following 
letter that the writer states that they found their gardens 
good friends in time of need, and we incline to think 
that even now the spade and the plough will be more ] 
enduring friends than the cradle of the gold washer. 
“ Governor Phillips being alarmed for the subsistence of 
the colony, on account of no supplies arriving in February 
last, determined, with the advice of the other officers, to 
dispatch the Sirius to China, or Batavia, to bring provisions 
for the inhabitants—supposing (as was really the case) that 
some aeeident had happened to the ships sent from England. 
He accordingly sent the Sirius and Supply brig, with a 
number of marines and convicts, to this island, witli a pro¬ 
portion of the provisions then on hand, very justly supposing 
the fertility of this island would support them better than 
keeping them at Port Jackson. 
“ The weather being unfavourable at the time of their 
arrival, unfortunately the Sirius was wrecked on this island; 
by the indulgence of kind Providence no lives were lost, j 
and we had the good fortune to save the greatest part of her I 
provisions and stores. 
“ My friend, Mr. King, was recalled from the command of 
the island, in order to go as agent to the Indies, and pur- i 
chase us provisions; and Major Ross, lieutenant-governor 
of the colony, came here and took command of the island. 
I As soon as the Supply brig had landed their stores, &c., she 
returned to Port Jackson, from whence, I learn, she imme¬ 
diately sailed for Batavia to procure ships to bring provisions 
for the settlement. You may easily suppose we were in a 
disagreeable situation, not having three months’ provisions 
on hand; and as the ships from England did not arrive at 
the time expected, we had little hopes of relief till the ships 
i arrived from Batavia, which would at least he seven or eight 
months. Major Ross immediately called a council of officers, 
when it was thought proper to go on short allowance of 
provisions, so as to make it last till the crops of grain would 
be ripe, or a supply arrived. Every person, therefore, was 
ordered to he served from the store only four pounds of ‘ 
flour, two pints of rice, and two-and-a half pounds of pork, 
per week. This was the 20th of March, 1790. On the 15th 
of May it was thought proper to reduce the allowance of 
provisions still lower, when every person received three 
pounds of flour, one pound of rice, and seventeen ounces of 
pork, per week, at which ration we continued till the 7th of 
August, when the ships arrived. 
“ Our situation was not so distressing as it might appear, 
having plenty of vegetables in our gardens, and birds in 
great abundance. In some of my former letters I described 
to yon a species of birds that burrowed in the ground, 
nearly as large as a teal, with which this island abounds; 
they are a sea-fowl, and come on shore about the beginning 
of March to lay their egg (which is hut one at a time), and 
hatch their young; and when they are able to fly they 
return to the sea again the remaining part of the year. 
These birds we found in such great abundance, on a moun¬ 
tain in the middle of the island, as is almost incredible. 
“ I must own, was I to hear a person relate what I now 
declare as a fact, T should look on it as one of those 
romances which travellers often indulge, themselves in. 
, From the latter end of March till the 7th of August there 
were (on a moderate computation) not less than three 
thousand of these birds brought daily into the town, without 
the. least appearance of a decrease in their numbers at the 
place they were caught, till within three or four days before 
the arrival of the ships to our relief, when they appeared to 
decrease very fast, and people were alarmed, fearing this 
inestimable blessing was going to leave us. But, fortunately, 
the ships appeared in sight, and dispersed that heavy gloom 
that seemed to hang on every countenance." 
GOSSIP. 
We were wrong in stating that Mr. Puncliard exhibited 
Cochin-China fowls at the Lewes Show. He did not 
exhibit for the prize, because the Committee of the 
Agricultural Society could not allow him to substitute 
a cock of his own rearing for an imported one which he 
had entered. When we stated that Mr. Higgs’ pen of 
Cochins carried away the prize from those of Dir. Stur¬ 
geon and Mr. Puncliard, it was no disparagement of the 
fowls of these two gentlemen. Our high opinion of 
their stock has been too often expressed in these pages 
for ns to be so misunderstood. 
There is an erroneous opinion prevalent, that eggs 
cannot be sent to a distance without being spoiled in 
the carriage. To test the truth of this opinion, Mr. 
Puncliard has sent out with each batch of eggs a printed 
form, with columns to show the results, and requesting 
the purchaser to till it up and send it hack. 
We have before us a copy of all the returns, and from 
this it appears that Mr. Puuchard sent eggs to sixty 
different persons. The number of eggs sent to them 
amounted t.o 878, and from these were produced 537 
chickens. This total, however, does not give all the 
evidence in refutation of the opinion against travelled 
eggs, for there are numerous instances such as this: 
“Sent 13 eggs; travelled 350 miles; produced 11 
chickens.” Another gentleman, who had 9 chickens 
from 13 eggs, after they had travelled 70 miles, says; 
“ I have reason to speak well of your mode of packing, 
for this result is better than any I have had this very 
unfortunate year for hatching. I have set 80 eggs, and 
have not had a dozen chickens.” Mr. Puncliard packs 
the eggs in bran, in stout boxes ; the eggs, we believe, 
with their small ends downwards. 
The following is a list of the Horticultural and 
Poultry Shows of which we are at present aware. We 
shall be obliged by any of our readers sending us ad¬ 
ditions to the list, and giving the address of the Se 
cretaries. 
HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
Allendale, Sept. 11th. (Secs., G. Dickinson and G.J. 
French.) 
Bath, Sept. 16th. (Sec, H. T. St. John Maule, Esq.) 
Bridgewater, Sept. 23. (Secs., Mr. J. Leaker and Mr. 
J. Hayward.) 
Brigg, Sept. 15th. (Sec. Mr. D. Nainhy, Jun.) 
Bury St. Edmunds, Sept. 10 (Abbey) ; Nov. 2G (Chry¬ 
santhemums). (Sec. G. P. Clay, Esq ) 
Caledonian (lnverleith Row), Edinburgh, Sept, 2, Dec. 2. 
Cheltenham, Aug. 26. 
Clapham, Sept. 11. 
Colchester and East Essex, Sept. 8, at the Rev. T. 
Round's grounds, Holly Trees, All Saints. 
