September 30. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
431 
abundant. It is quite usual for a ben to lay thirty or thirty- 
five eggs without missing, as mentioned by Mr. Wingfield; 
they will sometimes double that number, sit, and lay again 
a day before their chickens are three weeks old. Mine have 
laid so incessantly, that I am now delighted to find them 
taking a holiday during their moulting. Considering the 
great number which are laid, and that the hens are always 
industriously occupied in producing , under one form or 
other, I do not consider the eggs small. It will not, of 
course, do to compare them with those laid by the Spanish 
fowls, especially by such specimens of them as “Gallus” is 
fortunate enough to possess, but I find that the hen’s eggs 
weigh from 2Jozs. to 2§ozs. each, a size as good as that of 
those which are usually sent to market. 
The ridiculously early period at which the pullets begin 
to lay, is a circumstance capable of being turned to valuable 
account by the cottager while getting his stock together, by 
the restoration, during the scarcity of winter, of the little 
capital expended earlier in the year. I had a pullet last 
year which began to lay at fourteen weeks old (I hear her 
daughter, this year, has done the same); and, if no means 
are taken to keep them backward, it is common for them to 
do so at four and five months. When they have laid out 
their batch, I find them as certainly desire to sit. Thus 
tho owner, who has raised or purchased chickens in the 
spring, may get a brood or two late in the summer, or early 
in autumn, and have chickens ready for the table about 
Christmas, which might partly or wholly replace his original 
outlay. Chickens so bred from cockerel and pullets, and 
hatched late in the year, would, of course, never compete 
with Cochin-China fowls raised under more favourable 
circumstances, but for the table they would, I believe, be 
larger and better flavoured than the common fowls which 
are sold at the markets, and would command a more than 
remunerative price. These chickens would scarcely be 
ready to kill under four months old, as from being bred 
from such young fowls they would fledge slowly. 
The frequent and pertinacious desire to sit, I consider the 
only drawback in the Cochin-China fowls ; but it would not 
be such in the eyes of the cottager, to whom it is most likely 
chickens would prove more profitable than eggs. 
We have eaten a great number of Cochin-China fowls, 
and find them to be, without exception, by far the finest- 
flavoured best birds for the table which wo have ever either 
bred, or bought, or eaten; excepting always, with deference, 
“ such special Dorkings as Mr. Baily’s shop can often 
supply,” and which could scarcely be beaten by any poultry; 
those chickens which can compete with them have reason to 
be proud indeed. 
It was the fate of one of my young cockerels lately to 
undergo the very severe test of being mated (on the table) 
with one of Mr. Baily’s deservedly celebrated Dorkings. 
Mr. Baily’s man trussed both the chickens ; the Cochin- 
China was only a few ounces heavier than the Dorking 
(which was one of the finest I have ever seen), and there 
was no perceptible difference in the length of leg. The 
Cochin-China was what I (favouring the Cochin-China) 
should call a richer (“Gallus’’ will say less delicate) 
looking fowl, and in flavour I think it would puzzle a very 
experienced epicure to decide which was the nicest. The 
members of our family, out of the dining-room, made a point 
of tasting both, and pronounced, very decidedly, in favour 
of the Cochin-China. 
There is a sufficient difference between the Cochin-China 
and other fowls to allow us to congratulate ourselves on 
realizing, in them, a new dish for our tables; but I do not 
think there are any, who have given them a full, fair trial, 
that will not pronounce both the fowls and their eggs very 
delicious. Yet I can perfectly understand what “Gallus” 
means, when he mentions their flesh as “ coarse and 
stringy: ” we had a chicken killed this year, who, from his 
upright gait, and length of leg, made me suspect some 
(perhaps far hack) cross with the Malay: he was not bred 
from my own stock, if he had been, he was just one foi 
whose sake I should have banished his mother. The flesh 
was what “ Gallus” describes, especially the legs,but I have 
never known this the case with the square built variety. 
The readiness with which they fatten, or rather the excellent 
condition in which they are usually found without any 
fattening at all, is a very valuable quality to the farmer, 
and all who may hereafter rear them for the market. 
I do not find the Cochin-Chinas greater caters than other 
fowls, even without Mr. Wingfield’s reservation respecting 
their greater sizo. From beginning to keep fowls before 
the year 1842, I have, each year, kept a little note-book, in 
which expenses, among other interesting facts pertaining to 
the hen-yard, have been noted, and I remember reckoning 
from the commencement (with five little fowls and a peck 
of barley), that one penny a week for each fowl might be 
considered the expense of keeping them, and feeding 
abundantly; that the average is below this during the first 
part of the year, while the chickens are young, and rather 
above it from the time the young cocks begin to crow, until 
they are gone, making it a yearly average of a penny per week 
for each. On referring to the little note-book this year, I 
find the average cost, for the first four months, has been ! 
two-thirds of a penny; the next three, May, June, and j 
July, rather under a penny; and for August and the first j 
week in September, a fraction over the penny. As the ; 
chickens are now almost grown up, the remainder of the j 
year will cost rather more than the past months, and will 
most likely bring the year’s average up to a penny a week, : 
showing that the Cochin-China fowls have cost me the : 
same which I have expended at different times on common 
fowls, on some very indifferent Dorking, on Spanish, on a | 
mixed lot of Spanish and Malay, on the Dorking-crossed 
Cochin China, and some other kinds. I should mention | 
that the cost of the early months this year is over-rated, as 
there was a remainder of last year’s chickens not reckoned, 
and also that many of the cockerels are now large, and, | 
being separated from the pullets, have no gallant ideas of 
seeing them hens first satisfied, to interfere with their very j 
excellent appetites. I often notice, moreover, that five . 
common hens, which I keep for old acquaintance sake, and 
use as sitters, are busy eating after the Cochin-Chinas are 
satisfied. 
A consideration most valuable to the poor man, and to 
those who have his interest at heart, is the indifference 
of the Cochin-China fowls to first-rate accommodation. 
They are very robust and healthy, seldom ill, and less 
easily hurt, from the egg-shell upwards, than most kinds. 
Much as I admire the excellent and beautiful houses made 
for them by many amateurs, and pleased as I am to ac¬ 
knowledge the advantages of these very superior arrange¬ 
ments, I cannot help saying, for the encouragement of those 
who cannot, or do not wish to, spend much, that they are 
not necessary ; and that the fowls may be successfully reared 
with very simple appliances. A fortnight ago, a former 
neighbour of ours, an amateur and good judge, called while 
I was unluckily from home; after kindly expressing an 
opinion very flattering to my little stock, he remarked, 
“ but how could all these have been raised without any 
conveniences?” At some future time I shall inflict an 
account of my (non)-conveniences, and their cost, upon the 
readers of The Cottage Gardener ; in the meantime, it is 
sufficient to state, that I find them the hardiest fowls of 
any -which I have either tried or know'n—nice, contented 
creatures, who will seek shelter, and make themselves 
comfortable under most circumstances; and that, after com¬ 
paring chickens of the same broods and parentage, I do 
not find those of my favourite buff-colour more delicate than 
the partridge-marked. Neither have I ever found harm 
arise from the chickens being so early deserted by the 
mothers, although I have had this occur during quite severe 
weather. Cochin-China chickens are slow in fledging, but 
the excessive backwardness, the miserable nakedness, com¬ 
plained of by “a Brighton Subscriber," p.232, and “J. 
Hitchman, Esq.,” p. 345, I do not consider natural, but, as 
far as my experience goes, to appertain especially to pullets' 
not hens’ chicks. This idea is borne out by “The Sub¬ 
scriber’s" illustration, as it will be remembered that Mr. 
Andrews’s prize-birds (the parent, if I remember right, of 
the bird specified), were only themselves hatched in April, 
1851. I find chickens bred from mature birds fledge kindly, 
though slowly, and get quite covered within three months, 
which is, I think, quite young enough to commence killing 
for the table. 
Like Mr. Wingfield, I have found the Spanish difficult 
both to hatch and rear. The necessity of procuring other 
