114 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 29. 
Hay-grass. —Those who possess a cow and some 
land for hay, as well as root crops, should forthwith 
put forth their energies to obtain a full crop of this 
valuable article. We need scarcely observe, that if 
hay-grass is eaten down constantly until March, that 
a full crop must not be looked for. The cottier with 
one cow, however, and perhaps a rearing calf, should 
bo above such a silly and pennywise proceeding. 
Surely, with his root crops, the consumption of their 
tops, and other gardening offal, with a little bran, 
Indian com meal, inferior and cheap oats, &c., toge¬ 
ther with a little hay, he can manage to shut up his 
hay-grass by the end of November. Better even buy 
a little straw than injure the next year’s crop of hay. 
The plot of hay grass should have a trifling amount 
of manure at proper intervals; and here we say, use 
at this time of the year the coarser portions of the 
manure heap for the hay ground, reserving the more 
rotten for the root crops, &c., in March. When 
littery manure is thoroughly well shaken over liay- 
grass in the early part of November, it is astonish¬ 
ing what a bulk of herbage is produced betimes, and 
it nourishes a strong “ heat” beneath it; indeed, in¬ 
dependently of the fertilising properties, the severity 
of the weather is warded off, cold winds pass over the 
surface without carrying away the heat, and the 
whole field, by such treatment, is nursed like a bed 
of radishes in a garden. 
Economy of Cattle or Ptg Food. —At this period 
those who took our allotment advice, about planting 
the thousand-headed cabbage, green kale, &c., will be 
rewarded by the prospect of a countinuous supply of 
green food through the winter: such matters, as be¬ 
fore observed, have a bearing on the bay-stack eco¬ 
nomy of this year, and the prospective one also. 
We liave a plot of green kale at this time, in drills 
two feet apart by fifteen inches between the plants, 
which is a complete picture. The whole average a 
yard in height, and it is as dense as a thick forest. 
It is impossible to conceive anything more productive, 
and having cut off and used up the mere points a 
month ago, they are covered with innumerable sprouts 
about four inches long. The sprouts will continue 
growing all the winter, at intervals, and will them¬ 
selves produce sprouts when cut. Therefore the true 
policy with this plant is to sow early, plant early on 
rich soil, and to top early in order to force out every 
sprout before winter. We merely remove the termi¬ 
nal point with three or four leaves adhering to it; 
and thus cut, and under high culture, it furnishes a 
dish superior, as we think, to either sea-kale or aspa¬ 
ragus. Well, then, here we have these greens in 
abundance, perhaps a few drumhead cabbage, savoys, 
or Brussel’s sprouts; and plenty of carrots, parsnips, 
mangold, and a few good potatoes, in store. With 
such, and a good fat hog in the sty, and ordinary 
labour, a cottager may be one of the happiest of men, 
provided he can acquire contentment in bis station; 
may we not add even thankfulness for so many bless¬ 
ings, as compared with the tens of thousands in an 
uncivilised state. All this, however, requires forecast 
—a species of forecast which, as Solomon says, may 
be learned from the ant or the bee. Those, therefore, 
who have not yet learned to manage matters thus, 
should lay their plans for a succeeding summer, 
whilst the season is young. 
Pigs. —A cottager may now feed a hog at little 
more than half the expense which we have known 
to be the case. The various grains and meals are 
astonishingly cheap, and with such an allotment hold¬ 
ing as we were just describing, with such a stock of 
green meat and roots, he may even keep a breeding 
sow, if necessary, and make some cash by the sale 
of young pigs; or he may, immediately on killing 
his fat hog, place a couple of good store pigs in their 
place to run through the summer, one to be killed in 
November, the other at the back of Christmas. As 
the cottager may sell his hog, it is not amiss for him 
to know the relation which live meat bears to dead. 
We think it will be found that about a score of live 
weight will amount to about a stone of dead weight, 
fourteen pounds to the stone. Smaller pigs are 
known to be liable to a greater loss by weight. By 
these means, persons inexperienced among swine 
may sell with certainty ; for we have known cottagers 
sadly cheated in this respect by crafty butchers or 
pig buyers. We had intended to have given here an 
outline of the two or three distinct modes of curing 
bacon; we are warned, however, that we have reached 
our allotted limits. 
THE POULTRY-KEEPER’S CALENDAR. 
December. 
By Martin Boyle, Author of A Hints to Small 
Farmers ,” dc. 
Fowls. —Hens of late have, in frequent instances, 
withheld the desired supplies of eggs. Some Dork¬ 
ings in our yard have not laid an egg for the last 
three months, though they have long since recovered 
from the effects of moulting. Our old woman says 
they are too fat and lazy; another person hints that 
they want excitement, and ought to be soundly 
whipped round the yard every day; another sug¬ 
gests that they may have laid eggs in some out-of- 
tbe-way place, as if ever hens lay without proclaim¬ 
ing the event loudly. The contributor of this brief 
calendar has at least to complain of some disap- 
j pointment which those young Dorkings have occa- 
| sioned to him, at whose recommendation the editor 
employed an artist to take the picture of one of them 
along with that of her husband, and thus display 
her beauties to an admiring world. Whether the 
cock, who is certainly handsome, shall continue a 
member of our little establishment will depend on his 
own conduct. He has become tyrannical and petu¬ 
lant towards his wives, and so very cold to one of 
them in particular, that he at least deserves to be 
whipped. The prison discipline of fetters has been 
tried on him once or twice, but without lasting 
effect, for on their removal lie has crowed at the 
poultry woman in a tone of defiance, which sounded 
very like to “ do your best; no one shall hen-peck 
me.” Though for general purposes the Dorkings 
are the best breed, and so plentiful as to be within the 
reach even of the cottager, yet the Dutch every-day 
layers, where a large number of eggs is a principal 
object, are to be much recommended. Mr. Ricliard- 
i son, who is an excellent authority on poultry, de¬ 
scribes them as of two varieties, distinguished chiefly 
by the colour. “ When the colour of the body is a 
golden yellow, streaked or spangled with blackish or 
deep brown markings (an appearance caused by the 
dark colour of the ends of the feathers), the bird is 
styled the ‘ golden spangled ;’ and when the ground 
colour is white (the other circumstances of shading 
remaining the same), the bird is styled the ‘ silver 
spangled.’ ” They are a hardy and a pretty breed, and, 
having no strong desire to hatch, will lay eggs con¬ 
tinually, if properly housed and fed. The Spanish and 
i Poland breeds are also good layers, and of very large 
! and well-flavoured eggs too, though tlie former rarely 
lays except on the alternate days. Both the Spanish 
I and the best known variety of the Boland are black, 
