294 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
| February 28. 
The game breed is an importation from India, 
where the fighting of cocks lias been an amusement 
and a vice from time immemorial. 
Chickens. —A few cottagers now have chickens 
pretty forward. One of our nearest neighbours had 
a brood of nine out on the 15 th of January; the care 
which she took of them in the long continued season 
of frost and snow has succeeded, and she will now 
receive her reward in a high price for the brood. 
Eggs eor Hatching. —Collect the eggs which are 
to be set, and store them in bran, in a warm place 
not exposed to light. It need hardly be remarked, 
that eggs for hatching should not be soaked in lime- 
water, nor greased, nor in any way rendered air-proof. 
It is obvious that no eggs are fertile where a cock 
has not been associated with females; and almost 
every one knows that what are called cock’s eggs 
(which are abortive female ones) are good for nothing. 
Endeavour to procure eggs (of whatever description 
of domestic poultry) of the best breeds, even though 
they be comparatively dear; this first cost will be 
amply repaid in the future produce; parsimony in 
this respect may prove a very false economy in the 
end. The fresher that eggs for setting are the better; 
we lost a brood of chickens last year from having 
kept the eggs too long; the vital principle within was 
so feeble that, though the hen sat steadily, and two 
or three chickens came to life, they died, with a single 
exception, in the shell, from want of strength to 
break from it. 
A great deal of curious, though rather nonsensical, 
matter has been published about the shape of an 
egg as indicating the sex of the bird that will issue 
from it. M. Tarmentier, a celebrated French natu¬ 
ralist, who has dived very deeply into the philosophy 
°f eggs, has given this test for ascertaining what the 
sex of the chick will be:—“ examine the eggs by 
holding them between the eye and a candle, and 
if the vacancy caused by the air-bag at the blunt end 
ot the egg appear to be a little on one side, it will 
produce a lien; if this vacancy be exactly in the 
centre, it will produce a cock.” Mr. Dixon refutes 
this commonly received notion, handed down from 
one writer to another, by informing us that we shall 
find very few eggs in which the air bubble is in the 
centre, and that, consequently, cock birds would be 
very rare if the above theory were true, whereas in 
many broods there is a considerable majority of 
cocks born. He also points out the error of supposing 
that small round eggs produce female, and very ob¬ 
long ones male birds, by the simple statement of the 
fact that, “ the hen who lays one round egg will con¬ 
tinue to lay all her eggs round, and the hen that lays 
one oblong will lay all oblong; consequently, one hen 
would be the unceasing mother of cocks, and another 
must remain the perpetual producer of pullets, which 
is absurd, as daily experience proves.” 
These foolish notions have been handed down to 
us from the ancient Greeks and Romans, among 
other popular errors ; and have no more foundation 
in fact than Gulliver’s pleasant narrative of the great 
wars between two nations concerning the end at 
which an egg ought to be broken. 
As a general rule, choose the largest, roundest, 
heaviest, and freshest eggs ; and handle them gently 
for fear of disturbing the yolk. 
The numbor of eggs to be provided for hen fowls, 
turkeys, geese, and ducks, respectively, to hatch may 
be thus estimated:— 
For large Dorking Hens, from 11 to 13 of her own 
eggs; say nine of the Spanish or Malay kinds. 
i or Turkeys, from 13 to 15 of her own. 
For Geese, about 15 of her own. 
For Ducks, from seven to nine of her own. 
Their instincts generally lead birds to lay without 
interruption until they have enough for hatching. 
If the desire of hatching be not indulged they resume 
their laying, after some interruption, for a longer or 
shorter time, according to their nature. Some kinds 
of poultry lay every day for a period, others every 
second day. 
The nests for each laying bird (of any sort of do¬ 
mestic poultry) should be reserved for her particular 
use as much as possible; and the peculiar disposition 
of a bird—such as the pea-fowl and the turkey—to 
lay secretly, should be gratified by giving her a nest 
where she may lay in privacy. This instinct she is 
given to defeat the savage efforts of the male to dis¬ 
cover and smash her eggs. 
Laying Ducks require attention in another way; 
they drop their eggs in out-of-the-way places from 
mere carelessness—by the margin of a pond or ditch, 
in the grass, in a shrubbery, anywhere ; and as they 
do not give warning of their having laid, and lay at 
night, they require to be carefully put up in the 
evening, or, at least, attended to until they have 
established their laying place in a desirable nest. 
The duck rarely lays more than eight or nine eggs 
(which are her highest complement for hatching), until 
she desires to hatch. If her eggs are to be hatched 
by a hen—which is common, as she herself is an in¬ 
ferior hatcher—she may go on laying for a long time. 
Ducks are useful companions now to the cottager 
digging his Held or garden ; they rid the ground of 
earth-worms and grubs, and are very active in the 
morning and evening in gobbling up snails and 
slugs. 
Geese are now laying, after giving preparatory 
warning by picking up straws for the formation of a 
nest. Wherever she lays her first egg she will lay 
the others; provide a proper nest, then, in the first 
instance. 
BEE-KEEPER’S CALENDAR.— March. 
By J. H. Payne , Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper s 
Guide," cC'c. 
Our little favourites, by the appearance of the 
early spring flowers, and the return of milder wea¬ 
ther, are again aroused into life and activity; but it 
must always be remembered that the most trying 
time for them is from the middle of February to the 
end of March; for none but well stored stocks can 
bear up against the great inequality betwixt the in¬ 
ternal demand and the external supply of this period. 
The winter, to be sure, has been very cold, which is 
generally in their favour; for but little, if any, evil is 
to be apprehended from a cold winter, though much 
may arise from a mild one; as, during the latter, the 
stock of honey is often exhausted, from its inducing 
the bees to be in action, without affording them any 
resources beyond their own stores. In confirmation 
of this, an apiarian friend, in writing to me a few 
days ago, says, that his suspended hive has consumed 
only two ounces of honey for the last five weeks. 
This hive hangs upon a balance, and, by some very 
ingenious machinery, gives the increase, or decrease, 
of its stores every hour; and not only gives them, but 
registers them also, upon a sheet of ruled paper, which 
is from time to time supplied. This arrangement 
must afford a continual source of amusement and in¬ 
terest, and more especially so during the honey¬ 
gathering season. 
Diseases. —This is the month in which dysentery 
and other disorders make their appearance amougst 
