November 24. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ will here give a specimen or two of the mode of writing 
the sheet:—No. 1 plot, twelve feet to east; to receive five 
rows of Kidney Potatoes, in end of February; Mangold 
sown between each pair of rows, in last week of April. 
Potatoes removed in the second week of July ; and Swedes, 
from a sowing on seed-bed, made the second week in May, 
planted where the Potatoes were. Deep dug soon, but no 
manure now, the ground being in good heart. A little 
compost, with a sprinkling of guano and charred materials, 
introduced in the drill after Potatoes, for Swedes.— 
No. 2 Plot, ton feet to east: for spring-planted Cabbage, 
with a sprinkling of Longpod Beans all through them. This 
land is not rich, and must have some manure, rather coarse; 
the ground to be dug deep now, after manuring, and the 
Cabbages planted in middle of February; the Beans intro¬ 
duced some time after, being soaked six hours in tepid 
water. 
Thus, or in a similar and well-concerted manner, may 
our friends proceed ; and they may, at last, draw up a little 
condensed list of their sowings and other needs; showing, 
at one glance, what provision must be made for the whole 
demands of the spring and summer. Such may run thus : 
—For Plots Nos. 1 to P, Cabbage-plants required of a 
dwarf kind, early hearting; one sowing in the middle of 
March, a second in the middle of May. Note—plants to be 
obtained for the February planting.—For Plots Nos. 4 and 5. 
Swede Turnips must be sown in the middle of May; kept 
rather thin in the seed-bed. 
Of course, these cases are mere suppositions; but they 
will serve, perhaps, to show the uninformed how to secure a 
crop ; for these matters, however small they may appear 
to those not immediately concerned, are of great importance 
to little people. 
Winter Greens, or Cabbage Worts.— Under this head, 
1 must class everything which bears a relationship to the 
Common Cabbage ; for instance, Savoys, Green Kale, Brus¬ 
sels Sprouts, Brocolis, Coleworts, &c. Of these, Brussels 
Sprouts, Savoys, Coleworts, and Brocolis, are rather impatient 
of hard frosts and cutting winds; and, unless protected 
slightly in very hard weather, may prove a loss, instead of 
gain. As to the Coleworts, I have so often urged on the 
cottager the necessity of sending his Coleworts into the 
market before Christmas, that I need say no more here. 
Savoys are a most useful as well as economical thing in 
the labourer’s family: a well-headed Savoy, boiled in the 
same pot witli a lump of fat bacon, is a disli for a first-rate 
squire, and needs not a Soyer to cook it. I have kept 
Savoys in full heart, as well as Bed Cabbayes, for pickling, 
famously, by cutting off the heads in the end of November, 
placing them thinly behind a hedge or wall, on the north 
side; suffering them to become slightly frozen; and then 
strewing some litter over them, to keep them frozen for 
weeks. 
As to all other Greens, I advise the grower to look over 
his plot weekly, and collect all leaves which are turning 
yellow, for they are of no real service to the plant after¬ 
wards. They will all continue to yield these leaves through 
the winter, and I need hardly say how very useful such are 
as part diet for the cow or pig. It is not their quality alone, 
although every trifle tells in that respect; but those who 
know well the needs of animals, know full well that a change 
is useful occasionally to keep the animal's bowels in order. 
I can add little more as to allotment matters this month ; 
January will add a wider field for us: in the meantime, 
I again repeat, lose not a chance. According to the old 
saying, “little strokes fell great oaks;” so frequent atten¬ 
tions, though they appear individually trifling, yet, when 
put together, and their results manifest, plainly prove that 
well-directed labour, on whatever scale, is not in vain. 
R. Eriungton. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR. —December. 
By ./. II. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide,” Sc. 
Feeding.—I can only go on to impress upon every keeper 
of bees (or who wishes to continue so) the necessity of 
feeding, for I will not hesitate in saying that not ono stock 
14 ? 
in a hundred will survive the coming winter without it. I 
am speaking of stocks in this locality, West Suffolk; but I 
fear, lrom the accounts I am receiving from different parts 
ol the kingdom, that the absolute necessity of feeding is 
general. 
boon.—I believe the best food that can be given, next to 
honey, which this year will be far too expensive for feeding, 
is one pound of loaf sugar, one quarter-of-a-pint of water, 
and one-quarter-of a pound of honey, simmered for a few 
•minutes over a slow fire till the sugar is melted, and, when 
quite cold, given to the bees, and at the top of the hive, if 
possible. 
Ventilation. —Where bees are in boxes, ventilation is of 
the next importance to feeding. I have found the best 
method to secure a perfect ventilation is to leave one of the 
gratings, or holes at the top of the box, open, from this time 
till the end of February, and placing over it a small bell- 
glass or feeder, the vapour will then condense upon the 
former, and run down outside the box, or upon the glass of 
the latter, and be caught in the pan. 
Enemies. —Mice and birds must be carefully looked after, 
for they are both very busy at this time, and will destroy a 
stock, sometimes very quickly, if allowed to pursue their 
depredations unmolested. 
Floor-boards. —Clean the floor-boards at least once a 
month, with a dry, hard brush, selecting a mild day for the 
purpose, and always at the breaking-up of a hard frost. 
Snow. —Whilst snow lies upon the ground ,but notan hour 
lonyer, the entrance of the hives should be stopped with 
perforated zinc, and not a single bee allowed to leave them. 
DISCERNING THE SEX OF A CHICKEN IN 
THE EGG. 
There are some observations in The Poultry Booh, at 
page 08, on a Treatise, by a Mr. Trotter, in which it is stated, 
that by examining the situation of the air-cell at the butt 
end of an egg, the sex of the future chicken can be ascer- 
tained. As I have taken some pains to prove whether this 
theory is correct or not, perhaps a statement of my ex¬ 
periments may be interesting to some of your readers. 
It is only right that I should inform you, that in the table 
below I have only shown the eggs actually hatched, which 
you may depend upon being correct, as before they were 
placed under the hens, the expected sex of the chicken was 
written on each, a copy of which was kept in a book, and 
such eggs as did not produce a live chicken were duly 
marked off. Owing, however, to the thickness of some of 
the Shanghae hen egg-shells, I was unable to discern the 
situation of the air-cell, and these I marked doubtful. 
SUPPOSED SEX. 
RESULTS. 
NO. 
COCKS. 
HENS. 
DOUBTFUL. 
COCKS. 
HENS. 
DIED. 
l 
0 
2 
0 
0 
2 
0 
2 
4 
3 
0 
3 
4 
0 
3 
1 
4 
2 
5 
1 
l 
4 
0 
4 
i 
5 
1 
l 
5 
0 
2 
0 
1 
1 
0 
6 
4 
i 
3 
3 
4 
1 
The slight gradations with which position of the air-cells 
differ in some of the eggs presented a difficulty in assigning 
either one sex or the other to some of them, I, therefore, 
determined to try one more experiment, anil for this purpose 
I selected, from a number of eggs, seven which had the air- 
cell so decidedly to one side, that had Mr. Trotter examined 
them, I suppose he would, without hesitation, have pro¬ 
nounced the expected progeny to be pullets. The hen 
succeeded in hatching the whole of them; but one, being 
weakly, died in a few days, and two others were killed before 
they were three weeks old; the remaining four I watched 
with some interest, from day to day, until I could with 
certainty make out the sex. They are now nearly three 
months old, and, to my surprise, have proved to be four 
cockerels; so that I am now perfectly satisfied that the 
situation of the air-cell has nothing whatever to do with the 
sox of tho chick.—T. S. 
