) 
ICO 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 27, 1856. 
i 
Names of Insects. —The little insects which Goddess finds inside 
and outside the house on the glass at this season of the year are not 
young Lady Birds, as she suggests. They are a small, pretty species of 
Mite {Brybobia glotiosa, Koch Deutsehl. Faun. Ins. 133. f. 8 ). They 
are of the full size. We believe them quite harmless.—I. O. W. 
The Gooseberry-leaves and berries marked with an indurated red 
blotch exhibit no traces of the attacks of insects. The spots are diseased 
vegetable tissue, probably produced by atmospherical causes.—I. O. W. 
Name of Plant (IK. B. />.).—Your plant is the Doronicum austria- 
rum; the very identical plant that Mr. Beaton mentions as a new 
bedder for an early bloomer. 
S€UE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Agricultural Society (Royal). At Chelmsford, July 14th to 19 tli. 
Sec. J. Hudson, Esq., 12, Hanover Square, London. Entries close 
June 1 st. 
Anerlky. July 29th, 30th, 31st, and August 1st. 
Bath and West of England. June 4th, 5th, and 6 th. Sec. Mr. J : 
Kingsbury, 10, Hammet Street, Taunton. Entries close May 14th. 
Bristol. June 25th and 26 th. Sec. Robert Hillhouse Bush, Bitfield 
House, Clifton, Bristol. Entries close 26 th of May. 
Essex. At Colchester, 8 th, 9th, and 10th of January, 1857. Secs. 
G. E. Attwood, and W. A. Warwick. 
Exeter. At Exeter, May 29 th and 30th. Sec. INIr. T. William Gray. 
Hull and East Riding. At Hull, June 25th. Sec., B. L. Wells, 
Esq., 23, Bishop Lane, Hull. Entries close June 18th. 
Leominster. Thursday, October 16 . 
Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society. At Wigan, 
Thursday, August 7th. Secs, for poultry, J. H. Peck, and J. 8 . 
Marshall, Esqrs. Entries close July 24th. 
Norwich. June 20th. (Norfolk Agricultural, for Subscribers only.) 
Sec.y Mr. E. C. Bailey, Little Oxford Street, Norwich. Entries close 
May 31st. 
Nottinghamshire. At Southwell, December 1 /th and 18th, 1856. 
Sec.y Richard Hawksley, jun. Entries close November 19 th. 
Nottingham Central Poultry Association. January 14tli 
and 15th, 1857- Sec.y John Spencer, Nottingham. 
Paris. May 23rd to June 7th. Sec ., M. M. E. Rouber, Division de 
l’Agriculture, rue de Varennes, No. 78 bis, Paris. 
Prescot. July 8 th. -Sec., Mr. J. F. Ollard, Prescot. Entries close 
June 21st. 
Windsor Poultry Exhibition. At Windsor, 4th, 5th, and 6 th of 
June. Secs. Thos. Chamberlain, and Henry Thompson. Entries 
will close May lOtli. 
Yorkshire Agricultural Society. At Rotherham, Wednesday 
and Thursday, August 6 th and 7th. Sec.y J. Hannam, Esq., Kirk 
Deighton, Wetherby. 
N.B .—Secretaries vrill oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
IIAMBURGHS versus COCHINS. 
Being a subscriber to, anil an admirer of, your useful 
Publication, I am induced to send these few lines, in the 
hopes, like your correspondent “Felix llahbit,” that it may 
induce other subscribers to communicate, from time to 
time, any facts that they may think worth recording, as it is 
by such means that the knowledge of things relating to 
poultry, and the experience of poultry breeders, becomes 
diffused amongst the world at large, and “ the noble science ” 
of poultry becomes a real, and also a remunerating pleasure. 
In No. 394, p. 50, of the present volume, we read the result 
of the produce of three Cochin pullets, the property of 
your contributor, “ Felix Rabbit,” which speaks well of the 
egg-producing qualities of these birds. But, good as 
Cochins may be, with respect to the laying of eggs, I 
maintain that the Hamburghs are much better; and as I 
have kept an account of the eggs which have been laid by 
mine from the 1st of January up to the 20th of April, I will 
send you the result, and, thereby, afford “ Felix Rabbit" 
an opportunity of comparing notes respecting the qualities 
of our respective “ pets.” 
I have four Silver-pencilled Hamburgh fowls, chickens of 
1855, which, from January 1st up to April 20th, a period of 
seventeen weeks, have laid 302 eggs. Now, this will hear 
comparison with the produce of the four Cochin pullets, 
which, for the four first months of the year, amounted to 
200 eggs. Here are the egg returns of each class of fowls. 
Four Cochins. 
January.39 
February . 04 
March . 53 
April. 50 
200 
Four Hamburghs. 
January. 
February . 
. 75 
March . 
April. 
But, however, I conclude from the tables of “Felix 
Babbit,” that two out of his four Cochins w r ere sitting at the 
time that there are blank returns in the egg account. Be it 
so; and let us give the sitting pullets respectively the credit 
of being able to lay as many eggs as any one of her com¬ 
panions did lay in the months where the blanks occur. 
This would amount to twenty-six eggs in each hen’s 
account, in all fifty-two, to be added to the total of 206, and 
the case would then stand thus—four Cochins 258 eggs v. 
four Hamburghs 302 eggs, being a majority in favour of the 
Hamburghs of ninety-six. And whether eggs were worth 
one shilling for fourteen, or one shilling for twenty, the 
result, in a pecuniary manner, would be in favour of the 
Hamburghs also. 
Now, I am not crying down the Cochins. I hope “Felix 
Rabbit ” will not accuse me of attempting such a thing. 
What I wish to show, is the superiority of the Hamburghs 
over the Cochins with respect to the production of eggs. 
I confess that I am a Silver-pencilled Hamburgh fancier. 
I have kept that kind of fowl for some time, have exhibited 
them, and am proud to be able to exhibit prize medals on 
my table in return, to say nothing of the “ Commended,” 
and “ Highly Commended ” additions to my name in the 
catalogues of many of the shows, and, therefore, I naturally 
am pleased to stand up for my “ pet Hamburghs.” 
Bnt, like “ Felix Rabbit,” I also keep Cochins, though 
only in a very small way. I have three Pullets of last year, 
and I find, on reference, that they have laid, between 
January 1st and April 26th, 120 eggs. Two of the three 
birds have sat, and hatched and reared a brood of chickens, 
and the third also sat the usual time, but from some cause 
or another the eggs were unfertile. 
My object in purchasing these Cochins w T as on account of 
the well-known fact that they will lay in the hardest weather, 
at times when other fowls will not; and judging by the 
tables of “Felix Rabbit,” they have justified me in this 
idea, as I see his four Cochins in the month of January 
laid thirty-nine eggs, or rather, perhaps, I should say his 
three Cochins, as I see that there is a blank left against one 
in that month, when, in all probability, she was sitting. 
Say, then, his three Cochins laid the thirty-nine eggs, 1 
find, however, on looking at my book, that my three laid in 
that month fifty-one eggs. Indeed, taking the first four 
months into consideration, I have not much to complain of, 
for the balance, on an average, will stand thus. Four 
Cochins with two sittings and 206 eggs v. three Cochins 
with three sittings and 120 eggs. One curious fact, how¬ 
ever, I noticed with respect to one of my Cochins, which 
was, that she laid eggs whilst broodling her chicks, and 
that, too, soon after hatching. I should he glad to know 
whether that is a common occurrence. Perhaps some of 
your contributors can tell me. With respect to the food 
which I give my fowls, it consists principally of what is 
termed damaged rice, well boiled, and made into a lump, 
and a cheap and nutritious kind of food I find it. The 
fowls like it much, and though they have occasionally a 
handful of corn thrown to them, yet the rice is the most 
preferred. 
I have a good grass walk-for them, with old mortar and 
other necessary adjuncts at hand, but, in my opinion, the 
secret of keeping fowls in health, consists in a scrupulous 
attention to the hen house; unless this be clean, sweet, and 
well ventilated, roup, “ et febrhim cohors," will assuredly 
annihilate the stock. 
Trusting, Mr. Editor, that you will doal with the above as 
shall seem most fit to you, I will put my head under my 
wing, and go to roost; and though I shall he ready at any 
time to come down from my.perch, and do battle in behalf 
of the Hamburghs, by whomsoever they may be assailed, 
yet I hope that a safe and lasting peace, and a free and 
generous rivalry may always exist between the contributors 
to the pages of the Poui.try Chronicle — a publication 
which has the best wishes of— Silver-pencilled Hamburgh. 
BRAIIMA POOTRAS. 
[We have had the two letters following upon the subject 
of these fowls.] 
“ In a recent number of the* Poultry Chronicle’ ‘Cochin’ 
i wishes for some information ns to the qualities of Brahmas, 
302 
