April C, 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
and bis judgment in the choice of breeding-stock, witli 
an admirable system of management, have, doubtless, 
; been the main ingredients of success. During the past 
! year, though still victorious on every great occasion, his 
■ opponents have not been so entirely distanced. In this 
allusion to tins extraordinary repetition of victories, we 
are not ignorant that there have been shows where 
Knowsley birds have appeared, but failed to occupy the 
first point of honour; to our own knowledge, however, 
such failures have been solely attributable to a desire 
not to disappoint tbe managers of the exhibition, so 
i that third, and even fourth-rate pens have been neces¬ 
sarily sent; Nos. 1 and 2 being en route to Birmingham 
or some other more important meeting, hence the posi¬ 
tion of the others on the list of awards. 
But “ Dorkings” also owe many thanks to this skilful 
patron of their family. To mere bulk he has succeeded 
in adding the points of “form” and “feather,” the former 
essential, even in a mere economical point of view, as 
giving the greatest quantity of meat on the best parts ; 
the latter, a recommendation that will avail with most 
persons so long as the intrinsic value of the bird for the 
table suffers no deterioration. 
In the “ Toulouse Goose” we have received a most 
valuable addition to our poultry catalogues, and to the 
late Earl of Derby, their original importer, in conjunc¬ 
tion with Captain Hornby, who has so successfully in¬ 
troduced them to the public, we are indebted for these 
most useful birds. The Embden Goose will, probably, 
attain heavier weights, but the Toulouse is unusually 
prolific; and, when crossed with our common varieties, 
produces a bird that proves a formidable rival to the 
former, even as regards weight. 
Shanghaes, Game, Hamburglis, Bantams, Aylesbury 
and Rouen Ducks, and Turkeys have all contributed to 
swell the list of Captain Hornby’s honours, the well-de¬ 
served credit of which may, we trust, induce him, at 
some future period, to renew the contest that has so 
often led to victory. 
I We cannot close this announcement without avowing 
our regret at the determination that Captain Hornby 
J has arrived at; we can but ill spare from our lists at 
Exhibitions gentlemen who, like himself, have ever 
mainly regarded the ultimate object at our Poultry 
Societies rather than individual benefit. Such support, 
indeed, is not less needed now to carry on the operations 
of those Associations with success, than required in the 
first instance for their original formation. But, what¬ 
ever may be our progress, whether our goal is neared by 
slower or more rapid steps, Captain Hornby’s name will 
ever call for honorable mention in the records of the 
poultry-keeping community. 
We have been requested by the Secretary of the Man¬ 
chester Poultry Exhibition to warn our readers against 
some party who, adopting the signature of Cox, obtains 
Poultry under various pretexts, but never pays for them. 
The name is probably an assumed one; therefore, our 
warning is directed much more widely than against 
applicants under that signature. Somebody assuming 
that name has succeeded in obtaining from two 
breeders, Shanghaes to the amount of twelve guineas, 
and Black Spanish to the amount of fifteen guineas. 
Now, there is one nover-failing remedy —On no account 
send the birds before you have received the money. If 
this be made an unvarying rule, no honest man will 
feel offended, and the dishonost man may be offended if 
it so pleases him. 
ADVICE TO SMALL HOLDERS. 
I am not assured that the title I have selected will 
aptly express what I wish to place before our readers 
in a fevv papers, but I may observe, in consequence 
of pressing applications from that class of men who 
hold from two or three to eight or ten acres of land 
(and whose course of practice must necessarily assume 
a sort of intermediate position between farming and gar¬ 
dening), I am induced to try my hand at a little advice 
of the kind, and, in so doing, I must confine myself, in 
the main, to the chief features of the case. Those of 
our readers who aro not precisely in this position will, 
doubtless, excuse me for a few weeks, the more espe¬ 
cially as our fruit-trees being all planted, cleaned, 
trained, retarded, protected, &c., up to this period, we 
may, therefore, safely leave Nature to herself for a 
month to come. 
In facing the subject in hand, however, a few diffi¬ 
culties present themselves. Many prefer “ cut and dry ” 
rotation schemes to an examination of those principles 
and general polity, or economy, which should be, in my 
opinion, the grand consideration, or basis, on which 
alone a due share of success depends. 
Now, in order to keep tolerably close to the case in 
hand, it is but fair to assume that those who hold from 
! three to eight or ten acres of land keep some sort of 
j live stock on it. This I take for granted; for although 
j there be those who, living near thriving towns, are 
enabled to carry out high cultural processes without 
live stock, yet such are a minority. The manure ques¬ 
tion is the great secret here; high culture can only be 
carried out by high stiumli, in the shape of natural or 
artificial manures, or both, and such must either be 
created by a system which includes as much “stock” as 
the land will carry, or must be purchased. I need 
scarcely add, that suburban gents have a great advan¬ 
tage over those situated in mere rural districts, in this 
respect. In order to convey an idea of what persons 
of this class really want, I must beg leave to give an 
extract from one of the applicants, who, I conceive, 
tolerably well represents the class alluded to. This 
gentleman uses the initials W. R. He says, “... I do 
wish that Mr. Errington, or one of your correspondents, 
would give a few articles in The Cottage Gardener 
suitable for the holders of five to ten acres. There was, 
some time back, a very interesting article on what kind 
of Fouds ought to be kept, and this, as far as it went, 
addressed itself to my case. I was in hopes that the 
writer would have gone on, aud told us what sort of 
Cows aud Pigs we should keep, and how we should 
keep them. I am a holder of five acres, and I want to 
know how to make the most of it.” 
Now, as the little allotment men and mere cottagers 
have had due attention paid to their requirements 
monthly, through the medium of allotment papers in 
The Cottage Gardener, I think it is but fair that we 
occasionally advance a step, and deal with a few acres 
instead of poles. 
As to the live-stock; I have lived in a rural neigh¬ 
bourhood for nearly thirty years, where every man keeps 
