April 6. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
9 
serious, question, Why?—which is the more difficult to 
| answer satisfactorily, when it becomes too apparent 
i that we may he in a worse position than “ standing 
! stillwe may be, and probably are, going backward. 
This, perhaps, may be thought a strong assertion : but 
I fear it is founded on truth. The Royal George, 
Noblesse, and Red Magdalen Peaches, of the early part 
of the present century, were, doubtless, better fruit than 
! the same kinds are now; because a variety, after being 
| in cultivation a certaiu time, becomes impaired, dis¬ 
eased, or in some way or other degenerates from its 
original vigour and qualifications; and, I ask, what has 
been done to replace these valuable fruits by others 
equally good? But little, I fear, must be the reply. 
That principle of honourable consistency which John 
Bull often exhibits by clinging to tried and time- 
honoured friends, has induced him to hang on to these 
kinds in the same way as he does to the Rihston 
Pippin Apple, Jargonelle Pear, and some other fruits 
I which are fast dying-out of incurable consumption. 
Is this not the same with Peaches?—Do they not require 
I something more than an altered or amended way of 
i training; or soils different from that they have been 
growing in, as well as several kinds of stocks, and other 
modes of culture, all calculated to improve the culture 
of the plant under certain circumstances, yet still not 
destined to prevent its ultimate decay? 1 imagine that 
these favourite kinds have all gone through these 
gradations, and that the various impulses which each lias 
supplied is so far expended that the trees remain a much 
shorter time healthy than formerly. In other words, 
the trees are shorter lived than they used to be, and, 
consequently, are predisposed to those diseases which 
good cultivation and management is not always able to 
keep off; hence the many sickly, deformed, and unfruit¬ 
ful trees are so often met with, which are not in every 
case the results of bad gai-dening, although I do not, 
by any means, say that all are equally excusable; for, 
though we will suppose the Royal George Peach may re¬ 
fuse to grow in one place (even in spite of careful and 
attentive cultivation) in anything like a satisfactory 
way, it may, perhaps, succeed in another for a limited 
time, and even apparently flourish; yet that only proves 
, that the soil and situation, coupled with other circum- 
j stances, are more favourable to it there than in the former 
place; the same as one member of the human family 
may outlive all the rest, but the decline of existence 
will, sooner or later, appear; and the Royal George 
Peaches will, by and by, be numbered with the things 
that were. 
Though much more might be said on this subject, I 
think I have adduced enough to explain my views of 
this question, and now proceed to another cause, to 
which, I think, much of the want of success in Peach 
culture may be traced, which is one that bears no ana¬ 
logy whatever to the above, and can scarcely be explained 
without digressing to other matters, which, however, all 
bear on cultivation in some way or other. This I must 
leave for another week. J. Robson. 
I To be continued.) 
NOTES ON DORKINGS, SHANGHAES, AND 
CRAMMING. 
“ Any one who will favour us with facts confers a boon 
upon us and our readers.” When I saw the above foot note 
i to Mr. Jones’s interesting communication on the Poland 
fowl, I determined to throw in my mite of information; but 
then the difficulty arose, upon what point in poultry manage¬ 
ment should I address you, when so many first-rate autho¬ 
rities have contributed to your pages the result of their 
: experiences, and almost, one would think, exhausted the 
j subject. I might, certainly, have gone over the old beaten 
track, but I hate a repetition of anything, therefore, the ob¬ 
servations I am now about to send you will partake much 
of a miscellaneous character, or, more properly speaking, 
practical hints, noted down during the last twelve months. 
Comparing the Dorking and Cochin as table foiuls has been 
a fruitful theme for discussion ; but surely, many of the 
Cochin amateurs have hut a very imperfect notion of what 
constitutes a good table fowl. Mind, I mean a fowl suitable 
for market; one that shall, when plucked of its feathers, 
present a body, short, white, thick, plump, and large, carry¬ 
ing flesh well upon the breast, thighs, and wings, fine bone, 
with small offal. Birds that answer this description will 
always find ready purchasers at market at good, and, some¬ 
times, high prices. Your own experience would at once 
point out the thorough-bred Game fowl as a bird approaching 
nearest to this standard of excellence; but then the Game 
fowl is only medium-sized, and so pugnacious that it is 
almost impossible to rear chickens to any great extent. The 
well-known Dorking is the fowl generally bred to supply the 
London markets, but, unfortunately, this breed of birds is 
small or narrow-breasted, and even when fat, takes it on in 
the wrong place, namely, beneath and around the vent. I 
know, however, that some of the first-class Dorkings of the 
present day are much fuller on the breast, and, altogether, 
much superior birds to those commonly seen at the farm¬ 
yards around this neighbourhood; but at the same time, 
such birds are far too valuable, at present, to supply the 
markets with. And now, a few words concerning the far- 
farmed and petted Cochin-China. 
By-the-by, I may here mention, that I was one of the 
first persons in this country who possessed this valuable 
variety of fowl. I soon became conscious of their good 
laying qualities, and have, therefore, since that time con¬ 
tinued to keep them, so that I have no prejudice against 
them, but rather the other way. From experience obtained 
during this time, and repeated trials made during the last 
twelve months, I can confidently affirm that the Cochin 
fowl will never answer as a market fowl, but as a producer 
of eggs, more especially during the winter months, they 
stand A. 1. But even with Cochins, like most other fowls, 
the hens vary much in the number of eggs they lay ; some 
lay every day for two or three months following; others, and 
even birds from the same brood, do not lay above lour or 
five eggs per week, and then only for a month or so, and 
then become broody. 
I have found, by repeated observations, that a hen to be a 
first-rate layer must be deep from the back to the breast¬ 
bone; in other words, flat; and a hen to make a fleshy bird 
must be wide across the loins, and broad-breasted; in fact, 
comparing small things with great, the cow and the fowl 
will be found to answer to the well-known principle of 
breeding animals, that a flat-framed cow is most prolific in 
milk, and a round-framed cow best for flesh-forming. 
Doubtless,’ I shall he taken to task by many amateurs who 
possess strains of magnificent Cochin fowls, for entertaining 
such an idea, and giving it publicity ; to such, I say, examine 
for yourselves, hens of the following breeds, and all will be 
found flat-framed if remarkable for good laying qualities: 
Cochins, Spanish, Hamburghs, and Minorcas; on the other 
hand, or round-framed birds, examine Malays, Game, 
Dorking, and Sussex. 
Leaving that part of the subject, let us see liom the 
Cochins will bear fatting by cramming; and here I will 
digress for a short time to inform you how they fat Dorkings. 
Suppose, for instance, a farmer’s wife was about to fat, say, 
a dozen fowls, that number of likely birds would be selected 
and placed in the fatting pen, a kind of box, the bottom of 
which is formed of one-and-a-half inch strips of wood, 
nailed, say, one inch apart, or sufficiently to allow the dung to 
drop through; into this pen the birds are consigned, and 
for the first few days (generally a week) allowed to peck 
com, barley meal, or oatmeal mixed with pot-liquor; the 
pen is covered over during the process with a sack, or some¬ 
thing of the kind, keeping the birds in the dark, and exceeding¬ 
ly hot. A small pan, containing small stones, <fcc., to assist 
digestion, is placed so that the birds can reach it. The pen 
being so small, and with the confinement and good feeding, 
the birds begin rapidly to form flesh; they are now fit for 
cramming; to do this, the poultry woman takes one bird out 
of the pen, places it in her lap, and from a pan of moistened 
