May 4. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
71 
seniors. In Shangliaes especially, April-hatched birds 
will, very commonly, be finer birds in July than those 
hatched a month earlier. Captain Hornby also tells us 
the following corroborative fact in another breed:— 
“ It is very difficult ever to say with even an approach 
to accuracy what is a bird’s age, high feeding makes 
such a difference. I had a Dorking cockerel once, who 
was a great pet—very highly fed, always warm. He slept 
in his keeper’s bed room, on the head of the bed. He 
throve immensely, and at ten months old he had the 
spur and the leg of an old bird. I never dared to show 
him. Any judge in England would have disqualified 
the pen, from the cock being not u chicken, and the pro¬ 
testations of the owner would not have been believed. 
I would scarcely have believed all this, had I not seen 
it. When the bird was nearly a year old, his frame was 
set; the younger and less forced birds beat him. Ho 
had been too much forced. The Dorking chickens I 
showed at Gloucester, and took the first prize with (they 
were first-rate), did little or nothing afterwards. They 
were beaten by later birds.” 
We intended to offer a few comments upon the ex¬ 
hibition of young Geese, but must defer our remarks 
until next week. 
ADVICE TO SMALL HOLDERS. 
Wf. may now take a glance at the plot of land, whether 
five acres or ten, and see if everything is ready for 
business; whether the soil is in a state adapted to carry 
out with comfort, certainty, and profit, those various 
operations necessary in cases of this kind. To lay 
down rotations, aud propound schemes which can only 
be carried out in well-drained and well-worked soils, 
will, of course, be labour in vain, if the plot is stagnant 
below, aud cloddy and adhesive above; means must be 
taken to correct these evils, or the design will be frus¬ 
trated. Fences, too, form an important consideration; 
no man can hope to carry out such views whose land is 
open to trespass from horses, cows, or sheep, to say 
nothing, for the present, about bipeds. 
Draining is now universally recognised as the basis 
of all good farming, that is to say, if the land require 
it, and we may safely affirm that the majority of plots 
do, in some portions, at least. The effects produced by 
stagnant soils on vegetation may be thus stated. Whilst 
the soil contains excess of water which cannot pass, 
manures cannot efficiently act, and neither spade, 
plough, nor any other implement, can efficiently reduce 
the surface, and without this, it is surely almost needless 
to add, no success in after-culture may be expected. Its 
effects on pasture or grass lands, too, is even as bad as 
upon arable soils; the finer grasses become exter¬ 
minated by those gross kinds which thrive under the 
very conditions so averso to superior herbage. The 
cattle, or stock, not being satisfied with it, pine or look 
half-starved. Indeed, the produce, in whatever shape, 
is bound to be inferior in quality, and short of bulk, 
and general weight of produce. Added to these evils, 
the very air that floats above aud around such plots is 
damper and colder than from highly-cultivated soils, 
and the very trees, if auy, bear ample testimony to the 
deteriorating effects of water retained in the soil. And 
then, the cultural expenses are much greater than on 
improved soils, for plough, harrow, spade, and roller, 
pass on with much more freedom on sound or mellow 
soils than on those unimproved. This serious cata¬ 
logue of evils is, indeed, only one-half of the full amount 
which our limited space will not allow us to go fully 
into. We will now look at the bright side of the picture. 
What gardeners term “ bottom-heat ” is greatly pro¬ 
moted by thorough draining, and it is not too much to 
affirm, that during the absence of frosts, snow, &c., well- 
drained lands range from three to six degrees higher in 
temperature than those in a stagnant state. The effects 
of this on early, late, or, indeed, on any crops, will appear 
obvious. Draining acts not alone on what is termed 
the mechanical character or texture of soils, but on their 
chemical condition also. The free passage of rain-water, 
and, by consequence, the free admission of air into the 
soil, facilitates a continual decomposition of both 
organic and mineral matters; thus presenting a liberal 
amount of the necessary food of plants for absorption 
by the spongioles or fibres. 
Sir J. Sinclair, so long back as 1817, affirmed that 
the rent of sundry sheep farms in the southern parts of 
Scotland had been quadrupled through the beneficial 
influences of thorough drainage. To finish our recom¬ 
mendations, let me repeat, that where even stagnant 
soils are thoroughly reclaimed, the very air of the spot 
becomes more salubrious—more conducive to the wel¬ 
fare of both man and beast. 
About modes of draining, we can here afford no space 
for remarks; such would weaken the subject; go let us 
look next at our Fences, and see what can be done with 
them. I have before observed, that a good exterior fence 
is indispensable; and, indeed, the divisional fences where 
stock of any kind is pastured are scarcely second in im¬ 
portance. Fences are various, according to the need or 
means of the proprietor, or the character of the locality; 
but one character of fence I would especially urge on the 
owners of small farms, and that is the Holly hedge; 
especially for an exterior boundary. If, indeed, only 
the north and east sides were thus protected, much 
advantage would be gamed in the earliness of certain 
crops, and the excellent protection they afford to cattle. 
We have some in these parts from eight to twelve feet 
in height, and not more than two feet diameter, having 
been well “knifed-in” during their earlier stages; they 
are, moreover, thick down to the ground, and almost 
impenetrable. I need scarcely observe, that the shelter 
they afford is beyond every other kind of hedge, and 
they ai-e, moreover, a gi-eat ornament in any situation. 
One of the chief recommendations of the Holly as a 
hedge plant is the durability, or permanency, of the 
lower branches; I know of no hedge evergreen which 
will so long retain power and freshness in the lower 
branches; thus removing all anxiety about nakedness 
at the bottom of the hedge. In this part of the country 
Hollies are used to a considerable extent, and our 
farmers are loud in their praises concerning them. 
They are frequently dotted here and there in a line of 
hedge, from twenty to fifty yards apart; and cattle 
plainly attest to their sheltering properties, as in cutting 
weather and snow storms they generally congregate 
behind a group of Hollies. In some cases they are 
planted about one in a yard or so, amongst the quicks, 
and a very strong hedge it makes. I, however, prefer 
all Hollies. 
Draining and Hedges being done with for the 
present, let us enquire about the character of the Son,, 
chiefly as to what is termed its mechanical texture, and 
see whether any ameliorating proceedings are necessary. 
I may here just observe, that the soil in which plants 
are growing should be permeable to the free extension of 
the fibres of the growing crop; and that whatever 
impedes the progress of the roots occasions at least a 
loss of time. The soil is, indeed, the fruit laboratory, in 
which the food of plants is prepared for them; the 
facility with which this is accomplished depends not 
only on its mechanical conditions, but on the combined 
