THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
or sea-weed, such as is, and may be, gathered around the 
coast of the United Kingdom, as well as elsewhere, he 
| would make the Quince thrive even in his unfavourable 
position. As to lime, we all know that no more favourable 
material can be used for opening and pulverising a stiff 
soil of the description it is recommended for at page 285, 
and salt is always used when either sea-sand or sea-weed is 
used; but under other circumstances, afad where necessity 
impels you to use it in a crude state, it must be used 
sparingly, as otherwise its caustic nature might do more 
harm than its powers of imparting moisture can do good. 
Messrs. Ellwanger and Barry’s catalalogue specifies—That 
a sprinkling of salt around the roots of Quince-trees in the 
spring is found to be highly beneficial. 
Thus, I hope, I shall have better and more explicitly 
defined the practice I was desirous of developing; but as 
Mr Errington has to take another view of my paper some 
long evening, I suppose I shall have to come forward again 
in substantiation of what I have advanced. I shall do, if 
necessary, “ sans liable, ni yene, ni era bite," as our con¬ 
tinental neighbours say, being satisfied that what I have 
j advanced will bear the test of examination, and being fur¬ 
thermore satisfied that the more this subject is brought 
before the horticultural world, the more they are likely to 
take notice of it, to try it, to prove its merits and beneficial 
effects, and by giving their friends and neighbours “ ocular 
demonstration ” (which is considered the best of all proof) 
in its favour, to extend the practice, until throughout the 
length and breadth of the kingdom, the folks who love a 
mellow Pear may enjoy a “ Melter” gathered from their 
own “ dear little Quince-stock Pear-tree,” growing in the 
corner of the garden, and not taking up more room than an 
ordinary Gooseberry-bush. 
I can enjoy an argument with such a generous-minded 
individual as Mr. Errington. I regret lie should not have 
been placed in a favourable position to have realized the 
truth of what I have advanced, or the readers of ‘ The 
Cottage Gardener” may remain satisfied it would not 
have remained for me to make it public. He would have 
done it himself. The great desire he feels of being useful 
to bis fellow-men would have impelled him to the task; and 
whilst his very ingenious and clever methods of training 
the Pear-tree on the free stock have deservedly attracted 
the attention and admiration of his compeers, he must, 
nevertheless, make room for others to prove that something 
has and can yet be done in the cultivation of the Pear more 
than has yet been generally practised; and that not only by 
his own ingenious styles of pruning and training, but- by 
budding them on Quince stocks, and keeping them dwarf 
and productive.—C. 11. Saunders, Cicsarean Nursery, Jersey. 
THE GREY SHANGHAE OR BRAHMA 
ROOTRA FOWL, AS RECENTLY EXHIBITED. 
It has been asked, “ If a breed of fowls be really valuable, 
why trouble ourselves about their name ?” and we reply, 
usually there would be little need so to trouble ourselves, 
but we must take exception to this inference intended to be 
drawn in the instance of the birds that form the subject of 
this paper. We do so on these grounds, that the designa- ' 
tion “ Brahma Pootras," now commonly applied to them, i 
assigns their origin to a particular district, and is further¬ 
more employed in support of a claim to specific distinc¬ 
tion, to neither of which propositions are we prepared to 
yield our assent. 
I There being many persons who, from different motives, are [ 
desirous that these birds should occupy a high portion in 
public estimation, it becomes our duty carefully to sift and 
enquire into the evidence brought forward on their behalf. 
Their case, we think, may be fairly stated under the three 
following heads. 
1. What proof have we that these birds were originally 
imported from the neighbourhood of the Brahma Pootra 
river, or that they should be regarded as a breed commonly 
found in that country ? 
2. Have they complied with the usual tests by which we 
are acustomed to decide on the distinct character of anvrace 
of fowls ? 
•I. If not a distinct breed, are they to be regarded as a 
Shanghae variety, or consigned to the obscurity of a mongrel 
origin ? 
Before entering on our enquiries, it becomes necessary to 
refer to a difficulty that awaits us on the very threshold of 
our subject. It is this, that we are confessedly without a 
generally acknowledged type in respect of certain points of 
both “form” and “plumage” by which this alleged species 
may be distinguished. Dr. Bennett, the American poultry 
fancier, whose name has been so closely allied with these i 
birds, and from whose stock so large a proportion of those 
now in England have been descended, thus describes his 
specimens. “The cock is mostly white, the hackle being 
pencilled with black, saddle feathers white faintly tinged 
with yellow, the tail black, the wings being pencilled with 
black. I he pullets are white, with black tails, the wings and 
neck being slightly pencilled with black.” Such, certainly, 
has been the character of the plumage of very many of the 
so called Brahma Pootras exhibited in this country, if we 
substituted “ silver” for “ white.” But other authorities, and 
those ot no mean repute, require them to be uniformly pen¬ 
cilled throughout the whole of the upper part of the body, 
the tail being black, and the under part a dark grey. IVe 
will not lay much stress on the presence of combs of a wide- 1 
ly distinct form as an argument against their specific cha¬ 
racter, since we daily witness the change that has been \ 
wrought by domestication (probably) in some of our own 
fowls, the Dorkings, perhaps, more especially. But surely ! 
it is not too much to ask of the advocates for their new as¬ 
pirants to fame, that they should agree as to the nominal 1 
characteristics of the bird for which they would claim the 
high position of a dislinct breed. It will be evident that the 
absence of such positive definition renders the argument on j 
this side less satisfactory, by its plain tendency to narrow 
the gap between their favourites and the Shanghaes. 
Our first query referred to the presumed importation I 
into America of these birds from the banks of the Brahma¬ 
pootra, or, as it is sometimes spelt, the “ Burrampooter" 
river. A single pair appear to be the only specimens of 
whose extraction from such an aboriginal abode there is 
any account, and names, dates, and persons, moreover, are 
very indistinctly referred to. The country in question does I 
not seem to have supplied any specimens to English 
poultry-keepers, and considering that for a considerable 
distance the river in question flows through the Presidency 
of Bengal, and that we have not been less keen than our 
Transatlantic brethren of late years in our search for new 
varieties of poultry, it would certainly be strange that we \ 
should have been unsuccessful in the search which procured 
them the race of fowls of which we are now' speaking; and 
that, still further, such a breed should have been there 
found, ot which we still remain in ignorance, though so 
much more favourably situated for procuring accurate in- 
lormation. A reference to the map, moreover, will show that 
tor many degrees from its mouth the Brahma pootra 
traverses countries whose climate is far from that which 
would be likely to produce fowls capable of enduring that 
severity of cold which the birds in question are represented 
as encountering without injury. Dr. Gwynne, as quoted in | 
the “ Poultry Book,” page 177, thus expresses himself:— i 
“ Another circumstance which confirms me in the view I 
have ventured to express as to the identity of these birds 
with the Shanghae breed, is the fact that the fowls recently 1 
presented to Her Majesty by Mr. Burnham, under the name 
of Grey Shanghaes, are admitted by Dr. Bennett to be pre¬ 
cisely similar to his own ; and yet Mr. Burnham assures me 
that the original stock from which the Grey Shanghaes 
presented to Her Majesty were bred, w’ere imported by him¬ 
self direct from Shanghae.” This fact, in connexion with 
some similar statements, evidently points to a common 
habitat for the Brahma Pootra and the Shanghae, while the 
derivation of the first-named from the territories watered 
by the river whence the name has been claimed, is unat¬ 
tested by sufficient evidence, and, from natural circum- 
cumstances, is highly improbable. 
In the. second place, we have to ask, whether, in the case 
before us, the usual tests by which we are accustomed to 
pronounce on the distinctive character of fowls have been 
complied with ? Many will here reply, they most assuredly 
have been so proved. The chickens, it is asserted, have 
