THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
501 
September 26. 
toad gape, without doing so himself, he will be convinced at 
once by the open countenance of the reptile, and the 
formation of its mouth, that it was not formed by nature to 
injure or feed on fruit. More harmless and useful creatures 
do not exist in a garden. 
I have now given, concisely, all the information in my 
power upon this subject, and finish with the advice to all 
growers of Strawberries—Get rid of old prejudices in 
planting and growing. In such case, time, produce, and 
flavour will show the decidedly superior advantages of the 
above method of cultivation, though I do not pledge myself 
that any one, even by following my plans, will produce a 
fruit that will equal the “ Sir Harry " much less surpass 
it.— Rich. Underhilt., Sir Harry's Road, Edgbaslon, Bir¬ 
mingham. 
THE POULTRY MEDICINE CHEST. 
ARTICLE I.—CALOMEL. 
It has occurred to me that a series of articles on the 
various medicines usually employed in the treatment of 
! poultry might be interesting, especially if their action upon 
the living body, their doses, mode of administration, and 
the diseases in which they are likely to prove advantageous, 
or the reverse, be indicated. I propose, therefore, in the 
; present series, to examine the different poultry medicines 
in this manner. I shall not follow any scientific arrange- 
I ment, but rather take up the different remedies somewhat 
in the order of their importance, and shall conclude what I 
have to state about each one within the limits of a single 
paper. 
One of the most important poultry remedies is calomel, 
which, as is generally known, is a mecurial preparation most 
used in human diseases, and which, in many inflammatory 
affections, is regarded as the sheet-anchor of the physician. 
Calomel, in large doses, acts as an aperient, stimulating also 
to increased action the liver and other important glandular 
organs, and thus causing an increased flow of bile and other 
secretions ; this latter effect is also produced to an equal, or 
sometimes even to a greater, degree by small doses, the 
aperient effect being the result of large ones. In addition 
'to these important effects, calomel (and, in fact, all mecurial 
preparations), if taken in continuance, becomes absorbed into 
the system, and produces peculiar results, which, in the 
human subject, are named after one of the most evident 
symptoms, and termed salivation. Many kinds of inflam¬ 
mation seem unable to resist this mercurial action, and are 
cured as soon as the slightest tenderness of the gums is 
produced. 
It is a fact well known to all medical practitioners, that 
children bear the effects of mercury much better than 
adults, and, consequently, larger doses (out of proportion to 
the rules which are usually followed in physicking children) 
are given to them with great benefit. I have also observed 
that fowls bear calomel very well, and have never seen the 
slightest ill-effect from doses of a single grain. Being quite 
insoluble in water, and much heavier than that liquid, it 
should not be given in a fluid form, but the poultry fancier 
may keep a slock of one-grain calomel pills by him, which 
may either be put down the throat of the bird, or it placed 
in a small piece of crumb of bread will be swallowed readily. 
There is an objection to keeping pills for a length of time 
when intended for human use, namely, that they often 
become so hard as to be utterly incapable of being softened 
in the stomach, but the grinding action of the gizzard ob¬ 
viates any objection on this score. The poultry diseases in 
which I have found calomel to be advantageous are as 
foUows:— 
Vertigo.— When a fowl is attacked by giddiness, or vertigo, 
if the case is not sufficiently severe to warrant bleeding, one 
grain of calomel will be found to afford great relief, by pro¬ 
ducing a large secretion of bile from the liver, and ten 
grains of jalap may be given six hours after. 
Inflammation of the Lungs and Croup may be bene¬ 
fited by calomel, but smafl doses of tartar emetic are more 
to be depended upon, with which, however, the calomel may 
be conjoined. 
Skin Diseases, especially that aggravated form of white 
comb, in which the feathers fall off the head and neck, are 
rapidly benefited by calomel in alterative doses, as half a 
grain twice a week, either by itself, or combined as it exists, 
in the form of Plummets Pill, which may be used similarly 
in five-grain doses. 
Inflammation of the Egg-passage, shown by the laying 
of imperfect or soft eggs, is speedily subdued by one grain 
of calomel and one-twelfth of a grain of tartar emetic, j 
Care should be taken not to confound this disease with the j 
mere laying of shelless eggs from the absence of lime ; a j 
state of things readily remedied, by giving a harrowful of old 
mortar rubbish, or some broken oyster or other shells. 
In Febrile Diseases of any kind, where the general 
symptoms are obscure, but where dryness of the tongue (the 
pip of the olden writers) exists, loss of appetite, moping, 
&c., I should generally give a grain of calomel, and I should 
bo much inclined to follow the same treatment when a fowl 
is out of condition without any very evident cause. 
Inflammation of the Feet, indicated by swelling, at¬ 
tended with increased heat, closely resembles gout, and is 
much benefited by calomel, especially if three to five drops 
of colchieum wine are given three times a day. 
These I regard as the most important diseases in which 
calomel is likely to prove of service. There are many com¬ 
plaints in which its employment is not attended with benefit, 
of these the most important are consumption, gapes, arising 
from the presence of parasitic worms, leg weakness, and, 
unfortunately, to these, I must add roup, on which calomel, 
in occasional or continued doses, seems to have little in¬ 
fluence. There are other diseases in which it is not bene¬ 
ficial, but as it is not likely to be employed in their treat¬ 
ment, it is scarcely requisite to allude to them here.—W. B. 
Tegetmeiee, Willesden. 
BEAU SEJOUR, GUERNSEY. 
Being in Guernsey during the past week, I availed my¬ 
self of a portion of the time I had to spare to visit some of 
the pretty gardens in that Island, and, amongst others, 
I visited that at “Beau Sejour,” near the New Ground, and 
within a few minutes walk of St. Peter’s Port. I was sorry 
to find that the proprietor, Harry Dobree, Esq., was breaking 
up his establishment, and that the property was about to 
pass into the tenure of a gentleman, who, though passion¬ 
ately fond of flowers, is not likely to apply himself with so 
much earnestness to the cultivation of bulbs as his pre¬ 
decessor; a department in floricultural science for which 
these gardens had been so famous in the production of new 
and good varieties, Ac. The modus operandi of the retiring 
occupant had been of such a systematical character as to 
be productive of the most pleasing results. Many of the 
most beautiful seedling Ixias have been raised and cultivated 
here, and it is to he hoped that the present possessors ol I 
the stock will continue their cultivation in the same improv¬ 
ing style, so that, eventually, we may have the varieties of 
that pretty genus as extensive in styles of growth, seasons 
of blooming, shape of blossoms, and variety of colours, as 
any of the other genera of bulbous-rooted plants. 
Apologising for the valuable space I am occupying in 
giving expressions to my doubts and hopes respecting 
futurity in matters with which I am indirectly interested, 
I will proceed to the object I had in view when I com¬ 
menced writing this paper, viz:—That in the garden, at 
this place, I had the pleasure of seeing a fine plant of 
Tacsonia mollissima growing without any sort of protection, 
and covering a space three feet wide, on a wall .twelve feet 
high, in a southern aspect, and flowering away in the most 
glorious profusion, many of its beautiful, long tubed, Passion- 
flower-like blossoms being expanded, and innumerable buds 
to expand, having been planted there two years, and setting, 
to all appearance, the elements at defiance ; and by its side 
was also growing a large specimen of Bignonia jasminoides, 
with thirty to forty beautiful trusses of bloom expanded on 
it, the flowers being much more coloured than they generally 
are when growing in a greenhouse or stove: they had lost 
that beautiful transparent porcelain-like whiteness which 
the flowers generally assume, and were rosy throughout the 
petals, with the usual purple throat; they had apparently 
acquired their colouring from exposure, and were pleasing 
I to look at, if for “change of colour's sake” only. This 
