OCTODER 7. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
19 
A short time ago, some Cochin-China fanatic was awfully 
angry with the Royal Agricultural Society for placing the 
“Dorking Fowl” in Class A of their prize list, instead of 
the Cochins ; but what could a farmer do with a lot of naked 
Cochins ? He requires a breed that shall come early to 
maturity, and weigh heavily, and lay well; and in these 
particulars the Dorkings far surpass the “ pet of the fancy.” 
A Dorking pullet, hatched in April last (12th), within one 
hundred yards of the unfeathered Cochin above referred 
to, weighs, at this date, six pounds, and has laid eggs every 
alternate day for tlie past three weeks. This is the breed 
for the agriculturist; and the Society has acted wisely and 
well in their selection and arrangement of the prize list; 
for if a genealogy, stretching back for centuries, ev'en far 
beyond the age of the learned Aldrovandi; if associations, 
classical as the Bard of Avon's writings can make them ; if 
the authority of Pliny and Columella can outweigh the 
ephemeral opinions of the fashionable dand 3 'ism of the 
present day; or, what is far more to the purpose, if beauty 
of plumage, early maturity, great size, fecundity in eggs and 
chickens, whiteness, and delicacy of flesh, constitute claims 
for preference in the gallinaceous tribes, then, may the 
high-bred speckled Dorking calmly “ abide its time,” and 
treat with proud and becoming indifference the popular 
mania in favour of the long-legged, tough, tall, and tailless 
Cochin-Chinas. Such, at least, is the modest opinion of 
Mickleover, Sept. 22, 1852. Amicus Oalli. 
FAMILIARITY OF BIRDS. 
The Robin .—The nursery ballad on the “ Children in the 
Wood,” has done much for the protection of the Robin. He 
is a biid which never congregates, but is widely spread; and 
there are few localities in the country that are not enlivened 
by his presence. He is a general attendant on the gardener, 
particularly on the operations of the spade, in search of 
worms and insects. He is very familiar, and, if encouraged, 
I soon becomes half-domesticated. For two or three years a 
j robin formed one of my family ; seldom did I sit down to a 
I meal without his being on the table. He would enter the 
house by any door or window, and watch his opportunity to 
pass into the room as the servant brought in the dishes. 
At other times he would appear at the parlour window, and 
on being admitted, would fly to my knee, or perch upon the 
book I was reading; but his favourite post was the lid of 
a lady's workbox, and among its contents of bobbins and 
reels of cotton he would find great amusement. Upon 
this lid he would warble by the half-hour together, in 
soft, musical notes, which, at times, appeared to come from 
different parts of the room, as though lie was a ventriloquist. 
He would feed from the hand, and was not disturbed by 
the movements of the family. 
The Chnffinch .—Another of my familiar acquaintance was 
a hen Chaffinch, an almost constant visitor. One morning 
she brought, for my amusement, her little family of four 
young ones, and having arranged them in a row on the 
breakfast table, commenced feeding them. After their re¬ 
past a difficulty arose; she wished to withdraw them, but 
they remained immovetible, and it was interesting to observe 
her endeavours to accomplish this object, flying in and out 
of the room, and calling to them, but without avail. They 
appeared to enjoy their position, and were deaf to her soli¬ 
citations ; at length, one of them flew out, and the rest 
followed in succession. 
The Jackdaw .—One day a female of my family, on visiting 
a neighbouring farm, brought home a young Jackdaw, 
which had been caught by a boy. He was turned loose in 
the garden, and but little thought of him. He grew up, 
however, very sociable, and though he had full use of his 
wings for six years, he never left us, and was found dead at 
last on the gravel walk,'apparently killed by a stone. His 
first concern of a morning was to call me up, by tapping at 
my chamber window; he would then attend me in my 
rounds before breakfast, to pick up the earwigs, as they were 
emptied out of the flower pots, placed as traps on the tops 
of the dahlia stakes. He invariably assisted in our garden 
operations, seizing the small worms, grubs and insects. 
During the day, his favourite resort was an elm tree by the 
road-side, and his great delight consisted in holding collo¬ 
quies with the children as they went to, and returned from, 
school. He would visit the neighbouring cottages, par¬ 
ticularly if any worliraen were employed about them ; would 
sometimes accompany his mistress to church, which he was 
with much difficulty prevented from entering, and became at 
length so troublesome, that on these occasions he was 
obliged to be shut up ; if at liberty, he would watch for her 
return, and call to her the moment he saw her among the 
crowd. He would meet me on my coming home from a 
neighbouring town, and fly for a mile by the side of my gig, 
uttering “ Jack." He would attend me in my country walks, 
sailing over my head, and alighting on some tree in advance 
to invite me onwards. When drinking tea on the lawn, he 
would testify his joy by exhibiting all manner of gambols, 
sometimes over our shoulders, sometimes hiding himself in 
the folds of a lady's dress, but generally ending in seizing a 
slice of bread and butter, and flying off with it. His faults 
were—his over-familiarity, and making too free with what 
did not belong to him. Few animals exhibited greater 
sagacity ; he knew when he had done wrong ; his life was a 
system of schemes and contrivances, and his death a family 
loss. 
To those who are fond of studying the habits of birds, 
and whose position in life enables them to indulge in it, a 
delightful source of instruction and recreation may be found 
in cultivating their familiar acquaintance. 
S. P., Rushmere. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Prolificacy of Cochin-China Fowls.— Mr. E. George, of the 
Rookery, Chaldon, says, “ Beinp a breeder of light-coloured Cochin-China 
foM'Is, perhaps you will permit me to add my testimony in their favour, 
which I think your readers will allow the following facts to be. I have 
had seventy chickens, from one hen, since the end of February last, 
besides using some of her egics in other ways, and one dozen now 
hatching ; and, to my ow-n knowledge, she has laid a double-yolked egg 
and a soft-shelled one within twelve hours. I have had a brood of 
chickens from eggs of a pullet hatched the middle of March last; 
cockerels of same age weighing above nine/Jownrfs; pullets sly pounds; 
and others, a month younger, five pounds and three-quarters. As to their 
hardihood, I can only say the numbers we have lost in rearing does not 
amount to seven per cent., and nearly half of those have been accidents, 
such as getting into the wrong coops, and beini? killed by the hen, &c. 
Now and then a bird will gain weight even faster than those already 
mentioned : for instance, a cockerel, which I exhibited at Lewes, has con¬ 
tinued to gain more than an ounce a day ever since.” 
Hens Nests.— Mr. Ilk J. Beeby, of Chaldon, near Coulsden, Surrey, 
says, ” Referring to former numbers of your periodical, in which it has 
been endeavoured to show the best place for setting eggs, allow me to 
remark that, having kept the Cochin-China fowls the last five years, I 
have set the eggs on the bare ground, in wooden boxes on the ground, 
and, lastly, in wooden boxes raised from the ground, and (by way of ex¬ 
periment) lined with kamptulicon, (a composition of India-rubber and 
cork); and I am of opinion that a hen will hatch equally well in either 
of the above situations, if coinfortablv placed—the number of chickens 
brought forth depending entirely on the health of the layers and sitters. 
Can you tell me whether there have been any of the Cochin-China fowls 
imported of a pure w-hite colour, with top-knots? Fine specimens of 
this variety are to be had at Hong-Kongand Shanghae, as I am iniormed 
by a party who has been at those jtiaces.” We have not seen or heard 
before of white Cochin-China fowls with top-knots. We saw a buff one 
the other day with a slight tuft of feathers on the head ; but we think it 
was symptomatic of a cross in the blood of one of its parents. 
Datura just Blooming {Greenhorn). —In the first place, give it 
abundance of water all the time that it is in bloom, and, as we arc so 
near the winter, cease watering altogether as soon as it is out of flon-er ; 
the leaves will soon droop, and the plant will look deplorable for ten days 
or so, but you may smile the while. If the leaves do not fall in ten days 
after the drooping, pull them off, and let the plants stand naked all the 
winter, and, unless the green top branches begin to shrivel, you need 
give no water ; but if they do, give the pot a good soaking, to keep the 
tops fresh for cuttings. Any time in March or April, w-hen you have a 
cucumber bed at full work, cut down your Datura as far as you like—or 
say, at a venture, to within a few inches of where it began to grow from 
last season ; then with a thick paint made with water, soft soap, a little 
sulphur, and a lump of clay, cover the whole body of the plant, and let 
this remain as long as you can—it is to kill and keep off" insects- Every 
joint of the tops will make a cutting ; but you had better keep two jr-ints 
to a cutting when the joints are far apart—one joint at the bottom for 
roots, the other for leaves ; and so, when the joints or eyes are close on 
each other, make the cuttings four or five inches long. They like a brisk 
bottom-heat, but not much water. 
Maorandva Barclavana (fWd).—It is a perennial, and it may be 
cut in a good deal, and taken up and potted, but not rut down altogether. 
Keep a foot or so of the main stem, or stems, and six inches of as many 
of the side branches as you can train without crowding; and if there be 
any very small branches near the root, keep all of them, and at their full 
length. You had better do all this cutting at once, but let the plant 
remain to the end of October. One of the greatest errors in gardening 
at the present day is cutting in, or pruning, any plant, except the very 
commonest thing—as a laurel—the same day, or the same week, as it is 
tube potted from the borders, or transplanted elsewhere; Maurandyas 
particularly so, ns they make such long wiry roots, with few fibres ; but 
