32 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENER. 
condition, you may pack it down as tight as possible into 
any barrel or box, and it will not heat any more; and the 
tighter it is packed the better it will preserve its flavour. 
The sweating gets rid of the bitter gum that coats it, and, 
when properly conditioned, it should liave a fine fresh, fra¬ 
grant smell, somewhat similar to new hay. The principle of 
curing tobacco is precisely similar to the correct principle of 
making good hay, or clover hay, only a more delicate opera¬ 
tion. Clover, or grass, when partially cured, should always 
be put into heaps until fermentation takes place, give it then 
a good shaking out and airing, and it will never injure by 
heating in the stack; so with tobacco, only it must be 
managed with a little more nicety, as it changes its condi¬ 
tion so rapidly with each atmospheric change. Nitrate of 
potass is the chief ingredient in its ashes. The stalk or stem 
of the plant is of no use except for manure, for which it is 
valuable for any of the cereal crops. 
It is erroneously supposed by many to be a great ex¬ 
hauster of the soil, and to require very rich ground. The 
idea is a monstrous fallacy, based upon practical results, 
without tracing them to their proper cause. Rich ground 
will make a very heavy crop of inferior tobacco, but the 
finest tobacco that can be grown is upon a poor sandy virgin 
soil. The first and second season after clearing off the 
timber, when the plant can obtain a sufficient quantity of 
potash from the little vegetable leaf-mould that is on the 
surface, combining which with the large quantity of am¬ 
monia its extensive system of leaves enables it to absorb 
from the atmosphere, it forms the nitrate of potass which, 
with some silicates, forms the principal ingredient of its 
ashes. A wet season is the most fatal to tobacco, especially 
if water lies about the roots; for which reason a little side 
or very undulating ground will make the brightest crops. 
Leyton. 
[The correspondent who has obliged us with this, says it 
is furnished by a Maryland tobacco planter, now resident, 
and for the last two or three years, in England, and, there¬ 
fore, may be relied on.— Ed. C. G.] 
THE BEST FUCHSIAS. 
Allow me to say a few words on the six best Fuchsias 
that are out. For the three dark with puiqile corolla;—First, 
take Nil Desperandum, Clapton Hero, and Alpha. These are 
the best three darks, so far as quality is the object. If size, 
then take Orion, Don Giovant, and Smith’s Kossuth. For 
the light, take Banks’s Conspicua, Ariel (Banks), and 
Princess (Banks). These I have found to be the most 
useful light ones that are grown. Their quality I have 
tested, therefore, if j'our correspondent, “ Lac}',” has not 
them in his collection, I should advise him to secure them ; 
they are reasonable in price. He may obtain all the 
varieties mentioned above, at Mr. Smith's, Tollington 
Nursery, Islington. If “Lacy” wants something nearer 
perfection than the Fuchsias I have noticed, he must stop 
till the spring of 1853. Then he may procure Bank’s 
GAry—than wliich in dark Fuchsias there is nothing to 
equal it. The beautiful deep crimson of the tube and 
sepals, the corolla being a glossy violet pui^ple, forms a most 
gratifying contrast. It has had the honour of six first class 
certificates at the principal shows this season. Likewise a 
white Fuchsia, Lady Franklin, is considered the best light- 
coloured. The tube and sepals being so pure white, and 
the corolla pinky jmrple; it is quite entering into a new 
class of Fuchsias. If “Lacy” procures these in the spring, 
he need not fear competition. There are a few others that 
ouglit not to be omitted, if a first-rate collection is wanted. 
I Will name them at a future time.—R. Weathebill. 
COST OF KEEPING COCHIN-CHINA FOWLS. 
Undeb, the impression that I had sufficiently trespassed 
on tlie space of your paper, and the patience of your readers, 
J bad detemmed to trouble you no more; but Anster 
Honn s last letter calls for some remark. I do full justice 
to her zeal, her intelligence, and knowledge of the good 
quahlies ol Cochin-China poultry—I admire her candour; 
but whilst I read with pleasure her remarks, and readily 
OCTOBEII 14. 
believe she is fully impressed with the reality of all she 
states, I must, with all courtesy, be permitted to add, that 
I am not the least convinced that Cochin-Chinas have any 
right to the great superiority she wishes to claim for them ; 
nor do I think that Anster Bonn, keeping only one sort of 
poultry, can enter into this comparative discussion with a 
mind as unprejudiced' as one who, like myself, keeps several 
sorts of what are supposed to be the best poultry, and who 
(only wishing to arrive at what is really the best breed) has 
no prejudice or partiality to gratify. 
When Anster Bonn did keep other poultry, by her own 
account they w'ere “indifferent Dorking, Spanish, a mixed 
lot, (fee.; ” but in my case I claim to have some of the best 
Cochin-Chinas in England, bred from Mr. Sturgeon’s and 
Mr. Andrews’s best birds—not (as Anster Bonn hints) 
“with length of leg, and upright gait,” likely to have any 
cross of Malay; but short-legged, good in colour and shape ; 
and as you, Mr. Editor, have seen my birds, you will give 
me credit for not decrying Cochins from envy. I agree 
perfectly in many of the good qualities advanced by Anster 
Bonn in favour of her feathered friends—I admire their 
laying powers, their docility and their early maturity; but 
even on this last point something may be said. I have 
heard (and am inclined to believe) that an opinion is 
gaining ground mth some of the oldest, most experienced 
Cochin-China fanciers, that if this poultry does come into 
use earlier than other fowls, so they go out of use propor- 
tionably earlier. If this proves-lO be so, one of the great 
merits claimed for them is much weakened. Time must 
prove this. I am inclined to attach great weight to this 
opinion, coming to me from the quarter it did. 
Anster Bonn, even, cannot defend the size of their eggs. 
I heard remarked at the breakfast-table the other morning, 
when some Cochin-China eggs appeared, “ Do you call these 
eggs? Why, I could eat a dozen of them ! ” As for myself, 
I can sympathise with others, I have detested eggs ever 
since having been let in for a “ horrid thing,” I was com¬ 
forted by hearing that I had only eaten for a “ breakfast 
egg ” what was called a “ dinner egg ” (an abomination of 
six weeks old). 
Two points must remain in dispute between Anster Bonn 
and myself;—The quality of Cochins as table fowls; and 
the quantity of food they consume. The first must bo 
always a matter of taste. I have now tried several, and 
still think they are not equal to any Dorking (Mr. Baily’s, 
or anybody’s). Of the dinner to which Anster Bonn alludes 
I had heard some rumour; and I do not doubt Anster 
Bonn’s kindness and candour will induce her to inform 
us, whether the general opinion in the dining-room was 
pronounced as decidedly in favour of the Cochin-China as 
she tells us it was “ out of the dining-room.” I have heard 
a whisper it was not so. 
Anster Bonn’s statement as to the expense of food of 
her fowls is to me perfectly astounding. “ One ]}cnny a 
week per head ! ” It strikes me, either that I (from being, I 
suppose, a friend to the farmer) have been paying too much 
for my corn, or that there is a “screw loose”in the domestic 
economy of my poultry-pard. I liave never kept any correct 
account of the weekly expense per head, but in a rough 
way I have supposed it to be from 3d. to 3Jd. per liead 
weekly (unless ■with the run of a fann-yard, when it would 
be much less), for common fowls, and more for Cochin- 
Chinas. 
I have heard several remarks of—“ A jjenny a-week, 
indeed ! Ridiculous! Much more like a penny a-day, Sea." 
I offered an old woman, who walks some of my fowls, a 
penny! twopence ! threepence 1 a-week. She refused them 
all. 
A poultry dealer of my acquaintance puts it at 2-Jd. a- 
week. “ But then. Sir (he added), I can get my stuff 
cheaper than you.” I am detei’mined, Jiow, to put this to 
the tost. I have confined two lots of fowls (each consists 
of one Cochin China cock, and two hens) in two sepoiatc 
yards. A quantity of food had been weighed previously, in 
separate boxes, for them. From these they will be fed, and 
as what is left at the end of the week will be weighed, I 
can ascertain to half-an-ounce what the consmnption of 
food has been, and your readers shall be acquainted with 
the consumption, the cost, the number of eggs laid in the 
time (and their joint weight), and they may then form their 
