38 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 21. 
May, and again in autumn, I have seen very large flocks in 
the small sandy hays, fishing day after day for sand-eels. 
They sit in the water much in the manner of the Cormo¬ 
rants, but without sinking so deep, unless when alanned, 
and advance with great speed. It is a pleasant occupation 
to an idle scholar or wandering ornithologist to watch one 
of these flocks as it sweeps along the shores. I have many 
times engaged in it, both with the desire of shooting some 
of them, and of studying their manners, which are very 
graceful. You may suppose us to be jammed into the crack 
of a rock, with our bats off, and we peeping cunningly at 
the advanced guard of the squadron, wdiich is rounding the 
point at no great distance. There they ghde along, and 
now, coming into shallow water, they poke their heads into 
it, raise them, and seem to look around, lest some masked 
battery should open upon them unawares. Now one has 
plunged with a jerk, another, one here, one there, at length 
the whole flock. Now start up, and if you wish a shot, run 
to the water’s edge, and get down among the sea-weed 
behind a stone, while I from this eminence survey the sub¬ 
mersed flock. How smartly they shoot along under the 
water, with partially outspread wings, some darting right 
forward, others wheeling or winding, most of them close to 
the sandy bottom, but a few near the surface. Some 
flounders, startled by the hurricane, shoot right out to sea, 
without being pursued. But there, one is up, another, and 
I must sink to repose in some hole. How prettily they rise 
to the sm-face, one here, another there, a whole covey at 
once emerging, and all without the least noise or splutter. 
But they are far beyond shot range. However, having 
come near the next rocky point, they now tmn, dive in suc¬ 
cession, and will scour the little bay until arising here at 
hand they will be liable to receive a salute that will astonish 
them. A whole minute has elapsed, half another ; but now 
one appeai's, two, many, the whole flock; and into the 
midst of them pours the duck-shot, while the noise of the 
explosion seems to roll along the hill-side. In a twinkling 
all are down, save six that float on the water, four dead, one 
spinning round, and the other striving in vain to dive. In 
less than two minutes they are seen emerging, more than a 
quarter of a mile out at sea, and presently again they are 
out of sight. On such occasions they seldom fly.” 
A correspondent writing to us from Inverness, says:— 
“ An immense breadth of Potatoes is planted here, (chiefly 
Irish cups); about one-half of the produce is destroyed by 
the disease, and it is astonishing to me with what cool indif¬ 
ference her Majesty’s subjects allow them to remain in the 
ground to rot! For the life of me I cannot understand this 
apathy for the potatoes. 
“ The harvest is completed in first-rate order, and the 
produce generally abundant. The Turnip crops are splendid, 
with very few exceptions, and some mildew. 
“ AVhat capital farming, generally speaking, we meet with 
in Scotland ; I admire the quiet method of their proceedings, 
but the women are worked too hard.” 
We bear that the first-class collection of Gocliin-Ghina 
fowls formed by Mr. Andrews, of Dorchester, have been 
sold by him to Mr. Cattlin, of London, for L250. We 
hope Mr. Andre ws will address himself to raising a fresh 
yard of them. 
The Gornwall Society’s Exhilntion of Poultry, as 
stated in our advertisement columns, is fi.xed for the 
10th and ilth of January, 1853. Its premiums, con¬ 
sidering that it must, from difficulty of access, be com¬ 
paratively local, are liberal, and its rules good—so good, 
that several of them have been adopted by the Win- 
1 Chester and Southern Counties Society for the improve¬ 
ment of Poultry. We have no doubt as to the show 
being good, for the published accounts of the poultry- 
yards near Penzance shew that they have first-rate birds 
in its vicinity. We hope soon to publish extracts from 
those accounts. 
! The following is a list of the Horticultural and \ 
Poultry Shows of which we are at present aware. We 
i shall be obliged by any of our readers sending us ad- ! 
ditions to the list, and giving the address of the Se- | 
cretaries. | 
HORTICULTURAL SHOWS. 
Bury St. Edmunds, Nov. 20 (Chrysanthemums). {Sec, 
G. P. Clay, Esq.) i 
Caledonian (Inverleith Row), Edinburgh, Deo. 2. j 
Hampshire, Nov. 18 (Winchester). {Sec. Itev. E. Wick¬ 
ham, Winchester.) 
London Floricultdral (Exeter Hall, Strand), Nov. 9t, 
23, Dec. 1T+. 
North London, Nov. 23, Chrysanthemum. j 
South London (Royal), Nov. lit, Dec. 9+, 16, 
POULTRY SHOWS. | 
BmnNGHAM AND Midland Counties, 14th, 15th, ICth, [ 
and 17th December. 
Bristol Agricultural, December 7th, 8th, and 9th. 
{Sec. James Marmont.) 
Cornwall (Penzance), January 10th, and 11th. {Secs. 
Rev. W. W. Wingfield, Gulval Vicarage, and E. H. 
Rodd, Esq.) 
Dorchester, Nov. 18th. (.Sec., G. J. Andrews, Esq., Dor¬ 
chester.) 
t For seedlings only. 
FRUIT STORES. 
We must break in on the series of Pine papers for a 
week, in order to oft'er advice on this head. As to gather¬ 
ing, of course much of that will have been performed. 
The gathering, however, is pretty well understood; and 
the amount of care requisite tolerably well appreciated. 
Some of our late pears will be still out in places, such as 
the Winter Neilis, the Glout Morceau, Beurre d’Arem- 
berg, Beurre Ranee, Ne plus Dleuris, and some of Mr. 
Rivers’s new continental kinds, of which, as far as tried, 
w'e cannot speak very highly in the north; in the southern 
portions of the kingdom they may deserve a very high 
character. We are no advocates for letting the fruit 
remain long enough on the trees to endure several 
degrees of frost. A thermometer of 28° may, pierhaps, 
do no harm, but lower we would never go if we could 
avoid it. Indeed, after the first week of October, it is 
probable fruits receive but little benefit from the tree: 
that they may receive harm is certain. The juices of 
the tree become very sluggish after that period, and the 
elaborative functions of the foliage almost a nominal 
affair, as far as the fruit is concerned, and this more i 
especially with regard to fruits from warmer climates. 
And now a few words as to the keeping of our valuable 
winter apples and pears, about which some difference of 
opinion still exists. It is evident that the main princi¬ 
ples we have to consider in this question are as follows— 
The temperature. 
The hygrometric conditions. 
The action of the atmosphere. 
Beyond this, we think nothing of any weight pertains 
to the question; whether they lie on straw, fern, or 
paper, or on the mere boards, or on any other material, 
matters little, only as far as they contribute to the 
carrying-out the necessary conditions, or of saving the 
fruit from bruises. 
As to temperature, there is little doubt that coolness, 
or that amount of cold which would be unpleasant to 
endure sitting in a room, is absolutely essential to the 
long keeping of fruits. But whilst this is observed, let 
it not be supposed that a single degree of frost may be 
permitted. Whatever injury it may do the fruit whilst 
in a growing state on the tree, there is little doubt that 
much more injury accrues from such conditions when 
in a transition state from firmness to mellowness. 
