70 
THE COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 
October 28. 
the introduction of steam-boats put a new face upon the 
matter, and ultimately the formation of tlie Blackwall Rail¬ 
way, and an arrangement between the Directors of it and 
the Steam Packet Companies, to run in connection with 
eacli other, have reduced it almost to a certainty. By these 
means the inhabitants of “ Cockneyshire ” exchange the 
smoke of the city for that of the steamers upon the Thames; 
enjoy a stroll over the new town of Gravesend, and drink 
their own porter in the gardens upon the hill, where, at the 
time we have first referred to, we used to shoot rabbits. Of 
these gardens we may again speak upon a futiu'e occasion, 
but it is of a spot at an intermediate stage of the journey 
that we propose to-day to discourse. 
AVe will suppese, then, that the reader has taken his 
ticket at the Blackwall Station. For Is. 2d. by the first, 
or lOd. by the second class, he may travel by rail to Black¬ 
wall, and thence by the steam packet to the village, once, 
we are told, the market town of Grays, which is situate on 
the Essex side of the Paver, three or four miles before 
you reach Gravesend. One of those useful wooden piers, so 
common upon the Thames, runs far enough into the river 
to enable the steamers to Land their passengers in any state 
of the tide, and for this accommodation sixpence additional 
is charged. 
Leaving the toll-house behind you, you will observe, at 
a distance of a hundred yards or so, an old square manor- 
house. This is the dwelling of Mr. Sturgeon and his 
family ; and let us whisper to you, kind reader, that if you 
are often in the habit of visiting a more hospitable mansion, 
you are, in our opinion, an exceedingly lucky fellow. AVe 
assume that such of our readers as are poultry-fanciers will 
have heard and read, more or less, of Mr. Sturgeon’s 
Cochin-China fowls; and having told those who were not 
before aware of it how to reach their abode, we are now 
about to communicate to such as are unable to avail them¬ 
selves of that infoi-mation and to see for themselves, the 
result of a recent visit to Grays. Let us say, first of all, 
that here is no pretension to a handsome or costly poultry- 
house. The Messrs. Sturgeon fann a large tract of land; 
their poidtry, consisting of Cochins exclusive!}', are kept as 
part of the stock of their farms ; and all that is aimed at in 
the buildings and idaces in which they are located, is just 
sufficient to insure their health, their comfort, and their 
safety. There is, moreover, none of the nonsensical ]nystery 
of concealment—learned, we suppose, from the tricks of 
the dealers—-which are seen in the yards of some of our 
fanciers; at Grays all is freely shown, and all as frankly 
told. The history of Mr. Sturgeon’s flock is a brief one. 
His first birds were a present from the captain of a vessel, 
who brought them direct from Shangai. The cock was 
killed by a fox, and the stock was reduced to the hen, which 
was sitting, and her embryo brood. From these, with the 
addition of such new blood as he has been enabled more 
recently to jirocure, the judgment and attention of Mr. 
Sturgeon have produced his present magnificent stock. Let 
our young fanciers derive hope and encouragement from 
these facts, for each of them has now better opportunities 
than, five years ago, Mr. Sturgeon possessed. 
AA''e have stated that there is no display at Grays. At the 
back of the house, at a corner of the kitchen-garden, is a 
plain shed, much such an one as we shall presently have 
occasion to describe ; in this Mr. Sturgeon’s breeding birds, 
or the best of them, abide during the spring months, and 
their “ walk” is a part of the kitchen-garden. It is fenced 
off from the rest by a length of wire, over which you can 
step, but which the birds never attempt to pass, so easily 
are they confined. They run about under some raspbeny 
bushes, and among the cabbages ; and we were surprised to 
see how little mischief they appeared to do. The floor of 
a small grapery, at the opposite corner of the garden, is 
given up in early spring to the young broods, who have here 
light, air, and warmth, and are allowed to run out a little in 
the middle of the day. 
At a distance of a few hundred yards from the house, and 
near to a little wood, sloping to the south, is the cottage of 
the intelligent man under whose care the birds are princi¬ 
pally placed. Adjoining this cottage, and at a little distance 
from each other, are two sheds, measuring perhaps (we 
speak from memory) fifteen feet by ten feet, buUt of wood, 
and thatched with reeds from the marshes. There are no 
perches, the floor being of open rails (perhaps three inches 
wide), and the rests are composed of wooden pai-titions 
at the end. ExceiJting those located, as we have said, 
in the garden adjoining the house, these are the d^velling- 
places of the best of Mr. Sturgeon’s stock, their run 
out being into the wood and field adjoining. At Ockenden, 
about five miles from Grays, is another farm occupied by 
Messrs. Sturgeon. Here are a mill and a lodge-gate, at 
each of which places a similar plain shed is erected; and in 
these, and one or two more such at convenient points on 
the farm, the rest of the birds are parcelled out in lots. 
Our readers will see, from this simple description, that, 
although they may, perhaps, not need so many, it is not diffi¬ 
cult for them to provide for their feathered favourites places 
of abode to the fuU as good as those whioli Mr. Sturgeon finds 
sufficient for his. AVe should ourselves suggest the addition 
of a perch about eighteen inches high, for which we have 
found nothing so good as a fir pole split down the centre, 
the round side being upwards, and the bark left on. 
It remains to say a few words of the birds themselves, for 
it is to them, in truth, and not to see the places in which 
they are kept, that a visit to any poultry-yard sliould princi- 
p.ally be paid. The prevailing colour of Mr. Sturgeon’s 
birds are the different shades of buff and yellow, with such 
an admixtm’e of other varieties as the most judicious cross¬ 
ing cannot prevent. The system of dividing them into lots, 
suitable to the amount of accommodation afforded by each 
“walk,” and of separating the sexes as soon as they are fit 
to leave the mother, which the number of Mr. Sturgeon’s 
separate “walks” enables him to carry out, promotes the 
growth, and improves the plumage of the young birds. 
Having bred, during the two last seasons, extensively, he has 
had abundant opportunity to select the most perfect in form 
and colour, and his judgment has made the most of his 
opportunities. Hence it is that Mr. Sturgeon’s birds have 
carried off the prizes at all the shows (save, we believe, one) 
at which they have been exhibited, and although others 
may, and probably have, bred some birds as good as his, w'e 
doubt if at this moment any poultry-yard in England can 
show so many good, with proportionately so few indifferent. 
Cochins. A reference to our advertising columns shows 
that our readers may have an early opportunity of testing 
for themselves the correctness of the opinion we have ex¬ 
pressed by looking in at the sale of Mr. Sturgeon’s surplus 
stock at the Baker Street Bazaar, on the 2d November, and 
perchance some of them may even become the purchasers of 
some of the fowls of which they are now reading an im¬ 
perfect account. 
AA^e should, perhaps, add, that there is nothing particular 
in Mr. Sturgeon’s mode of feeding his poulti-y; the different 
species of our own grain, some whole and some ground, and 
mixed with water (a little sweet milk, where it can be spared, 
is an improvement) with occasionally a few tallow-chandler’s 
greaves, being the staple of their food. 
AVe take leave of Mr. Sturgeon and his flock, sincerely 
wishing him a good sale, and thanking him and his family 
most sincerely for their courtesy and hospitality to those 
whose good fortune it has been, lilie our own, to visit them 
at Grays. B. 
THE SHELDRAKE AND ITS HAUNTS. 
(^Concluded from page 51). 
The stile at the foot of the wharf (nobody can call it a 
quay) is mounted, and here at once is a charming and novel 
promenade. On the left, just across the channel of Blake- 
ney harbour, are the salt-marshes, in the state they remain i 
from natural causes. AVe will have a stroll over them : 
another time. On the right are the valuable marshes of I 
Cley, reclaimed by the simple but costly erection on which we ! 
are treading. Several hundred acres have been inclosed by i 
a mound of clayey soil. The ditch formed by its excavation ' 
acts as the main drain; a sluice-gate lets off the super¬ 
abundant water at lowest ebb,—and that is nil. Here ai’e ' 
fat sheep and oxen grazing; there are gulls and all sorts of ' 
odd things. I like the odd things, and hope they will not ; 
be exterminated; but they will have a hard battle soon, i 
From this to AVeybourn all is to be brought into trim order; , 
and then the rest of this line, as well as the marshes round > 
