168 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Decembkr 2. 
every shoot over the whole ti'ee terminates in a bunch of 
bloom of a purplish-red colour, and the whole foliage is of a 
dark shining-green colour. It commences flowering in Sep¬ 
tember, and continues in bloom, more or less, until the end 
of April. Ours is a perfect gem at this moment (Nov. 20th). 
I was, with a friend, a few evenings since admiring the beauty 
of this plant, and to see the moths flying from flower to 
flower (mostly of the Phahena gamma, or the Greek G. moth- 
kind) proved that they admired its sweetness too. 
This shrub was planted out here the spring following 
the severe winter of 1837-8, and has never been protected. 
I believe it is nearly as hardy as the D. laureula, on which it 
is grafted. When the weather is very severe, it causes 
some of the blossoms to fall off; yet, after a change again to 
a south-westerly wind and a few showers, the tree looks as 
gay as ever. 
Daphne cneorum. — This is well named “the Garland 
flower,” and a prettier little hardy plant does not exist. It 
should always be a front border plant when planted out, and 
have as nice, open, sunny spot as can be given it. It is 
often grafted, like others, iipon the D. laureula, and small 
l^lants of it look very pretty in this way, either in pot or 
planted out. It may be planted out in almost any good 
garden soil when grafted on the laureula, but when the plant 
stands upon its own roots it should be planted out in peat, 
in a dry, warm, sunny situation, which makes the finest 
specimens to stand the test of years. I do not know how 
many legs of D. laureula it would require to bear up a speci¬ 
men we have of this beautiful plant on its own roots, and 
many rooted plants might be taken from it if required, for 
the outer stems, as they come in contact with the earth, put 
out roots readily, consequently it is increased easily by 
I layers. There are two varieties of this plant, namely Vnric- 
\ gala and Grandijiora. Both the species and its varieties are 
j equally beautiful. It commences flowering in April, and 
continues oftentimes more or less during the summer 
months, of a beautiful reddish-pink colom’, and very sweet- 
scented. The flowers keep perfect a long time after being 
j cut for nosegays, for which it is so very desirable. 
Daphne ponlica is a very desirable kind as a front shrub 
in the plantation, or as a bunch or group by itself. Low 
ground, or a cool situation, suits it best. Indeed, it does 
very well under the drip of other trees, and also best upon 
its own roots iu such places. It grows too straggling and 
rampant to be grafted upon the D. laureula — though grafted 
plants are all very well for a few years’ growth of any of the 
kinds. The stems of this species, as they come in contact 
with the eai'th, put out roots freely enough, so that, of 
course, it is readily increased by layers. The whole plant 
is of a pale-green colour, rising from two to three feet in 
height. Its flowers are numerous, and of a yellowish- 
green colour, and very sweet scented. It flowers in April 
and May. 
Daphne Mezercum, commonly called Mezereon, has two 
varieties, the white and dark red. Though a native of our 
own woods it is none the worse for that. These are plants 
of very pretty growth, suitable as front plants to the planta¬ 
tion, and, as a poet says, 
“ Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 
, With blushing wreaths investing every spray.” 
I These plants are increased by seed, and require a good 
I sandy loam. The ripe berries look very tempting upon the 
plants, but they are poisonous. The Mezereon is one of the 
first shrubs to be seen in bloom in the plantation. February 
and March is its time of flowering, and, if not the only 
shrub then in bloom, it will for certain be the most showy 
and the sweetest. 
Daphne Oullina, NeapolUana, and Gnidium, and several 
others are grafted upon the D. laureula, and, as shrubs, are 
very well where the number of kinds is the consideration. 
The Daphne laureula is itself a particularly useful plant 
; to live, flourish, ^nd flower under the drip of trees, and in 
the shade where few other things will live.—T. Weavee. 
CROSS BREEDING OF FOWl.S, AND CURE 
FOR THE ROUT. 
I have read attentively nearly all papers that have 
appeared in The Cottage Gaudenee relative to that now 
“ fashionable subject, the Cochin-China fowl and its rival ] 
the Spanish ; ” and throughout the whole I find each advo- | 
eating the cause of his favourite bird too frequently by | 
vague assertion or “ mere fancy.” The table by “ Gallus ” is ! 
not at all satisfactory ; it would require that the same i 
number of fowls of each kind and sex be kept together for 
a considerable length, of time—say twelve months—the food 
they consume weighed, and the retm’n they give in eggs 
also weighed; we could then come to something like a 
correct estimate of the relative value of the different kinds. 
But at i)resent one asserts “ the Spanish lay larger eggs, 
and are more profitable to keep in consequence of constiming 
much less food;” another affirms “that Cochins do not eat 
more than Spanish or Dorking,” and that “their frequent 
and pertinacious desire to sit is their only drawback.” 
The Cochins, on all hands, are allowed to be very pro¬ 
ductive, but their very great desire to hatch is a failing in 
the breed. The Spanish, on the other hand, are seldom or 
never inclined to sit, and lay eggs of a much larger size. 
Now, it appears to me that a cross between the Spanish and 
Cochin would be the very perfection of fowls; and a breed 
of fowls may be raised between them combining the good 
qualifications of both, just as you, Mr. Editor, would take 
the pollen from one flower, and j)ut it in another. Take an 
instance : If I had a fine farmed flower of a colour which I 
was desirous of altering in its progeny, what would I do ‘I 
I w'ould look about me for the best-formed flower of the 
colour I wished, and impregnate with this pollen my 
favourite-formed flower, and the probability would be that 
I should obtain some of the desired colour, and equal in 
form to its female parent; and, reasoning from the world of 
flowers to the world of animal life, I would find the same 
general law to hold good in both. “ But, ah ' ” says the 
amateur, “ I’ll have no mongrel race ; I’ll have nothing but 
pure breed.” Now, I do believe this to be a groat mistake. 
How, I would ask, have we improved our breed of cattle ? 
Is it not by breeding with those animals who have what we 
want in greatest perfection, and by following it out that 
we find them iu the improved state they are now in ; and 
1 cannot see why the breeding of poultry should be an 
exception. 
I have been led to make these remarks in consequence of 
having last year a chicken from a cross between a I’oland 
hen and a Cochin-China cock. It turned out a hen, and 
began laying in the beginning of January last (being only 
hatched in July), and laid, on an average, five and six eggs 
a-week until the end of March following, when she mani¬ 
fested a desire to sit, and was then set on a dozen Cochin 
eggs, eleven of which were hatched by her ; and hefure the 
chideens were three weeks old she had began laying again, and 
has continued doing so, I may say, almost without inter¬ 
mission ever since; for when she showed an inclination to 
hatch again, a single day, or two, at the most (very ditferent 
from Cochins), in a crib, put the fever otf, and in eight or 
ten days she was laying again. She moulted about a month 
ago, and was scarcely finished moulting when she began 
again to lay; and although she may not lay so many days 
running as Cochins, still I have no doubt she lays within 
the year a greater number, and the eggs are considerably 
larger. I have two pullets this year from the same hen 
and a Cochin cock, which seem to promise equally well; 
and in the spring of next year I mean to try a cross between 
a Spanish cock and a Cochin hen, and I have no doubt that 
the progeny will be larger and stronger than the Spanish ; 
and the number of eggs will be increased from tho pro¬ 
ductiveness of the Cochin, and “ the pertinaceous desire to 
set” will be lessened by the Spanish, and altogether a better 
fowl will be produced for profitable purposes (and that is 
what is really wanted) than what either will produce sepa¬ 
rately, and all my observations on the breeding of fowls 
confirms it. 
I have kept fowls for several years, but have never known 
what disease was, until this season. A disease (I am at a 
loss to give it a name) has seized on neitrly all my young 
broods when about half or three-parts grown, and several of 
them have died in consequence—wasting and pining away. 
Tho trouble, to all outward appearance, being in the head. 
The first thing that strikes one is the ruftled slate of their 
feathers, afterwards a discharge from tho nostrils, and as 
the disease advances, the head, between the eyes and the 
