! January C. THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 209 
I COCHINS, HORKINGS, AND SPANISH. 
' I uaentioiied, iu a former communication upon this subject, 
that I was bj’ no means inclined to think that the Cochins 
were Ihe “ enormous ” eaters whicli “ Callus ” and his friends 
asserted them to be, and my opinion has, I see, been shared 
! in by several of your more recent correspondents. It is 
I obvious that this is a que.stion upon which a tolerably satis- 
I factory conclusion may be arrived at, and that without 
, m\idi trouble. 
I It is important, however, first to determine what the 
i questioir in dispute really is. If, as “ Callus ” now oon- 
j tends, it bo wliether fowls averaging, say, seven pounds 
I each, do, or do not, consimie more than fowls of another 
i breed averaging four pounds or five pounds each, wliat is 
I the use of the controversy at all ? But if the question to 
I be decided be, as I and others have always contended, and 
' as is obviously the reason of the thing, which is the most 
profitable breed of fowls to keep, the solution depends upon 
w'hich possesses most advantages and exhibits fewest defects. 
One important advantage undoubtedly would be, that a par¬ 
ticular breed should consume less food than another, having 
regard to the quantity of food, or rather, ])erhaps, to the 
value of the food which it should itself return to them. In 
this calculation size would be an essential ingi’edient. If a 
farmer, for instance, has two breeds of pigs, and one of 
them will attain thirty stones in weight, and the other only 
twenty, can he not atlbrd to give the former more food than 
the latter ? Unless the bacon be very deficient in ([uality, 
it is manifest that he can. 
But if the abstract position for which “ Callus ” contends 
be tenable—viz., that size has nothing to do witli the 
matter—the question of utility is gone, and the Bantam (or, 
in the case 1 last put, the little jug) beats all the other 
breeds, simply because, being smaller, it consumes less food. 
From these considerations it is obvious that the true 
question is, as I have stated, which gives the best return for 
tlie outlay, and, in this enquiry, that size is a principal 
ingredient. And if a few unpartial experiments be honestly 
made the question can be solved with little difficulty. I, 
therefore, beg to give you, and, through you, to your readers, 
the result of one such trial, explaining first how it was 
made, in the hope that others will make similar attempts to 
give us the benefit of their experience. 
I have no Dorkings ; but, as I have before stated, I keep 
Cochins and Spanish. Their I'oosts are equally good in all 
respects, and are situate at opposite ends of tlie same 
plantation, into wliich they both run, but at such a distance 
that they never mix with each other. Neither lias any advan¬ 
tage over the other that I am aware of. There are twenty- 
nine Cochins, and twenty-three Spanish, and to the latter I 
added three common fowls (bought for kilhng) to make the 
numbers more uniform. Tlie proportions of young and old 
were alike, and in each lot were three cocks. I feed with 
whole barley, and with meal; the latter of three sorts— 
barley, bean-meal, and pollard, or sharps. They have the 
soft food twice a-day, in cast-iron troughs, as much as they 
can eat, and if they leave any it is carefully gathered up. 
The barley, in hoppers, they have to run to when, and as 
often as they please. 
I thought I could not make a fairer experiment than this, 
but after being ab.sent for three days, I found that two small 
Turkey poults (weighing together IVlbs.), which had 
before been fed with the Spanish, had not been removed, 
according to my orders. I therefore determined to let them 
remain during the rest of the week, and to my surprise, I 
found at the end of seven days that the two lots had just 
consumed the same quantity, each having eaten 2ilbs. of 
meal and .'lOlbs. of barley. 
I now removed the Turkeys, and the death of a Spanish 
cook reduced the number of Spanish to twenty-five. During 
the second seven days, the twenty-five Spanish ate 151bs. of 
meal and 341bs. of Barley, and the twenty-rune Cochins, 
2Ilbs. of meal and tiOlbs. of barley. 
This, in the latter week, gives an average of 25ozs. for 
each Spanish fowl, and dOozs. for each Cochin, or a propor¬ 
tion of five to six. But the Spanish lot weighed together 
llllbs., averaging only dibs. 7ozs., or Tlozs. each; and the 
Cochins weighed together Iddlbs., or bibs. lOozs., or lOUozs., 
each being two to three within loz. 
I am by no means desu'ous that any one should consider 
such a question settled by a single experiment, but I am not 
aware that a fairer one than this (for the accuracy of which 
I jfiedgo my honour) could be made, as both the corn and 
meal were taken from the same sacks. I shall, however, bo 
obliged, for one, to any of your correspondents who will 
make similar trials, and f.avour the poultry-keeping world 
with the results. I am still open to conviction ; but, as at 
present advised, I am of opinion that the public favour.s 
bestowed, as it has unequivocally been of late, upon the 
Cochins, has gone in the right direction, and that, /hr hU 
iisiful pin-po.s’c.s', they are the best breed of fowls yet intro¬ 
duced into this country. 
I took the liberty, in a former paper, to say th.at I antici¬ 
pated that Mr. Sturgeon’s sale would alford a strong proof 
of the general verdict being in their favour. I was favom’cd 
with a marked catalogue of that sale, and I subjoin a state¬ 
ment of the average prices realised. It is only necessary to 
a proper understanding of this paper, to remind the i-eader 
that the stock sold at the sale (except the few lots desig¬ 
nated as “sundries”) was the 2 )>’cduce of one or other of 
these cocks, named respectively, Sam, Patriarch, and Jerry. 
The result of the sale was as follows ;— 
No. 
Sold for 
Average as 
above. 
Cockerels 
67 
£ s. d, 
213 18 0 
£ s. d. 
3 3 8 
Pullets 
87 
333 10 6 
.3 lO 8 
154 
547 14 6 
3 9 8 
Average of Chickens of 1853. 
Sundries 
18 
04 17 U 
3 12 0 
1/2 
fll-2 11 0 
3 H 2 
Average of the whole Sale. 
I Can I be wrong in concluding, from the sale by public 
auction of 172 birds to 02 different buyers, at an average 
rate of TJ 11s. 2d. each, tliat the verdict of the public is in 
favour of Cochin. 
P.S. I liavo forgotten to mention that from the Cochins 
I I had, on an average, eiy/it eggs per day, but from the 
I Spanish only four eggs per wee/c. 
FEEDING BEES.—A CAUTION. 
On examining, yesterday (Dec. 14), one of my best hives 
of bees, I was surprised to find that they had only a few' 
ounces of honey left. This liive swai’ined on the 17th of 
May, and unfortunately threw a maiden-swann on tlie 1st 
of July. This, no doubt, weakened them considerably, but 
it plainly shows wdiat a wretched honey-season it must have 
been. These bees, which seemed so very active and strong, 
could not collect, since the 1st of July, sufiicient food to keep 
them until Christmas. 
This exti-aordinary mild weather will cause a great con¬ 
sumption of honey, and bee-keepers will do ivell to look 
sharply after their stocks. 
The theimometer has ranged each day, for the last fort¬ 
night, from 48“^ to in the open air, and in a uortheni 
aspect at mid-day, a week ago, the ivy near my house was 
crowded by bees. Probably the immense glut of wet weather 
had retarded the blossoms, as I have seldom noticed them 
on the ivy after the middle of November. 
The bees alluded to above weie the best I have in my 
garden, as I thought them, pireviously to yesterday, and certain 
of going through the winter without feeding. I calculated 
that they had from Iblbs. to lOlbs. of honey, from tlieir 
great acti\'ity during the months of June, July, and August. 
I am much indebted to Mr. I’ayne for many useful hints, 
tmd 1 think he will bear me out this time in my caution, 
although most likely it may come too late for many unfortu¬ 
nate stocks. H. W. Newman, A'ew House, Stroud. 
