January fi. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
273 
NORMANDY. 
{Continuedfrom 'page 171.) 
Tiie way in which the English are regarded by the more 
retired inhabitants of Normandy is somewhat ciiiious; there 
is a theoretical hatred, and a practical goodwill and kind¬ 
ness between the parties. The memory of the ravages 
committed by our nation during times of warfai’e still exists. 
Norman mothers, to the present day, quiet their turbulent 
infants by the threat that the English ai’e coming, and will 
carry them away. Not that we have been more brutal 
enemies tliau any other set of men who carry fire and sword 
into a foreign country; but all warfare is dreadful, and we 
Englishmen, so long as we remain in England, have no 
conception what a horrible thing it is to be the seat of war. 
A Norman gentleman told me that when he was a little 
l)oy, he had heard fi’om his nurses sucli frightful stories 
of these invasions, that he used to long to meet with an 
l^lnglish boy, to beat and persecute him in revenge. But 
the remembrance of this traditional enmity in childhood 
did not prevent the display of much civility, and even kind¬ 
ness, to a representative of tlie once hostile nation. An 
Englishman who knows how to conduct himself properly 
will have little to complain of during his sojourn in any part 
of Normandy. 
Tlie Normans have the credit of driving hard bargains; 
but this talent is exercised quite as much at one another’s 
expense as at that of “the stranger.’* I witnessed one or 
two pretty little instances of Norman cut Norman, with 
well-acted anger, followed by genuine reconciliation, and a 
strong contest after gross absurdities on both sides. It 
sliould be mentioned, that those travellers who land at 
ilavre-de-Grace, and proceed by railway to Paris and back 
again, are not to suppose that they thereby know Normandy. 
Jje Havre, as we ought to call it, has no character at all, 
unless we allow its own motley and Babel-like qualities to 
distinguish it from other towns in general; and it has the 
veiy disagreeable iieculiarity of being, for France, excessively 
dear. But however grasping the Normans may be, tlie inns 
in the western departments are not exorbitant. A franc a 
day and night for a chamber, in which, if the floor is not 
all that could be wished, the bedding is always beautifully 
clean; a IVanc-and-a-half, or two francs for a mountainous 
breakfast; two francs, or two-and-a-half for a dinner to 
match, with a bucket of holssoii each time if you like; and 
a franc a day, or less, for all sorts of attendance, ought not 
to be grumbled at. It is perfectly true, though scai'cely 
credible, that in Calvados and La Manclie you may travel 
lialf-a-day by the diligence, and when you get out, and give 
your carj)et-bag to a porter, the condiwteur will politely wish 
you good daj^ and not ask you to remember him—to my 
mind a memorable fact. 
Last year, throughout Normandy, tliere were more apples 
than they knew what to do with; it was not easy, on the 
spur of the moment, to find casks enough to contain the 
overfiowing supply of cidre and boisson. This year, people 
say that tliere are none, and that they shall have to drink 
old and drg cider, without much sweet or new hy way 
of a change. The truth is, that the apple crop is very par¬ 
tial; in Calvados there are few, hut about Avranches (a 
most rich and lovely distiict,) there are plenty; and the 
innumerable nngrafted pear-trees which line the roadside, 
are laden witli their small, dark-green fruit, which will all 
help to replenish the cider-vats: so the lovers of bolssou 
need not quite yet fear being compelled to take refuge in 
wine and water. 
{To be continued.) 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Characteristics of a Black Bantam. —A good specimen of the 
black Bantam cock ahould not exceed fifteen ounces in weight ; his 
characteristics would be a well-developed but regular and firm rose comb, 
terminating in a point behind, with face and wattles of the same bright 
carmine ; plumage wholly black, with a metallic tint thrown over it of a 
rich purple hue, close-feathered ; the fiight feathers of the wing rounded 
at the extremities, and carried low ; head fine, ^\ith a clear prominent 
I eye; neck erect, and, when the bird U excited, so thrown back as almost 
I to meet the tail, which latter should be full, and free from any stain in 
I colour; its sickle feathers are seldom prominent till the end of the second 
I year; back short, not more than two inches intervening between the 
termination of the neck hackle and the root of the tail feathers; breast 
wide and deep ; thigh short and sinewy; shank clean, and of a dusky- 
grey tint. The hen is of duller colour, and less striking appearance 
throughout. Her comb very diminutive, and in colour dirty purple j the 
shank of the leg is also darker than in the male; but in both cases a 
generally well-proportioned figure and erect carriage should at once 
arrest our attention. The cock possesses most indomitable courage, and 
the hens are excellent mothers; but our own pullets seldom laid before 
their eighth or ninth month. Dealers’ prices, for good specimens, would 
range from one to two guineas each.—W. 
Guernsey Lilv {Inquisitor). How should this Lily be treated 
after flowering ?” By casting the bulbs over the garden wall, and thinking 
no more about them; for they are of no more use in this country. If 
you keep them in the pots all winter, and give them plenty of air and 
water till the leaves are ripe, they would do for an emigrant to Australia. 
Any nurseryman will understand Fairy Rose, and send you a score for as 
many shillings. They are Miniature Chinas. 
Polyanthus Narcissus {Old Hall), —Let your ‘‘very large ” Grand 
Monarque Polyanthus Narcissus alone ; it is doing very well indeed in 
putting forth its shoots. Give it abundance of water, and of air, but not 
much heat after the flower-stalks appear. After flowering, water it well, 
and turn it out of the pot, planting it in a very sheltered place; and if 
the weather is dry next April and May, water it once a-week, and next 
year you will have three large roots instead of one. No one can tell 
now if the three divisions will flower this year, but probably not. 
Commander-In-Chief Geranium {Yorkshire Gardener), —Plant it 
out in the flower-beds, by all means, at the proper time; but why not 
make cuttings of the tops of the shoots early next March, and so have 
six or seven plants instead of one ? The colour is most beautiful, and 
nearly scarlet. It is one of the best pot-plants of all the Horse-shoe 
tribe, and perhaps it would be as well for you to keep it in the pot all 
the summer, by plunging pot and all, and not neglecting to water it now i 
and then, particularly at first. 
Experiments with Poultry. —In No. 217, for November 25th, | 
your correspondent, “ Shanghae Mandarin,” has given my opinion ! 
respecting the Gallic experiments; and, in addition to his statements, I j 
have only to say, that I think fowls for such trials should be in the same 
condition; for it appears to me, from what “Callus” says, that in all pro- j 
bability his Spanish fowls had finished moulting, and were in a state of I 
rest, while one of the Shanghaes he admits was laying, and the others ! 
were most likely moulting; and while making new coats must require i 
more food.—B. P. B. 
Proneness to Sitting. —A correspondent, in the same number, 
complains of the pertinaceous desire to sit displayed by the Shanghaes. 
INIy plan is to shut up such hens that arc broody, which I do not wish to 
sit, for a few days, giving them plenty of food and water; and they 
generally begin to lay again in about a fortnight. With respect to my 
Shanghae hens, if they persist in sitting in their confinement I move 
them, or coop them out in the yard, which has always overcome the 
hatching fever in three or four days. Allow them plenty of water, and 
do not starve them, as some recommend, as the better the hen’s condi¬ 
tion the sooner will she recommence laying.—B. P. B. \ 
Sickle Feathers in Shanghae Cocks.— In the number for Decern- : 
her 2nd, I see, in answer to “Brixton,” respecting the tails of Shangffaes, 
the following—“ but we are quite sure that cocks of the pure breed have . 
no sickle feathers.” Allow me to inform you that that “we,” whether 
Editorial or Departmental, is in error. It is true the sickle feathers are 
small and dwarfish, but, nevertheless, arc present in birds of full plumage, ! 
though I greatly suspect fashion causes some of them to be minus. My 
breed was kindly sent me by Captain-, tbe same from w hom klr. 
Sturgeon received his first stock; and he assures me they are pure. I 
have a cock from Anster Bonn, and two large dark red cocks, all of 
W'hich have real sickle feathers, though small, not standing so high as 
they do in other fowls, and not readily distinguishable from the side- 
sickles. The sickle and side-sickle feathers are the primary tail coverts, i 
the centre pair being the longest.—B. P. B. [We quite agree in this : 1 
what w'e understand by “ sickle feathers” are those large curved ones in 
the tail of the Dorking cock.—E d. C. G.] 
Feeding Poultry. —The best way to feed fowls, or other poultry, in 
confinement, is to let. them have food always at hand (if it can be kept 
from vermin). The reason is this, that after the first few days they 
become accustomed to find the food always before them, and only take a 
snnvll quantity at a time, consequently, do not eat so much ; therefore, 
it is cheaper than feeding at stated times, when they fill their crops as 
full as possible; and not to feed sufficiently is no economy, at least, if 
any return is looked to.—B. P. B. 
Peat Charcoal for Camellias, &c. {J. B , J.). — We have not used 
Irish peat charcoal as you propose, but there can be no serious objection 
to a little in the compost. Our nurserymen, however, do not dabble 
much in those things ; give them a good fibrous peat, silver sand, and a 
sound mellow loam, and they can grow anything. Mr. Errington pro¬ 
ceeds just the same for thotyint^-doivn system of pear-shoots as formerly; 
form is immaterial, distance the main thing. The leading shoots should 
be about ten inches apart; if parallel, all the better. Indeed, there does t 
need caution in using s^llphur 07 i hot surfaces. You may smear it 
liberally on any pipe which never can become too warm to be lield fast 
by the hand—say about six ounces to a thirty-feet long house, and of the 
ordinary' width and height of a full-sized vinery. Lucnlia grafissima 
will be found to answer well in an intermediate house. 
Soot {Orchard). —I am glad that you have put the inquiry, and know¬ 
ing that such was used on the strong clays of Derbyshire, I immediately 
wrote to my brother-in-law, who farms about three hundred acres there. 
The following is his reply, and I am sure it will interest hundreds. 
R. Errington. —“I have never used soot as a top-dressing for beans, 
but have done so with advantage on strong clayey wheat land, to wheat, 
oats, vetches, and grass, at the rate of three to four imperial quarters per 
acre. I find the best time for sowing is in March or April, in calm moist 
weather; it ought on no account to be sown in dry windy weather, or 
part of the dressing will be carried oft' to the adjoining land. The price 
paid by me is four shillings per quarter, and the sweep, at that price, 
comes to sow it when required. 1 roll as soon as the land is sufficiently 
dry. There ia no danger of its being washed off, except by a heavy land- 
flood. I have not heard of any implement to sow it with. I should 
