292 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
January 13. 
and require to be filled. I have found stinging-nettles, 
chopped and moistened with pot-liquor or wash, and mixed 
with a small quantity of pollard or meal, to he a cheap food, 
and, with an occasional feed of corn, they thrive well on it. 
Incubation. —I have kept an account for some years of 
the time my various birds sit, and the following is a list of 
the time occupied in liatchiiig their eggs:— 
Canary birds, 14 days; Doves, 14; Pigeons, l(i; Fowls, 
21; tluineafowls, 25 ; Ducks, 20; Turkics, 20 ; Geese, 01; 
Muscovy ducks, 35. 
Although Ducks and Turkics hatch in 20 days each, 
I have found, when the eggs were set together, that the 
Turkey-eggs hatched about six liours earlier. I believe the 
above list to be quite correct; but I have known most of 
them occasionally to have been longer through accidental 
causes. 
Hatching Nests. —These I prefer on the ground, and 
I formed of damp turf, lined with dry heath and Lichen or Liver¬ 
wort, collected from trees, &c. 'i'he nest should be made so 
large that the hen can just fill it, not very deep, and as 
nearly flat inside, at tlie bottom, as possible, so that the 
eggs may not lean against each other, or tliey are very 
liable to be broken, especially by the hens turning them. 
A little Scotch snuff is also a good thing to keep the nests 
free from vermin. Wliy I recommend ground nests, and 
rather damp, is, that it is admitted, that the lien that steals 
a nest in a hedge or coppice generally hatches all her eggs, 
and brings home strong chickens; whereas, the one that 
sits at home, in a dry box or basket, often spoils many of 
her eggs, and her ohi^ens are frequently weakly, which 1 
attribute to the great CTajioration that takes place from the 
egg during incubation in such unnaturally dry nests, which 
also renders the chicken feverish and weakly. In support 
of which opinion, I can say, I have hatched my best broods 
in nests thus made and well moistened; and frequently 
have not had one egg in a sitting miss. 
Breeding. —Never breed from relations; always select 
strong, healthy birds of the same variety; do not think, by 
mixing the sorts, to improve a breed, a cross may do well 
enough to eat, but if a breed is crossed it is not to he 
depended on afterwards, as they will often run back for 
many generations. The formation of a new variety wiU 
take a very long time, and then mostly' ends in disappoint¬ 
ment. Keep each breed pure, and improve it by saving the 
best specimens, and add good fre.sh blood of, as near as 
possible, the same. 
I think the eggs of a hen may be depended on during 
three weeks after her removal from any male, and without 
being put to another. Thus, I found the eggs of a hen 
that had been removed from a game cock took after him 
till the tenth day of separation; and that the eggs of 
another, that had not been with a rooster, produced 
chickens as early as the fourth day after being put to one. 
The hens in both cases were laymg. —B. P. Brent, Bessel’s 
Ureen, Seveiioa/is. 
PENS AT POULTRY SHOWS. 
Ai.low us to olfer a few suggestions upon Poultry Exhibi¬ 
tions, as they now hid fair to be as numerous and of as 
frequent occurrence as our Horticultimal and Agricultural 
Shows. With the latter, indeed, we now generally find 
them united, and those who are lovers of die feathered-race 
Would think it an unpardonable omission if they were not 
so. This taste is steadily increasing, and but few districts, 
within a short time, will be without, at least, its annual 
I’oultry Exliibition. This, we think, would be readily 
effected if any plan coidd he devised .so as to facilitate 
their arrangements, decrease the expenses, and diminish 
the labour of their committees of management. 
One questi(m is—Could this not be done simply by re¬ 
quiring parties c.xhibiting to send their birds in such 
baskets, or pens, in which they could be shown, to be made 
after a prescribed design, or pattern, so as to preserve their 
uniformity'? This would remove, at once, the great impedi¬ 
ment to provincial and l(H!al exhibitions, and without in¬ 
creasing greatly, if any, the expenses of the e.xhibitor; 
besides, wliich is of still greater importance, with much less 
risk of injuiy to the birds sent, ns they would not have to be 
removed from, basket to pen, and from pen to basket. Last, 
but not least, such a plan would curtail, by many hours, the 
bird’s confinement, by greatly facilitating their reception, 
arrangement, and returning. Such moveable pens would 
also afford judges advantages in oases of nicety of decision, 
by placing the birds in their own baskets aloug-side of each 
other, which cannot be done in the fixed pens without 
catching the birds. 
The above is the style of basket we propose. It was the 
one used at our last Cheltenham Exhibition. The baskets 
w^ere arranged on elevated platforms, or tables, about tw'o feet 
high, showing the birds off well to tlie view'er, and at the 
same time givmg a light and pleasing effect. Tmlries and 
pea-fowls were, on account of size, exhibited in built pens. 
The baskets w’ere of three sizes, viz., first size for the 
larger vai’ieties of fowls and ducks, 2Jft. in diameter and 
2ift. high; second size, for the smaller, 2ft. in diameter 
and 2ft. high; third, for pigeons, l|ft. in diameter, and 
Ij ft. high. 
The fowls were exhibited in threes, geese and ducks in 
couples, pigeons in pairs, chickens in fours. A canvass 
wrapper, or bag, should be put on the basket when tra¬ 
velling, taken off on arrival, and neatly tied on the side, | 
covering about one-tliird part. Thus protected, tlie baskets 
could be placed close to each other without fear of any 
combative encounters. 
We hope to see soon some general style of poultry-exhibi¬ 
tion-basket devised and adopted, so as to facilitate and en¬ 
courage the getting up of these now useful and entertaining 
exhibitions, making it no longer a diflicult matter for the 
clergy and others of our rural districts to accomplish. 
Jessop, Brothers, Chelleiiham. 
[This suggestion we think very good; hut we question 
whether a better shape would not be that of a parallelogram 
. whole front to let down; like a mil¬ 
liner’s basket, placed upon its side.—E d. C. G.]. 
PREPARATION OE MUSHROOM BEDS. 
Ai.though the majority of growers, whose number of beds 
are limited, generally make them all up in tlie autumn, 
and trust to their continuing in bearing the whole season 
