338 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
EEBBi’Any 3. 
dozen bundles. Oreens, Is. to Is. i)d. per dozen bunches. 
Brussels Sprouts, Is. to 2s. per half-sieve. Turnips, Js. 
to Is. (id. per dozen bunches. Carrots, 2s. (id. to Os. Od. 
per dozen bunches. Spinach, Is. to 2s. per sieve. 
Onions, 2s. Od. to 3s. per bushel. There is also a good 
supply of salads. Lettuce, Od. to Is. Od. per score. 
Endive, Is. to Is. Od. per score. Small salads, such as 
Mustard and Cress, 2d. and 3d. per punnet. Beet, Is. 
to Is. Od. per dozen. Potcdoes, 8ds. to 150s. per ton. 
In Feuit, the only description that is at all abundant 
is Apples, and these only of the more common and 
nondescript varieties for culinary use. Good dessert 
i sorts make from 8s. to 14s. per bushel; others, 4s. to 8s. 
. Amonsr the dessert kinds we observed the Scarlet Non- 
\ ® 
! pared, a very excellent variety at this season; but the 
other kinds were what we have so often enumerated 
before. Ge.vpes are very short, and make from Os. to 
12s. per pound. There are very few Peaes, the iirin- 
cipal being Beurre de Bance and Easter Beurre, at from 
2s. to Os. per dozen. 
Pi.ANTs AND Flowees are in abundance; they consist 
of Camellias, Cinerarias, Hyacinths, Heaths, Scarlet 
Geraniums, Chinese Primroses, double and single. Tulips, 
Violets, Lily of the Valley, and some very choice Orchid¬ 
aceous plants. H. 
GOSSIP. 
In reply to “ Amateur,” we certainly did read the 
editorial in The Times, relative to Poultry Shows, but 
we cannot say that we observed in it anything worthy 
of reprehension. The object of the writer seemed to 
be to warn the public against losing sight of utility in 
these exhibitions; a warning in which we fully concur. 
It is true that the writer indialged in a little raillery, but 
the same writer aimed similar light artillery against the 
country meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society. The 
latter were not battered down by it, neither will Poultry 
Exhibitions. We happen to have before us abundance 
of information shewing the good such exhibitions are 
efiecting, and we may, one of these days, arrange this 
information for publication. At present, let it suffice 
to say, that such weighty specimens of all the table 
varieties of poultry are now to be met with in our 
markets as in former days were not deemed possible; 
and we know of hundreds now keeping poultry who 
were roused to an interest in them by the beauty of the 
specimens exhibited. To increase this interest must be 
beneficial, for in proportion to its increase must be 
diminished the large sums expended for foreign poultry 
and eggs. Of the latter, more than one hundred and 
fifteen millions and a half were imported in 1851. As 
to our great contemporary ridiculing our favourite 
Shanghaes as “ large gawky fowls without tails,” why 
“ gawky ” specimens deserve to be ridiculed; and it is 
to show that they need not be “gawky” that short¬ 
legged specimens are gathered together and rewarded at 
our exhibitions. Ridicule, in one sense, is a test of 
truth ; and we are quite sure that our Poultry Shows will 
endure the test; and one ground on which our con¬ 
viction rests is the certainty, that, as similar exhibitions 
have improved the tenants of our gardens, so, by like 
means, will the tenants of our poultry-yards be made 
more excellent. ! 
Tue following is a copy of a ^Memorial in the course of 
signature. When we saw it, there were appended the I 
signatures of Mr. H. Gilbert and Mr. Punchard, and it 
was to be forwarded to Capt. Hornby, Mr. Sturgeon, 
]Mr. Bond, IMr. Peck, Mr. Peters, and others:— | 
“ Te the Committee fur Managing the Birmingham Poultry | 
PJxhihilion for 18.53. | 
“ Gentlemen, I 
“ The undersigned exhibitors of poultry at BiiTningham 
beg leave respectfully to represent to you, 
“ That under your present regulations they are compelled 
to send otf their birds on the Friday or Satiu'day; and many 
of them do not reacli their homes until the Monday week. 
“ That so long an absence, added to the confinement to 
which tliey are necessarily subjected, operates very inju¬ 
riously upon valuable fowls, especially at a time when the 
breeding season is approaching; and this feeling has, to our 
knowledge, prevented some amateurs from becoming ex¬ 
hibitors. 
“ Tliat if tlie days of the public exhibition were redxiccd 
to three, commencing on the Wednesday morning, so that 
the fowls need not be taken in until Monday, two days’ con¬ 
finement and absence from their walks would be saved to 
.them ; and if two sets of judges were appointed instead of 
one, they might, by dividing their labours, complete them 
without ditticulty by four or five o’clock on the Tuesday, so 
as to allow a private view, to suhscrihers only, on that evening. 
“ That by permitting the fowls to lie removed by the re¬ 
spective owners, or their servants, at dusk on the Friday, 
instead of keeping the exhibition open until a late hour of 
that evening, they would reach their walks some time on the 
Satm'day, and thus two more days would in most cases be 
saved, and their absence, in fact, reduced by one-half, or 
nearly so. For these, reasons we beg, in our own names, 
and those of numerous other exhibitors, to request that you 
will take this matter into your consideration, and make such 
arrangements preGous to the issuing of the prospectus for 
the Exhibition of 18.5.’t, as will reduce, as much as possible, 
the time during which our fowls are kept from their homes. 
“ IVe have the honor to be. Gentlemen, 
“ Your most obedient sen'ants.” 
“ Januai’y, 1858.’’ 
The following hint will he itseful, w'e hope, to many 
who are planting Orchards, like the party to whom it 
was addressed:— 
“You are right in determining that the greater propor¬ 
tion of what you plant shall be of the best sorts of keeping 
Dessert Apples and Pears. There is an advantage in grow¬ 
ing these besides the profit; and that is, you are not so likely 
to have your orchard robbed. Who, even the veriest urcliin, 
w'ould, in September or October, like to dig his teeth into a 
Xelis d'Hiver, Easier Beurre, or Beurre de Ranee ? I knew 
an old gentleman, and you know how “knowing” some, old 
gentlemen are, who planted the outsides of his orchard with 
all such, and made known in the neighbourhood that they 
were all peny pears. The natives of course tried the out¬ 
sides first; but, finding they were so unpalatable, concluded 
the whole collection was of the same description, and left 
them to ‘ hang and grow,’ ■without molestation.” 
There are some of our readers who, we know, think 
that the world is growing old; that symptoms of phy¬ 
sical decay are apparent in all things—Potatoes are mur- 
rained—Grapes are shanked—Vines mildewed—Apples 
decay—Onions rot—and Dahlia roots gangrene—more 
than they used to do; and now we have the following j 
from an excellent gardener and good practical botanist; j 
— “ I fear the potato blight will extend over the whole I 
vegetable kingdom. My strawberry plants, intended 
for forcing, are all spotted, and have lost most of their 
