Februaiiy 10. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
371 
Gold and Silver breeds arrive at tlieir full iilumage the 
following autumn, and the common pheasants the first 
winter. We have killed the Silver breeds for the table on 
grand occasions ; they are white in the flesh, but dry eating. 
The Goldeu birds were too precious to be experimented 
on in this way, though I have no doubt they would prove 
infinitely worse in this respect. 
The snowberry {Vhiococca) should always be allowed a 
position where pheasants are the order of the day. I have 
often wondered how it is this shrub has not found its way 
into preserves more largely, being, as it is, so well calculated 
for undergrowth, independently of its fruit, which the 
pheasants are uncommonly fond of. Inquiries are often 
made for those shrubs which are most applicable, for under¬ 
growth, in cases of neglected shrubberies, where trees are 
growing under, or rather over bare poles; circumstances 
resulting from that truly grasping-the-substance-to-swallow- 
the-shadow principle, which inevitably ensue by consequence 
of a too prevalent disposition, which will not allow a judi¬ 
cious thinning out the young trees, etc., betimes. I could 
cite a case, though not exactly a literal instance of what I 
am hinting about, where this shrub was planted, and it 
formed an almost impenetrable jungle; where, not only 
pheasants, but the poviltry also, were continually feasting 
upon its long succession of delicate white berries. 
I find a difficulty to get away from this eating subject, 
though, when I consider it as being the chief element of 
existence, I compose myself comfortably and prosy, with press¬ 
ing another feature upon the subject—a parting thought for 
my favourite Dorkings. There is a vegetable, which, at least 
so the doctors say, is wdiolesome to a degree; but, it must 
stand confessed, it is not fashionable to eat. 
“Away! base bulb ! Oh, horror! say my young ones, 
Ere you go courting, could you fancy—Onions ?” 
I am positive you could not. Poultry are not so particular; 
they are by no means averse to chopped chives, which I 
cultivate on purpose to mix with their barley-meal in the 
spring time of the year ; and, withal, it is a very wholesome 
addition. Chives may be grown in any out-of-the-way 
corner. The green tops are the parts which are used, and 
of them it may be said, “ cut and come again." Our poultry 
partake of barley-meal once a day, at two o’clock, moistened 
with fresh milk, wdien potatoes, nr any vegetable remains 
from the dinner-table, are mixed with it, including, three or 
four times a w^eek, some pounded egg-shells. Hard grain 
should be given in tho morning ; indigestible suppers are 
bad for man, and it is equally certain that barley-meal or 
other moist food is better for fowls to sleep on. 
Upwards akd Onwards. 
(2'o he continued.) 
A USEFUL GARDEN SPUD. 
One very useful tool I can strongly recommend to t'orsons 
having an orchard, is a three-inch soclcet chisel, fastened to 
a seven-feet ash handle, with an iron fen’ule iiut on the 
handle to prevent it from being split, to cut out robbers and 
cross branches, &o., from trees in an orchard. I drive the 
handle with a wooden mallet. 
I have tried several tools recommended by some gar¬ 
deners for heavy clayey land, and had them made to weight, 
shape, and size, but found them too heavy. The same tools 
made lighter in weight, and having more steel, would be 
more handy, and more useful; this should be recommended 
and borne in mind. 
I have had a failure in gntta pcrcha hose for watering my 
orchard from the liquid-manure tank. It was left out for a 
night or two in the orchard, and some liquid in, and it 
collapsed and spoilt.—i- 
W. 
POULTRY DISEASES. 
EXHIBITION FEVER. 
“ H. H. wishes to know the name of a disease that her 
I fowls caught at the Birmingham Poultry Exhibition. It is 
violent and sudden in its effects, turning the comb and legs 
black, and drawing the feet up, as if with cramp; the 
effluvia immediately after death is homble. She wishes, 
also, to know of a cure. There is no running at the nostiils, 
and it i.s not, therefore, roup, though the eyes are sometimes 
affected, but not generally, and they do not make that kind 
of sneezing sound which is always a sign of the roup." 
[The symptoms mentioned are those of a fever of a putrid 
or typhoid character, as far as I can pronounce from so 
short a description. In the advanced stage w'hich is de¬ 
scribed above, I should consider the cases hopeless; all 
that can be done is to prevent a disease of so fatal a cha¬ 
racter extending to the remainder of the yard. Typhoid 
fevers are produced in human subjects by over-crowding, 
want of ventilation and cleanliness, collections of decaying 
refuse, as dung, A:c., and unwholesome food and water. I 
should attribute the disease to one or more of these causes. 
The highly-stimulating and unnatural foods on which fowls, 
particularly those fed up for exhibition, are now kept, must 
tend to produce an irritable and inflammatory state of the 
system which predisposes greatly to these diseases. Such 
conditions of body are very apt to be followed by a reaction, 
which runs rapidly into low fevers of a typhoid character : 
thus a drunkard dies with delirium tremens, and an overfed 
brewer’s drayman sinks under an accident from wliich a 
liealthy countryman would get well in a week. What I 
should recommend in this case would be, a diligent inquiry 
for the predisposing cause of the disease, and its immediate 
removal. I should also advise every fowl to be taken away 
oil) the first symptom of illness, and the employment of 
lime-wash over the whole interior of the poultry houses, the 
wash being made witli freshly-slaked lime, not with whiting. 
Should these means not prove effectual, I should be glad of 
a more particular account of the disease and of the circum¬ 
stances, as to food, water, &c., under which the fowls are 
placed.—W. B. Tegetmeier, 'Tottenham.) 
[Is not this disease parallel with the old Gaol fever, 
which arose from long, unnatural confinement in a cell, 
among fellow-creatures crowded under one roof in similar 
cells ? If so, would not prevention be better than having 
to cure, which prevention would be a shorter period of con¬ 
finement?—E d. C. G.] 
ArOPLEXT. 
“A Subscriber” writes thus,—“Having this morning lost 
a fine two-year old Cochin-China Cock in the following sud¬ 
den, and to me unaccountable manner; and having likewise 
suffered a similar loss about this time last year, I write to 
request you to inform me whether male birds of this breed 
are liable to attacks similar to those under which my 
favourites have sunk. 
“ I myself saw the bird about ten minutes before the attack 
came. on. He was then out in my yard with two pullets, 
and was answering the call of some hens, from which ho 
had been separated a few days. A small shrubbery adjoins 
my yard, and as 1 was waffling past it, I suddenly heard the 
sufibcating cry of a bird. I turned towards the spot from 
whence the noise proceeded, and found the cock lying oii 
his side in the agonies of death. I had him immediately 
opened, but with the exception of the neck veins in the 
vicinity of the liead being charged with black coagulated 
blood, nothing wrong could be discovered.” 
paralysis. 
“A Lover of all that is handsome,” says:—“Last Saturday 
one of my pullets w'as full of life and quite well, and on 
Sunday morning was found lying on her back, her feet 
cramped, and very hot and feverisli, refusing all food. I 
kept her warm, and gave her oil, which purged her, and allayed 
her fever. An old bird-fancying servant thought that she 
was full of eggs, and was too fat to lay them, which appeared 
true enough, for after the oil had worked her, she laid one 
egg. On "Wednesday another, and to-day (Sunday) the 
third. I kept her bowels open, and fed her less. Her 
appetite is good, her comb red, her eyes bright, but all 
power of motion in her legs is gone. There is no appear¬ 
ance of cramp in her feet, but they are quite powerless. 
She looks quite well when sitting in her basket of ha}’, but 
if you lift her up, and put her down again, she falls on her 
head and side. Her two first eggs w'ere rather soft-shelled. 
