February IT. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
387 
I 
I 
20th of December last, some roots of rhubarb, dug out of , 
the garden, and is known among us as the common red I 
rhubarb; and yesterday (the 10th of .Tanuaryj I got from i 
them seven sticks of rhubarb, the length of each stick being 
twenty-two inches, full an inch in diameter, and of a beau¬ 
tiful colour. Since I wrote to you before, I have fixed a ! 
bo.K on one of the pipes, about twenty inches long and nine i 
inches wde, filled with wet sand, into which I put three | 
pots of cuttings, two of calceolarias and one of verbenas. 
They have been in about ten days, and they have grown 1 , 
think full an inch-and-a-half in length, and look very healthy 
indeed. I covered the box with glass. j 
a The fire-place, with the three pipes instead of boiler. 
b Cistern kept with water in it, for the supply of the pipes, with which it communicates. 
c Closet under the staircase. 
d Staircase. 
e Greenhouse. 
JIODE OF HEATING. 
As you were kind enough to say that you would insert my ' 
description of my greenhouse if I would send you the par- ; 
ticuhir dimensions, I have forwarded you a sketch of the 
whole apparatus, wltich I tliink you will understand better 
than I can tell you by words. You will see by the sketch | 
that the apparatus for heating the water is formed of three ' 
pipes, going right up the back of the fire-place, but it gives 
much too strong a heat for my small greenhouse, and I 
think it would beat one three times as large. In the closet, 
which you will see goes under the stairs, I have put two good 
large boxes, filled with leaf-mould, into which I put, on the i 
The greenhouse is twelve feet by eight feet, and three 
feet high on the walls, with a stage the whole length of the 
place. The pipes are shaded dark, and pass through a 
closet from the kitchen fire-place to the greenhouse. The 
I return pipe comes along the front of the grate, and passes 
through between the bars at the bottom, to the back of the 
I fire-place, and then, in an inclined plane, forms the back of 
I the grate. The flow pipe comes over the top of the grate, 
at the back of the oven, and lies on what we call the hob at 
, the end of the grate.— 11. Bradbury, King's Bromlcg. 
THE MARKING OR FANCY COLOURING OF 
FOWLS. 
As there appears to be a great want of uniformity in the 
appellations of the various markings of fancy fowls, I think 
it may be useful to describe all the different fancy colours 
that I am acquainted with, and as these markings show best 
on the feathers of the hens of the respective varieties, it is 
to them I shall confine myself. But I must beg my readers 
to bear in mind, that different individuals vary slightly, and 
that feathers from different parts of the body of the same 
bird also vary. 
1 shall commence with the Sbangle. This marking is 
becoming scarce. I am only aware of two vaiieties of fowls 
thus adorned; the true old Spangled - Boland, and the 
Sj)aiigle<l-ljSLnta.m ; some approach to it may sometimes be 
seen among the common barn-door fowls. The ground 
colour is various—as black, brown, or golden, sometimes 
marked with black, but always tipped with a clear shining 
white spot, giving the wearer a beautiful appearance. This, 
then, is the true Spangle, and to these white spots sparkling 
out so bright and clear from the darker ground, in my 
opinion, is Dr. Johnson’s definition of a Spangle quite 
applicable. 
Bheasaxted. —Of this variety of marking, there are two 
sub-varieties, those with golden or silver-ground colour; 
but each having a black spot at the extremity of each I 
feather. Being black where the true spangle is white, this 
marking receives its name from its great resemblance to 
the feathers of the neck of acock Pheasant; not as some 
persons fancy from any cross with Pheasant blood. The 
Pheasant-marking is found in the Gold or Silver Pheasant 
Dutch Every-day-layers, the Pheasant Bantams, and the 
Hamburghs (7 mean those with the tuft, or the Poles with 
combs), for since the name of Hambui-gbs is applied to 
the Dutch Every-day-layers, these fowls liave no nam» left. 
for they are certainly not Spangled Poles, as some call them, 
which their colouring, being either pheasanted or laced, is 
quite sufficient to show, independently of Jheir having a 
comb ; nor do I think that the black spots can properly be 
called spangles. 
Laced. —Of this marking, like the last, there are two 
varieties, the Golden and the Silver-laced; the feathers are 
clear of either colour, edged with a narrow black border, 
which gives their wearer a scaly or imbricated appearance, 
i and received its name from some fancied resemblance 
I which it bears to the meshes of net or lace; of this marking 
I are the Gold and Silver-laced Bantams, some of the Dutch 
Every-dag-layers, and occasionally the nameless fowls, or 
Tufted Hamburghs. This marking used to be called 
“ Pheasanted," and is still frequently confused willi it, for 
it is true many of the feathers of a cock Pheasant also 
show this imbricated marking, and some fowls blend the 
two. 
Penciij,ed. —In this variety the markings vary rather 
more in some individuals, and is principally confined to the 
Dutch Every-day-layers. There are also two sub-varieties, 
or the Golden or Silver-pencilled. The most general 
arrangement of the markings is that of regular bars of 
black on the ground-colour. Slight variations sometimes 
occur; thus under the black is often a shade of brown, and 
often the extreme bar of black will be bent round into an 
arch, or intersected in the middle, the markings always 
being regular and decided. 
Moss.—This marking is found among the Bolton Greys 
or Bays, which are only another variety of the Dutch 
Evei'y-day-layers. The feathers, either golden or silver, are 
lined or grizzled with black, or some dark colour, and from 
a slight resemblance of this graining to the sprays or 
branches of moss it has received the name. When very | 
indistinct, it is called grey or grizzled. [ 
Cuckoo. —This marking is very frequent among common ■ 
i fowls. It consists of the feathers being shaded in alternate 
I bands or bars of light and dark slate, one band being nearly i 
black, and fading gradually into one almost white, and is 
thus continued to the end of the feather. The breast of 
the Cuckoo is thus marked; whence the name. I 
Grouse. —Is of a rich reddish brown, lined or grizzled ^ 
with a dark brown or black, and so called from its resem¬ 
blance to the colour of the red grouse. ; 
Pautridoe is of a duller brown, not so much grizzled as 
the Grouse, and the shaft of the feather being of a straw , 
colom' through part of its length, it is from its resemblance 
to the. feather on the back of a Partridge that it received 
its name. 
