Fkuruary 2-1. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 
409 
digging the second, to stir the aforesaid deeply with a fork, 
then to dig a very moderate “ spit,” and cover the other 
with it. The mere surface may be rather poor, and if sucli 
a compost as I have often described be kept on hand, viz., 
soot, guano, and very old leaf soil, or manure, all blended, 
it may be sown liberally with the seed in the drills, in order 
to push the plants. 
Knd of the jMoNTii. —We have little fresh cropping yet, 
but the beginning of April will bring this business. I may 
here advise, that all digging be well carried out before 
April comes in, and that the whole plot or garden receive a 
thorough cleaning before April showers arrii^e. This is 
generally a good hoeing month, and care should be taken 
to use the hoe fi’eoly, raking up as the hoeing proceeds. 
R. Eerington. 
' TflE APIARIAN'S CALENDAR.— March. 
By J. II. Payne, Esq., Author of “ The Bee-Keeper's 
Guide," Ac. 
Feeding. —Never, surely, was the necessity for feeding so 
irajierative as at the present time, as, from the extreme 
mildness of the winter, the bees have been in almost con¬ 
stant activity, and consequently consuming a much larger 
portion of food than usual, and this, too, after an unusually 
bad honey season. I am not quite sure that the Ivy has 
not afforded them some little through the winter, for, 
certainly, they have been attracted to it almost every dry 
day; and breeding, I feel assured, has been going on in 
some of my stocks from the middle or early part of 
January, for on every sunny day water has been sought 
after by the bees with great eagerness. Now, with all this, 
a rapidly increasing population, a scanty store of honey, 
and, perhaps, a cold spring, what must the result be, unless 
a very liberal supply of food is administered, and as the 
spring advances great care will bo required in giving it, or 
robbing will be induced. 
I would say, feed at the top of the hive in all possible 
cases ; and I still hold, that for spring feeding, barley-sugar 
is the best, and I give a receipt below for its manufacture, 
which, perhaps, is a little more simplified than the one T 
gave two or three years since. 
Early Breeding.— 1 am well aware of the advantages of 
early breeding, and have both used and recommended 
various modes for promoting it; but in such a season as 
the present one, unless the greatest vigilance be observed 
in supplying food, that which is usually esteemed a great 
advantage will now become a positive calamity. 
Cleaning Floor-boards. —When perfoi-ming this opera¬ 
tion, should the hives be found to be at all damp or mouldy, 
take the precaution of raising them a little for a few hours, 
on a ili-y day, in the manner recommended in the calendar 
for last month. 
Snow. —Should w'e, after all this mild weather, have snow, 
it will be necessary to keep the entrances of the hives 
stopped whilst it remains upon the ground, or the loss of 
life will be very great, which at this season should be more 
especially guarded against. 
! To make Barley-sugar. —Put two pounds of loaf-sugar 
I into a saucepan, with half-a-pint of water, and two spoonfuls 
of the best vinegar ;* put it on a gentle fire, let it boil till 
the syrup becomes so thick, that the handle of a spoon 
being dipped into it, and then plunged into cold water, the 
syrup upon the handle is found to be ([uite crisp : when this 
is the case it is suUlciently boiled. Have an earthen dish 
I or marble slab in readiness, well buttered; pour the syrup 
upon it, and, when sufficiently cool to handle, clip it with 
scissors into strips the size desired. The process of boiling 
takes about twenty minutes. 
POLANDS AND PIAMBURGHS. 
I THINK I must trouble you with another Poland versus 
Hamburgh letter, wherein I will write a side-by-side descrip¬ 
tion of Polands, Black, AVhite, and Spangled, and of the Tufted 
* The addition of the vinegar prevents the sugar from graining, or 
crystalising, which othermse would frequently happen, and in this 
state it is useless to the bees. 
Hamburghs, Nearly Black, Laced, and Pheasanted, for yon i 
seem inclined to admit a distinction, but still call the Dutch 
Every-day-layers, Hamburghs. I hope, however, that you 
will clear up this mistake before your new work comes ont; ! 
as also that of the new fashion of calling a black spot a 
spangle, for as long as I have known the fancy fowls, these > 
black spots were called pheasanted, and spangles were 
tiiose white spots on a darker ground, and I think you will 
find many old fanciers of the same opinions. But tlie true 
Poles having almost passed away, and with them the real 
Spangles, their names have lately been ajiplied to the 
Hamburghs, and their name slipped on to the Dutch or 
Bolton.—B. P. Brent. 
[AVheriever a catalogue of any Poultry Society, during 
the last few years, is taken up, we find prizes ofiered, 
amongst other breeds, to Polish and Hamburghs in their 
several varieties. When the time comes, and we find our¬ 
selves in the exhibition-room, we see the pens assigned to 
Polands occupied by birds of different plumage indeed, but, 
whether black, gold, or silver, with one distinctive charac¬ 
teristic feature, and that is, a prominent, fully-developed 
top-knot, with a diminutive, spiked comb. Let us go a little 
further, and we reach the location of the Hamburgh family. 
Here, again, w'e have diversity of colour, but unifonnity in 
one striking feature—“ a full rose-comb : ” one recognised 
and most essential feature of this class; but a tufted oi’ 
top-knotted bird, claiming even remote cousinship with the 
Hamburgh, would there both merit and meet with speedy 
expulsion. Now, let it be remembered, that we are here 
contending for no mere personal notions of what, in our 
own idea, should constitute the distinction between difi'erent 
families of fowls, but are simply referring to tbe rule which 
hitherto has been acted on at eveiy Poultry Exhibition at 
which either we ourselves have been present, or of which 
we have read the report. We must acknowledge, therefore, 
our adhesion to this general opinion, that the “ Tufted 
Hamburgh" is rightly excluded from any system for the 
classification of fowls. For, amid the dilhgent scrutiny with 
which, of late especially, 6 X 617 matter connected with the 
detail of our Poultry Societies have been investigated, it is 
most impossible to say, at least, that such an error in 
nomenclature, as Mr. Brent w’Ould imply the existence of, 
could ever have received the general sanction of all con¬ 
cerned. Jnst so, too, with the Spangled birds. Ask any one 
of those who have acted as judges at our Exhibitions for his 
definition of the meaning of the word, and then look at the 
pen which is honotu’ed by his award. What markings have 
the birds within ? AVhether silver or golden, as in the case 
of the Hamburghs, we find the ground colour clear French- 
white, or bright bay, as the case may be, and the “spangle ” 
itself a more or less perfect oval spot, of dark colour, occu¬ 
pying the extremity of the feather. East, west, north, or 
south, we find tlie pens allotted to spangled birds thus 
occupied, while the ptiblic sanctions the award. If an argu¬ 
ment, however, be drawn from the literal definition of the 
word spangle, as that which shines or glitters, and it be 
thence inferred that its colom’ should be white, we would 
submit that a dark object on a light ground might equally 
well fulfil the terms of the definition as a white object on a 
dark ground. But, though differing on these points, it is 
but just to remind our readers that those who have lately 
derived so much interest from studying the habits of the 
various breeds of poultry, owe much to Mr. Brent and 
others, who, at a period when the details of the poultry- 
yard were usually regarded as utterly unworthy of any 
serious consideration, persevered with the same earnestness 
and assiduity as is now called forth by the popularity with 
which poultry has been lately invested. Our thanks are 
indeed due to them ; and although it unfortunately happens 
that in this question of “ Poland versus Hamburgh,’’ we 
find ourselves at variance with him, his frequent contribu¬ 
tions to The Cottage Gardener must have been read by 
many with the same interest and profit as we ourselves 
have undoubtedly derived from them. Our present defini¬ 
tion of the distinctive points and characteristics of these two 
varieties, as also that of the word “ spangle,” rests on what 
we conceive to be the declared opinion, as evidenced by 
their practice, of every Poultry Society in England. And 
thus, taking even the lowest ground, it would surely be 
admitted that, with such unamimous assent of competent 
