410 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Eebuuary 24. 
authorities to the meaning of certain terms, it must demand 
sU-onger facts than have yet been brought before us to 
induce us to hesitate on the propriety of their present 
application.—.] 
MOVEABLE GARDEN SCRAPER. 
I HATE observed, for some time past, that you have been 
most laudably enlightening your readers as to the best 
description of that most useful implement, a garden scraper. 
There is no objection to be made to those alieady^ submitted, 
which are good and useful in then- w'ay, but they are fix¬ 
tures, and may not be to hand at the 
moment when most wanted. I have, 
therefore, much pleasure in sending 
you a drawing of one, which I have 
had in use for many years. 
It was invented by a gentleman in 
Hertfordshire, and it is not, therefore, 
surprising that I should never have 
seen it elsewhere than amongst those 
of my friends who have taken mine as 
their model; otherwise I should feel 
inclined to say, “ I cannot think how 
any one can do without it.” Nothing 
can be more simple, and yet nothing 
more useful, particularly for amateurs 
of the fairer sox. 
The handle should be made of a 
O IP light and elastic wood, so that it be as 
J easily carried about in the hand as a 
lioe. It is stuck into the edge of the 
bed upon which one may be going to 
employ oneself, and is ready for use 
before the foot be again jilaced on the 
gravel or lawn. 
It may be useful to some to know 
that mine wore made by Messrs. Nunn and Son, of Hert¬ 
ford.—H. S. IYatson, ToUin;/ton Park. 
CROSS BREEDING. 
Mk. Sheppard, in alluding to a communication of mine 
in your paper of December last, must mean that deterioration 
takes place in the breeding of sheep rvhen they are hred-in-and- 
in—that is, bred in the same family; and if the breeding 
is continued any length of time, that “ they degenerate to a 
marvellous extent with every generation, until at last the 
' sheep become quite weak and sickly, having none of the 
1 characteristics of purity and health ; ’’ and if this is what he 
1 means, I perfectly agree with him, and do not think any of 
j your numerous readers will even for a moment question the 
1 truth of his statement. But if Mr. Sheppard means that 
I sickness and deterioration will only take place when the 
animals are cross-bred, and the breeding continued in the 
same family, then I differ from him in toto, and say that 
deterioration will take place whether the animals are origi¬ 
nally crosses or pure bred, if the breeding is continued in 
the same family. This, I should think, no one will ques- 
I tion who knows anything of the breeding of animals. All 
our domesticated animals having originally come from some 
wild type, and having a common root, I cannot see how, by 
any possibility, that crossing animals of the same species, 
but who, through length of time and careful breeding have 
attained some good qualifications, with another having other 
desirable qualifications equally permanent and well marked, 
should in any way lose their qualities by being crossed with 
the best of their respective classes. Should I be foolish 
enough to take the progeny resulting from such an union, 
and breed them in the same family from the same parents, 
the results would be as Mr. Sheppard states. But surely, 
no one who knows anything of breeding would ever for one 
moment think of such a line of policy. Let Mr. Sheppard 
take the best Cochins in his yard, and subject tliem to the 
same test for a year or two, and then let your readers have 
a report of their progress. I doubt not your readers will 
judge, a priori, the end from the beginning. 
My belief is, if a few parties were to cross the Spanish 
with the Cochin, starting from fowls not at all related to 
each other, that a distinct breed could, in the course of a 
few years, be reared, uniting, in a great measure, the good 
qualities of both by carefully selecting tlie fowls from whicli 
the breed was to be perpetuated, carefully changing the 
male or female from one to another, taking care to have the 
breeding fowls as far as possible from being related to each 
other; and I am convinced if such was the case, no such 
deterioration would take place, but, on the contrary, an im¬ 
provement, and that not fancied but real; and it can only 
be by taldng advantage of the varied qualities and forms of 
nature's work, that the variety of our domesticated animals 
have been increased and improved; and I think any observ¬ 
ant person, much acquainted with animals, may reason a 
p)osteriori from results within reach of his own experience. 
But in the midst of counsel there is wisdom. I hope much 
good will be the result of the many inquiries regarding 
poultry, and articles on the subject from time to time ap¬ 
pearing in the pages of The Cottage Gardener, making it 
now an authority on these hitherto much neglected matters. 
My object in addressing you is to bring out information 
on a subject which I think not sufficiently understood and 
taken advantage of. How, I would ask, have we obtained 
such variety in the vegetable woidd ? Is it not by taking 
advantage of nature's freaks ? And why, in the animal 
world, are w-e to abandon a principle which, in tlie vegetable 
world, has given us such magnificent results. Nay, I need 
not say such a principle has been confined to the vegetable 
world. If it had, our animals would have never reached the 
state of perfection in which we now find them. That all 
our finest and prize animals have been reared by placing a 
standard of perfection before us, and breeding only from 
those animals who come nearest to the point aimed at, is 
what no one can question ; and why we should abandon it 
in the rearing of fowls I am at a loss to understand. 
I think your correspondent, Mr. Sheppard, is rather too 
severe on those experimentalists in the Esculapean art who 
will not “ throw piliysic to the dogs.” I admit, at once, that 
little is known regarding the art, in so far as the feathered 
tribes are concerned; that in a great measure it is mere 
empiricism, certainly not grounded on anything like a solid 
foundation; but surely should we stumble on something of 
decided value in the cure of a particular disease, it would be 
worse than folly to shut our eyes to the fact. If we did so, 
we might have appended to our cognomen the appropriate 
epithet of bigot, and we should have no right to complain of 
tlie addition. The cure of the dumb creation is, however, 
and must be, from the very nature of the subjects, a very 
difficult profession. They cannot answer our interrogation, 
but only by silent and often painful expression, not however 
translatable to be of sufficient use as a guide to the medical 
practitioner. But I hope, from so much more attention 
being now bestowed on these matters, in consequence of the 
increase of poulti-y keeping, something may be found out to 
alleviate their suff'erings, or cure them of their maladies. 
It has appeared to me that the Cochins when young are 
the hardiest of birds, but that they are very subject to dis¬ 
ease as they grow up, exactly the reverse of our common 
kinds of poultry; and this, I think, may be accounted for 
from the damp of our climate (the birds not being yet accli¬ 
matised) during the autumn, winter, and spring ; the shjm- 
mer, when they are hatched, being <ften dry and tvarm, is 
favourable to them as chickens ; but wlien beyond tlieir chick- 
enhood, wet, damp weather surrounds them, and vai'ious 
diseases follow in its train. Last autumn (end of Septem¬ 
ber) I put a dozen eggs below a hen, and ten chickens were 
the result; for a fortnight, while the weather was dry, they 
did as well as chickens could do, even in the summer; but 
all at once, one after another, gave way in the legs, until 
there lives, at this moment, only one solitaiy and miserable 
looking creature, to point a moral and tell a tale of suffering 
and woe. It was an experiment, but one I will not repeat, 
for I feel it was one of cruelty to the poor dumb creatures. 
I shall be glad to communicate to you how the crosses 
succeed after a while.—A. S. IV. 
ECONOMICAL HEATING A GREENHOUSE. 
In this very varying climate of ours (Ireland), we amatem'S 
who do not profess to keep even “ a handy man,” have many 
difficulties to contend with, and not the least amongst them 
