THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 
4‘)l 
March 24. 
old Polands may bo generally Icnown, and not forgotten; 
and tliat, should they be recovered, the contaminating asso¬ 
ciations with the Tufted Hamburgh may he guarded against, 
which, however, I should liave no particular objection to 
. receive as Poles, provided they appear in full dress without 
! combs.—B. P. Brent, Bessels Green, Sevenuaks, 
I [Mr. Brent lias kindly sent us the above paper on the 
j Polish and “ tufted llamhurgli ” question. Could a conihless, 
! i)erfectly white-crested Pohsll fowl, as there described, he re 
I ferred to as a living specimen, the question would he much 
narrowed; hut hitherto we have not been so fortunate as to 
meet with it; and indeed Mr. Brent himself would lead us to 
infer that it has become extremely rare. His description of the 
Hamburgh’s tuft falling hack on the neck exactly coincides 
with what we now see in the male birds of what are now 
called Polands, with whom the hens constantly disjilay a 
perfectly spherical top-knot, in shape such as JMr. Brent 
would regard as the property of his old Polish only. 
The classitication now in use has the great merit of sim¬ 
plicity, and wo must own our inability to foresee any advan¬ 
tage likely to result from its discontinuance. “ The In/led 
Jlanibiiri/h," we fear, will fail to support his case, as of 
distinct origin and lineage from his I’olish neighbour. 
Again, the Gold and Silver Hamhurghs, both pencilled 
and spangled, have so many points in common with each 
other, that we should greatly regret any system of nomen¬ 
clature by which we should hazard their disunion, and this 
would probably happen were we to single out (he Silver- 
pencilled birds as “ Dutch Every-day-layers,” or apply the 
appellation of Grey Boltons to the Gold Spangled variety. 
-'V.J 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
We refjueat that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Oahdener. It {^ives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed To the Editor of 
the Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London,*' 
Handbills Inserted in the Cottage Gardener {Clcricus). —We 
assure you positively that the highly objectionable Handbill you sent to 
us was inserted by our Publisher. Mr, Dickens complained in The 
Times of similar Handbills being inserted in his “ Household Words.*’ 
They are inserted by some low agent in London, connected with those 
your Hookseller employs. 
Ward’s Cask {Fernetum), —You ask whatferns and mosses are suited 
to a Wardian case 4.| feet long, 3 feet wide, and 3 feet high, with burs 
across for Epiphytes in i)oses on lilocks. You grow Cypripedium speviosnm 
well in it, and in a close case have grown well, Trirhonumes speciosa and 
Ilymenophyllum Wilsuni. Wc gladly accept your olfer of telling us how 
you manage the two last so well, as they are rather diflicult, especially 
the Trlehovinnes, no one having done much witli it without a close moist 
atmosphere, just like what your close case would supply. With such 
success w'c feel doul)tful if wc are able to give many advices respecting 
! the Ward’s case. We should have known better if you had told us the 
I construction, and whether you can give it any heat in winter besides 
throwing a cover over it. If not, then we would add Cypripediiivi cal- 
I ceolus and pubescens, and Orchis longicormi and others. To the two 
ferns named above, wc would add Asplenium fontanum, Aaplenium adi- 
nntum nigrum, and Asplenium trichomanes, Cetrarvh o^icinarum, 
Adiuntum Capillus veneris; and for mosses, select Lycopodium 
upodum, deyiticulatinn, and helveticurn, the first being very low and 
compact. If, l)y means of a drawer beneath, lined with lead or zinc, you 
I could apply heat by warm water in winter, then, in addition to small 
; patches of the al)Ove, you might have Gymnogramma sulphured, and 
I Adiuntum formosum, for the centre; Aditmtum ptibeseens, und rhom- 
! boideum, and cuneatum for a lower level; in line with Lycopodium 
j Wildenovii and stoloniferum ; while the rods might be supplied with , 
I little baskets of Lycopodium violaceum, and Braziliense, which would 
j have a fine appearance hanging down. A few plants of JEschynanthus 
parasiticus and ramosissimus may be suspended in a similar manner; 
j but though they will grow well with but little air, they must have fresh 
' air to get them to bloom freely. The subject will, ere long, receive 
more definite attention ; but these hints may meet the present case, and 
keep a correspondent from waiting, which we never like to do. 
Frost-bitten Fowls. — An Old Stibscriher says :—” During the late 
frost I have had two valuable Dorking birds frost-bitten, and both of 
them are since dead; they lingered some time, and gradually wasted 
away.” [It would tend to more satisfactory results if correspondents 
would describe the symptoms of their diseased birds as closely as pos¬ 
sible. In this case it is not stated in what manner the frost affected 
them; the cold might have produced nwrtification of the comb, which 
happens when it is frost-bitten, or the legs might have 1)een similarly 
affected, or some internal infiammation may have resulted from the 
exposure; each of these cases would reejuire different treatment. I can 
only answer the cnciuiry generally, by stating that in all cases of frost¬ 
bite, or numbness from cold, the most certain mode of producing a fatal 
result is to expose the patient suddenly to an increased temperature. If 
the comb is frozen, thawing it by the lire, or in a warm room, is certain 
to produce mortification ; the same with the legs and feet. The proper 
treatment is to rub the parts with snow, or a cold wet flannel until the 
circulation is restored; should the whole body be benumbed, the natural 
warmth may be attempted to be regained by covering the bird up with 
flannel or hay, and bringing it by the slowest possible degrees into a 
warmer air; suddenly bringing a frozen bird into a hot room is almost 
certain to prove fatal.— W. B, Tegetmeier, Tottenham, Middlesex.'] 
Garden Plans {Clericus and M. K. G .).— We can only repeat our 
inability to plant or lay out beds on paper for places we have never seen. 
The garden of Cle^'Ums is very tastefully laid out, and particularly the 
corner figures, where ninety-nine out of a hundred incur failure. 
M, E. Q. would require a first-rate artist on the spot to do justice to his 
beautiful slopes towards the river. 
Screen of Evergreens {Quercus). —There arc no plants better for j 
making a screen across a garden than Laurels, but as your’s are to be on 
a mound, you might add a few plants of Arbutus and Alaternus along 
the top of the ridge, and keep them ten or twelve feet apart, and laurels j 
a yard high. Plant four feet apart every way, and that is the easie.st way i 
to find how many plants you need. Your mound is all right, but all the j 
plants ought to be in before now. Of all the follies and extravagancies * 
in gardening, none exceed that of planting trees or shrubs, evergreen or 
otherwise, late in the spring. You would gain one season in four if you 
were to put off this planting till next October, that is, in four years plants 
put in next October will be one year in advance of others of the same 
kinds put in this April—an axiom as true as any in Euclid. 
Bees — Excess of Drones (A Country Rector). —“Can any apiarian 
kindly inform me why drones eggs were laid in two hives last spring in¬ 
stead of workers. The drones first showed themselves in April, but the 
hives decreased in strength, and dwindled on till autumn, Pcrha])s tlic 
information in fumigating bees, which I have gained by experiments, 
may be useful to others, as at first I found great ditficulty in clearing 
the hive of all the l)ees. I now fumigate the hive twice, removing all the 
bees I can obtain by the first process, for the purpose of uniting with 
other hives, and then leaving [the bees that adhere to the comb three or 
four hours before the second dose, when the hive will be left without a 
bee adhering to the comb; the queen usually being with the last lot. 
Experience has told me that very large hives are a mistake ; for if the 
royal cells, after swarming, are situated low down in the hive, the popu¬ 
lation left do not generate sufficient warmth to hatch the grub.” (The 
drones which appeared in your hives in April, were in all probability not 
killed in the preceding autumn, on account of the death of the queen at 
a time when there were neither eggs nor brood in the hive from wdiich 
another queen could be made. Wc had an exactly similar occurrence 
ourselves two years ago. The drones, in tiiis ease, made their appear¬ 
ance the last w'eck in March, but the stock, although then very strong, 
both in bees and honey, dwindled away till autumn, and then died.— 
J. H. P.) 
Crowing Hen.— “ If I might be allow’cd to give an opinion, I should 
strongly recommend * Chicken-hearted* not to be so in regard to the 
‘ Crowing-hen ’ of which he or she complains, but to make aw'ay with 
‘ him,’ * her,’ or * it,’ as soon as may be, for I am sure it never did lay, 
and never will. It is an 'hermaphrodite,* and besides plaguing all the 
hens, will very often be inclined to cat the eggs, and to teach others to 
do so too. I have seen several instances of tliis. The only cure is 
‘ death,’ and the speedier the better.—K.” 
Annuals Sown in Turf {Bengal). —It is an excellent plan, and not 
the worse for being nearly forty years old, and for which the Caledonian 
Horticultural Society gave one of its best prizes. The plan is fully ex¬ 
plained in a former volume; but being now just in season, here it is again— 
peas, beans, and all, or almost all kinds of garden seeds miglit be sown 
in the same way. Take turf one inch or an half-an-inch in,thickness, 
and with a spade or old knjfe cut it into ribbons two inches wide for 
drill-sowing \ lay the ribbons at full length, and close to each other, with 
the green side downwards, under a cold frame, or in a very sheltered 
place without a frame ; sprinkle some light soil all over the mass, filling 
in the hollows between the edges of the ribbons ; then sow the seeds, 
one row along the centre of each strip of turf; when the seeds arc well 
up, and time is to transplant them, run an old knife down between the 
ribbons to separate any roots, then, with a gentle move, raise each piece 
and lay it on a fiat board or barrow, and plant it in a little trench, so that 
the seedlings are half-an-inch deeper this time. For planting in patches, 
cut the turf to the size of the patch, it will do square or round; these 
pieces or strips of turf arc better tlian pots for many things, and finally 
they decay, and furnish a supply of fresh soil to the roots ; tlie thickness, 
the lengths, or the sizes, are all matters of convenience, and any form or 
size, or thickness, is as good as another, if it suits the particular case. 
Pelargoniums {Kathleen).—Yon have: 1, Cyrus; 2, Curtis’ New 
Comet; 3, Garland; 4, Lady Kivers; 6, Magog; 6, Sylph; 7> 
tuiskii; 8, Kninm; Q, Incomparable; 10, Negress; 11, Seedling; 12, 
l.)uches8 of Sutherland: 13, Druid; 11, Ivanhoc; 15, Lilac Unique; lO, 
Peel; 17, Othello; 18, Hebe's Lip ; ip, llegulator; 20, Orion; 21, Sun 
llisc; 22, Forget-mc-not; 23, Non))ariel ; 24, All)ion ; 25, Pluto; 2fi, 
Priory Queen; 27, Queen; 28, Millitlora. The following are the best 
kinds in your list, but wait to see which you prefer. 1, 5, 6, 10, 17, 18, 
ly, 20, 21, 24, fine, 25, and 26. The following are fancies—4 not quite so 
good as Queen Victoria, but like it; 7, an ugly black sort; 24, very fine. 
You see it among the best at the last summer exhibition ; 15 is a bedder, 
and rather new' ; 26 the best bedder of all this strain. 
Ivy against a Wooden Fence {Ibid). —We have heard and read of 
many arguments for and against the plan, but we never give a decided 
answer to a question wc do not ourselves know to be right. Therefore, 
wc propose this question to all our readers—Do you happen to know a 
wooden fence, tarred or untarred, against which Ivy has been growing 
more than fifteen years ? If so, what is the effect on the wood, as com- 
