508 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 
March 31. 
Pr. Horner ha.s arrived per stiltimi at “ the true Polaiids.” 
T say pe)- siiltum, because he lias not condescended to infonn 
ns by what process of reasoning, unless assertion and italics 
! are with him in place of argument, he has discovered that 
these “ dashing debonairs,” and all sorts of sparkling 
epithet-wearing birds, are Polands, or Polish, at all. I con¬ 
tend, and 1 challenge him to prove me in error, that they 
have just as much right to be called Polanders, as Zealanders 
or Esquimaux. Not to imitate the Doctor in complacency 
of assertion, I will just bespeak your attention, and that of 
j'our renders, to the opinions of authors, who have ten times 
the experience, and lifty times the learning, that either he 
or I can pretend to. Mowbray says,—“ The Poland Fowls, 
as they are generally called, were chiefly imported from 
I Holland.” And he adds, in a subsequent paragraph, “ Besides 
I the I’ohvnders, there is a small variety now imported from 
Holland, called Every-day hens, which ai'e everlasting 
layers.” I desire this juxtaposition of these two varieties 
may be had in remembrance. Dr. John C. Bennett, of 
Boston, U.S., a very intelligent and experienced breeder of 
poultry, cannot see a trace, or wind a scent, of the origin of 
Polish Fowls, and contents himself with the confession of 
his faith, that the breed “is quite unknown in Poland.” 
With him goes Dickson, whose words the Yankee Doctor 
quotes to enunciate all he knows, or has to say, upon the 
subject. Micaiah Cook, who publishes from New York, 
under his arrangement, having a variety “ Cristalus," says,— 
“ Of this there are several races : the I'ulaiid, which is 
said to have been first introduced into Holland from the 
East, and from thence distributed through Europe and 
America.” Knight, in his admirable work, the “Farmer’s 
Library,” has it thus,—“ Fanciers discriminate between this 
breed and the Spangled Hamburgh, although by many they 
are confounded together.” In thus declaring himself, he has 
tolidem verbis acknowledged his present ignorance of his 
subject, even if he had not stumbled in the outset of his 
next sentence—“ Both are crested.” Some unconscious 
fumbling of the truth has passed from his inkstand to his 
papier in what he has put forth concerning the black I’oland 
Fowl. “ This variety is, by some, called the Paduan Fowl; 
but why these appellations should be given we do not know." 
If you can spare me a few of Dr. Horner's argumentative 
italics, and would pint "ire do not know" in that tppe, 
it might serve to pint prominently forward this author’s 
acknowledgment of his full share of the universal ignorance 
of the origin, or source, of the so-called Polish Fowl, in all 
its varieties. I beg to point attention to the very important 
admission that not the Paduan only, but the Polish apipel- 
lation—“ these appellations ”—are ignored. 
It may occur to yom- readers, that the very fact of these 
birds being so generally known as Polish or Poland fowls 
is an argument as yet unanswered—that there must be some 
reasons (and what can they be?) for this epithet. Potent 
reasons cannot be assigned; the whole field is one of con¬ 
jecture. Dr. Bennett gives his opinion again in Dickson’s 
words, that the breed of Polanders “ takes its name from 
some resemblance having been fancied between its tufted 
crest and the square-spreading crown of the feathered cap.s 
worn by the Polish soldiers.” The Piev. Edmund Saul 
Dixon, our facile ptrinceps of authorities upon all matters 
bearing upon these interesting subjects, and whose authority 
I have pirrposely reserved to this point, says of the Poland, 
or Polish fowl, “ Certain fowls with top-knots are called by 
the above names. 'Whence the title was derived I have 
endeavoured in vain to trace.” I must refer tlie reader to 
his able and scholar-like work on “ Ornamental and Domes¬ 
tic Poultry ” for his conjectures on the origin of the appel¬ 
lation, merely observing, that his hypothesis of the Polish 
I disease, the Plica Pohnica, in allusion to the top-knot, has 
1 suggested the idea. He subjoins, that the birds figured by 
Aldrovandus as the 1‘aduan fowls are what we now call 
Polands. 
; From those admissions of the obscurity of the origin of 
the breed under discussion, we might infer that some 
Dutch Sebright has elaborated a variety, and buried his 
secret with him in his grave. The juxtaposition, and prone¬ 
ness to confound the races, of these pseudo-Poles and 
Hamburghs might suggest probabilities; but with proba- 
' bilities, in such cases, we have little sympathy. The absence 
of all proof of genuine origin leaves the necessity for our 
belief that the variety is entirely an artificial one, and the 
crying-back of the breed opens the way to conjecture. It 
is, therefore, no longer a contest for “ the true Poland,” 
much less for “ the true Bearded Poland.” The question 
resolves itself into a mere matter of taste. It would be 
presumption in any one to decry a breed which finds some, 
not many admirers. I confess the Plica Pohnica is always 
uppermost in my thoughts, whenever I behold the most 
admired specimens. Their “ remai-lcably voluminous and 
profusely-hackled necks” are, to my taste, deformities, and 
I can only see in them Tudor ehimnies, which, however 
interesting to the antiquarian, are not necessary for the 
evolution of smoke. The top-knots are very strange, doubt¬ 
less; but they are only very strange. They blind and irri¬ 
tate the eyes of the birds ; and I must fully agree with 
Tlicaiah Cook that “ they should be sometimes clipped.” 
If such be ray opinion of the beardless vailety of the 
barbarian rarity, I cannot speak without extreme distaste. 
If, as Dixon supposes, climate shall have added them, and 
they be necessary in ours, wliy that is sufficient reason with 
me for rejecting a breed so necessarily odious. I have had 
top-knotted Ducks, which have occasionally pulled-down 
their Polish caps under their chin; and also top-knotted 
common fowls, which have been odiously luxuriant in this 
provision. Have I kept them? How long ? Till they were 
fit for the spit, and no longer. In parts of Switzerland, 
Goiters are plentiful and cherished ; but I neither wish for, 
nor reverence a Goiter. AVe know that farmers, gentlemens’ 
butlers, and housekeepers, wear a large proportion of their 
cheeks around their jowl and chin : but is this a feature to 
be admired? As soon shall we admire a Venus, or an 
Apollo, w'hose calves have slipped down to their ankles. 
To my own satisfaction, and I trust that of all unbiased 
readers, I have proved, without a fountain of italics, and by 
the admission of the learned rather than mine own unsup¬ 
ported dictum, that a Polish breed, like Poland itsedf, is not, 
and, unlike Poland itself, never was. As to the matter of 
Taste, the only authority on the subject, and the only 
arbiter, I leave beards on birds, and goiters on girls, and 
amplification of ancles on A'enuses and Apollos, to those 
who can admire them.—-E. G. S. Browke, IVithycomhe 
Cotta/je, Devon. 
JAPAN LILIES EOE GARDEN DECORATION 
The Litium lancifolium being so deservedly popular, has 
attracted a great deal of attention, and its cultivation in pots, 
for display in the conservatory during the autumn, has been 
attended with the best results—health of foliage, vigour of 
grow'th, and richness and beauty of blossom. Notwuth- 1 
standing its being scattered so widely through the country, | 
the question of its hardiness is still a dehateable matter. I 
shall not presume to give a definition of what is a hardy 
plant, I shall only say, that I understand by the term, any 
plant not liable to serious injury from the variable climate 
of this country. The Lilimn lancifolium, unfortunately, 
from the experiments made here, will not come under that 
description ; and I confess, that the question of its hardiness 
for cultivation in the open garden being still an unsettled , 
question, would lead to the conclusion, that but little or no ' 
success has heen attained in the matter. 
Its early vegetation, starting into growth in March, leaves j 
it liable, to spring frosts, which destroy its foliage, leaving it 
disfigured through the summer, with spotted and decaying 
leaves ; and the fact of its very late period of blooming, in 
the middle of September, e.xposing it to the almost certainty 
of frost at that time, are found, here, to be the chief causes 
of failure; and wetness during the period of rest is found 
to be injurious to the bulbs. 
The foregoing remarks ai’e founded upon experiments 
tried here upon its capabilities as “ an out-of doors ” plant. 
E. Bouverie, Esq., my honoured employer, having a fine 
collection of these Lilies, was desirous to have some iilanted 
out, and, accordingly, a bed was prepared, the earth re¬ 
moved two feet deep, some rubble placed at the bottom, and 
refilled with a compost similar to that described in your 
number 2.33. Eight pots of good flowering-plants were 
carefully placed in it in the middle of February; the whole 
was covered with leaf mould to exclude frost. By the 
