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THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November fi. 
i the poor, and dangerous to the well-being of the parish. 
Religious house-holders will refuse to sign anything that is 
repugnant to the Word of God. 
In our own parish two of the beer-houses are kept by 
| tradesmen—men whose station in life ought to preserve 
them from such a calling, for holy motives must unhappily 
be put out of the question. Both houses are lawless in 
their habits, and are known to be so; but matters are so 
managed as to avoid general observation, and the owners 
being in a higher walk of life, persons who could inform 
will not come forward to condemn their friends and con¬ 
nections ; and nothing, unfortunately, is so difficult as to 
prove an offence, even when a true charge is made. 
There have been no less than three warnings to the 
managers of these pitfalls of Satan, within the last four 
years. One beer-house, as I have already stated, was 
burned to the ground. I shall not easily forget seeing the 
wife of the man who kept it, standing out in the street one 
Christmas-day, in a green gown and pink ribbons, handing 
beer to two men in a gig, while the church bells were 
chiming, and the people were passing by to the house of 
God. This happened a year or two before the house, and 
the beer, and the gowns and caps, disappeared like smoke 
before the wind. 
The owners of the most respectable public-house in the 
neighbourhood, have suffered loss, and have been obliged to 
give it up, under very discreditable circumstances. They 
were people, apparently, of steady, respectable habits, 
regular attendants at church, and never known to open 
their house on the Sabbath, although passing strangers have 
been seen taking a draught of beer at the door before 
the hour of morning service. These persons have made 
way for a tradesman, who ought to have done better, but 
whose tap-room is now very differently conducted, and who 
does not regard the Sabbath, to keep it holy. 
The owner of another, and a much larger public-house, 
received a powerful admonition some months ago. He was 
passing along the road leading into the village, when a large 
pollard, which had stood on a bank from time immemorial, 
suddenly fell, and struck him to the earth. He was found 
lying insensible beneath the prostrate tree, but by the 
mercy of God, he was raised up from the bed of suffering, 
and enabled again to go forth among the children of men. 
There must be houses of public refreshment in every 
village, where passengers may obtain food and lodging—they 
are useful and necessary things. The mischief lies in their 
abuse, and in the number permitted. A tap-room, where 
poor men are allowed and encouraged to go night after 
night, and drink away their reason and their children’s 
bread, is an abomination wherever it may be found, whether 
in the smart-looking village inn, or the low beer-house. 
Wherever souls are perilled, there is sin; and when week¬ 
day intoxication is allowed, although Sabbath intoxication is 
| not, it is after all, only sin committed in the most decent 
j way. 
It is a duty we owe to our God, as well as our neighbour, 
i to repress sin, whenever v r e can do so; and it would be 
fulfilling an important share of this duty, to prevent the 
establishment of beer-houses; nothing effectual can be 
done for the poor, whilst they taint the air. 
If all the “respectable householders” in a parish would 
; refuse to sign testimonials for this purpose, the mischief 
I would be greatly diminished for the future, although so 
much that is done must remain; and I am sure that none 
would ever see the hour when regret for so doing would 
disturb their minds; on the contrary, many who have but 
little to bestow on their poorer neighbours might then say, 
“I have done what I could.” Let me urge this duty 
affectionately on all my readers, reminding them that what¬ 
ever is done “ as unto God ” will never lose its reward. 
And now for a word to ourselves. The warnings which I 
have just described, are as much meant for us, as for those 
who experienced them. “ Or those eighteen upon whom 
the tower of Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they 
were sinners above all men that dwelt at Jerusalem ? I tell 
you, nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” 
These were the words of God Himself; let us all lay them 
to our hearts; and while we strive with our whole souls to 
love God, let us not forget to love our brother also. 
POULTRY-KEEPING. 
Having seen several excellent hints in your valuable work 1 
relating to the feeding and general management of the ; 
domestic fowl, has led me to give also a short sketch of my 
fowl-house, and the management I use towards my poultry 
(after having ten years’ experience with that race). Now, 
my house is eighteen feet by twelve feet, with a partition in 
the middle of lattice-work—one part for the roosting-place, 
and the other for the nests, which form one row all round, 
three feet from the floor. My nest boxes are fifteen inches 
square, with the hole in front eight inches by ten inches ; j 
but being pestered with fleas, and finding they generally 
accumulate at the bottom of the boxes, I had the bottom 
made with stout laths, nailed one inch apart, cut like an 
equilateral triangle, and nailed on with an angle uppermost, 
so there are no warn corners for such vermin. Half way 
round my house I have a yard eighteen feet wide, fenced in i 
with a lattice fence. My house has a spare roof thatched 
with chips, and at each end there is a ventilator, made 
similar to the Venetian blinds, only on a much larger scale, 
so I can shut up close in very rough, cold w r eather. In the 
yard there is a small tank three feet wide and nine inches 
deep ; over the tank there is a cover made with laths, to | 
prevent the young chickens getting in, and the old hens , 
from running through. 
Having given a description of my house, I will proceed 
with a few remarks on the feeding of the birds. 1 have 1 
thirty hens and four roosters, principally of the Dorking or ' 
| dunghill breed. From these I have received between 400 
I and 500 eggs, nearly every month, from February last, 
until the present month (September), which has not 
I exceeded 150, owing to the number of hens which are 
moulting, besides rearing about 140 chicks. I feed my hens : 
nearly always with good barley, excepting now and then I 
get a sack of oats for them. I shut them up as soon as they | 
go to roost, and let them out about eight o’clock in the 
morning, when I give them as much corn as I think they 
will eat. If not very cold and wet, I let them out into the 
field, where they have a good stable-dung heap, the green 
stuff from off the meadow, and a gravel-pit, to employ 
themselves in, which are three excellent things for poultry. 
Then at noon I call them in, feed them the second time, 
and after which they go for their walk again, for an hour 
or two, and then go to roost contented. My hens when 
I set them, I manage to set three at the same time, 
so when they come off, I generally get too good broods 
from the three, instead of keeping the three hens from 
laying. When they are setting, I take them off only once 
each day to feed them, and then fasten them up again, after 
; being off from an half to three-quarters-of- an-liour, accord- 
i ing to the weather. I use bruised straw for the nests, which, 
! when the hens are setting, must be middling thick, to keep 
the cold from the under side of the eggs. As the chicks 
I hatch, I give them all a pepper-corn or two, to strengthen 
them, and select one of the hens, which I believe to be a 
good mother, to nurse them, as the other two hatched them. 
When they are hatched, I keep them under the two hens for 
a short time, till they have gained their strength, when I 
take them in a warm corner out of doors, and coop the hen, 
and keep her there until the chickens have got strong 
birds ; then I let them have their liberty. 
When first I kept fowls I used to feed my chickens upon 
grits, but finding they did not thrive to my satisfaction, I 
changed their food to cracked barley, which I soon found 
proved to my satisfaction, for it is not only cheaper, but the 
little things (instead of moping about after they -were fed) 
ran and scratched about for worms and anything they could 
get; with this, my present plan, I seldom lose my chickens 
by death. 
I will also give a few rules which I use:— 
1. Always keep your fowls clean. 
2. Always feed at one time. 
3. Always let them out at one time. 
4. Keep your fowls dry, but not so close and warm at 
night. 
5. If they cannot get plenty of clean water supply them 
with it. 
(5. Always let your chickens have plenty of clean water 
and com. 
7. Keep your chickens in a warm, open, dry place, 
