136 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 27. 
frames during the months of December, January, and 
February. The soil put in the frame i$ fine leaf-mould, 
which they cover six inches thick with a deposit dredged 
from the bottom of the Haarlem Lake. This deposit is 
decayed vegetable matter, almost black, and has the appear¬ 
ance of very coarse black rappee snulf. I am satisfied, how¬ 
ever, that the remains of a melon or cucumber-bed would 
answer the same purpose. The light of the frame is covered 
with oiled wliitey-brown paper, though glass does as well. 
The lettuce-plants are put one foot apart each way, and have 
air given to them when the weather is dry and fine. Of 
course there are always some little attentions which discern¬ 
ing gardeners are well acquainted with as regards the treat¬ 
ment of plants in general, aud which are dependant on 
locality and weather. If frosty, protect by a mat, or litter, 
(fee. No bottom-heat is given beyond a layer of dead leaves 
a foot-and-a-half thick, which is put about 2 feet below the 
surface. In this way, as nearly as possible, the finest 
lettuces are produced. I import the White German Cabbage 
Lettuce every year.—T. Lockhart, 84, Fleet-street. 
RASPBERRIES. 
I can confirm all Mr. Errington has said on the Falstoff 
Raspberry , at page 12, having for some years found it to be 
the best red one grown; and to those of your readers who 
have not yet possessed themselves of it, I strongly advise 
them to do so at once. I do not know of any new variety of 
fruit ever sent out that was so much superior to existing 
kinds as this raspberry is in so many points—not the least 
valuable being the property it has of continuing to bear 
good, large, useful fruit, long after the main crop is gathered. 
With me it continued bearing until the autumn-fruiting one 
came in, about the beginning of September; and it was not 
a solitary fruit here and there, but often a good number on a 
plant. 
The Autumn bearing, which I presume to be the same 
Mi - . Errington calls the “ double bearing,” is also a good 
and useful fruit, and, in some situations, the most prolific 
kind grown. With me it has been loaded with ripe fruit 
from the beginning of September, until the severe frosts of 
the 3rd and 4th of November checked it, and, I verily 
believe, had we not had these frosts, it would have continued 
to furnish a good supply up to Christmas. Mr. Errington’s 
remarks on its habits are quite right; it requires room, and 
does best in a single row by itself; mine are growing by the 
side of a walk, and have received but little attention in the 
way of summer training, but the graceful appearance its 
shoots have, loaded as they are with fruit in the various 
stages from the just-expanded blossom up to the ripe fruit, 
gives it a very interesting appearance, so that every one who 
lias seen them, has been so convinced of their utility, that 
I expect they will be more extensively grown than formerly; 
the fruit is medium sized, but, of course, the flavour decreases 
as the season advances, otherwise in September it is pretty 
good. I only wish we had anything in the strawberry way 
suitable for autumn pmqioses, that could be compared to it; 
I mean a fruit that would hear as much resemblance to 
those we have in July, as this raspberry does to its compeers 
at that favoured tune. Such a fruit would be an acquisition; 
but we must not despair, this raspberry was not known 
some years ago, and we hope some enthusiastic admirer of 
Pomona will direct his skill to such a successful issue, as to 
furnish us with so desirable an addition to our gardens. 
S. N. V. 
TRANSACTIONS IN THE HEN-YARD— December. 
Ducks may be kept almost anywhere, with little trouble, 
but not, I am afraid, in all places at small expense; at least 
in this I give the result of my own experience. They are 
curious, hungry, dirty things ; they waddle about, and crave 
for food, robbing the other poultry, and making every 
place dirty, in a manner quite peculiar to themselves. They 
will live and latten without the use of a pond, but there is little 
doubt they do better and are more profitable to their owners, 
when they can have access to water. Where they have a 
pond, they pick up a great deal of food for themselves, 
which, of course, saves the pockets of those who pay for the 
corn and meal; but L can, at the same time, pronounce 
from experience that ducks may be kept, will thrive, lay 
abundantly, and raise ducklings, which will prove exceed¬ 
ingly delicate for the table, when supplied with only a good 
tub of water instead of a pond. 
I believe the kinds of ducks generally kept for domestic 
purposes are the Aylesbury, the Rouen, and the common 
sort. From my own experience, I consider the Aylesbury 
the best; they are large and perfectly white, with light bill 
and yellow legs; they lay well, the eggs are large, with white 
shells, and the ducks make excellent sitters and mothers; 
they are also very good for the table. On first buying, the 
Aylesbury ducks are dearer than the common sorts ; I have 
bought very good for four shillings each, and I have been 
asked as much as eight; good common ducks may, I believe, 
be had for half-a-crowm each. 
About the time when the ducks should begin to lay, I 
have them shut in at night, as they often have a great 
inclination to lay astray; but when they once become accus¬ 
tomed to lay in one place, they will keep constant to it; then, 
therefore, I leave them at full liberty to run out early in the 
morning, and seek their favourite animal food. In the 
morning I give them a good pan of porridge, made with the 
meal called middlings and crushed barley, mixed together; 
in the evening, they have oats thrown into a pan of water. 
While the ducklings are young, they are fed more fre¬ 
quently ; they are very fond of boiled white cabbage chopped 
with their food, and will eat raw lettuce greedily; in fact, 
there are few tilings which ducks will not eat with a good 
appetite. They usually commence laying early in the year, 
and when I have reason to think them idle in this respect, 
I submit them to the same treatment which my hens receive; 
that is, I have the food given to them warm every morning 
for a week, a fortnight, or until they begin to lay. 
I say, decidedly, allow the ducks to sit and hatch their own 
progeny; do not employ the services of a hen for that pur¬ 
pose ; for with a small hen the large duck’s eggs will be 
starved by insufficient warmth, and the services of a large, 
fine, fat hen, are generally too valuable to be spared from 
the more congenial task of hatching chickens. I have seen 
it observed by many authors, often, I believe, repeating from 
each other, that an old duck will do little in defence of her 
young ones, but I do not agree with this, and can only say I 
have had many a good bite from the mother duck, as a 
punishment for venturing to touch a member of her little 
family. If you wish for plenty of eggs in preference to 
ducklings, let the eggs be collected every morning; if, on the 
contrary, you would like the duck to sit, allow her to collect 
her eggs herself for the purpose. If you are fearful that 
the eggs will not keep in the nest, remove those which are 
fresh laid, but leave a sufficient number of nest eggs to 
deceive the duck into the belief that she is collecting for 
herself, and after a time she will commence sitting, when it 
will be- easy, at her feeding time, to change the stale eggs 
for fresh. 
The ground is the best locality for a duck’s nest, and 
perhaps the corner of the duck’s-house may be the safest 
place, although I have known large broods of fine ducklings 
hatched out of doors. Give the duck a good supply of 
straw, and she will make a beautiful nest for herself; when 
she has formed it, thrust a good handful of hay into a 
corner within reach of her bill; this she will use to cover 
her eggs when she leaves her nest to feed. Take care that j 
she is supplied with corn and water whenever she leaves her ! 
nest to seek it, and she will be pretty sure to go on well. 
I have heard many persons complain of bad success with 
their sitting ducks. I believe this generally arises from the 
duck being fidgetty and inconstant during the first two or 
three days of sitting. The drake, unwilling to lose the 
company of his companion, thrusts his head in at the door 
of the house, and calls her forth with his affectionate 
guttural, and the duck listens to his call, and in the pleasure 
of his company forgets her eggs for hours together; for this 
reason I watch her for the first few days when she comes j 
off to feed, and drive her back to her nest when she has 
been off long enough, taking care to do so gently, not to ! 
excite her jealousy, for if she turns cross she will, very 
likely, break some of her eggs. When once well settled to ' 
the nest I find them excellent sitters, hardly allowing them¬ 
selves time to feed. The day four weeks, or one, or some¬ 
times even two days later, the little ducklings make their 
