January 15. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
247 
foot deep; care should be taken that they are not placed in 
a damp situation. It is soon known when they intend be¬ 
ginning to lay, as they cannot be kept out of the house at 
that time, often stalking in three or four days before they 
commence laying, thus giving warning to their owners to 
prepare their nests for them. 
The nests ought to be kept in one situation from year to 
year, for if shifted, the geese do not settle on them for 
days, and some will not even lay in a nest which it has not 
occupied the foregoing year, without great compulsion; 
therefore, each goose ought always to have its old nest 
again. The usual time of laying a dozen eggs, takes about 
twenty or twenty-two days, of course some lay double that 
quantity of eggs, and take double the time in laying them. 
It is easily known within a day or two, before they discon¬ 
tinue laying, by the quantity of down and feathers left in 
the nest, and also by the unwillingness to leave it, which is 
a provision made by Nature which cannot be misunderstood. 
The cottager ought always to strive to have all his brood 
geese to hatch at once, which is a great desideratum, thereby 
saving an immense deal of future trouble and anxiety, if 
they are to be sent to a common. To accomplish this, the 
earliest ones done laying may be kept back from sitting on 
their eggs, a week or more, if necessary, and the latest 
may be advanced a little, by allowing them to have their 
eggs before they are quite done laying; to know when, 
has been already explained. I have frequently known a 
goose having been given her eggs, and afterwards lay two, 
and even three more, and yet at liatching-time there has 
been little or no difference in the time of hatching the 
whole of the eggs; for it is a well-known fact among 
poultry-keepers, that the last laid egg is the first in hatch¬ 
ing. A dozen eggs are considered enough for one goose to 
sit on, though I have known a large one bring forth four¬ 
teen, and even fifteen goslings, but I think twelve quite 
sufficient. During the time of incubation, the goose should 
be well fed, at least once a-day, having her food placed close 
to her nest, which prevents her leaving it so often, which 
they usually do at the commencement of sitting ; the con¬ 
sequence of so leaving is, that the eggs get addled, for if 
not looked after, they will sometimes stay an hour or more 
from them, and as it is the most ciitical time, great attention 
should be paid to them. Water also should be placed near 
them, so that they may partake of it without removing from 
their nests. 
At the end of twenty-eight days the eggs ought to be 
looked at, and the addled ones, if any, be taken out, as they 
are apt at that time to burst, from the heat and confined 
gas within them. The addled ones are easily distinguished 
from the others, by feeling colder and lighter, and by their 
sound if shaken in the hand. A great part of the down 
must also be taken out, as the young ones are apt to get 
smothered among it, especially if it be the first brood of 
the mother. At the end of the twenty-eight days, you will 
probably find some of the eggs “ chipped,” and some 
persons are very officious in “assisting nature,” as they 
choose to call it, by breaking pieces of shell off, and forcing 
the young ones out before their time. This is a bad system, 
and ought not to be done, except in cases, which sometimes 
occur, when the shell gets hardened and glued to the 
goslings, and then it ought to be cautiously removed, with¬ 
out producing bleeding. Nature may be assisted a little by 
giving the goslings in this state a few drops of warm milk 
from the tip of the finger, which it will readily take, which 
strengthens it greatly, and causes it to leaves the shell sooner. 
The young ones should not be taken out-of-doors until 
forty-eight hours at least after leaving the shell. In the 
mean time they may be once or twice fed on oatmeal mixed 
with milk made to the consistency of crumbs of bread, 
which they will readily eat. Water mixed witli a little milk 
may also be placed before them in a shallow, dish, which 
they will soon find and drink of. The old one should be 
kept in the nest during this time. If it can be avoided, 
they ought not to be taken out-of-doors the first time, with¬ 
out it be favourable weather, sunshine having a strengthen¬ 
ing effect on them; but rain on the contrary, ought, if 
possible, to be guarded against for the first few days, as few 
recover from a thorough drenching of rain at this period of 
their lives.—“ Llebig.” 
(To he continued.) 
WINTERING LETTUCES. 
At this season of the year it is the complaint of many 
cottagers, that their Lettuce plants, planted in Autumn, to 
stand the winter, die off, and they ascribe it to the un¬ 
favourable weather, and a great variety of causes. I have 
practised the following very simple method, whereby all the 
plants have been preserved throughout the winter. I can 
promise that it will answer on common, light garden ground, 
but I do not say it will do on stiff or heavy soils. After the 
ground has been well prepared by turning it over, I tread 
it evenly over the surface, so as to make it quite firm, and 
then insert the plants firmly in the soil. I have observed, 
that when this has been done, hardly a plant has been lost, 
while on the other hand, when the ground has not been 
trod, many of the plants have perished.—W. Moore, 
Chelsea. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Cochin-China Fowls. —In reply to the queries of H. B. in The 
Cottage Gardener, page 202 of the present volume, on this very 
interesting and, as he terms it, “ highly fashionable subject,” I would, 
in the first place, say, that Mr. Punchard did not dispose of either 
chickens or eggs prior to the Birmingham Exhibition of 1850 ; but since 
that time, he has sent fowls to all parts of the kingdom (Cornwall in¬ 
cluded) ; he has this week sent some into Devonshire, and to Cheshire, 
and a short time since he supplied some to one of Prince Albert’s farms 
at Windsor. Mr. Punchard has not parted with any eggs (except a few 
to friends), before they have undergone a process which prevents their 
producing chickens; the surplus ones have been sent to the shops, and 
in their known unproductive state, have sold for cooking, &c., at the 
general price of eggs in the neighbourhood. Mr. Punchard has kindly 
sent me a copy of his egg-account, from his manager’s book, from the 
1st of January to the 2(it,h December, which may be interesting to H. B. 
The total number is 5865, and 2340 of this number have been laid since 
the 1st of September, at which time several of the early-hatched pullets 
commenced laying. His stock of fowls is diminishing daily by sales 
made ; but even now, he can show nearlv 400 fowls and chickens. Mr. 
Punchard did not carry alt the prizes at Birmingham, in 1850, but took 
a prize for every pen he exhibited, as also did Mr. Sturgeon. By referring 
to the prize list of 1850, it will be seen, that in Class 3, there were nineteen 
competing pens of Cochin-China fowls; in Class 14, 2 7 pens; and in 
Class 15, 17 pens. “The weight of the cocks, and the fecundity of 
the hens,” as H. B. remarks, is truly astonishing, for the hens com¬ 
mence laying three weeks after having produced chickens, and then 
will lay 28 eggs in 30 days; my pullets, even, have done this. I must 
not forget to inform H. B., that the 500 chickens reared by Mr. Pun¬ 
chard, were not all hatched by the 35 hens, but some of them by his 
cottager’s common hens, he supplying the eggs, and taking the chickens 
at the age of eight or nine weeks, paying them a certain sum per head, 
per week; this was done to the extent of about one-third of the 500.— 
J. H. Payne. 
Cochin-China Fowls. —H. B., in your number of The Cottage 
Gardener for Dec. 25th, has put forward a series of questions regarding 
these fowls, which have doubtless suggested themselves to several of your 
subscribers on reading Mr. Payne’s communication respecting Mr. Pun- 
chard’s stock. I myself was much surprised on first reading it; but much 
of that surprise has abated on weighing some of my own cockerels, and 
on referring to my egg-account. I commenced this year with a pair of 
young fowls, whose grand-parents were imported birds; their appearance 
entirely accords with the description given in your number for July 31st, 
1851. The pullet began to lay on Jan. 14th ; on March 3rd she hatched 
16 chickens, and again began laying when these were five weeks old. On 
May 27 th, she brought out another fine brood, and recommenced laying 
in about a month. On August 12th, she hatched a third brood ; and in 
six weeks laid again. In October she wished to sit a fourth time, but 
being so late in the season, 1 prevented her. On the 13tli inst. (Dec.), 
she again began to lay, and is now still producing her daily egg, having 
laid this year 104 eggs. Of the March brood, some of the pullets began 
to lay more than a month ago, and some of the cockerels weigh about 
94 lbs.; cockerels of the May brood about 6 lbs. As regards the hardy 
nature of the breed, I need say no more than that I have not lost a single 
chick from illness. Many imagined that they had the pure breed, but, 
on seeing mine, were quickly undeceived. Mr. Punchard’s, however, and 
the prize birds at Birmingham, appear, from your account, to be a still 
finer variety. I have a couple of fine cockerels to part with at a moderate 
rate.— Broughton Kingdon, Exeter. 
Cantua dependens (J. W. F.). —We cannot write answers by post, 
and when they are delayed it is owing to the difficulty of procuring the 
information desired. We have said last October that Cantua dependens 
was a half-hardy frame plant, and your house at 60 ° was more than 20° 
too much for it. We have also said of it that it would not stand much 
exposure to the sun when under glass, so there was no want of informa¬ 
tion respecting it—but we have all to learn more about it. Your plant 
was infested badly with the red spider, otherwise a sudden temperature of 
60 ° would not tell against it, at this season, in less time than a month or 
so. Place one of the bottom leaves under a magnifier now, and you will 
see whole herds moving about; they are red spiders, against which we 
constantly keep the proper remedy before our readers, even devoting 
whole chapters to this one subject. The front part of a cold frame is the 
proper place for wintering young plants of Cantua dependens, or, in 
other W'ords, abundance of damp air, freedom from frost, with a full expo¬ 
sure to light, but not to the direct rays of the sun. It will be as cheap as 
cabbage plants. 
Climbing Roses (W. R. N. S.). — Your plan will answer perfectly. 
You will see that Roses trained with single stems were recommended last 
