360 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 4. 
this particular mainly depends the success of their annual 
show; and, as a principal step in the amendment, we would 
strongly recommend them to abandon the provincialisms 
used by them to describe the family of Hamburghs, and at 
once to adopt the nomenclature of the Rev. E. S. Dixon, M.A., 
in his “ Ornamental Poultry,” and then we think they will 
not have to regret the absence for competition, of one of 
the most beautiful of these varieties, viz., the “ Golden Pen¬ 
cilled Hamburgh,” known in the north as “ Bolton Bays,” 
and for which no prize was offered at all. This deficiency 
was, however, partly made up by a few very choice and 
perfectly marked specimens sent by Mr. Bailey for sale. 
The Spanish Fowl were, as a class, worthy our especial 
notice, and those exhibited by Capt. W. H. Hornby, R.N., of 
Knowsley, who carried off the first prize, were, with the 
exception of size, birds of rare excellence, and, with care to 
this deficiency, we think that gentleman has nothing to fear 
from future competition. The Cochin China class deserves 
our high commendation, they were both numerous and good, 
and some specimens were sold for a much higher price than 
on any former occasion, but we observed in this class a great 
want of uniformity of colour and character in many of the 
pens, that in other respects were praiseworthy. For one, 
belonging to Mr. James Cattell, of Birmingham, which 
obtained the prize for the best cock in the exhibition, an en¬ 
thusiastic amateur from Lancashire offered £25, but the 
sale on these terms was declined. In various cases, speci¬ 
mens sold for £5 each, and a cock and a second-prize hen 
obtained as much as L10. In the whole of the Hamburgh 
classes, we saw but few inferior pens; indeed, these varieties 
have been bred, both in Yorkshire and Lancashire, with 
great taste and discrimination, and for which they have, for 
many years, enjoyed a far-famed reputation. The Bantams 
were far below our expectations, but we must not indiscri¬ 
minately condemn them all, for the pen of Golden-laced 
sent by Mrs. Hosier Williams, of Shrewsbury, and to whom 
was awarded the first prize, were birds of singular beauty, 
and readily found a purchaser at the price affixed to them 
in the catalogue. There were also good specimens of Black 
Bantams exhibited. 
We are sorry to observe that the attendance was not so 
good as a show of this importance entitled us to expect, but 
hope another year that it will be held in a town of easier 
access, when we have no doubt that the number of visitors 
will be considerably increased, both from the locality and 
a distance. 
The judges were—Mr. Bond, Leeds; Mr. Nutt, York; 
Mr. Bissell, Birmingham. We gave a list of the prize 
winners in our last. 
[We have another report of this meeting, for which 
we have not room to-day; but it contains some excellent 
suggestions, and shall, therefore, appear next week.— 
Ed. C. G.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
*** We request that no one will write to the departmental writers of 
The Cottage Gardener. It gives them unjustifiable trouble and 
expense. All communications should be addressed “To the Editor of 
the Cottage Gardener, 2, Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, London. 
Gutta Percha Trellis. — F. G. obligingly writes, “ I beg to inform 
“ It. W. ” (page 2Q7) that I use gutta percha of the strength of window- 
blind cord ; indeed, my first essay was with an old blind cord that had 
broken, and was too short to use again for that purpose. I knot it at 
one end, then run it through the iron pins along the sash, and stretch it 
very tight, making another knot at the other end ; when the cord is let 
loose, it contracts, and is sufficiently tight. I think climbing plants like 
it better than wire. The price is a penny a yard in small quantities, but 
less if you take a large quantity, in which case it is usually sold by 
weight.” 
Sidonia Geranium (Thorneycroft ).—“A good tale is not the worse 
for being twice told.” Our liumoursome correspondent has one seedling 
plant from Sidonia, for which he claims the donkey of Mr. Beaton. The 
first increase of it is to be sent to the secretary of our llower-garden, who 
accepts it as a very high compliment indeed. “My plant ripened one 
seed, which never left my thumb and finger until I had it sown, and the 
seedling is now in a sixty pot in my stove.” “ The leaf being downy,” 
is a certain mark that you have a cross, notwithstanding the “lank 
habit.” T he seed was set in the full sun and wind, out of doors, the pot 
being placed within another to protect the roots from the sun.” Let 
this valuable memorandum be entered in the stud book this afternoon. 
“ The lovely, fairy-like little things, which sprung from the union of 
Fnlgidum with the tuberous sections, perished, crushed and overwhelmed 
by the stouter offspring of the coarse Cuculatum and Grandiflorum, w hich 
latter, however, had the greatest hand in originating our fine sorts.” No, 
no 1 Grandiflorum only gave the light colour. It was Cuculatum which 
brought in both the coarse habit and the still coarser foliage of the flor- 1 
ist’s delight. Though Sweet is our best authority, he is by no means 
always correct; and if you are a general reader, you must know that the ! 
fallacy of “ any two sorts ” crossing is handed down to the present day. 
After what the florists have done in Dianthus, one would, indeed, sup¬ 
pose many hidden treasures in the family ; but all the wild and alpine 
kinds are most difficult to unite; they seem to want a long course of 
garden cultivation before they can be crossed. 
Flower-Beds (Violet). —The Nierembergia gracilis will flower in the 
autumn from seeds sown early in March, and so will the white Campanula 
carpatica. Lupinus nanus is a very pretty thing; it will be in good 
time if you sow it in the bed early in April. It makes a pretty edging a 
foot high, and flowers on to the end of the season if you do not let it 
seed. Increase your stock of the Unique Geranium as much as you can, 
and now is your time ; you cannot have too much of it; a whole bed of it 
edged with your pink variegated Geranium, Mangle’s, would look splen¬ 
did, and so would an edging of it round the scarlet sorts, if you keep it 
trained down to the ground. Your white ivy-leaf is also a beautiful thing 
to edge a scarlet bed, or to make a small, low, white bed by itself. It is 
also a nice thing for a rock, or for trailing round a basket or block, and i 
for training against a wall or paling few are better. All your Verbenas, 
Calceolarias, and the Petunia, are very good, indeed the best of their 
colours. The Cuphea will not come into your arrangement, but you 
might try and find a corner for it, to see how you would like it another 
year, and perhaps you would put it into No. 6 or 7, the only two beds 
in your very nice garden where it would suit. We must congratulate you 
on the way you arranged the colours in this garden—surely you cannot 
be a young hand at this, the very highest point in gardening. You might 
improve the ends of the beds from 8 to 15 . We would scollop them as 
you ladies do the ends of your ribbons; but, perhaps, you prefer square 
ends; if so, by all means do not alter them. Your bed, 10 , does not 
match 11 opposite, nor 8 and 9 on the other side of the centre. Emma 
is a beautiful bedder, but you have no match for it; it ought to be white 
to match 9, as you did with 8 and 11 ; but try it this year as it is, and 
mark our objection, then, we think, you will agree with us. 
Flower-Bed (Sarah).—' The bed in which the mixed Verbenas failed 
last year we would plant with Tom Thumb Geraniums, after digging it 
rather deep and adding some fresh soil to it. Mixed Geraniums would 
also look well in this bed, or why not try Mangle’s Variegated Geranium 
in it, if you have plants of it ? We do not know Scarlet Erysimum ; the 
only Erysimum worth growing has yellow flowers. Your Ethuliu is 
hardly worth growing ; it is a stove annual with composite flowers. The 
Grammanthes is a little Cape succulent, with yellow flowers, requiring a 
greenhouse in winter, but would grow out on rock-work in summer. It 
will grow in any poor, loose soil, but is not worth much trouble. 
Exposed Veranda (P. B. B.). —What is the “best creeper for an 
exposed veranda” depends as much on taste as on the kind of plant. 
The Sweet-Scented Clematis and the Clematis montana are two of the 
best of that family for the situation. Then there are six or seven kinds 
of Climbing Roses, which require such a shelter as your veranda gives, 
which we have lately enumerated. For fast growing, and hardiness to 
stand any rough treatment, none are better than Periploca Grcena, but 
the flowers are of no account. The American creeper, Ampelopsis, is a 
beautiful plant in the autumn for such a place, owing to the fine tint of 
the leaves. All these things, and hundreds of others, are equally good in 
their way if we take a fancy to them. We would plant the two Clema¬ 
tises, as they never give trouble with insects. Montana blooms finely in 
May, and the other from July to a late period. 
Unique Geranium (An Amateur). —By all means put the cuttings of 
this, and all other Geraniums, into heat when you propagate in the 
spring. It is only in July and August that they do better in close cold 
frames. Gracilis or Riccartonii are the two best Fuchsias to plant in 
clay soil, and Globosa major the next best; but you must put some light 
soil in with them to get them to start freely. The two first-mimed will 
live out of doors without any protection, but the latter requires some 
slight covering. 
Cochin China Fowls. —X. Y. asks for the cause of the combs of 
the Cochin China cocks becoming white, and if there is any means of pre¬ 
vention or of cure ? It does not appear to affect the health of the birds, 
but greatly takes from their appearance. If by whiteness is meant pale¬ 
ness or very light flesh-colour, it certainly indicates that the birds are not 
in health, or at least are out of condition, and not up to the mark. For 
this, high-feeding will be the best remedy ; but if the whiteness resem- , 
bles the earlobe or the face of a Spanish fowl, it is something very un- | 
common and remarkable. We have never seen or heard of any cock thus 
white-combed. There is a wild species, Gallus Stanleyi, or Lufayetlii, 
which has a yellow comb edged with red. But perhaps the whiteness on 
X. Y’s birds may be only a scurviness or exfoliation of the cuticle, which 
will be soonest cured by warm weather.— D. 
Jet Black Cochin China Fowls. —An advertisement would be 
the most likely means of obtaining these curiosities for B., if such are in 
existence. There is no know ing what strange fowls may be brought to 
light, for the remote nooks of the East are just now being ransacked for 
poultry rarities. Unfortunately, most sailors are so totally unacquainted 
with what would be prized or rejected at home, that they bring back 
things that only deserve to have their throats cut, and may leave behind 
them what would realise a little fortune. When we hear of ^'25 being ; 
offered and refused for a single cock, it does not seem so absurd as it 
would have done ten years ago, to suggest the sending out, either by sub¬ 
scription or by a society of gentlemen, of a competent and instructed 
live poultry and bird collector, (after the example of the botanical col¬ 
lectors of the horticultural societies, and the great nurserymen), to lay 
hands upon whatever is new and valuable. There is a great deal still to 
be imported, of immense interest to all lovers of poultry who extend 
their views beyond what may happen to be the reigning “ fancy ” of the 1 
day, whether Sebright’s, Cochin Chinas, Almond Tumblers, or w hat not. 
For instance, a letter just received from India informs me, “ I have ob- ! 
