January 1G. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
FEEDING POULTRY AFTER THEIR 
EXHIBITION. 
Tiie following ease, Which involved a serious pecuniary 
loss, is so instructive) that, although the subject has been 
alluded to before in these pages, I offer no apology for 
inserting the account. 
On the return of the birds from Birmingham, to the yard 
of a gentleman, who had been eminently successful, they 
were fed, owing to the stupid blunder of the poultry-man, 
with an unlimited supply of hard corn, chiefly Barley and 
Indian Corn ; the result was, that a cock, which had been 
highly commended there, devoured so much, after the long 
fast, that the grain swelled, and he became crop-bound; the | 
true nature of the ailment was unfortunately not discovered 
for several days, during which time, of course, the bird was 
in a state of absolute starvation; the operation was then 
performed, and the hard impacted mass removed with 
difficulty; but the animal was too far exhausted to rally, 
and died shortly after. 
Let me impress on all poultry-keepers the absolute 
necessity of feeding birds after long journeys, or long fast¬ 
ings, with a moderate quantity of soft food, in the first 
instance; to be followed by a limited quantity of soaked or 
boiled grain, before they are allowed to return to the usual 
dietary. Had this been done here, the life of a most 
valuable bird would have been saved. 
The plan I generally adopt, is to give a bird some bread 
soaked in water for its first meal after long abstinence, or, 
if the bird was much exhausted, I would soak the bread in 
milk, and the next morning, if sufficiently recovered, it has \ 
some soaked grain for its first meal; but should it be still 
suffering from the effects of fasting, I prefer to feed it on 
scalded meal, as affording a supply of nourishment without 
so great a call on the digestive organs. —W. B. Tegetmeier. 
RUSH OR REED COVERS FOR GARDEN 
FRAMES. 
I heard that a gentleman near me had made some reed 
covers for his frames, which were thought to be very good, 
very warm, and very easily put on and off, and I went to see 
them; they were the first of that kind of make I had ever 
seen—I mean of rushes placed lengthwise, and covering 
the light with one length. I was so pleased with the 
new mats that I begged the gentleman to give me a note 
for The Cottage Gardener, saying how he made them, 
and the cost. He told me he took the hint from Mr. 
Robson’s suggestion. All the straw mats which have been 
recommended in our books are made by placing the straw 
crosswise ; but it is not nearly so good that way as if it 
were placed lengthwise, like these rushes or reeds, the wet 
gets in between every two ribs, as we call the crossed little 
bundles of straw. 
Straw-thatched hurdles have been used, time out of mind, 
by the Horticultural Society, for the conservatory wall in 
their garden at Chiswick. The straw is thatched length¬ 
wise on these hurdles, as on a building, but that way is not 
so convenient when the covers are moved off and on twice 
a-day, unless particular attention is paid to the make. 
I had some very good and cheap straw coverings for 
Peach walls at Shrubland Park, but I almost forget now 
how we made them; the design I had explained to me by 
tracings on the peach border with walking sticks, by the 
Earl Spencer and Lord Charles Wellesley, both of whom I 
found to be enthusiastic gardeners, in the very midst of the 
shooting season. Mr. Judd, gardener to the Earl Spencer, 
at Althorpe, who reads The Cottage Gardener, would do 
us much service if he would give us a plan and directions 
for making these straw coverings; or, Mr. Fish, who lives 
nearer to him, might ask the favour. I had to send to Mr. 
Judd before I could finish mine, as part of the directions I 
received from the noble gardeners aforesaid went pop over 
both the covers—the wall and the game covers. 
I had marked a text upon Highland coverings, the first or 
second I had ever seen ; but' I shall not dwell on it now, 
after so many good plans are before us, particularly these 
rush, or reed mats, which I consider the very best of all I 
have seen ; but there is one kind of thatch, which they use 
for barns and outhouses in the highest glens of the High¬ 
lands, which I am quite sure would prove superior to all 
that we have yet tried ; and, fortunately, such covers can be 
had in many parts of this country. 1 went rip a long way 
into the Highlands in 18:17, and I saw a barn which was 
covered with this thatch in 1814, “ the year the peace was 
proclaimed,” and it was not a bad thatch then; it struck me 
at the time what an excellent material for frame covers. It 
was made of the stalks of the common fern, or brake, or 
“ brakens,” after the blades or leaves were chopped off; for 
this purpose the fern is pulled up in August; not cut by the 
surface of the ground, as when they make hay of it; fern made 
into hay, without the stalks makes excellent hay for sheep. 
By thus pulling, the stalks are got from three to six inches 
longer, the ends taken out of the ground are quite black, or 
should be so, and the literal translation of the Gaelic word 
for this kind of thatch is, “ covering with black tails.” The 
black tails are dried in the sun, just like hay, and when dry 
enough the leaves are cut off, and the stem may be from 
three to five feet long ; they are placed on the roof with the 
black tail downwards, just like thatching with straw, and 
will last three times as long as straw thatching. Two 
lengths of very ordinary fern stalk would cover a skeleton 
frame, like that which is used by “ an amateur ” for the 
reeds.—D. Beaton. 
The following is the letter referred to by Mr. Beaton :— 
“ The Rush covers for frames, which you saw in my 
garden, were made in this way;—I got some odds and 
ends of long slips of deal from our carpenter, and nailed 
together a light frame of this shape;— 
the exact size of the light to be protected. On this I laid 
rushes, which I obtained from Chertsey; I should call them 
bullrushes, they exceeded seven feet in length. They were 
placed on the frame thickly, and then fastened down on the 
frames by transverse sticks over the rushes, and exactly over 
the transverse bars of the skeleton frame. I tied them 
tightly down to each of those bars in four places. The rushes 
were thus kept securely in their places, and the frame 
effectually thatched. The ends of the rushes were cut off. 
“ It was my first essay in carpentering. A little boy and 
myself finished one in an liour-and-a-quarter. A more able 
workman would make two in that time. The great advantage 
seems to me to consist in the lightness and cheapness of the 
protection. Each bundle of rushes costs two shillings, and 
will make two-and-a-lialf covers of the size of any ordinary 
garden frames. The wood, nails, Ac., cannot be more than 
sixpence each frame. Thus, for one shilling and sixpence, 
you have a neater and more desirable covering than a 
garden mat, and one much more capable of resisting frost. 
You, however, have seen them, and are better able to form 
opinion of their merits than I am. 
“In any neighbourhood where these rushes are not to be 
obtained, long straw may be used instead. I made two 
covers with straw; they are heavier, and would, no doubt- 
keep out more frost, and would cost less; but they are not 
so sightly, and would retain the wet longer. 
“ I claim no merit, if any attaches to this plan, as I have 
only adopted a suggestion on the subject which appeared 
in a recent number of The Cottage Gardener.—An 
Amateur.” 
TAR, AND CUCUMBERS, AND SALT, IN A 
TAN-PIT. 
One correspondent inquired if it was safe to paint the 
back wall of a plant-house with gas-tar; another said he 
