February 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3G9 
first placo “distinctness of breed ” must be satisfactorily 
established, since in the absence of this qualification 
no claim can be put forward. Again, prizes are offered, 
not “ first,” “ second,” and “ third,” for the whole class 
collectively, but “individually to each variety” irres¬ 
pective of its competitors. The judges are directed to 
bestow these on “ deserving specimens ,” and experience 
proves that they have ever been desirous of affording 
encouragement in every instance wherever an open¬ 
ing for improvement seemed to have been gained. A 
“ second ” or “ third ” prize may bo thus well bestowed 
on a member of this miscellaneous assemblage, whore 
a “ first,” elevating the pen to a level with birds of 
acknowledged excellence and utility, would be a decided 
mal - appropriation of the funds entrusted to their 
disposal. Wide limits must be allowed the judges in 
decisions, and hitherto, for reasons already assigned, we 
apprehend that they have acted with discretion in 
limiting the honors of many doubtful claimants. Serious 
responsibility, indeed, attends the bestowal of high 
prizes on improved birds, for this guarantee of excel¬ 
lence becomes with many a passport to celebrity, and 
leads to large outlays being made for indifferent fowls, 
on the faith of such promotion, which they subsequently 
fail to justify. 
The practical ultilitarian view of the economy of the 
poultry-yard has become the loading principle by which 
the proceedings of our various societies are now 
regulated. Most cautiously, therefore, will every step 
be taken by their officials to guard against the currency 
of any false standard of merit, while, as at Birmingham, 
their resources are freely bestowed whenever encourage¬ 
ment may be justly called for. For our own part, we 
are now, as ever, most strenuous advocates for this 
“ extra class,” and always regret its absence as a blot 
on the schedule of any society; but nowhere, we still 
think, will the claims of the competing pens require 
more vigilant scrutiny; nowhere will the poultry judge 
bo more constantly called upon to listen to the charge 
of undue severity. 
Fears need not be entertained that by such a course 
discouragement will be thrown on the importer or 
inquirer after new varieties of fowls. Let them only 
produce a fowl that will stand the tests to which such 
birds are now submitted, and they need be under no 
anxiety as to its ultimate fate ; while the very measures 
now complained against will be the sure means of at 
once disengaging it from a crowd of unworthy com¬ 
petitors, and thus guaranteeing its acceptance by a 
discerning public. How soon did the Shanghae gain 
this position! and proportionably rapid, we may be 
certain, will be the rise of any bird whose merits may 
rest on equal grounds. 
VEGETABLE CROPPING—ROTATION. 
Those who are concerned in what wo term Kitchen 
Gardening will speedily be on the move, if not already 
in motion, and as a little discussion on this subject may 
prove of benefit to some, let us see how things stand. 
Of course, every one possessing the least pretensions to 
direct gardening affairs has a rotation scheme for tho 
whole summer and autumn; if not duly entered in a 
book, at least completely fixed in his mind. Our know¬ 
ledge of the highest principles which should most 
seriously influence the scheme of rotation is yet of so 
limited a character, that we are, in the main, obliged to 
be led by past practice alone. We noed more of the 
light of science in these matters; and many are the 
pioneers who are already constantly employed in thus 
clearing the way for another generation which shall 
look back on ourselves with pity and astonishment, 
just as they, in all probability, will be served by gene¬ 
rations to come. 
As has before been stated in these pages, almost every 
gardener has his own practice in this respect, and no 
wonder. The requirements of families so much differ 
as to carry a tendency to influence the most complete 
rotation scheme which could be framed. But another 
point also comes in as a bias : soils differ so much, not 
only in their constitution, but their aptitude or inapti¬ 
tude as to certain crops, that it is almost impossible to 
have all our customary produce in perfection in any 
one garden. Thus we hear of a garden possessing what 
is termed capital soil, and yet cannot be made to pro¬ 
duce a good Carrot; another, equally good, where all the 
Brocolis club; a third cannot be made to produce good 
Onions; and, to close the affair, but not for lack of cases, 
another, where a good crop of Peas is seldom met with. 
Now these are serious charges, to be sure; but as true 
as they are serious. And our friends, who do not pre¬ 
tend to much practical gardening, may very naturally 
ask of myself, or any other gardener of experience, how 
this happens; and what they must do. Well, to be 
candid, I, at this moment, have a strong desire to know 
why I cannot grow a Carrot fit to be called by that 
name in the gardens here; and yet our soil, a sandy 
loam, is by no means bad; and, moreover, a couple of' 
feet or more in depth. I have tried all means within 
my reach ; and during the twenty seven years I have 
handled this soil, I cannot say that 1 have had half-a- 
dozen decent Carrot crops; such as grow in tho fields 
are, of course, entirely out of the question. I have 
trenched deep; cropped with manures and without; used, 
as applications, charred rubbish in quantities ; applied 
coatings of humus, or very old manurial residue, be- 
como almost a soil, and I know not what else; but 
without, in the main, any beneficial results worth 
recording. 
What is commonly termed a dead soil is a puzzler; 
indeed, the term, worn-out, has surely been a somewhat 
infelicitous term to apply to soils rich in manurial 
residue. I fear, however, that we scarcely have a 
term in our poor language expressive of this state of 
things. It is commonly understood that each crop 
abstracts those principles from the soil essential to its 
well-being, and, consequently, leaves the soil in a less 
fit state for a succeeding crop of the same kind; but 
such cannot be the causo of the Carrot failure, inasmuch, 
as from their poverty of size and character they cannot 
be supposed to abstract any quality worthy of considera¬ 
tion. It is not, however, a mere matter of soil; for I am 
persuaded, that could the Carrot grub be kept at bay, 
Carrots would be one of our most thriving crops. The 
Carrot, therefore, in such cases, presents a difficulty in 
a garden rotation scheme, and the very best way for 
those who can so arrange it is to grow their stock on 
farming land, or to make up their mind to purchase the 
winter store annually in November; cultivating plenty 
of the Early Horn kind for summer use. It is a singular 
fact, that this kind generally succeeds when sown in the 
beginning of February, and protected like Radishes; 
even on the same spot which proves so fatal to the 
large kinds. I have little doubt that it is from the 
circumstance of their having attained a certain desirable 
