May 12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
107 
to find that the crop was as much distended as it was twenty- 
four hours before ! ‘ A desperate disease requires a despe¬ 
rate remedy.’ 1 therefore at once plucked the feathers off 
from the inflamed crop, and carefully cut the same open with 
a pair of sharp-pointed scissors. The cause for the illness 
of the bird now became apparent; the lialf-putrid corn, Ac., 
quickly protruded through the opening; then, with the 
handle of a teaspoon, I brought forth two large pieces of 
bone, which the poor bird must have swallowed, but could 
not digest. After washing out the crop, the lips of the 
wound were sewed together with silk: so that, instead of 
dying, Chanticleer yet lives to 1 crow the tale,’ I hope for the 
future benefit of others of his tribe.” W. L. J. 
THE SHANGHAE AS A COTTAGER'S FOWL. 
( Continued from page 91.) 
In my first letter I promised to let your readers knowhow 
I got across the water that I was then venturing into. I 
will now fulfil my promise. I have informed them that 
I had hard work to obtain my first pair of poultry, but I 
rested not till I had them. They were very small, only 
weighing 3} lbs. the two; but this was a fault that I soon 
found them to escape from, for they gained 4 ounces each 
every week, until they were 4 lbs. each. I then left off 
weighing them, for they proved to be two hens ! So I took 
them to my neighbours that I told you of in my first letter, 
who had a cock of the same sort; but I have since bought j 
a cockerel of the same gentleman that I bought my hens of, ! 
being one that he bought at one of the sales in London. 
This saved me from breeding in-and-in. So, now, you see, 
I am well set up. 
Now, I only tell you all this, on purpose to show you what 
may be done, if you will only persevere. I will now give 
you my opinion of the Shanghae fowl. They are not large 
eaters when they have as much as they will eat; but it is 
not the best way of feeding them to give them as much as 
they will eat, and I will give you a proof of this, for I made 
my two live upon twopence-halfpenny per week, and the 
same week that my two weighed 7 lbs., the two best pullets 
of the same hatch ouly weighed fl lbs., although they had 
had as much as they could eat. They arc capital layers. 
Mine began as soon as they were six mouths old, and laid 
every day; and although they have neither of them laid 
two eggs in one day, yet one has laid two eggs in one night. 
But the very best of all their qualities is their tameness, 
and keeping within bounds. If they had no other good 
quality, this is enough to recommend them to every cottager 
in England. If any one were only to sec the fence that 
keeps mine within bounds, it would be plenty of proof on 
this point. 
Now I took it into my head that they were so tame that I 
could do anything with them, so as 1 had plenty of eggs, 
and wanted some of them turned into chickens, I thought 
1 would try and teach one of them to sit, so as they roosted 
in the same nests where they laid, I had nothing to do but 
to place half-a-dozen eggs for the hen to roost upon, and 
she was so kind as not to let them become cold again. Asa 
proof that she was not ready to sit, she laid for three days 
after she took to her nest. 
Now, as to the best food to feed them with, I find there is 
nothing that will fatten them so fast as barley meal and bran 
mixed together, and made wet, but not loo wet; but when they 
begin to lay, I have given mine nothing but barley, as that 
was the practice of my old Aunt, and as mine lay every day, 
I think I shall not depart from this practice. 
I can, with confidence, recommend the Shanghae to every 
cottager who would like to keep fowls, but who cannot keep 
the common sorts out of' mischief. Those who have a good 
turn-out for fowls can keep what sort they like ; but I think 
the Sluinghaes will not be beaten this next year or two. 
The Poor Man's Well-wisher. 
OUR MONTHLY CONTEMPORARIES. 
Rhubarb. —By Mr. James Cuthill, of Camberwell, in The 
Scottish Florist for May :— 
“ Rhubarb, like steam, has worked its way, and upon its 
own merits. It is not only used and esteemed for tarts, 
puddings, and pies, but is the very king of preserves: with 
about a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit-stalk, and well 
boiled—the boiling is absolutely necessary on account of 
the watery nature of the stalks—with the addition of a little 
ginger and lemon, or any of the three marmalades, it makes 
one of the finest of all preserves, not excepting the Green 
Gage Plum. The first of this preserve I ever saw was made 
by Mrs. Randall, a market-gardener’s wife, the preserve being 
made from the sort bearing her name; and in my opinion 
this Rhubarb is as far before all the others as a Ribston 
Pippin is before a Hawthornden Apple. Rhubarb also 
makes a capital wine with about three pounds of sugar to a 
gallon of liquor. The fruit-stalks are first well bruised, 
then a little water added along with the sugar; it is then 
strained off and put into the casks. It ferments briskly for 
a fortnight or so. Rhubarb for wine purposes must not be 
gathered before August; the root by that time has done 
growing, the stem then gets all the benefit of the condensed 
and elaborated sap, being much more strong in acidity, and 
containing much less water. This wine is much more whole¬ 
some than Gooseberry wine; it effervesces like the best 
champagne. The colour of the wine, like the preserve, can 
be made according to fancy—for instance, a little brandy 
would colour it and improve its quality. Mr. Old acre, late 
gardener to the late Sir Joseph Banks, was the first to 
introduce the then best variety, which he brought home 
from St. Petersburgh, having been gardener to the Emperor 
of Russia for some years. 
“Our market-gardeners round London have had such 
mild winters lately, that they have forced it by simply dig¬ 
ging out a trench five feet wide, and a hundred yards long 
or more. Then in the bottom of the trench is put two feet 
of hot dung, then a little mould just to cover the dung ; the 
roots are then packed side by side closely, then six or eight 
inches of straw on the heads, or hurdles thrown across the 
bed, and then covered with straw ; but if Rhubarb is wanted 
in a safer and more early way, they grow it in frames and 
hooped beds as is done with Sea-kale, Asparagus, Ac. This 
winter, Rhubarb was fetching a higher price than usual, on 
account of the frost on February 2oth ; it was selling at 15s. 
per doz. of bunches, and some even higher. The earliest 
and best that came to London this winter was from Scot¬ 
land, to Mr. Solomons, which I was too proud to hear of. 
Rhubarb stalks are highly recommended by doctors, know¬ 
ing, as they do, that it is a fine purifier of the blood, and it 
may be named either in the Turkey dried root, or the 
English grown stalk, nature’s medicine. Although the 
London growers grumble at the low price of their Rhubarb, 
it is not half so cheap as it ought to be to enable all classes 
to obtain it in the winter. 
“ Some years ago I proposed a plan so as to produce it all 
the winter through and at a cheap rate, which I shall give 
below. I also recommended a plan of covering the heads 
with a forkful of straw to be placed on each head in the 
open ground, which is now being universally adopted. This 
mode brings it up early, saves it from the frost, it also 
slightly blanches it, and hence the skin is not so thick, the 
flavour is also good, as the straw admits plenty of air. And 
lastly, the straw being spread over the frame preserves it in a 
moist state and keeps down weeds, Ac. As for sorts, first is 
Randall’s Prolific; this, in my opinion, is not only the earliest, 
but also is a fine bearer, with a beautiful coloured pink stem 
rising quite erect, and, unlike many of the others, the flower- 
stem comes up much later; next, Myutt’s Linmeus ; and for 
the latest the Victoria. Some market gardeners leave the 
flower-stem until all the leaves are picked. This is but 
quite right, as it keeps the roots in growth until a fresh 
supply of leaves are produced. The plan which I proposed 
some years ago for Cornwall and Devonshire is now not only 
being carried out with Rhubarb, but also with early Potatoes, 
Sea-Kale, and Asparagus, Brocoli, Peas, Ac. 
“ I may here mention, that between the frost of February 
and that of March this year there was some very warm 
weather which brought on the Rhubarb very fast; all those 
