THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
llfl 
unemployed three, four, and even six months out of the 
twelve. To supply such with the means of profitable and 
healthy occupation, and such as they like, in their tedious 
compulsory leisure which they would otherwise spend in 
idleness, or in frequenting beer-shops, is a service to them 
morally as well as economically. And the working men in 
these parts look to, for they require, this kind ot assistance, 
from those who are socially above them, and they receive 
I gratefully, and value, such disinterested attempts to improve 
I their condition. 
“ The following list of the occupations of .'107 allottees, 
! show that men of very various callings in a large town are 
tenants”— 
Labourers .. 1 
22 
Wheelwrights 
4 
Servant .. 
Shoemakers 
22 
Beer-retailers 
3 
Coachman 
Bricklayers .. 
13 
Porters 
5 
Hairdressers. 
Carpenters .. 
14 
Ostlers.. 
3 
Barrowman . 
Tailors.. 
13 
Braziers 
3 
Lamplighter . 
Bakers.. 
8 
Postmen 
3 
Gateman 
Painters 
8 
Plumbers .. 
2 
Policeman 
Sawyers 
8 
Coachmakers 
2 
Bonnet-cleane 
Butchers 
5 
Stonemasons 
2 
Pilot 
Smiths.. 
7 
Cane-workers 
2 
Shipwright . 
Milkmen 
5 
Chairmaker.. 
1 
Hatter .. 
Gardeners .. 
0 
Boxmaker .. 
1 
Waiter .. 
Sweeps.. 
5 
Tinman 
1 
Dealer .. 
Cabinet-makers 
4 
Fruiterer 
1 
Slaters .. 
Basket-makers 
4 
Pastrycook .. 
1 
Coal-dealer . 
Plasterers .. 
5 
Lodgingliouse- 
Brewers 
4 
keeper 
1 
It seems but a necessary result of the present taste for 
poultry - keeping, that we should endeavour to learn 
something more of the early history and probable 
origin of our fowls, than the researches of Naturalists 
have hitherto provided for us. 
If the following remarks should succeed in directing 
attention to such enquiries, our object will be attained, 
for with tlie present very limited knowledge of this sub¬ 
ject, definite conclusions are hardly to be yet looked for. 
The enquiry will probably be best opened by sug¬ 
gesting two questions. 
First. What evidence have we in favour of the pre¬ 
valent idea, that all our domesticated poultry have a 
common descent from some one original stock? 
And, Secondly. If such a descent should seem pro¬ 
bable, what bird should be regarded as the primitive 
ancestor? 
To avoid any misapplication of the terms employed, 
we would commence with the observation, that by 
varieties, we mean the difference of form or feather 
visible in members of any one family—such as golden, 
silver, or black Polands. By a family, again, we intend 
a race of fowls which may contain many varieties, as 
when the Hamburghs, Shanghaes, or Bantams are 
spoken of; while by species, we allude to the different 
families collectively. 
Among many points that call for explanation in con¬ 
sidering the first question, the manifold varieties of the 
different families of poultry immediately attract our 
notice. Are all these, so distinct in form, character, 
properties, and plumage, descended from the same 
parents (for to avoid confusion, wo may here lay aside 
| the question of “ specific centres,” i. e. the question as 
to whether more than two, the male and female, of the 
1 different species were originally created) ? 
Mav 19. I 
I 
Now, not only may we refer to present distinctions, 
but, in some instances, we can trace their existence as 
clearly pourtrayed and noted throughout a long course 
of centuries. 
The Spanish fowl may be cited as an example of such 
a peculiarity in form, having not only been described to 
us by early historians, but transmitted also to the present 
day, without the continuance of that tendency to vary 
from the original type, which has been assigned as a 
cause of the singular metamorphoses that now puzzle 
the enquiring poultry-fancier. 
From the Straits of Gibraltar to the coast of Syria, 
and from the northern to the southern limits of the 
Mediterranean, we have the same singular development 
of the comb and wattles in the specimens, that, in 
common with other travellers, we have noticed as a 
general characteristic of the fowls of those countries. 
Their owners being altogether regardless of retaining 
for their birds any claim to purity of blood, various 
degrees of mongrelism are everywhere visible; but the 
type of the Spanish fowl, above alluded to, is still suffi¬ 
ciently apparent for its general recognition. But let us 
now turn to the authorities which treat of the fowls of 
that district in early times. Mr. Dixon has here ren¬ 
dered us material assistance, for in speaking of the 
Spanish fowl (page 273 second edition), he tells us 
that—“It is as near as may be the sort that Columella’s 
relation might have kept in Spain 1800 years ago.” 
And to show that the peculiarities of this breed are as 
widely scattered as we have mentioned, he adds this 
further testimony—“ There is a large breed of fowls 
brought to us from Constantinople, and the shores of the 
Black Sea. I have had no opportunity of seeing 
specimens, but it would appear to be a branch of the 
Spanish. The hens are described as having a large 
flaccid comb flapping about like a piece of serrated 
red velvet, and as being astonishing layers, seldom 
setting.” (Ibid, p. 275.) And fowls recently im¬ 
ported from Egypt are found with this feature similarly 
developed. 
These distinguishing features of a certain family of 
fowls, still retained after the lapse of more than 1800 
years, would go far to overthrow the notions of the 
evolutions of form, either in conjunction with, or apart 
from, the effects of domestication, that are generally 
relied on as the cause of the confusion that has induced 
these remarks. Why, it may be asked, does this typical 
resemblance continue permanent, if accidentally brought 
into existence by continuous inter-breeding, or any 
other accidental cause? But the period through which 
it has survived the effects of such intermixture of blood 
would surely seem to claim for it some degree of specific 
originality. The point in this allusion refers simply to 
the improbability of cross-bred birds of the same species 
being enabled to retain certain peculiarities throughout 
so long a period as the instance above cited would refer 
to. If they come by chance, chance, reasoning from j 
present results, would most probably have obliterated 
them. We must search, therefore, for some better 
