May 19. 
THE COTTAGE GAEDENEli. 
117 
reason to account for this tenacity of a certain feature 
so remarkably evidenced in the case before us. 
If it be granted that this singular resemblance has 
been thus retained, and authorities for the past and 
present may fairly call for the admission in the Spanish 
instance, then the conclusion seems apparent, that 
either the deviations from the original type produced by 
breeding in-and-in, were then more powerfully influ¬ 
enced, and were productive of stranger metamorpho¬ 
ses, with a more permanent character, than they are 
S capable of at the present day; or else, that the species 
must have comprehended families even at the very 
beginning of all things. 
The first of these suppositious would require the 
admission, that the economy of this section of the Ani- 
i mal Creation then differed, and in such an essential 
point, too, as its own reproduction, from what is now 
observed with regard to its procreative system. But 
there is no authority for regarding this as probable, and 
it may, therefore, be dismissed from our present con- 
| sideration. 
Let us explain the line of reasoning, by returning to 
the reference to the case of the Spanish fowl alluded to 
above. Here we have the principal characteristic and 
type of the family remaining constant, like producing 
like, for 1800 years. Now wo may, on the other hand, 
obtain strange combinations of form or feather, even 
more remarkable than this feature in the Spanish, but 
we cannot fix them; they are thoroughly evanescent; 
and with all our care and selection, a few generations 
scarcely pass before we find a rapid return to the cha¬ 
racter of one or other of the parents whose union had 
presented us with these novel features. 
Naturally, therefore, is it asked, Are all our present 
distinct families of fowls derived from one common 
stock? If so, how and when was this distinction 
affected ? 
To that line of argument which relies on some direct 
alteration in their powers of reproduction, and the cha¬ 
racteristics of progeny, we have only said, that hitherto 
there appears no reason why nature should have changed 
her course from what was originally ordained as the 
primitive directing principle of all creation. The results 
that we witness, therefore, have been very generally 
ascribed to the accidents of domestication and acclima- 
! tization, with what probability, however, must now be 
left for examination on another occasion. W. 
So far is it from extraordinary, as was stated recently, for 
a Shanghae hen to weigh ten pounds, that we know of 
many weighing over that weight, but in every instance 
they are more than one year old. At this time, Mr. Fox 
has in his possession five Shanghae hens, the average 
weight of which is only just less than ten pounds; 
namely—Mr. Andrews’s old hen, ten pounds eight 
ounces; Mr. Higgs’s old hen, nine pounds eight ounces ; 
an imported hen, ten pounds four ounces; a Sturgeon 
hen, ten pounds four ounces; and a hen bred by Mr. 
George, nine pounds four ounces. Total weight, forty- 
nine pounds twelve ounces. 
At the sale of Orchids, by Mr. Stevens, on the Gth inst., 
although the specimens were not generally superior, 
some of them were sold for good prices. The 127 lots 
realised altogether T201. Phalamopsis amabilis was 
knocked down for TO 10s; Oncidium candelabrum for 
TO; Vanda Roxburgliia rubra, TO Os.; Phalamopsis 
grandifiora , T15 10s.; Angrcecum bilobum, T4 10s.; 
Cattleya labiata, dark variety, T5; and Vanda violacea, 
a true specimen, T14. A case of Pine-apple Plants, 
consisting of the Manilla Conical Pine, the Penang 
Smootheddeaved Pine, and the Penang Striped Pine, 
streaked alternately on the leaves with green and white, 
fetched only T7, which, we believe, will not cover the 
expense of their overland carriage. 
The Monument to the Memory of Philip Miller, whose 
“ Dictionary ” is his permanent memorial, has been 
restored recently by a subscription promoted chiefly by 
Dr. Iliff. The monument, in Chelsea churchyard, was 
originally erected by the Apothecaries Company, and 
the inscription, with further particulars relative to Mr. 
Miller, will be found at page 157 of our fifth volume. 
The Potato Murrain has made its appearance among 
some of the earliest forced crops; but this is no 
evidence that it will reappear among those in the open 
ground. However, the very wet autumn, and the severe 
weather during the early months of this year, rendered 
Potato-planting unusually late, which is rather opposed 
to that early ripening of the crop, which is its best 
security. 
Messrs. J. Weeks & Co., King’s Hoad, Chelsea, have 
now in fine flower the Cyrtopodium punctatum, which 
has not been seen in flower in this country since it was 
exhibited by Sir George Staunton, Bart. It is a plant 
of easy culture, and if properly treated will flower 
freely. They have also, in fine blooming condition, the 
lovely Epidendrum macrochilum album, a beautiful and 
useful exhibition Orchid. 
GLEANINGS. 
Mediaeval Timber Trees. —In that very interesting 
early treatise on Orchards, by William Lawson, pub¬ 
lished in 1597, we have the following account of a large 
Oak:—“ About fifty ycares agoe, 1 heard by credible and 
constant report, that in Brooham Parlce, in Westmor¬ 
land, neere unto Penrith, there lay a blowne Oako, whose 
trunke was so big, that two horsemen being the one on 
the one side, and the other on the other side, they could 
not one see another; to which if you adde his armes, 
boughes, and rootes, and consider of his bignesse, what 
would hee have been, if preserved to the vantage.” 
Transplanting large Trees in the olden time.— 
The Lord Zouch in winter, in the yeare 1597 (and 
