136 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
May 26. 
I 
! out rain, and will last several years. To secure it from 
i winds, iron rings are sewed on along the ends and 
middle of the covering, and an iron rod is so placed as 
j to receive each set of rings, which is then screwed in 
its position. By placing a piece of string through the 
rings, and allowing it to pass over another fully in the 
: ridge, the calico may be raised or lowered at pleasure. 
“ A net, occasionally suspended along the sides in 
very windy weather, is found quite sufficient to secure 
the plants from danger. The stage on which the plants 
are placed, if made to face the south, and the plants 
occasionally turned, there being no obstruction to the 
light on auy side, will present a fine bank of flowers, 
! and keep in bloom longer than in a Greenhouse. I 
shall be pleased if this description should induce others 
to adopt this useful appendage to garden structures.” 
This structure struck us as being very neat and 
serviceable. The latter remark about light is owing to 
the height of the posts, which has also this advantage, 
that the owner and visitor can see the beauty of the 
flowers without hindrance, even though the force of the 
I sun should require the covering on the top. The 
principle being understood, clever amateurs will soon 
cheaply cos*struct something suitable for themselves. A 
j stage on which to set the plants, however homely made, 
j would cost more than many a man in these taxation 
days would care to incur; but a stage is not at all 
necessary to the system ; in fact, we look upon it as its 
weak point. A great many plants could thus be kept 
on the common ground. A bank of earth, with one 
side, and that facing the south, or with two sides facing 
east and west, span-roofed-house fashion, with the apex 
of the bank some three feet above the surrounding level, 
1 and with its surface covered with sand, would enable 
you to plunge many flowering plants, and thus involve 
far less labour than when they stood upon a stage. 
Some friends, with an eye to the artistic, might cut out 
that bank into separate shelves or terraces, holding up 
their sides with turf, or clinkers, old bricks or flints, 
run securely together, or even boards, or small pieces of 
J peeled branches of oak, or unpeeled larch and spiuce 
driven in as small stakes. In all such cases, the pots 
could easily be plunged, and sand would be the best 
material, as easiest moved. So done, the place would 
be no eye-sore in winter; and after the middle of June, 
in common seasons, provided with blue-and-white 
coloured canvass to keep out sun when very bright, and 
rain at all times, and with Nottingham netting, to say 
i to all winged intruders, “ stay where you are or, even 
without that netting, if you did not mind these gentry 
feasting upon and fecundating your best flowers, many 
; plants, such as Fancy and Florists’ Pelargoniums, 
Fuchsias, &c., would yield an interest and an influence 
which it is difficult to give them when stilted in pots 
upon the stage of a Greenhouse. Considering the age 
we live in, and what glass is and may become, we shall 
not be surprised to hear of some amateur laughing at 
all this—constructing, at once, a summer structure, 
roofing it permanently with rough sheet, or shaded glass, 
and securing the plants all round with curtains suitable 
to the weather, and so contrived as to be moveable 
almost instantaneously. F. 
Our opinion has been expressed on more than one 
occasion, that among the various advantages that have 
resulted from Poultry Exhibitions, none were of greater 
importance than the facility that was thus afforded for 
rendering uniform the nomenclature of the various races 
of our domestic fowls. 
Thanks to the decision that first settled, and has since 
continued, the present classification in use at Bir¬ 
mingham, the prize lists of the Metropolitan, and 
other leading societies, have deviated in so trifling a 
degree from the system that has thus received the public 
sanction, that general, though not universal, acquies¬ 
cence has been accorded to it. 
On this account, we regret to find that the Holmfirtli 
Agricultural Society, in their prize list for an exhibition 
to be held on the 27th of August next, have not adopted 
this system in their poultry classes. “ Golden and 
Silver Pheasants ” have assumed the place hitherto 
occupied by the Gold and Silver-spangled Hamburghs, 
while both varieties of the pencilled Hamburghs seem 
to be united under the head “ Chitteprats." The mere 
name, we admit, may be of little importance, and its 
general reception and use is the main point to be re¬ 
garded. Mr. Dixon tells us (page 314, second edition), 
that these Chitteprats are also called “ Bolton Greys," \ 
and “ Narrowers,” while the terms “ Pencilled Dutch," 
“ Creoles," and some others, are also applied to them; ] 
and in his classification of the whole Hamburgh family, 
at page 349, we have the basis of the arrangement on 
which all our leading societies have hitherto acted. 
Now, surely, it would he more desirable, in every point 
of view, to continue a classification thus generally 
recognized, than, by the adoption of any of these various 
local synonyms, still further to bewilder the unfortunate 
exhibitor. It is perfectly true that Hamburgh is not 
proved as the original dwelling-place of the Pencilled 
birds; and that the Spangled are very rarely included 
in our importations; but poultry genealogy has been, 
as yet, so imperfectly unravelled, that, if we are forbidden 
the use of such designations, unless the evidence of the 
breed having been thence derived is complete in every 
link, our difficulties on this head must extend to Polands 
and other families. Hamburgh, we repeat, is, very 
probably, unable to substantiate her claim ; but are any j 
of the English, or other localities that seek to confer 
their name on their birds, better entitled to this disr 
tinction '! Unless this can be satisfactorily shown, 
why should we not retain a name that is sufficiently 
recognized, to prevent mistakes as to the breed of fowls 
thereby designated ? 
The terms “pheasant,” or “ pheasauted," are objec¬ 
tionable, as tending to preserve an error with respect 
to the intermixture of pheasant blood with the pure 
fowls, which has been clearly shown to be erroneous. 
Pheasants have, undoubtedly, bred with fowls, but the 
instances, comparatively, are few, nor does auy one of 
