I June 28. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
215 
cliopilia coccinect, a variety with “ erect flower-stems, 
sepals ancl petals white, with the lip deeply tinged with 
purplish-crimson,” similarly varied in price. 
We thought that a Shanghae Pullet , aunt to some of the 
chickens belonging to G. W. Johnson, Esq., of Win¬ 
chester, highly commended at the Farningham Show, 
was the most prolific of eggs that we had ever known, 
but we are glad to find that others are equally fertile. 
We are glad, because these instances bear testimony 
that the propensity to broodiness, complained of 
as characteristic of Shanghae hens, probably may be 
obviated by selecting for stock birds from a parent 
not having that propensity. The pullet to which 
we have alluded began laying on the 15th of De¬ 
cember, and between that day and the 16th of June, 
or 183 days, she has laid 163 eggs. Her eggs weigh, 
with scarcely any variation, two ounces each, so that in 
twenty-six weeks she produced nearly 20 lbs. weight of 
food, as some deduction must be made for the weight 
of the shells. 
The other pullets, which equal the above in productive 
power, are the property of W. H. Snell, Esq., of Nor¬ 
wood, Surrey, whose most beautiful chickens took the 
first prizes at Cheltenham and Plymouth. He has 
| favoured us with the following information relative to 
these pullets:— 
“ I notice that one correspondent gives a return of the 
number of eggs laid by his hens for several successive 
months, aud your note, that other returns-of a similar 
nature would be acceptable, induces me to send you a 
statement of the number of eggs laid by the two hens 
from which I have reared the majority of my chickens 
(about 150) this year ; including those which—beating 
the cracks—took the first prize at Cheltenham, and at 
Plymouth. On the accuracy of the return you may 
depend, for the eggs were different in shape and colour 
from those of any other bird in my yard; and, as often 
as otherwise, were taken from under the hens that laid 
them; and the daily eggs were regularly entered in a 
book, from which I take the following return 
FIRST RULLET, 
27 Nov., 1852, to 13 June, 1853,199 days, 174 eggs; 
SECOND PULLET, 
30 Dec., 1852, to 13 June, 1853,166 days, 137 eggs ; 
which, considering the average weight of each egg to 
have been no more than 2 oz., gives a total weight of 
of 38 lbs. 14 ozs. of meat, in about six months, from 
two hens, both of which are still laying eggs that 
produce fine chickens. And, remembering the cold, 
wet weather we had, for nearly three months uninter¬ 
ruptedly, I think this fully establishes the superiority of 
the now fashionable and really valuable Cochin-China 
fowl.” 
So fatal is the disorder in Chickens, known as the Gapes, 
and so difficult is it to apply any remedy to so sensitive 
an organ as the windpipe, the seat of the disorder, that 
we do not hesitate to give prominence to this important 
notice from Mr. Tegetmeier, more especially as it will 
be a reply to the enquiries from various correspondents. 
“ In answer to numerous enquiries, I may state, that 
fumigation with spirits of turpentine has been found 
efficacious in the cure of this disease. The chicken 
may be put into a box, along with some pieces of rag, 
or paper, saturated with the turpentine, and made to 
inhale the vapour as long as they are able to withstand 
its action; or they may be put under a glass shade, 
standing over a hole in a board, some turpentine on 
paper being burned beneath the hole. I hope to return 
more fully to this matter next week, as I have received 
several valuable communications on the matter.—W. B. 
Tegetmeier.” 
GLEANINGS. 
One of the best works on “ The Dahlia: its History 
and Cultivation, with descriptions of all the best show 
flowers ,” has just issued from the press. Its author is 
Mr. Robert Hogg, author of “ British Pomology,” and of 
a name identified with Florists’ Flowers. The following 
is an extract from its amusing portion : our readers 
must purchase the work to benefit by its practical 
details :— 
“The first naturalist who was sent to explore the hitherto 
unknown treasures of the New World, was Franciscus Her¬ 
nandez, physician to Philip the Second of Spain, under 
whose patronage, and at a great cost, the mission was under¬ 
taken. In such a country, where - no botanist had ever 
trodden, the success which attended his labours was of 
course very great. So extensive were his discoveries, and 
so new and varied were the forms of animal and vegetable 
existence which he described, the scientific men of that age 
regarded his statements with suspicion, and, in some in¬ 
stances did not fail to express their incredulity in what 
they supposed to be the traveller’s fabulous assertions. 
Notwithstanding, however, the opinions which at the time 
were current, it is now found that in every particular he was 
correct in what he had stated. Hernandez did not live to 
superintend the publication of his discoveries; but after his 
death they were collected into one large folio volume, pro¬ 
fusely illustrated with woodcuts, and entitled, ‘Rerum Medi- 
carum Novte Hispanise Thesaurus.’ In this work the 
Acocotli is figured in three different forms, and described at 
considerable length. It is stated to be an herb bearing 
leaves similar to those of the Mountain Spikenard ( Vale¬ 
riana tuberosa , Wild), which are divided into five leaflets, of 
which some are sinuated. The flower-stalks, which are 
nine inches long, are slender and smooth ; and the flowers 
pale red and stellate. To this is added an account of its 
medicinal virtues, which we suspect are more imaginary 
than real. This, then, for one-hundred-and-fifty years 
afterwards, was all that was known of this plant; those who 
believed the report of the traveller knew that such an one 
existed somewhere in the mountains of Quauhnahuac, but 
nothing more, for there it was allowed to remain. 
“ It was not till 1789, when Vicentes Cervantes, director 
of the Botanic Garden at Mexico, forwarded seeds of this 
plant to the Royal Gardens at Madrid, that it had ever been 
seen in Europe. The plants produced from these seeds 
flowered in 1790. At that time the Royal Gardens were 
under the direction of Abbe Cavanilles, who, recognising in 
this new introduction a genus hitherto unknown in botanical 
science, applied to it the name of Dahlia, in honour of M. 
Andre Dahl, a Swedish botanist. Among the plants pro 
duced in the Madrid Garden, Cavanilles discovered, as he I 
thought, three distinct species, all of which he described 
and figured in his great work, ‘ leones et Descriptiones 
lTantarum, &c.’ under the names of Dahlia pinnata, rosea, j 
and coccinea, the former of which was a sort of semi-double, 
but the others proved only to be single flowers. Little 1 
