August 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
planting and preserving of trees, plants, and flowers, 
I and such-like purposes,” then the garden shall revert to 
Sir Hans Sloane, his heirs and assigns, for the use of 
the Royal Society, Ac. 
For the reasons we have assigned, and for many 
others, we hope that instead of decreasing the efficiency 
i ot the Chelsea Garden, that the Apothecaries’ Company, 
j inspired lor once with tho spirit of the age, will strive 
I to render tho Physic Garden more useful. To pursue a 
deteriorating course will bo a dereliction of duty, and 
strangely contrasting with the spirit of their prede¬ 
cessors, who, at the expense of some T'iOO erected a 
I statue in honour of its donor, Sir Hans Sloane. We are 
quite sure that the garden might be rendered of very 
great utility, and tho value in which it is held by the 
profession for whose benefit it is especially intended is 
shewn by this published record, sanctioned by the 
Company :—“ It is a most gratifying feature in tho 
memoirs ol this garden, that the members of the Society 
have stepped forward with the utmost alacrity in every 
period of that history where pecuniary exertions were 
necessary for the support of this valuable establishment.” 
Various applications have been made to us, having for 
their object enhancing the value of tho so-called 
Brahma Poutra fowls. Some of these applications 
contain statements of their having recently been sold 
for enormous prices; others contain statements of the 
alleged mania for them in America; and a third set of 
communications endeavour to convince us that they are 
a distinct breed. 
We cannot be influenced by any of these commu¬ 
nications, for they may be all, and, to a certain extent, 
some we know to be, incorrect. Brahma Poutras we 
believe to be neither more nor less than Grey Shang- 
baes; and wo do not yet swerve from this very first 
opinion we expressed of them, and that they have a 
tinge of Malay blood. This opinion is confirmed by 
the following letter from a party whose name is com- 
| muuicated to us; and we again warn our readers not to 
j be deceived into giving high prices, unless they prefer 
i Grey Shangbaes to Shangbaes of any other colour:— 
“I am pleased to find that you are still incredulous 
! enough to disbelieve all that is said about the rarity and 
I increased advantage of the new breed that has lately 
j been brought into notice and trumpeted up by the name 
j of Brahma Poutra fowls, but which are, in reality, no- 
; thing but the Grey Shangbaes, and a very coarse variety 
of the ugliest of them. They are no better layers, are 
not larger, and do not possess one single advantage in 
any other respect, though very deficient in many of the 
beauties we are now accustomed to look for in Buffs 
and other colours. It appears there is some intention 
of bringing these ugly birds into notice, with the view 
of making a high price of them—a purpose you will, I 
am sure, not lend yourself to serve. 
“Having bad very considerable experience with all 
poultry matters for the last few years, 1 beg to inform 
you that I have known these Grey Shangbaes for years, 
and I will tell you how they first sprung into notice. 
“A poor gardener, named William Turner, who lived - 
in a small house in tho Tuffnel Park Road, Holloway, j 
near London, received a grey cock from Mr. Griggs, of j 
Tollington Park, in payment for bis services. This 
bird was called a Grey Shanghae by all who saw it, and j 
I believe 7s. fid. or 10s. was allowed for him. Turner, i 
in addition, got two of Mr. Stainton’s pullets—the then i 
(1S50) sweepings of his yard, but they were two buffs, 
and from these and the grey cock he bred the next 
season. He sold three of the chickens to Mrs. Hosier 
Williams, for 10s. each; and these were ail greys, ! 
although the chickens were almost in equal quantities [ 
of grey, buff, red, Ac. No one valued them one jot, j 
until, in December, 1851, Mrs. Hosier Williams received 
an extra prize for them at Birmingham, and sold them 
for a large price, when she presented Turner with XT, 
on informing him of the news. These birds were 
identical with the Brahma Poutras of this time, and 
I have seen very many of them since bred by Mr. 
Stainton, of tho Hornscy-road, from birds derived from 
the same source as Mr. Griggs—the cock he gave to 
Turner—but they were interbred with the buffs; and 
neither Stainton, Griggs, nor Turner, ever entertained 
any other idea but they were tho same breed, although 
they discarded them as they appeared, ou account of 
their bad and unsaleable colour. 
“The Brahma Poutras sent by Dr. Bennett were 
precisely the same as those above alluded to, and which 
he exhibited at our Show last December, and where also 
was exhibited, in the extra Class 2, splendid grey cocks, 
bred by Mr. Stainton. The birds sold to Mrs. Hosier 
Williams, by Dr. Bennett, were not exhibited there at 
all (as Mr. Gilbert says), as they were then out of her 
possession, having been sold to Mr. Bowman; but Mr. 
Stainton’s were there ; and the only difference between 
bis and Dr. Bennett’s was, that Mr. Staintou’s were the 
largest. 1 know this subject well, aud can vouch for 
every syllable I have stated. 
“Although poor Turner was successful in selling his 
greys to Mrs. H. Williams, yet nobody else would then J 
look at them ; and many were sold in Mr. Steven’s 
Auction-room, last autumn, for a mere trifle. There 
were six or seven lots of handsome grey cockerels put 
up successively while 1 stood by, and there was not one 
bidder, and that was not one year since. 
“ These grey birds are not rare, by any means, about 
London, as Mr. Stainton has given away some at 
various times, and which I have since seen; and, no 
doubt, if Turner lias not eaten his, be lias yet some in 
his new abode in the country; but, judging from Mr. 
Gilbert’s birds, which I have seen, nothing can be more 
ugly nor common-looking. The two bens appear to 
have a Malay cross in them, as they are hawk-headed, 
and one lias a tendency to a double comb. One lien 
lias, also, nearly a green leg. They both are nearly 
clean-legged, and the cock by no means handsome.” 
