4 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 2, 1860. 
Game (White and Piles').—First, J. Martin, Claines, Worcester. Second, 
J. B. Chune, Coalbrookdale. . 
Game (Duckwing'S and other Greys and Blues).—First, J. B. Chune, 
Coalbrookdale. Second, Messrs. G. and A. Peters, Birmingham. Highly 
Commended, W. T. Hil', New Inn House, Claverley. 
Game (any other variety).— First prize withheld. Second, J. B. Chune. 
Game Cock. _First, ,T. B. Chune, Coalbrookdale. Second, Messrs, G. 
and A. Peters, Birmingham. Highly Commended, J. Martin, Claines, 
Worcester ; J. B. Chune, Coalbrookdale. Commended, W. Cherrington, 
Allscott. 
Hamburgh (Golden-pencilled).—First, W. Harvey, Sheffield. Second, 
J. Martin, Claines, Worcester. Highly Commended, J. Martin. Com¬ 
mended, J. B. Chune, Coalbrookdale: Messrs. G. and A. Peters, 
Hamburgh (Golden-spangled).—First and Second, II. Carter, Upper - 
thong, near Holmfirth. Highly Commended, J. Dixon, Bradford ; Messrs. 
G. and A. Peters. Birmingham. Commended, AV. Harvey, Sheffield. 
Hamburgh (Silver-pencilled).—First, J. Dixon, Bradford. Second, AV. 
Harvey, Sheffield. Highly Commended, J. Martin, Claines, Worcester. 
Commended, Countess of Dartmouth, Patshull Park; J. Martin. 
Hamburgh (Silver-spangled) —First, H. Carter, TJpperthong. Second, 
J. B. Chune, Coalbrookdale. Commended, Countess of Dartmouth, Patshull 
Park; J. Dixon, Bradford 
Polands (Black with White Crests).—First prize withheld. Second, 
H. Carter, Upperthong. 
Polands (Golden-spangled).—First, J. Dixon, Bradford. Second, Messrs. 
G. and A. Peters, Birmingham. 
Polands (Silver-spangled).—First and Second, J. Dixon, Bradford. 
Commended, Messrs. G. and A. Peters, Birmingham. 
Spanish. —First, J. Martin, Claines, AVorcester. Second, J. B. Chune, 
Coalbrookdale. Commended, T. Boucher, Birchfield, Birmingham; J. 
Dixon, Bradford ; G Lamb, Compton, AVolverhampton. 
Any other Variety. —First. AV. Harvey, Sheffield (Brahmas). Second, 
J. Martin (Silkies). Highly Commended, j. Dixon, Bradford (Brahmas). 
Bantams.— First, J. Dixon, Bradford. Second, Messrs. G. and A. Peters, 
Birmingham. Commended, AV. Harvey, Sheffield. 
Ducks (White Aylesbury).—First and Second, Mrs. Seamons, Hartwell, 
Aylesbury. Highly Commended, Mrs. Seamons. 
Ducks (any other variety).—First and Second, Miss Steele Perkins, 
Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. Commended, AV. H. Kerr, Worcester. 
ME. TATE, OF DRIFFIELD. 
I See you have published my name in a scandalous manner. 
I wish to know who authorised you to do so, as the statements 
are untrue and calculated to do me a great deal of harm. Some 
people are always ready to believe such things. As for Mrs. 
Cross, I did not think it worth replying to her; but Baxter will 
hear of it again. 
I will submit to your own opinion the facts. In July, Baxter 
wrote to know the price of a pen, cock and two pullets, of Malays, 
three mouths old. I told him 30s. was the price, and on receipt 
of a post-office order they would be sent. He sent the order and 
I sent the birds—a cock and two pullets, then four months old, 
which I will prove to any one, and that they were two pullets 
and only one cock, and not, as he says, two cocks and one pullet. 
They were small, but every one knows what chickens are thi3 
cold, Avet spring, and the cock was a litlle less than the pullets, 
being three weeks younger; hut they were all first-class birds, 
and from prize birds, too, which have taken seven first prizes and 
five seconds this year; and they took first at York last Christmas 
Eat Stock and Poultry Show, then only veryyoung, and they are | 
from the purest and best breed in England, those he calls half 
bred ; besides, when he returned them I sent him another pen of 
very good birds, worth three guineas, those he kept five or six 
weeks, never said a word about them, and then wrote saving I 
was to send his money, and he would return the birds. Was it 
likely after keeping them all that time ? Would you do it ? 
And as for the hamper which he calls filthy, I paid 3.?. for it 
myself, with a pen of birds in it sent from a lady, yet I did not 
object to it, and why should he P Had he returned the birds 
at once, I should have paid carriage and returned his money. 
Judge betwixt us both.—R. Tate. 
[There can he no doubt about this transaction. Mr. Baxter 
wanted chickens, and Mr. Tate sent old birds. No man has a 
right to send goods differing from those ordered from him. Mr. 
Tate did the same to “E. C.,” and it is quite indefensible. We 
have now laid the facts before our readers, and shall not insert 
any more communications upon the subject. Mr. Baxter signed 
his name to the statement we published, and Mr. Tate must 
correspond with him on the subject.— Eds. C. G.] 
DORKING COCK BROODY. 
Perhaps it may he interesting to the readers of Ttie Cottage 
Gardener to know the following :-r-On the 21st of June last a 
Dorking hen hatched me seven Sebright Bantam chickens. She 
with them were kept in the garden separate from all the other 
fowls. The end of July she began to lay again in her coop, and 
the second week in August beat her chickens off, so that I Avas 
obliged to separate them on the 20th. Since which time a three- 
year-old Dorking cock has taken them under his care, finding 
food and calling them during the day, and at night brooding 
them in a shed on the ground, where neither he nor they were 
accustomed to go. Before the 20th of August he never saw 
them.—E. 
SECOND SWARMS. 
Believing myself to be in a position to throw some light on 
the question raised by “ II. T.” in the last Cottage Gardener, 
I may, perhaps, be permitted to state, that in the course of my 
experiments in raising queen bees by artificial means during the 
past summer, I have found that they quit their cells in a very 
immature condition, being quite as incapable of flight as the 
newly-hatched workers or drones. Whether they are able to take 
wing prior to the expiration of five days, I am unable to say ; but 
this is the time that usually elapses before their first excursion. 
Naturally-raised queens are, probably, often confined to their cells 
in the manner described by Hubei’, and may, therefore, be 
capable of flight as soon as they issue from them; although I 
should not think such would he the case where a second swarm 
had been so long delayed as the one in question. 
The following instance proves that queen bees are sometimes 
more than sixteen days in arriving at maturity—a delay which 
may, probably, be fairly attributed to an ungenial temperature. 
Being desirous of raising queens during the absence of my 
Ligurian bees on the heath (a distance of eight miles), I brought , 
home some pieces of comb containing eggs, on the 27th August. 
Only one queen was the result of this experiment, and she did 
not issue from her cell till the 14th September—a period of 
eighteen days. As it is not probable that the egg from which 
she proceeded was laid the same morning that I removed it, 
whilst it possibly might have been three or four days old, 
Ave may assume eighteen to twenty days as being required to 
perfect a queen bee in an unfavourable season. If to this we add 
the time which must elapse (whether confined to her cell, or at 
large in the hive), before the young princess is able to take wing, 
it will fully account for an exceptional period of eighteen or even 
twenty days between a prime and second swarm.—A Dea'ON- 
shire Bee-keeper. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Old Hens (Victoria ).—Hens four years old, whether Cochin-China or 
any other variety, will not lay well in winter. There is no help for vou 
but to get rid of them. AVe pointed out the modes some weeks since. The 
Cochin-China pullets you have will begin laying by the end of the month. : 
Spanish Chickens at Crystal Palace.— Mr. J. R. Rodbard writes to 
say. that the Judges must have made a mistake in assigning a “ comraen- 
dation ” to him ; for although he entered two pens for exhibition at the 
Crystal Palace, he did not send any. 
Belgian Canaries (H. P. I .).—AVe cannot state the names of any 
breeders of Belgian Canaries. The Crystal Palace Bird Show has been 
hitherto held in November. Its list of exhibitors will furnish you with 
the information you ask for. 
Distinguishing a Canary’s Sf.x (Thomson ).—Some fanciers think they 
can tell the sex of Canaries by their shape and carriage. The cook, they 
say, has a larger head, and is of a deeper yellow about the forehead and 
cheeks, and that his carriage is bolder and more erect. Singing is the best I 
criterion, and your bird that is a year old and has not song is most likely a 
hen.—B. P. Brent. 
Rabbits (Jemima Wilhelmina ).—Chinchilla Rabbits are hardy, prolific, 
and very good on table. They vary in price, but we should think you 
would get a pair at from 20s. to 26s. A common doe Rabbit will bring you 
forty young Rabbits in the course of the year, sometimes many more; but 
then the doe is quickly worn out. The average weight of common Rabbits 
is from five to seven pounds; some of them get as far as nine, and by 
feeding they may be made heavier still. Tea leaves are sometimes given, 
but we have not found very great results from their use. Rabbits should 
be fed as soon after daybreak as possible, at mid-day, and again at night; 
they will, however, do very well without the mid-day meal if the other 
two are substantial. Does while suckling require feeding often. 
LONDON MARKETS.— October 1. 
POULTRY. 
There is still but a very moderate supply of poultry at market. Geese 
were deficient both in numbers and quality, corn being evidently used most 
sparingly in fatting them. It is not a» important as it would have been 
formerly, as the observance of Michaelmas is gradually dying away. 
Each— s. d. s. d. I Each—,s. d. s. il. 
Large Fowls. 4 0 to 4 6 Turkeys. 0 0 to 0 0 
Smaller Fowls. 3 0 „ 3 6 j Guinea Fowls . 0 0 „ 0 0 
Chlcken s . 2 6 „ 2 9 Pigeons.. 0 7 „ 0 8 
£ ee f. e . 6 0 „ 9 0 I Grouse .. 3 0 „ 3 6 
Goslings . 0 0 ,, 0 0 j Partridges . 2 3 ,, 2 6 
£ uck s . 2 6 „ 3 0 Rabbits. 1 4 „ 1 5 
Ducklings. 0 0 „ 0 0 I AVild ditto. 0 8 „ 0 9 
