12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, ArniL 7, 1857. 
in the way of suckers in another plant when the stem is injured. 
Perhaps the manure was rather strong. 
Geraniums for Winter Blooming (L. J.).—Buron Hugclis the 
hest Geranium to prepare for winter forcing, and the first cross seedlings 
from it are the next best; such as Orion, litidii, Dazzle, and Frogmore 
j Seedling, a new delicate rosy pink, a lovely flower in winter. We have 
had these in bloom all this winter, also Tom Thumb, and two or three 
1 more, but Baron HugeVs breed is certainly the best; but they do not 
1 keep the white eye in winter as they do in summer. The grand thing 
is to prepare scarlet Geraniums for flowering in winter, and now that you 
have opened the subject at the right time we shall return to it soon with 
such forces as will drive the enemy out of memory. There is no Oleander 
better than the old double. 
Bek Flowers (Tyro). —It is hopeless for you to keep your bees from 
the Rhododendrons. Why do you wish to do so ? Mignonette and 
Melilotus leucantha are about the best bee flowers. See an advertise- 
i ment in our number for March 1/th. 
the muum mnm icle . 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Dewsbury. Sept. 2. Sec., Harrison Brooke, Esq. 
Leamington. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, July the 8th, 9th, 
and loth, 1857. Hon. Sec., Thomas Grove. 
Nottingham Central. (Poultry, Pigeons, and Canaries.) January 
19 th, 20 th, 21 st, and 22 nd, 1858. Sec., Mr. Etherington, jun., 
Swinton, near Nottingham. 
Nottinghamshire. At Southwell, Wednesday and Thursday, De¬ 
cember 16 th and l/th. Entries close November 18th. Hon. Sec., 
Mr. It. Hawksley, jun., Southwell. 
N.B. —Secretaries will oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
NOTES ON POLAND FOWLS. 
Polands are, I think, the most beautiful of all the different 
! classes of poultry, and, as I shall set forth, one of the hest 
| laying varieties, quite equal, in my humble opinion, to either 
I Cochins or Pencilled Hamburglis—that is to say as spring 
; layers; for though the Polands may not heat Cochins as 
i winter layers, they are splendid spring layers. 
Now Polands, which are my chief pets next to Bantams, 
are divided into three chief classes—Black, Gold-spangled, 
and Silver-spangled; and I will describe their points in 
plumage, and then I will talk about their laying and general 
qualities. 
1. The Black .—They should have a neatly-shaped body, 
j with very large fan tail in hens, and a long flowing one in 
! cock. Their colour should be black in every part of their 
j plumage, and the topknot should be white, or at least as 
1 few coloured feathers as possible in it; and lastly (though 
I know a great outcry will be raised against me), they should 
have large wattles, and in the cock a large, crescent-shaped 
comb. This I say because, although birds are all the rage 
now that have no combs, yet in breeding them without any 
comb form is often sacrificed. 
2. The Gold-spangled should have the ground colour of 
the plumage a rich, dark gold, and the feathers should be 
regularly spangled with black. They must have blue legs, 
and the topknot in this sort must be very large and dark 
according to my opinion, though lately there has arisen a 
fashion of crests being sprinkled with white. These birds, 
also, should have a little comb. 
•3. The Silver-spangled answer to the same description, 
only the ground colour of their plumage is a pure snowy 
white. 
Now, then, for the qualities of Polands. In the winter 
and spring I have found them to lay, especially the Golden 
ones, exceedingly well. My Golden pullets laid through 
the winter, and, as I told you in a letter signed “ A Poultry 
Lover,” I have a pullet four months and a half old, or rather, 
by this time five months, that laid five eggs weekly during 
the winter. Well, then, Polands are capital layers and 
capital foragers too. They do not eat so much as the 
generality of fowls, and amply pay by their eggs, and I am 
sorry to say people now do not pay half enough attention to 
them. They also resemble the much-lauded Spangled 
Hamburghs in never, or very rarely, evincing the slightest 
desire to sit. There is one drawback to them sometimes, 
viz., perhaps they will take a fancy to laying away; but with 
kind and gentle treatment this desire may always be done 
away with, and when they have once laid in a nest two or 
three times they will not forsake it. The Gold-spangled, 
perhaps, surpass the others as winter layers, but all three 
kinds are pretty equal otherwise. 
The eggs of Polands may always be known by their pale 
yolk, and though small are of an exquisite flavour. In 
short, there is no breed of fowls more beautiful than the 
Polands, and only the Spangled Hamburghs beat them in 
laying. 
Another point in Polands I must mention, which I have 
always observed, at least in the White-crested Blacks, viz., 
the beautiful conduct of the cock towards the hens; in fact, 
the Poland cock surpasses all others in his chivalrous con¬ 
duct to his dames. He is indefatigable in scratching up 
food for them, and in inviting them to receive food from his 
own beak, always ready to protect and assist them, and 
always warning them if any danger appears near at hand; 
and lastly, never chasing, robbing, pecking, or driving 
them. 
There is no lovelier breed than the Polands, nor any 
more profitable.—A Wiltshire Poultry-keeper. 
MRS. DORKING’S RESPONSIVE CACKLE. 
Mrs. Poland, cackle as much as you will, and publish 
your good qualities ; but recollect, madam, comparisons are 
always odious. Who told you that I was a greater eater than 
yourself ? I contend that my eggs are larger than yours, 
and I will lay against you any day; and what is your place 
at table? The sideboard, or wherever you will not be seen, 
or where your black legs may be hidden. I am astonished 
at the impudence that can say you are as strong as other 
fowls. Do you know there was once a country where all the 
inhabitants were hump-backed ? During divine service one 
day a straight man came in, and the minister asked the con¬ 
gregation to pray for the poor deformed man who had just 
entered. That is what you might do for one of us. You 
know most of you are deformed, and you also know you 
are very sickly. You are all farmed out like parish children; 
you never know your parents. Talk of youp plumage! Look 
in the glass the first wet day we have; seethe white topknot 
you are so proud of, a few stray draggled feathers, and then, 
spite of your constitution, what a cold you have in the head 
afterwards! Oh, for shame, telling such horrid, wicked 
stories about me ! Keep to yourself, or you will hear more 
from— An Indignant Dorking, the Mother of a Family. 
UNBEARDED POLANDS. 
There have lately been complaints from the owners of 
unbearded Polands that their claims are set aside to make 
room for the bearded varieties, and that they are driven from 
the field by them. “ Your own faults,” say we. “ Why don’t 
you make a better fight for it ? You gave up the combat and 
withdrew.” We had no idea till lately beards had so much 
influence on character as they have. We knew a respectable 
London tradesman, really what ladies would call a nice man— 
linen scrupulously white, suit of well-made black, waistcoat 
poaching a little on the clerical, and a well-tied white j 
neckcloth. This nice man retired, and we had not seen him j 
for some years till we found him a successful Poland | 
exhibitor in the north. What a change! A long beard, j 
a semi-moustache shaved only under the nostrils, trousers | 
with a remarkable stripe, and a frock coat buttoned up to 
the chin: manner decidedly military. Speaking to him 
about his fowls, and venturing to say we still liked the 
unbearded, he spoke of them with evident disgust. “ Oh! ” | 
thought we, “if the beard has made such a difference in you, 
and caused you to be so fierce, no wonder the poor un¬ 
bearded Polands have withdrawn from their fierce brethren.” 
But we would put in a plea for the unbearded, and we 
would tell their owners not to be frightened, nor to retire 
in dismay from their fierce-looking opponents. Many of 
them may say— 
“ Then know that I, one Snug, the joiner am, 
No lion fell, nor else no lion’s dam.” 
It is hard upon Judges for exhibitors to retire without a ! 
contest, and then to say those Judges would not have 
awarded them prizes had they shown their birds. It is 
almost years since a good unbearded pen has been shown, 
and many would rejoice to see one. The idea that such 
cannot be successful may be classed among the vulgar 
poultry errors. 
