123 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 31, 1859. 
bed, in aii open situation, with the ground well prepared and 
mellow. When the plants arc three inches high, let the strongest 
he planted out in rows ; and if the weather is dry, give occasional 
waterings till they are established. Erequent hoeings will en¬ 
courage a quick growth ; and when the plants have attained suf¬ 
ficient size, the leaves may be gathered together, and bound round 
for blanching, in the same way as is done with the Lettuce. Those 
plants from the late sowings in August, which are cultivated to 
stand the winter, should be planted out in warm and dry situa¬ 
tions—such as on ridges, or sloping banks; and be careful, in 
tying them up, that the operation is performed in dry weather. 
Another mode of blanching Endive, besides tying the leaves 
together as before, is to cover the plants with large flower-pots, 
as is done for Sea-kale. And this I have always found to bo the 
preferable mode; as the whole plant is then more sweet and 
tender, and is not so apt to run to seed.— Rogee Ashtole. 
C To he continued.) 
THE MARTEN CAT. 
Believing as I do that there are very few parties who are not, 
more or less, fond of “ pets,” more particularly in cases where 
such live stock is not commonly of a domesticated character, 
and having from my earliest infancy had a weakness for such 
“ hobbies,” I trust a few stray notes, by way of variation to the 
commonly beaten track, may prove of interest to many of the 
readers of The Cottage Gaedenee. Acting under this im¬ 
pression, then, I will commence an irregular series by my expe- _ 
riences with a thoroughly-domesticated Marten Cat. 
Nearly thirty years have now lapsed since a relative forwarded 
to me two young Martens, taken from a hollow in a decayed 
trunk of a tree in one of his preserves. The gamekeeper (who 
carried out his “ vermin-killing ” propensity as a duty) had been 
sharply on the look-out for the Marten Cats for some consider¬ 
able time past; and, on the 12th of May, 1829, had the satisfac¬ 
tion of seeing the mother of my after-' 1 pets ” fall dead at his feet, 
being shot just at the moment she was about entering to suckle 
her young ones. A very superficial examination of her convinced 
him she had young ones close at hand; and certainly not from 
the merciful motive to prevent the progeny dying a lingering death 
from want, but simply to prevent them “ getting away if old enough 
to crawl, he was fully determined to find them out if possible.” 
His exertions proved successful; for he finally determined in his 
own mind "that the young- must be in the hollow tree” 
before alluded to. To “ get at them,” however, presented a great 
amount of difficulty ; the bole of this tree had been, most probably, 
of a century’s growth ; and the hollow (as proved by probing it 
with a stick) extended at least three yards deep into the very 
centre of the tree. To make certain of them if there, the keeper 
■filled up the mouth of the aperture firmly with his coat, whilst 
he went to inform his employer of his luck, and ask permission 
either to blow them up with gunpowder, or obtain leave for the 
woodman at once to cut down the tree, as “ it was only a harbour 
for all sorts of things that destroyed game.” Now, it so happened 
that even the absolute confiscation of the estate itself, wholesale, 
could hardly have offered greater objections to its freeholder than 
the cutting down of a single tree; the matter, therefore, stood 
thus—Is the game, according to the dictum of the gamekeeper, 
to be “ all killed, for nobody can do nothing if they be let go or 
must the tree come down? As a kind of compromise of inherent 
feeling on due inspection—as it was not yet confidently known, 
although positively asserted, that " they must be there, for they 
can’t be nowhere else”—my relative suggested to cut a hole at 
the farthest depth any hollow could be ascertained. This was 
speedily effected ; the result being the issuing into daylight of my 
future “ pets.” The moment the destroyer of their maternal 
parent saw the offspring, his dictum issued, “ Oil! kill’em at 
once, sir, afore they get away.” "Not so,” was the immediate 
rejoinder of his employer; “ what evil, Sam, can they have done ? 
and I fancy I know who will like them.” They were, conse¬ 
quently, conveyed to me. 
Now, as the relative circumstances of this incident may prove 
instructive, and interest various parties whose views would any¬ 
thing but assimilate on such points, I would anxiously desire to 
be especially distinct in my narration. The naturally-formed 
“ nest,” if so it might be called, was simply a collection of raw 
material, in the shape of bents of withered grass, dried leaves, 
and, strangely enough, a completo collection of squirrels’ fur and 
tails. Thero was not a single feather of any kind ; and, excepting 
the bones in the f ails of the squirrels, now perfectly dried up, not 
one bone was to be found anywhere among it. 
Now, my friend never foresaw such would be the issue of the 
investigation of a Marten’s Cat’s nest; for, although somewhat 
inclined for the study of natural history by personal inclination, 
lie had been taught by his subordinates to believe " one Marten 
Cat will kill more pheasants in one year than three guns.” If 
so, this statement must apply exclusively to younger broods of 
game; for, as before said, not a feather of any kind was there 
discovered, or remnant in the shape of hones —squirrels excepted. 
I mention, somewhat emphatically, this point, because the de¬ 
cidedly carnivorous structure of the teeth would lead any naturalist 
to contrary opinions respecting this elegant quadruped. When 
taken, the young proved male and female; and as the dead 
mother was sent to convince me what they would grow into with 
attention, I felt interested in them, more particularly as by kind¬ 
ness never broken I knew I could tame anything. One could 
then barely see, but my recollection fails to say whether the male 
or female; the other for some days proved perfectly blind. The 
next question was, “How are they to be reared ? ” But, not to be 
beaten, inquiries soon solved this difficulty to one then enjoying 
all the energies of youth. A neighbour had a cat suckling ; and 
with a right palpitating heart they were committed to her care 
—a fear preponderating that they would be instantly destroyed. 
Not so, however : she, poor thing, on the loss of her kittens (for a 
douceur to her owner), at once took every care of the little wood¬ 
land strangers, and reared them as her own. The next day, un¬ 
known to myself, the prettiest tortoiseshell kitten, which had been 
secretly reserved, was placed with them, and all three were sub¬ 
sequently reared together. 
At first the Martens seemed disposed to be spiteful and untract- 
able, spitting and snapping if handling were attempted. A few 
days conquered this natural impulse, and they then became 
equally familiar with the kitten. In a very short time, however, 
their wondrous agility became manifest; their playfellow, the 
kitten, although supposed to be much older than they, being far 
behind in all their infantile games. The foster cat, also, about 
this time, seemed fully aware that she had been imposed upon, and 
began to illtreat them ; they were, therefore, at once removed to 
my own house. Here, on occasional supplies of meat cut small, 
and generally a bread-and-milk diet, they throve rapidly, and 
became (admittedly) rather troublesome than wild. Illimitable 
curiosity proved their failing; threats seemed dreadless to them, 
for they were continually in action. They were not “ servants’ 
favourites,” and about six weeks after coming into my possession, 
a maid servant was, luckily, caught in the very fact of killing the 
male, that had always seemed the most indomitable and mis¬ 
chievous of these youngsters, and was, consequently, at once dis¬ 
missed. The female of the Martens only now remained. She 
became “ quite a pet.” Agile, familiar, pleasing, and quiet, she 
well deserved to be such. The scrupulous cleanliness of this 
little animal was extraordinary; whilst if pleased or irritated the 
scent emitted was odoriferous, not offensive. Dogs of all kinds 
she evidently abhorred. Our own she beat; but strange dogs she 
scrupulously avoided, nor would any inducements cause her to be 
one of the company during then’ presence. Yet, strange to say, 
even in these cases, if any cat were shown to her, she would leave 
the uprnost branches of any tree, or the roof of any outhouse 
instantly, without hesitation, or a moment’s reluctance.' Surely 
this affords a pica to the advocates of certain issue from early 
education in youngsters of other kinds besides Marten Cats. 
When fully grown, it would “ fetch ” any object if thrown to 
a distance invariably, although sometimes playfully reluctant to 
“give up” the object thus attained. Its quickness of locomotion 
in any direction far exceeded anything I ever beheld. With a ra¬ 
pidity inconceivable it would ascend thirty-five or thirty-six feet, 
by means of a perfectly round iron spout, to the top of the house, 
using the wall at its juncture with the side of the spout for this 
purpose. Sometimes, if the weather were fine, and the sun shining, 
it would then lie full length for hours concealed in the cross- 
eaves spout, even if called to repeatedly only putting its head 
slightly over the side of the spout, and then as quickly relapsing 
into quietude and sleep again; but let one spot of rain, or a cat 
be placed on the ground, it would come down directly, and so far 
from avoiding inspection, would then at once voluntarily fondle 
in my waistcoat. Strange to say, it seemed to prefer, when ripe, 
the berries of the mountain ash tree and the white sorbett tree 
to all other provender. These it would gather itself, and even 
climb with the utmost rapidity the underside of the branches to 
attain coveted clusters ; yet it would not eat of either apples, pears, 
