12 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 4, 1859. 
what we do not know to be superior. Best white :— Whitlegi and Blanda. 
Best rose -.—Rubescens and rosea. Best crimson:— Humei, Potsii, and 
Corallina. The next best are Fragrant, Pallasii, Baxteri, and Silurica. 
The third best are Tartarica, carnescens, fimbriata, and teauifolia. 
Buying Bulbs (Rose).— All the bulbs you name can be had from any of 
those firms you see advertise in The Cottage Gardener. The Liliums or 
Japan Lilies will be dry in November, which is the best time to buy them. 
They are fine plants and easy to bloom. Tritoma uvaria at the same time ;■ 
but the Tritonia aurea, and other Ixia-like Tritonias, should be had now 
dry and be potted at once. All the Amaryllises are now in growth; but, like 
Hyacinths and Tulips, they keep dry all through October from the end of 
May. Yallotta is an evergreen Amaryllis, and the very easiest of them to 
manage. The best Cyclamens—the spring ones—are repotted in August, 
but have not yet grown much to hinder them from carriage. Get as many 
kinds of the Persicum and Atkinsii breeds as you can, and you will never 
be without a store of them for no trouble at all worth mentioning: but 
buy also Ixia viridiflora, the finest of all small bulbs; Ixia crateroides and 
maculata, Sparaxis tricolor and tricolor grandijlora ; and a few of the 
Guernsey seedling Sparaxises. A root or two of Amaryllis formosissima, 
or Sprekelia formosissima, would give splendid bloom in May, if treated 
exactly like Regent Potatoes—potted in March or April, bloomed in April 
or May, planted out of doors after blooming, and stored like Potatoes all 
the winter. 
Araucaria imbricata’s Leaves spotted beown ( TV . V .). —We cannot 
tell the cause of these spots; but the probability is that now, after six 
years’ growth, the roots have descended into a subsoil unfavourable to the 
Araucaria. 
Scarlet Geraniums (Jane). —The petals were shed, and consequently 
we could not decipher the names. They are the worst of cut flowers to 
send for recognition. 
New Verbena (A r . B . J.). — Your new lavender or light lilac Verbena is 
a fine flower, a new colour, and the sweetest of them since” tcucrioides 
appeared and disappeared. If the habit is good, and if the colour will 
stand the sun, it will make a charming front bed. 
Names of Plants (J. F. Armstrong). —We have but very little doubt 
about your No. 1 being the Cyclamen vernum —that is, as nearly as we can 
judge from the solitary leaf and flower, which agree with that of vernum. 
If a plant of it could be spared, this would settle the question. No. 2 is the 
Cyclamen hedercefolium of most botanists (see Botanical Magazine, 1001). 
The same plant is called C. Europceum. in Eng. Bot. Tab. 548. Again, the 
same plant is called in the Bot. Reg. N.S., in the year 1838, tab. 49, Cyclamen 
Neapolitanum. This plant is called a doubtful native of Britain, but has 
been found abundantly in a wood on Alderdown Farm, in the parish of 
Sandhurst in Kent, on a poor, yellow, sandy, loamy soil, with flowers both 
red, white, and purple (Tra. of Linn. Soc. vol. xiii. page 616J. It has 
been found in many other places, though some of them are considered 
doubtful, being near gardens. We have two plants, one white, and the 
other reddish-pink and white, which have remained in the same spot for 
the last twenty years, which are now just coming into flower, and fine 
specimens they are at this time. They stand in so suitable a situation that 
they are not in the way of anything during the whole year. About a gallon 
of fresh mould is put round and over their crowns every year at the 
beginning of September as a top dressing. Numbers of seedlings come up 
annnally of their own accord from the dark kind, but we never have 
observed any seedlings come up from the white one. Your other plant, 
No. 3, is unknown to us. It appears to us to come near to a Lobelia, one 
of the dwarf trailing kinds, but we should like to have a larger specimen. 
(J. R. R.). —Your plants are :—1, Cystopteris fragilis, the Brittle Bladder 
Pern; 2 , Lastrcea thelypteris, the Marsh Buckler Pern. The Jasmine is 
the common white Jasminum officinale. The greenish-yellow flowering 
shrub is the Bupleurum fruticosum ; and the Clematis, from the tiny bit 
sent, we take to be nothing more than the common Traveller’s Joy, or 
Clematis vitalba. 
POULTRY AND BEE-KEEPER’S CHRONICLE. 
SEASONABLE HINTS. 
We know no method of being useful to our readers more 
practical than by following up the weather and the seasons with 
a sort of calendar of operations. We gladly do so, because the 
time is coming when reports of Shows will monopolise our space. 
The nights are now getting longer, and they are cold. The grass 
is frequently covered witli white frost in the morning. If, there¬ 
fore, you have small chickens, let them remain covered up till 
the sun is high enough to give warmth. Choose a dry, sheltered 
spot, where the grass is short, or if the rip in which the hens and 
chickens roost can be put on a dry, dusty place, so much the 
better. When the rain drives, be careful that the back of the 
rip is turned to it, that it may afford shelter to the brood. If 
the chickens set up their feathers, and seem to suffer from wind 
and wet, give them bread and ale three times per day. Feed the 
hen well, as her warmth becomes more necessary every day. The 
chickens get larger, and the nights get colder. This is for the 
small ones; the larger do not require the same care, but they 
want better feeding than they did some time since. Above all, 
young and old, they require to be fed as soon as possible after 
daybreak, that they may not meet the chill air on an empty 
stomach. It is also most essential that they have shelter and 
covert at hand. 
We almost accuse ourselves of confining our notice of poultry 
to that intended for exhibition, forgetful that to supply the 
table is quite as important. During the next three months 
hatching for this purpose should be attended to. Game supplies 
the place of fowls till February. Then, in a country-housefthe 
latter are wanted, and are too often wanting. The reason is, 
no winter chickens were hatched. It is certain that, of late 
years, November and December have been better months for 
rearing chickens than January, February, or March. Exhibition 
birds must, of course, be hatched after January ; but those for 
the table must be produced during the will ter. There is little 
difficulty if the hens and chickens are kept under a shed open in 
front, and having an earth floor covered with dry dust. 
We have recently given full directions for feeding and rearing 
them; we will only repeat that they should be carefully and 
warmly covered up every night, and fed after dark, and before 
daylight. We are aware in many counties winter chickens are 
almost deemed impossibilities; but it should always be borne in 
mind, the immense number of chickens consumed in London 
during the spring are hatched and reared in the winter. In 
Surrey, Sussex, parts of Kent, and Hampshire, it is thought 
little more difficult to rear winter chickens than summer ones. 
Formerly much difficulty was experienced in getting broody 
hens, hut Cochins have removed that; and in yards where that 
breed is kept, there are always sitting liens. If those of our 
readers who have suffered the lack of chickens in March, April, 
and May, will take our advice, we will promise them success, and 
spring chickens for their tables. 
POULTRY AT THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 
AGRICULTURAL MEETING. 
Wellingborough, Sept. 29 th. 
We use the above heading because we have not to treat of a 
Poultry Show only, but of an exhibition in its proper place, when 
it is surrounded by all the other occupants of the farmyard or 
the cottage. This Society, one of the most prosperous of its 
class, is gradually growing in importance every year, and, there¬ 
fore, keeps itself open to invitations from those towns most 
anxious for its presence, and most desirous to deserve its visit 
by offering special prizes. Thus the good town of Wellingborough 
gave £30 to be competed for, and the entire sums offered as 
premiums for cattle, poultry, fruit, flowers, &c., amounted to 
£600. Whether it is that everything connected wilh the culture 
of the soil is popular in England, or whether, like others, the 
good people of Northamptonshire love a holiday, we cannot say ; 
but we do not hesitate to affirm that, except at Birmingham and 
the Royal Agricultural, we have never seen such crowds of people. 
The worthy reception of this Society, which changes its trysting 
place every year, was begun last year at Towcester, and Welling^ 
borough eclipsed it entirely. First, they had the band of the 
Coldstream Guards. Next, they had the prize baud—an ex¬ 
cellent local one. We asked a humble but enthusiastic Welling- 
burgher, what the prize band was. He said it had taken many 
prizes in competition with others, and would have had another, 
only some of the performers had been disqualified as amateurs* 
because they had belonged to the Militia band; hut it was, never¬ 
theless, the best hand in that county, or a good many more. 
Then there were the Wellingborough drums and fifes, all boys. 
The streets were decked with evergreens, and the houses decorated 
with flags. Most of the' shops were shut up, except those that 
dealt in toys, or refreshments—things likely to be wanted by 
visitors. It is wonderful how people take advantage of every 
circumstance that can help business in this trading country. In 
the streets leading to the Show-yard, we almost fancied ourselves 
at Greenwich when we saw the announcements in the windows 
that parties could be accommodated with tea, hot water, bread 
and butter, &c. Then, though cockneys as we are, we almost 
fancied ourselves at Harewood Gate, in Oxford Street of the 
olden time, when we saw the walls huug over with a tempting 
display of ballads. Songs written for the occasion were sung by 
couples all over the town; and if any of our readers take an in¬ 
terest in such music, we will tell them as the result of observation, 
that it takes ten minutes vocal performance to establish a small 
audience, a quarter of an hour to effect a sale ; but after that, if 
the lungs show no fatigue, a good trade may be depended upon. 
We have never seen such a merry day, so much enthusiasm in 
the cause, or such exemplary good humour and behaviour: as 
one of the attendants on an omnibus to the station said, “ He 
had made the old ’bus do more than she had ever done in a day 
before in her life, or ever would again.” 
In noticing the poultry we must premise that it is a local 
Show, and that the great encouragement is given to breeds suit¬ 
able for farm purposes. Fifteen entries of Dorkings; of these eleven 
