292 
TlIL COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 7, I860. 
Liquid Manure Barrow (S. B.). — We employ a twenty-gallon cask 
swung on axes inside the frame of a common wheelbarrow. The manure 
may be drawn off by a tap of one-and-a-half-inch bore. 
Moss on Fruit Tiikes (IF. I.).— Scrape the Moss from the stems and 
branches of your fruit trees ; remove also the layers of old hardened bark, 
and then wash with a mixture of lime and soot in equal proportions made 
to the consistence of paint. 
Repotting Orchids [M. E .).—Cut away the old stems. Mr. Williams’s 
book on Orchids is good and cheap. If you had our 5th and Gth Volumes, 
you would see there what Mr. Appleby lias written on the culture of the 
various species. 
Elm Trees pierced by Holes (TF. B„ Chelmsford).—We have little 
doubt but that “ the holes bored into the heart about the size of a rifle- 
ball,” are made by the grubs of the Wood-leopard Moth, an insect described | 
and figured in our present number. 
Excluding Frost (F. I). L .).—You do not say of what your fruit-loft is 
constructed; but even if we knew, so much depends upon doors, windows, 
and exposure, that we could not say whether one batswing gas-burner 
would exclude frost from it. We should think two would be required, 
one near each end. Why not try to what temperature one will keep the 
loft during these frosty nights ? 
Pruning Peak-tree Shoots (Idem).— 'You may prune them now. Cut 
away one-third of the length of the strong shoots, and two-thirds of the 
length of the weak. 
Price of The Cottaoe Gardener (J. I).). —For fifty-two weeks your 
newspaper-agent ought to charge 17s. id. —that is, if it is sent to you free 
by post. 
Names of Apple and Plants (jV orbeton). —Your Apple is Lincolnshire 
Holland Pippin. The flowering plant is Stevia, and we believe S. glutinosa. 
The Fern is Platycerium alcicorne, or Stag’s Horn F'ern. The climbing 
plant, Scnecio Mika nix. 
Names of Plants [A Subscriber). — One Orchid is Zygopctalum Mackaii; 
the other looks like a Cymbidium, but was too much injured for us to 
be eertain. (A. C’,;. —It is not a Spergula, but Sagina procumbens, or 
Pearlwort. 
POULTRY AND BEE-KEEPER’S CHRONICLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
February 11th to 15th, 1860. Crystal Palace (Poultry and Pigeons). 
Sec., Mr. W, Houghton. Entries close Jan. 14th. 
February 29th, and March 1st, 1860. Ulverstone. Sec., Mr. T. Robson. 
Entries close February 11th, 
March 15th, 16th, and 17th. Cumberland and Westmoreland. Lion, 
Secs., Mr. J. J. Lonsdale, and Mr. W. L>. Ilastwell. 
May 23d and 24th. Beverley and East Riding of Yorkshire. Sec., 
Mr. Fras. Calvert, Surgeon, &e. Entries close May 17 th. 
July 18th and 19th. Merthyr Tydvil. Sec ., Mr. W. H. Harris. 142, 
High Street, Merthyr. 
KEEPING POULTRY FOR PROFIT. 
First. Would keeping fowls near London on a large scale— 
say a stock of five huudred to one thousand, be sufficiently re¬ 
munerative to yield me a moderate income by the produce of 
eggs, &c. ? 
Second. What quantity of ground would be necessary as a run 
for such a number of fowls P 
Third. What would be the average cost of the food for such a 
number, calculating the food being purchased in bulk, and at the 
cheapest market P 
Fourth. What season of the year would you consider best to 
commence with them ? 
I have had the above in contemplation for some time, and 
being now in a position to devote the whole of my time to the 
carrying out of the scheme, I should like to have your opinion 
upon the matter. I may also state that I am prepared not to 
realise any profit for the first year, making allowance for the 
many drawbacks on first starting.—A Recent Subscriber, 
! The answer to your queries will resolve itself into a poultry 
article, and we will endeavour to frame our opinions so that they 
shall answer your questions as they occur. 
There is no such thing as keeping a thousand fowls healthy or 
profitably on one spot. It is against their nature to be put to¬ 
gether iu large numbers. But no one with a small property or 
holding would think of keeping such a number. The plan may be 
easily carried out by dividing the thousand birds into ten lots, and 
making each lot as distant as possible from the other. As the 
difficulty of the experiment would be very much enhanced by 
keeping a thousand, we should advise that not more than four 
hundred be kept at the outset, and that these form establish¬ 
ments, each having one huudred fowls. 
Although both eggs and fowls may enter into calculation, yet 
precedence must be given to one or the other; and in every 
case, when poultry is intended to be something more than a 
recreation, and to pay as an investment, it is necessary to 
know something ot the neighbourhood, its wants, and its markets. 
In some places eggs are most wanted, in others fowls. The 
knowledge of these things must dictate the breed that is to be 
kept. The produce of birds may be considered as a certainty, 
if they are properly chosen and judiciously fed; but almost 
every breed lias some peculiar characteristic. Thus, if the 
establishment were in a neighbourhood where an egg is an egg, 
and all that is required is a certain number in exchange for a 
shilling, Ilamburghs or Cochins would be the proper birds, 
especially the former, as they are small consumers of food. If it 
were a neighbourhood where ladies marketed, and where things 
are carefully looked at and studied before they are bought; where, 
after asking the price they promise to call again, and intend to do 
so, we should keep Spanish, as the size of their eggs would always 
command a sale in preference to any others. If fowls were 
wanted for the table, and good ones were sufficiently appreciated 
to cause buyers to give a little more for a better bird there, we 
say keep Dorkings as table fowls. These explanations must, of 
necessity, lack interest for the general rcuder; but they are 
essential to be considered by those who are looking for profit from 
their poultry. 
We will suppose it is only required to produce eggs. 
Cochins, Brahmas, or Spanish, will do in a small space, and 
a hundred of either may be kept on an acre of ground. But 
as neither breed nor age will produce eggs from unhealthy 
birds, it will he necessary to take every pains to keep them in a 
satisfactory state. The three breeds we have named bear con¬ 
finement well, but it will happen that they fiag a little at time, 
i Any precaution is then worth adopting. Let us suppose one 
hundred hens on an acre of ground : it would be well to divide 
i them into four sets, each with a different run, and, above all, a 
| different roosting-place. More than half the disease is got by 
j roosting too closely in small buildings. Most diseases are con¬ 
tagious or infectious, and for this reason the division into four 
parts offers security which should not be neglected. It will be 
| necessary every year to have young birds, and these must be bred 
on the premises. Two acres would require to be set apart as 
j rearing.ground for chickens. Houses, yards, &c., would occupy 
half an acre. Four hundred hens might be kept then oil six 
acres and a half in good laying condition. They would have to 
jmy their expenses by their eggs ; but as it would be necessary 
to breed many, and as we advise beginning with pure birds, we 
believe that every year some chickens might and would be se¬ 
lected which, at exhibitions or by private sale, would make prices 
that might prove very remunerative. We have here put the 
smallest possible space on which we think the birds could be 
kept, and they would unquestionably do better if they had more 
room. 
The present would he a good time to begin, because arrange¬ 
ments could now be made for breeding the stock that would be 
wanted in the winter. Spite of all we may wiite and you may 
read, there is much you may learn by practice and experience, 
and you cannot do better than gain these while breeding your 
stock on a small scale. 
It will be very difficult to name the quantity of food they will 
consume; but it should be carefully seen to, and none wasted. 
In nineteen out of twenty of the yards where fowls are kept on a 
large scale, half the food is wasted, and another portion is use¬ 
lessly expended in trying to make the fowls eat more than they 
require. The supply of eggs must be kept up during the year, 
as the largest profit will be made when fewest eggs are laid. 
Really new laid eggs in the winter will make threepence or four- 
pence each for weeks, and for a long time they will make a penny 
each. This last is a remunerating price. We believe it is possible, 
if not easy, to make fowls pay by eggs, but only where there is 
personal superintendence. We will return to the subject.] 
CRYSTAL PALACE POULTRY SHOW. 
Vauxhall has passed away. Its dark mysterious walks, its 
hermitage, its fii’e-king, its fireworks, its concerts, its sandwiches, 
its indescribable wine could no more save it when its hour was 
come, than could the mellifluous notes which had issued from the 
throat of Lady Throckmorton’s favourite Bullfinch save that cele¬ 
brated songster from its ruthless foe. Some say, “ Time devours 
all things and we have seen a caricature where he is represented 
just bolting the fag end of the Monument, while St. Paid’s is 
dished up to follow. Cognoscenti in such matters may say that 
the latter would only appear as a piece montee on the table ; 
but the great devourer would eat all. He is what Katherine 
described Wolsey to he, of an “ unbounded stomach.” 
Being no longer young, we cannot help thinking the present 
times very inferior to those of the earlier part of the century. 
Perhaps some remain who recollect the celebrated Simpson. The 
