THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— October 7, 1856. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Names of Fruit (W. M Gowan).— All we can malce out of your 
specimens of Apples are—21. Lady's Finger, and 26. blank's Codlin. 
Of Pears, 61 and 71 are the Hessle. 63 is the Red Magnum Bonum 
Plum. Other questions next week. 
Raspberries (A Subscriber). —The Fastolff Red, and Yellow Antwerp, 
are the finest. You may obtain them of any nurseryman who advertises 
in our pages. 
Various Correspondents. — C.M. X. and others will find their 
questions answered in a previous part of our columns to-day. 
Eari.y Peas ( Jt/hn Biter green). —No variety is better than Songster's 
No. 1, if you get it true ; but we have seen strange mixtures sold for it. 
You do not say how they failed ; were they parched up, or killed by 
frost? Neither do you sav where your garden is. Is it in Devonshire 
or the Orkney Islands ? The extract you mention is open to criticism ; 
pray oblige us by your notes upon it. 
Figs t Saltcrton ).—You arc most fortunate as to climate, and the 
produce you describe is extraordinary. Those who have battled against 
adverse circumstances, in more northern parts of the kingdom, might 
very possibly be astonished at your success, could they know and witness 
it. You speak about Figs—the questions you raise may not be settled 
in any jaunty way. We will shortly look into the Fig aifair. 
Planting China Roses, &c. (A Young Gardener). —Use only one 
kind of China Rose, the kind they edge the Rosary with at the Crystal 
Palace— Indica major, and Irish Ivy. Plant them and the Peaches and 
Nectarines in mild, open weather, any day in November. The sooner 
the better. 
Bulbs (W. R .).—Oblige us by turning to pages 2/3 and 274 of last 
volume, and substitute Stove for Vinery Bulbs. All the Crinums would 
so come in well in the stove, and, by cultivating a stock of tlippeastrums 
alone, you would scarcely ever be without bloom; but we will think 
the matter over. 
Gold Fisn (Z. Z. Z.).—“I have a pond containing a lot of Gold 
Fish, and in the summer months they seemingly attack one another, and 
some have been found dead, and in many places the scales have been quite 
destroyed, and the fish die, whilst one or two have been bitten, or some¬ 
thing like it, on the back large enough to put in a nutmeg. Those that 
have been attacked, not being bad, have been caught and put by them¬ 
selves in another place. There are many young fish in the pond the 
size of minnows. Now, should those fish that have been separated be 
put back in the pond again ? ” 
[We shall be glad of a reply to the above. Sow Hemp in April. There 
is no better mode of excluding wasps than by lace netting.] 
Lastr/ea cristata. —“ In a late number of Tiik Cottage Gar¬ 
dener ‘ W. B.’ says Fritton is not in Norfolk. I beg to inform him 
he is wrong. The only place I have seen Lastrcea cristata is on Fritton 
Common, about two miles from Foucett Station, on the Kastern Union 
Railroad. I have never seen it at the Fritton Mr. Bradley names.— 
J. Judge, Gosport. P.S.—There are several Ferns in that locality 
not known by me : will you be kind enough to name them ?—J. J.” 
[Yes, if you send us specimens.] 
Ornamental Water (An Old Subscriber). — Nothing is more 
difficult than to make a small piece of water ornamental; and vve fear 
that no landscape gardener would undertake to suggest any arrange¬ 
ment unless he saw the place. We will see what can be done. 
Names of Plants ( A Young Gardener. T. B.). —It is called 
Tradescantia xebrina and Cyanotis vittata. Native of Mexico, and 
with us is a trailing stove perennial. (J. Kirkite). —Yours is Hyperi¬ 
cum elodes, or Marsh St. John’s Wort. (A Subscriber). —Your “ Pen¬ 
cilled Geranium ” is Geranium striatum, or Streaked Geranium. (T. 
T .).—Your Picea and Cupressus, we think, are correctly named. (T. 
Hill). —Your plant is Scutellaria galericulata, common Skull-cap, or 
Hooded Willow Herb. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Collingham, near Newark. Oct. 21st. Hon. Sec., E. Turton, Esq., 
South Collingham. Entries close Oct. 14 th. 
Essex. At Colchester, 8th, 9th, and 10th of January, 1857 . Secs., 
G. E. Attwood, and W. A. Warwick. 
Gloucestershire. Nov. 26th and 27th. Sec., E. Trindcr, Esq., 
Cirencester. Entries close Nov. 1st. 
Leominster. Thursday, October 16. 
Nottinghamshire. At Southwell, December 17th and 18 th, 1856 . 
Sec., Richard Hawksley, jun. Entries close November 19th. 
Nottingham Central Poultry Association. January 13 , 14, and 
15. Hon. Sec. Frank Bottom. Secretary to the Canary Department, 
Jno. Hetherington, jun., Sneinton. 
N.B .—Secretariesvnll oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
THE MICHAELMAS GOOSE. 
“ September, when by custom, right divine, 
Geese arc ordained to bleed at Michael’s shrine.” 
But llio custom is wearing out, for one who well knows the 
poultry market tells us that “ this custom is falling olf 
yearly, and Christmas is becoming the time of the best 
goose market.” This is recurring nearer to the time when 
15 ! 
our ancestors caroused over roasted goose, namely, on St. 
Martin’s Day, November lltli; and Googc tells the usual 
custom, when he wrote— 
“ To belly cheer, yet once again doth Martin more incline, 
Whom all the people worshipeth with roasted goose and wine.” 
This is still the usual evil time for geese on the Continent. 
Eating goose at Michaelmas, however, was also a very 
early custom in England, for ns far back ns the tenth year 
of the reign of Edward IV. (1471), John do la Have 
was bound to render to William Barnaby, Lord of Lastres, 
in the county of Hereford, for a part of the demesne land, 
one goose tit for the Lord’s dinner on the Feast of St. 
Michael the Archangel. This overturns the popular tra¬ 
dition that goose is eaten at this festival, because Queen 
Elizabeth was dining off this bird when she first heard of 
the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and set the fashion 
by annually dining off this bird on the anniversary of that 
day. This tradition, however, has still stronger refutation, 
for the public thanksgiving for the destruction of the 
Armada took place on the 20th of August! 
GOLDEN-PENCILLED HAMBURGHS. 
It does take some time, and trouble, and breedings, and 
defeats, and vexations, and observations, to arrive at a decent 
knowledge of what any of the Hamburgh class ought to be; 
they certainly have risen to a great point of perfection. 
When I first kept the Golden-spangled the spangled breast 
was not insisted on, and, indeed, rarely seen; hut now 
how beautifully this essential is attended to; the Golden- 
pencilled too; mark the extreme regularity of the whole 
feathering. No arithmetical design can be more equidistant 
than the spots; it really is marvellous; and yet I do not 
know any class so uncertain in their reproductive qualities, 
and in the duration of their excellencies, for I have known 
the best birds after moulting actually worthless, and breed 
most miserable chickens; indeed, as a class, they are more 
uncertain of throwing good offspring tliaji any of the other 
kinds of the Hamburgh breed. 
In the Spangled variety the male bird certainly lias the 
pre-eminence for beauty. In the Pencilled class, especially 
the Golden, the female has the palm, and to the latter I 
shall direct my observations, remarking on the cock merely 
that he should have the usual comb, face, ear-lobes, legs, 
and carriage of bis class, with a good deep-red plumage, 
and the tail as bronzy as possible, with the sickle feathers 
well marked if you can. 
The Golden-pencilled hen is a more difficult bird to judge 
than at first sight you are inclined to believe. She should 
be very gamey and delicate in her contour, close-feathered, 
shy, witli light blue, clean, and lean legs ; neck lean, long, 
and ending in a snaky head; the comb not a llabby, toppling, 
high-knobbed one, hut a flat, square, compact, long-spiked 
one, with the eminences round and small; the ear-lobes, of 
course, white, and the face like a brandy drinker. The 
plumage is of a yellowish-golden coloured brown, with bars 
of black running on either side across the feather. These 
when in situ are so arranged that they form a network of 
small square spots over the entire body, i. e., from the 
shoulders and wings to the tip of the tail, and from the 
lower part of the throat, down over the breast and thighs, 
to tho vent feathers. The hackle should be without spots 
of any kind, and of a clear, bright yellow colour. Tho 
chief points are three (I presume the comb, ear lobes, legs, 
and general colour to be universally known):—First. The 
clear, bright hackle. Secondly. The pencils should be 
regular, especially over the saddle feathers and down the 
sides of the wings: here is generally a failure, the quill 
feathers being often not pencilled at all, giving an inter¬ 
ruption to the spots in the shape of a black ledge. Thirdly. 
The tail should he spotted like the back, i. e., the pencils 
should be continuous. I need not say that the breast and 
thighs should be of the same character as in all the variety, 
whether in Pencilled or Spangled. This is an essential. 
These remarks have been called forth by the solicitation of 
a friend, who, I presume, is in the predicament of many 
others—unable to find out the essentials of a good Golden- 
pencilled Hamburgh.—W. PL, Exeter. 
