434 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, March 24, 1857. 
Work on Cultivated Grasses (Novice). — The Agrostographia 
is an excellent work. You can obtain it from Messrs. Peter Lawson and 
Son, Edinburgh. You may have any dumber* of The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener you require. It is impossible to foretell when any particular 
number will be out of print. 
Black Fly on Cherry Trees (A Subscriber}.— This is the Aphis 
cerasi. It is best destroyed by tobacco water. The most economical 
way of applying it is by dipping the leaves on which they are into a 
basin containing the tobacco water. 
Varnish for Rustic Seats.— A Subscriber sends an answer to 
a query by another respecting a varnish for oak seats. One quart of 
boiled linseed oil and two ounces of asphaltum, to be boiled on a slow fire 
till the asphalt is dissolved ; to be stirred while doing, to prevent it 
boiling over. Better to do it out of doors. This gives a fine dark oak 
colour, is not sticky, and looks well for a year or two. 
Directions for Forming a Garden (W. R.). —Buy the five 
“Manuals” advertised in our columns, viz.:—“Gardening for the 
Many,” “Kitchen Gardening for the Many,” “Fruit Gardening for 
the Many,” “ Flower Gardening for the Many,” and “ Florists’ Flowers 
for the Many.” They are only fourpence each, and will give you all the 
information you seek for. 
Propagating Case (Kate ).—We fear so trivial a structure will be 
i expensive and of little service. 
Peat Bricks for Burning (W. H.). — These differ totally from 
the peat or heath soil used for potting, and will not answer for that 
i purpose. 
Cineraria maritima Cuttings. —The Rev. F. W. Adey, Mark- 
gate Street, Dunstable, wishes to exchange Verbena and Calceolaria 
cuitings for the above. 
Burying Bees in Winter (A Young Apiarian ).—The result of the 
experiments as to burying bees in the winter is given in the sixth 
volume of The Cottage Gardener, chiefly at pages 11, 40, 57, 5H, 
and 154, and offers no inducement to repetition. 
Names of Plants (W. B. B.). —Yours is the Echeveria retusa. It 
should be treated as a dry greenhouse or conservatory plant, and should be 
sparingly watered, particularly during the winter months. It flourishes 
in equal parts of sandy loam arid peat, mixed with plenty of old mortar 
pounded up, with good drainage. All the Echeverias do well upon the 
dry shelf in the greenhouse or conservatory. ( B.). —Yours is Cineraria 
renifolia, a native of Russia. Not common. (A Beginner).— We can¬ 
not hiake out your drawings, but the leaf is that of a weed, Geranium 
; dissectum. We w ill publish a list of annuals next week. (M. N.). — 
i Arabis alpina. 
Seedling Trop^olbhs. — These, which came without any note, 
cannot be judged from such withered specimens. 
THE POULTRY CHRONICLE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Nottingham Central. (Poultry, Pigeons, and Canaries.) January 
19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd, 1858. Sec., Mr. Etherington, jun., 
Swinton, near Nottingham. 
i N.B .—Secretaries will oblige us bp sending early copies of their lists. 
FEEDING POULTRY. 
No complaint is more common among those who keep 
poultry than of the great expense of food. Believing that by 
painstaking this may be greatly diminished, we are induced 
to recur to the subject, although we have frequently treated 
upon it before. In a recent poultry visit we found, on inspect¬ 
ing the yard, that the barley was fairly part of the footing on 
which we stood. It was trodden into the earth, and while 
we stood lamenting the waste a well-disposed dairy and 
poultry maid arrived with another allowance in a tub. 
I When we forbade that it should be given she exclaimed 
I against the cruelty, and asked how the birds could lay if 
they were not fed. We accordingly showed her, and she 
j went away, not convinced, but shaking her head, and mutter- 
, ing something about “ bother.” 
Now, our plan is as followsMix some meal, either 
| barley or oatmeal (the latter is best), and feed with small 
| pellets, throwing two or three down at a time. When 
i the fowls cease to run after them leave off feeding. This 
j should be done morning and evening. In the middle of 
I the day give a very little whole corn, and scatter it well 
| about. When fowls always have food by them they are 
J badly fed; and if they will not run after it they do not 
want it. Fifty may be led in this way in a quarter of an 
hour. More fowls are injured by over-feeding than by short 
commons. Another advantage in this system of feeding is, 
that nothing but the fowls are fed—no sparrows or other 
interlopers. 
In all houses there are scraps, pieces of bread or even 
crumbs from the table at every meal, cooked potatoes, bread 
used for toast and water, and all these things are valuable 
helps in feeding and reducing the meal bill. These must 
I_ 
not be considered extras, but should take the place of a 
meal, say the midday feed of whole corn. Some may fancy 
their pets will be starved on such a dietary scale, but they 
are mistaken. Look at Pheasants and Partridges. They 
have to seek every grain; yet their plumage is always perfect, 
their condition excellent, and those who eat them can say 
how plump they are, and how juicy and full of flavour. If 
poultry is to be kept as a pleasure let it be moderately 
fed; and if some Cochin cock should, like Oliver Twist, 
“ pluck up a spirit and ask for more,” let him either seek 
it or wait till the next meal. 
Comparisons are possible in most things. How long 
would children remain in health if they were allowed to 
have food constantly within reach ? And suppose, as Sydney 
Smith used to write, suppose, when tired of bread and 
butter, bread and jam were given, then pound cake, and 
then every description of pastry, the poor child would lose 
its appetite, and then fall ill. “ Oh,” says some one, “ how 
ridiculous ! Who would do this ? Any one would be a fool 
to act in such a mannei’.” Softly, friend; you do it with 
your poultry. Too often your fowls have food always by 
them scattered on the ground, or, worse still, in a trough. 
The very sight sickens them. 
“ Ma’am,” says the poultry maid, “ the fowls won’t eat.” 
“ Poor things, they are tired of their barley.” This is the 
bread and butter. “ Give them a little hemp seed.” This 
is the bread and jam. 
“ I can’t make the fowls out, ma’am; they have no 
appetite.” 
“ Chop a little suet and give to them.” This is the pound 
cake. 
“ Their appetite don’t improve, ma’am.” 
“ Give them some raw meat.” This is the pastry. 
“ The fowls don’t lay.” 
They cannot, they are too fat, too feverish, too ill; they 
are dying for want in the midst of plenty. In their haunts 
you will find corn, hemp seed, suet, and meat, all lying about 
in lumps; and the maid was right—they have no appetite. 
That, like the church vassals in the battle, has “ been gone 
ever so long.” 
Let your fowls be hungry enough to run after you. When 
the cock finds a piece of food and calls, the liens should 
run to him, not like some of the plethoric pets, merely 
raise the head without leaving their lazy posture and snug 
corner. 
In nineteen instances out of twenty fowls cost at least 
double what they should. 
CHARACTERISTICS OF A PARTRIDGE- 
FEATHERED COCHIN-CHINA COCK. 
I must say I am much surprised by the writer of the letter 
in your paper of the 10th inst., in reply to mine of the 17th 
of February, commencing his by saying that “ I must have 
misunderstood that class C at the Liverpool Exhibition was a 
class for single Cochin cocks of all colours, and supposed it 
to be only for Partridge Cochin cocks strictly so called,” 
whilst I distinctly said it was for the best cock of any variety 
or age, and mentioned, also, that “ the Cup and high com¬ 
mendation” were awarded to Buff birds, in which decision I 
agreed. In referring to any variety or colour I did not, 
however, most certainly understand that a large, well-formed 
bird of any mixture of colours would be considered preferable 
to a comparatively smaller bird with all the true colours of 
the particular variety to which he professed to belong. I 
had, in common with all the parties to whom I have 
mentioned the subject, always considered this class purposely 
intended to collect together true specimens of all the 
varieties, and that the duty of the Judges was to award the 
prizes to the best birds of each or any distinct variety, and 
j so inform parties like myself of the correct qualifications 
I required for such first-class birds. If by “ any colour ” is 
meant that colour is no object, but size and shape ever}tiling, 
then I must at once admit that pen 323 should not only 
have been highly commended, but should have been 
awarded the Cup, for without doubt he was the heaviest and 
best-shaped bird in the whole class. I cannot, however, 
suppose that this reading of the class is correct, having 
noticed that at all the previous Exhibitions the prizes were, 
