THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, OttOvte 26, 1858. 
Banco. The insect is Pynips qvernts ramuli. {Mrs. retint). —1. Dutch 
Alignonne. 2. Golden Winter Pearmiun. 3. Green Nonpareil. Court 
of Wick. 5. .Not known. 6. Lamb Abbey Fearmain. ( C. O .).—Your 
Grapes arc very line specimens of the limjal Jfuscadinc, to have been 
ripened in the open air and against an east wall. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
November 20th and 30th, December 1st and 2nd. Birmingham. Sec,, 
Mr. J. Morgan. Entries close November 1st. 
November 30th and December 1st. Glasgow. See., Mr. K. M'Cowan. 
Entries close November 17th. 
December 17th and 18th. Halifax Fancy Pigeon Snow. See., Mr. 
H. Holdsworth, 57, Woolshops, Halifax. Entries close the 20th of 
November. 
January 3rd, 1859. Kirkcaldy Poultry and Fancy Bird Show. 
January 8th, lOtli, 11th, and 12tli, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show'). See., W. Houghton. 
January 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston* and North Lancashire. 
Secs. K. Tecbay, and II. Oakcy. 
February 9th and loth, 1859. Ui.verstone. Sec., Tlios. P.obinson. 
February lGth and 17th, 1859. Poui.ton-le-Fylde. See., J. Butler. 
POULTRY IN A VERY CONFINED SPACE. 
It is now a long time since I promised to send you an account 
of the amount of success I had experienced in keeping poultry 
in close confinement. A press of business is my only excuse for 
not redeeming my promise ere this ; but I now hasten to do so, 
and trust my few notes may prove acceptable to some of your 
numerous readers. 
There are, doubtless, many persons, who, like myself, love both 
flowers and poultry, but, being obliged to c-lioose between the 
two, prefer the handsome flower-bed, or the useful, though less 
showy, vegetable garden, to poultry, however beautiful. When 
I began to keep my feathered pets, I had a beautiful and pro¬ 
ductive garden, and when I found that hens would really scratch 
a lovely bed of flowers in pieces,—would root up and devour 
most of my choice vegetable seed, and play a thousand pranks, 
adverse to my garden plans,—I began to consider whether it 
were not possible to keep the birds altogether in confinement. 
My friends all laughed at the idea, and told me, with grave faces, 
and prophetic mien, that “ it would never do,”—“birds would 
not lay without a good run,” and many other similar sage pieces 
of advice. However, nothing daunted, I determined to try, and 
I am now, with your kind permission, going to advise those who 
have but little accommodation how to keep fowls, not merely 
with pleasure, but profitably. In the first place, then, on the 
principle that one ought to get a cage before we buy a bird, I 
will begin with the house. 
If you have a nic# coaeli-house, stable, or other dry and airy 
outbuilding, not in use, you have a capital place ready made to 
hand. If not, select the warmest, and driest situation you can 
conveniently spare, anywhere against the house. Drive into the 
ground two stout poles (six feet and a half high), about twelve 
feet distant from the wall, and about twenty feet apart from each 
other, in a line parallel with the wall. Now, strain wire netting 
securely along the front and both ends, taking care to Icavo suf¬ 
ficient room at one end for a door any width and height you like. 
About two feet from this make a wall either of brick or wood, 
the same height as tlic back wall,—say, eight or nine feet, and 
about three feet and a half from the back wall. In this place, 
which you have now partitioned off, place nest boxes on the floor, 
in the most convenient position, either at one end, or along the 
side close to the wall, and place perches across, from side to side, 
not higher than three feet from the ground. 
Next comes the roof. The most satisfactory method of 
securing a perfectly weatherproof roof is, to use semi-transparent 
glass, and for this purpose Hartley’s patent rough glass is by far 
the best. A light, thin tarpaulin, to be used as a curtain to roll 
up and down, both for the front and ends, will be of very great 
service; for, in case of wet, or damp winds, especially the east 
winds, you can draw the curtain down, and the interior of your 
pen will be not only dry, but warm. 
Now you have your house warm, dry, and light, there is but 
one thing more you can do for the comfort and well-doing of 
your birds,—that is, cover the floor all over with nice clean sand 
(river sand, if possible), with plenty of nice little pebbles in it, 
to the depth of from four to six inches ; add a wheelbarrowfnl 
fit 
of lime rubbish, pretty well broken, and everything will be 
complete. 
Here let me pause, to add, that if you put a bottle or two of 
straw in as well, you may keep white fowls, and have the pleasure 
of seeing them really white. 
“ But now the house is ready,” exclaims the beginner, “ what 
3ort of fowls must I keep?” If you want to breed for table 
purposes, I know none that arrive at maturity sooner, or are 
more tender and well tasted, than the Dorkings. If you wish to 
keep them for beauty, you are the best judge of wliat you like best. 
If you want eggs, then I must tell you the plain truth, that you 
I must try which sort suits your locality best; and, more than that, 
i you must (ry which sort you can manage best. For instance, I 
; have kept nearly every variety, all purely bred birds, but I could 
never get any satisfactory egg account from any breed except I ho 
black Spanish. Remember, t am speaking of birds kept confined. 
Now, Hamburghs have, with many, a good reputation as egg 
producers, yet I could never get more than three a week from 
each bird. On the other hand, a friend of mine, who also keeps 
his birds penned up, affirms quite the reverse of my experience. 
With him Spanish would not lay ; but bis Ilamburghs never 
ceased, except at moulting time. So in this case, I say, do not 
depend upon the advice of others, but try for yourself. 
And now, if you have got your birds safely at home, how are 
you to feed them ? Buy the very best kind of food; for, depend 
upon it, this will be the cheapest in the end. Vary their food as 
frequently as possible, or the birds will soon begin to pine for a 
change. Wheat, oats, barley, and buckwheat occasionally, are 
excellent as dry food. For soft food I have found a mixture of 
one-third oatmeal and two-thirds bran most advantageous. It 
must be mixed with boiling water, and may be given to the fowls 
for their morning meal. If the weather be cold and damp, a 
large table - spoonful of ground Cayenne may be added, with 
great benefit to the well-doing of the birds. Another good change 
of food is to boil potatoes, and break and mix them with meal. 
A good supply of soft water, scrupulous cleanliness, and a 
constant provision of green food, will, with these arrangements, 
keep any variety of fowls in a state of the highest condition; and 
a purity and beauty of feather may he obtained that would sur¬ 
prise anyone who 1ms not seen it tried.—W hite Game Cock. 
EXHIBITORS’ DISAPPOINTMENTS AND 
JUDGES’ DIFFICULTIES. 
Having subscribed to tlie-Poultry Show, I went full of 
expectation that at last my birds would be honoured by the 
Judges, and that my name would appear in that enviable list of 
prize-takers, in The Cottage Gardener. I had watched my 
birds day by day, as they progressed towards maturity, and 
thought that at last I had obtained perfection ; and, having care¬ 
fully matched them, and packed them up in their hamper, gave 
particular instructions at the railway, that they should be carried 
in a covered van,—as I had previously found, to my cost, that it 
was no joke to have my birds whizzed through the air at the rate 
of thirty miles per hour, on the top of a railway carriage. 
As I entered the Exhibition room, I remember I felt a slight 
palpitation of the heart, and a sort of twitching about my month; 
and I have wondered whether any other exhibitor ever felt a 
similar sensation. 1 need not say that I made direct for my favourite 
class, and soon came to a pen with first prize over it. I looked 
at them, they wero not mine. Another, with second prize on it, 
soon met my eye, but these wero not mine either. I looked over 
1 the row, amidst commendations and high commendations, but 
1 could not find them. I now remembered that I had forgotten, in 
my anxiety, to get a catalogue,—a catalogue was soon procured. 
! I looked for the number of my pen. A reference soon showed me 
that they were in an under pen, and, on stooping down to look at 
them, I saw they had crept to the hack of the pen. I tried to poke 
them out; but it was of no use, the more I poked the more deter¬ 
mined they appeared to keep out of sight. Just then, a gentle¬ 
man, with whom I was acquainted, came up tome, and said :— 
“ Well, Fred., have you taken any prizes ? ” I shook my head, 
and said, “ I shall give it up.” “ Give what up, Fred. ? ” “ Why, 
exhibiting, to he sure, for I do not understand this handicapping. 
Its all very well in liorse-racing, but it won’t do in poultry, Harry.” 
| “Handicapping; what do you mean by handicapping, Fred. ? ” 
“ Why, just look here, Harry ; see where they have stuck nay 
birds,—in this dark hole here ; and here on the top row are the first 
I and second prize pens, I mean to say, my birds have not com* 
