M THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 8, i860. 
surrounded with brickwork. The house is heated by a brick flue 
in front and both ends, and not at the back.— John Dixon. 
[We think it very likely that you took too heavy a crop off 
your Vines for two years, and exhausted them. It is probable 
that the roots have sunk rather deep, and it is possible, also, that 
the Vines were somewhat injured by the frost. We could hardly 
decide upon the cause without seeing them. Of one thing we are 
certain. If by rich top dressing and manure waterings, you can 
secure fine foliage, and short-jointed, well-ripened wood before 
autumn, we could almost guarantee a fine crop next season. If 
you do not secure these conditions, we woidd advise clearing out 
the Vines in file autumn, procuring fresh soil and planting new 
ones. If they can be made to flourish, however, we would prefer 
the old Vines. There is nothing about the house or heating to 
prevent success.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Waltonian Case (G. Montagu). —We believe that the lamp originally 
employed for this Case is quite sufficient for heating it, if properly 
managed ; indeed, a correspondent in our paper to-day states the same as 
being the result of her experience. Write to Mr. West, ironmonger, 
Kingston-on-Thames. You may rely upon the information he will give 
you. 
Work on Gardening (H. L. Buchan). —Y’ou can have the Cottage 
Gardeners' Dictionary direct from our office. It gives the information 
you need. We cannot send it on approval. Its price is 83 . 6 d. 
Gas Heating (H. C.). —four bat’s-wing burners consume more gas and 
give much more heat than twelve drilled jet holes. Vol. XXIII. was com¬ 
pleted at the end of March. Look to the paging of the numbers. We 
cannot make out the name of your plant, but its stagnation probably arises 
from being brought into a colder temperature. 
Destroying Ants (A Subscriber).— Scatter over their haunt at the foot 
of the Apricot tree guano, or gas lime soaked in the ummoniacul liquor 
of the gas works. 
Books {Deodar).— Glenny’s “Handbook of the 1 lower Garden and 
Greenhouse” may suit you. The “ Botanical Register” has long ceased 
to he published. 
Heating a Boiler by Gas (An Amateur). —Y’ou could so heat it, and in 
former volumes we have given more than one plan for so doing. 
DwARr Yellow Marigold (It. B. P .).—If you have grown them in 
heat and sown them too thickly, in all probability they will come single. 
They should be raised in heat, gradually grow n on and hardened off, and 
then planted out in the open ground to flower in July. Try this mode, 
and let us know the result. 
Names op Plants (A. J. 11.). —Your two plants are Acacia pulvhella, 
and Nepliobolus lingua. ( F. It. 11.). —They arc Anemone coronaria and 
A. hortensis. (J. Whitfield). —Your “ Mignonette Tree ” is a species of 
Pomaderris, and ive believe it to be pomaderris discolor, a native of 
Australia. The specimen was too imperfect for us to be certain. 
POULTRY AND BEE-KEEPER’S CHRONICLE. 
THE LONDON POULTRY SUPPLY. 
Poultry will never be profitable till it is well understood, and 
it will not be understood till *tlie process is explained by 
which London is supplied with poultry during the spring, arid 
with that succession ol perfect fowls which have so often caused 
the wonder of those who have found plenty in London, while 
the country was starviug, so far as chickens were concerned. 
The supply was formerly almost a Surrey monopoly, but Sussex 
crept in, and Kent, and parts of Berkshire and Hampshire. IVe 
are at a loss to know why ; but these are the only counties that 
supply the best poultry to London. They have only one ad¬ 
vantage over others—that is, their nearness to London ; but this 
is so changed by railways, that all places are now within reach, 
and the train that deposits goods, picked up at the stations 
within fifty miles of London, will serve equally well for those 
that have to come a hundred and fifty. 
There is another description that now plays an important 
part in Leadenhall Market. It is called “rough,” as dis¬ 
tinguished from Surrey or tine, poultry. It is in this that the 
great improvement which has taken place since poultry was 
cared for is visible. It is plain both in size and quality. 
A third supply is from Ireland. The number of chickens 
sent from this country is immense. Thousands of Turkeys 
also come in the season. There is no improvement here, and 
it is painful to see good things spoiled from carelessness or 
want of painstaking. The exertions necessary to do that 
which is done would insure a return of at least one-third more, 
if it were better directed. 
Lastly: Great quantities of poultry come from France. These 
are principally Turkeys and fowls, and their quality is inferior. 
The great supplies that arrive daily at Leadenhall Market are 
not made up of a large number of small senders, but of a small 
number of large ones. Although poultry must always' to a 
certain extent be looked upon as a luxury, yet, properly cul¬ 
tivated, it need not remain the unapproachable thing it is to 
the small or even moderate income. Whenever there is faith 
enough in poultry breeders the change- will begin ; aud as there 
is a buyer to be found for every saleable thing in England, so 
there will be for every spore fowl as soon as it is known where 
it is. The higgler is the man who will do this in the 
country. He will buy it lean or fat. I 11 the former ease, he 
will fatten it; in the latter, he will kill; in both he will send to 
market. Before the time of railways, these men collected all 
the poultry they could, and would drive all night to London, 
reaching market about four in the morning. Many of them 
came fifty miles, and they generally joined the trade of carriers 
to that of higglers. Steam has spoiled the latter trade, but the 
former still flourishes. 
These men attend all markets, and also call at all places 
where there is spare poultry. At this time of year it is often 
bought, and where circumstances make it desirable or necessary, 
paid for weeks before it is taken away. There are higglers in 
Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Essex, Lincoln¬ 
shire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertfordshire. All these work for 
the London market. It is notorious that in many cities aud 
towns it is impossible to get a good fowl; take Birmingham, 
I Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton, and others. We do not 
j mean to say the poultry is not young and eatable, but it is not 
1 such as is to be had in London. There are markets in all 
these towns; and if a breeder undertook to supply, and a sales¬ 
men to sell, good chickens, it would be the beginning of n new 
trade. Producer, seller, and buyer, would be severally learning 
their trades. That which is done daily on a large scale at 
Leadenhall, may be done once per week at any country or town 
market. There are men who send to the former place from 
eighteen to twenty or more dozens of fowls, or chickens, every 
week throughout the year. They collect them in certain 
districts where they know every breeder and every fowl. They 
know the different sorts that will suit different times. They 
know what their goods jvill make, and they buy accordingly. 
These transactions had the small beginnings we are advocating. 
When any new article of food springs up, there are people 
ready to produce, buy, aud consume it. That which is true of 
a novelty may surely be the same of an old hut neglected 
branch ; and we are sure fowls may be made plentiful aud pro¬ 
fitable in districts where at present they are rarities. 
Those who do not know the poultry districts have no idea of 
the importance it there assumes. For some time past, good 
1 young Dorking fowls have made £$ per dozen, and the amateur 
who has his weekly dozen ready’ for the higgler is doing well. 
I There are farmhouses in Sussex where the poultry sales for 
l table purposes will amount to ill50 per year. Turkey breeders 
will bring up from £100 to £500 worth at Christmas. Ayles¬ 
bury takes many thousands per year for Ducks only. 
These large senders are collectors; they go from house to 
house, buying one at this place, three at that, and so on. Those 
that are ready are at once despatched to market, those, that are 
not are put up for more fatting, lu many places the house of 
one of these collectors is a little fair on a given day, when the 
poultry is brought to him. In others, competition is rampant, 
and two buyers will quarrel over a basket of fat fowls, and bid 
one against the other till the one has reached a sum that can 
only entail loss upon him. 
PRIZES FOR GUINEA FOWLS. 
In a recent number of The Cotiaue Gardener I find that 
Mr. S. Pitman, Steward of the poultry department of the Dor¬ 
chester Show, sends me a polite invitation to exhibit my Guinea 
Fowls at his Show. Unfortunately, my best bird has met with an 
accident; but had it been otherwise I should not have exhibited 
at Dorchester, for I do not consider the prizes for Guinea Fowls 
adequate to the trouble and expense of sending my birds there. 
The entry-money is 6 a\ 6 d., and the first prize is only £1. Now 
it is evident that, residing as I do, two hundred miles at least 
from the Show, I should not like to risk my birds so far for so 
! small a prize. I am sorry to find that the second prizes for fowls 
at Dorchester are so small; but this is, I think, an evil as well as 
a mistake at most of our large Shows for domestic fowls. For 
example : The first prize for Spanish at Dorchester is £4; the 
j second prize is only £1. What a manifest disparity ! And yet 
I daresay there will be very little difference between the first and 
