13i 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Febroaiy 8, 1872. 



posely let the subject rest awhile, though longer than I had 

 intended, from pressure of cii-cumstanees ; hut as I have a 

 great admiration for this really splendid variety of fowls, which 

 I am still compelled to say has greatly degenerated, I wish 

 now to point out where I think improvement is needed, and 

 the special faults to be guarded against bj' breeders. I, of 

 coui'se, give them as my views ; I cannot commit, nor would 

 I if I could, any judges or breeders to my opinions ; but at the 

 same time I have reason to beUeve that our iirincipal judges 

 iully agree. And I would remark that the special instances of 

 judging pointed out by Mr. Long and others really prove little 

 or nothing, and manifest a very small knowledge of what 

 judging is. Many things may interfere with a bu'd repeating 

 any given success, and many different birds may be brought 

 against him. Not only shape and colour, but size, carriage, 

 condition, comb, slipped wings, leg-feather — all have to be 

 considered ; and a wise man wUl rather consider the average 

 of a judge's awards, and endeavour to form a sort of analysis 

 for himself, than pin his faith to any particular one at a lead- 

 ing show, where commanding excellence in one or more points 

 may have diverted attention from very serious faults which 

 afterwards become apparent. 



Fig. i 



Mr. Long in his letter states again that the Lights " are 

 and always have been, in this country at least, much inferior 

 in frame, and cannot be made to attain the size of their more 

 iortunate rivals;" and again, "It appears to me that one 

 ■variety is naturally larger than the other." I do not think 

 Mr. Long has been a breeder of Brahmas long enough to make 

 such an assertion, and I am quite sure he has not been a 

 breeder of fowls long enough yet to give him any right to 

 sneer, as he does in his last paragraph, at any facts, or effects 

 of strongly marked features, -which others think they have 

 observed in then- own yards. When he has bred longer he 

 may find that no law affecting the female imagination is abso- 

 lutely uniform ; that some individuals may be affected by the 

 same circumstances under which others are not ; and that 

 effect may be not at all marked in its character, and yet very 

 real. I only mention this because I object to the tone of 

 assumption which Mr. Long takes throughout, and I proceed 

 to say that during the past show season several bu'ds have 

 ieen taken out of pens at my request, and I can assert that 

 many cocks have been shown over 12 lbs. These cocks have 

 all been pure-bred, and though in aU but one case bad in colour, 

 it conclusively proves that there is size enough to be got, and 

 that the dissociation of size and good colour, now so universal, 

 is simply owing to the bad judgment of the breeders. 



Mr. Long next doubts my remark that if bu-ds are shown 

 good in shape, colour, and feather " they wiU win, even if nof 

 large." I simply say that at the Palace the second and third 

 cockerels (the last Mr. Long's own bhd and very small), at 

 Birmingham the first-prize cock and second and third-prize 

 cockerels, were such bii-ds. As I have aheady said, any parti- 

 cular bird winning or not winning proves nothing ; and while, 

 as at present, it is colour versus size, there must always be 

 many apparent contradictious. Neither bird being all good, it 

 is a comparison of two very serious faults, and not tUl size 

 and colour are shown generally in the same bu-ds can the 

 Lights expect to compete favoiu-ably with the Darks. When 

 this is the case — and it may be — I am quite sure they wiU 

 iold then- own ; but while the very best chickens are sent out 

 and stunted by early shows, I fear we shall not see it to any 

 great extent. 



But the foundation of aU real improvement must be correct 

 shape, and hence I wish to explain more particularly what I, 

 at least, mean by " duck-shape," as contrasted with the con- 

 toiu- of the true Brahma. The latter is, perhaps, the neatest 

 and most compact-looking fowl of any — of any large breed 

 rmquestionably. It has, or should have, a good fluff and a 

 broad and ample cushion. I speak of pullets. Neither, of 

 com-se, is so full as in the Qoohin, the Brahma being properly 



a much closer-feathered bird ; but a good cushion there should 

 be, broad over the tail, but rising more and more to the very 

 last, where it merges harmoniously into the line of the neai-ly 

 upright tail. Such an outUne is presented in the diagrams 

 on page 133 {figs. 1 and 2), and which represent the true shape 

 as it actually exists in high-class birds. 



But in looking at any Light class of pullets we shall find 

 many birds which utterly fail to conform to this type. There 

 are Dark birds, too, which fail in it, as I freely admit; but 

 while I myself exceedingly object to such taking prizes, it must 

 be remembered that whenever they do there is almost always 

 extraordinarj' pencilling, which catches the judge's eye and con- 

 dones the fault in shape, while the white of the other class affords 

 no such counterbalance. StQl, the fault is at least three times 

 more general, as I carefully noted at Loudon and Birmingham, 

 than in the Dark classes, and the sketches (.%k. 3 and i), were 

 made from a Palace bird, which was a fail' type of about fifty 

 single pullets in the class. In some there is literally no cushion 

 at all, but in others, as in my sketches, it does appear to start 

 oixt well over the wings. But, alas! the " early promise " is 

 not kept ; as it gets towards the tail it becomes narrower and 

 naiTOwer, so that viewed from the top the pullet appears 

 widest across the shoulders and gradually tapers off to the 

 tail, giving the bnd a triangular instead of that square com- 

 pact shape which the other type jiresents. 



Looked at sideways the same fault will generally be found. 

 In place of the rising Brahma cushion and nearly upright tail, 

 the little cushion there is starts up too fuUy, and then gradu- 

 ally cb'oops, the tail itself being nearly horizontal. Of course, 

 in some cases the fault will show from the top and not from 

 the sides, or vice versa ; but the two as drawn commonly go 

 together, and are what is meant by " duck-shape," being ana- 

 logous to the formation of the Aylesbm-y Duck. 



In the cocks the same fault wiU be found. The saddle may 

 start well, but gets narrow over the tail or does not form a 

 nice rise to it, and the whole bird is narrow behind. Broad- 

 saddled cocks were more numerous this season, as I was glad 

 to observe, but are stUl mxich more rare than in the Dark 

 classes. 



In breeding Light Brahmas, then, we want to get back gene- 

 rally, not in exceptions merely, the neat compact shape of the 

 true breed. We want to get back the heavy leg-feather, yet 

 with soft hocks, which so many Dark bh'ds now have. We 

 want to get a distinct jet black stripe in the hackle, and we 

 want to get all this combined with the grand size, which be- 

 longs properly to the one as to the other. I need not say how 

 it is to be done. Breeders only need to keep the desired points 

 carefully in mind, and they will speedily procure them, and 

 will be fully able to compete fairly and honoui-ably with those 

 of us who, from want of i)ure country ah' and grass, are forced 

 to cultivate only the no less beautifid Dai'k breed. — L. Weight. 



LAST YEAE'S JUDGING. 



I THisK few of my friends will say that I am in the habit of 

 grumbUug ■without cause, but complaints in your Journal as 

 to the judging are now so frequent, and the dissatisfaction so 

 widespread, that I think the question ought not to slumber, 

 but something ought to be done to improve the present system 

 in the coming season. 



I have never before this publicly complained of the Judges, 

 for, considering their work and the onerous duties they have 

 to perform, it is almost impossible for them not to make some 

 mistakes ; but really the mistakes that I have seen this season 

 by some of our acknowledged Judges have been so glaring 

 that I think an importation of a httle fresh blood would be an 

 advantage. No doubt they are set to do too much ; but surely, 

 for then- o-svu sakes, it would be better that before accepting the 

 office they should inquii'e the number of pens likely to be ex- 

 hibited, and refuse to act unless there are sufficient Judges 

 appointed, rather than that such awards should be given as 

 were made last season. 



As your readers are aware I exhibit nothing but Dorkings, 

 and with some Judges unless the birds are dark they stand no 

 chance. Others favour' large frame irrespective of colour, and 

 in this I think they are right, for I hold that a Dorking (not 

 Silver) may be any colour but black and white ; and that there 

 ai'e as heavy birds and as good birds hght as well as dark, and 

 if we are to breed to colour, we must lose size, which is the 

 very essence of a Dorking. Now this is one of those things 

 that occm' at almost every show, and I have several times 

 seen a superior pen beaten simply because it was Hght in colour. 



