264 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTCJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ March 21, 187: 



then sat down in sulMness, amidst the laughter of the company, 

 and called for another glass of ale. 



It was not until three o'clock that it was announced that the 

 judge had completed his husiness, and then there was a general 

 rush up a narrow stone staircase into a moderate-sized bed- 

 room on the nest floor, where the exhibition was held. Down 

 the centre of the room there was a row of narrow benches 

 arranged, which row was filled with cages, and another row of 

 cages occupied the side of the wall opposite the windows. There 

 was scarcely window-space enough for the ingress of light, so 

 that we were obliged to strain our eyes in order to gain anything 



like a minute view of the birds ; but the little songsters chanted 

 away one against another as merrily as if they had been carolling 

 in front of a sunny meadow. There was a great stir amongst 

 the exhibitors, who pressed eagerly forward to learn whether 

 their feathered pets had come in for prizes or not. "We observed 

 one exhibitor walk up to the bird he owned, and turn angrily 

 away when he perceived that it had not got anything but a high 

 commendation. His eye then sought for the winner, and when 

 he saw the favoured bird, he exclaimed, " Mine's a long chalk 

 better nor that onny day ! " There were one hundred and 

 twenty-two entries. 



LADY GWTDYE'S POULTEY ESTABLISHMENT.— No. 2. 



been made, some with a grass plot in front, others with only a 

 smaU sandy run. Here many of the chickens are kept as they 

 get troublesome and quarrelsome, also some of t he crack birds 

 dui'ing the breeding season, and for exhibition. The range of 



The working yard appears to have been formerly the place 

 usually found attached to farmhouses, where cattle are confined 

 and fed during the winter. Round three sides of this yard 

 nearly thirty runs and houses of various shapes and sizes have 



Stoke Park— ILo Iii;^-lvu. 



•open sheds, previously used to shelter the cattle, allows of a great 

 many of these runs being nearly half covered from the weather 

 so as to protect the birds' plumage from the sun and wet, two 

 things always to be remembered in breeding or keeping fowls 

 ior exhibition. 



Amongst the many other houses and runs to be found built 

 .around the working yard, one of the largest and most useful is 

 the chicken nursery, a large, lofty, very light and airy building, 

 about 70 feet long and 25 feet wide. Skylights are let into the 

 roof, and windows round the sides, for the purpose of allowing 

 the warm rays of the sun to enter the interior. The entrance is 

 at one end through two large doors, which when shut nearly 

 close the whole of that end of the building. Sand several inches 

 deep covers the bottom, the walls are frequently limewashed, 

 and the whole place is kept scrupulously clean. Here the 

 chickens are confined when the weather is severe or very wet, 



and the advantages of such a large covered space can be easily 

 imagined, affording, as it does, protection to the young birdii 

 from frosts, the cold dry winds, and hea\-y rains which we fre- 

 quently experience early in spring. At the same time they 

 always have a capital dry warm run, plenty of exercise, amuse- 

 ment, and something to occupy them in scratching for their 

 corn in the soft sandy earth. When the weather is favourable 

 and the chickens of a suflicient strength they are allowed to 

 roam at large over the meadows and amongst the woods, but 

 previous to this the hens are confined in coops, distributed in 

 various places. These coops are put under a slanting tin-roofed 

 covering, three sides being open and the roof touching the 

 ground, encloses the fourth side, the front facing the south. 

 Mr. Wragg tells us he is always very fortunate in rearing 

 chickens under those places. The tin roof is heated by the sun, 

 and the birds can i-un about amongst the grass and pick up in- 



