October 16, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



303 



of the shoalders, " we-shall-see " sort of elevations of the eye- 

 brows, the pointed weapons of little minds and i^orant; in the 

 face of this, and much more, of which deponent saith nothing, 

 the " Bemrose and Otme " Canaries are rapidly and surely com- 

 mending themselves to the fancy as the grandest specimens 

 ever seen. 



Mr. Bemrose's reply to Mr. Troake last week seems to leave 

 me little to say on the general question of the honesty of the 

 birtls. Nor do I think Mr. Troake, in the remotest way, intended 

 to cast any reflection on Mr. Bemrose's integrity. Indeed, it 

 will be no breach of confidence when I say that Mr. Troake 

 ■wrote me immediately on reading my notes on Whitby Show, 

 telling me the history of his purchase, and the great disapijoint- 

 ment he experienced at what he considered such an unsatisfac- 

 tory moult; and said, in as many words, that his desire was to 

 ventilate the subject whether, what we will call for distinction, 

 " artificially "-fed birds were suitable for competition, and fur- 

 ther said he should endeavour to vindicate the Judges' decision. 

 I think I am putting Mr. Troake's proposition fairly. 



As regards the genuineness of the birds, apart from the 

 evidences they bear about them of the impossibility of their 

 being otherwise, I have only to ask those with whom the word 

 of a gentleman goes for something, whether Mr. Bemrose's 

 unqualified assertion of the fact is to be accepted or not? When 

 a gentleman stands up, as Jlr. Bemrose did, at the banquet at 

 Hartlepool, at which the Judges were entertained by the Com- 

 mittee of the Show, and says, " I pledge you my word of honour 

 as a gentleman that every bird I and Mr. Orme have exhibited 

 here to-day is a genuine honest Canary ; that their extraordinary 

 colour is attributable to no other cause than my method of 

 feeding; and further, that there is no possibility of their having 

 been daubed or smeared by any solution given as a drink, since 

 they drink nothing but pure water," — are we to believe him, or 

 are we not? And if we don't beUeve him, what are we to 

 believe ? Are we to weigh against such statements as these the 

 unsupported assertions of persons who can give no reason 

 whatever for their disbelief, or who, after every facility has 

 been granted for investigation, have tried all they knew and 

 utterly failed to demonstrate anything except that the birds are 

 genuine ? Or, worse still, are we to accept the inuendoes of any 

 who, when opportunity has been presented, and every inquiry 

 and examination courted, have simply refused even to look at 

 the birds, and, never having seen them, yet persistently preach 

 up their spurious character ? 



In the name of common sense what should such a sifting of 

 evidence result in ? and in the name of common honesty and 

 fair play is such opposition as I have indicated right ? And 

 mark, it exists not in my imagination, but in fact. 



The appearance of this long string of birds this season is 

 inseparably connected with the two which appeared at the last 

 Crystal Palace Show, and vindicating the Judges in their action 

 then would be to vindicate any similar procedure in the future. 

 My argument was that those two birds, if honest, should have 

 been first in their respective classes. To pass them in silence 

 was to proclaim one of two things — either the incapacity of the 

 Judges to determine what is and what is not a painted Canary, 

 or else to proclaim Mr. Bemrose a knave. If I' can show that a 

 knowledge of the fact that what we will call artificial feeding 

 ■will induce colour was known to the Judges, my contention is 

 that it wa.s wrong to pass them by simply because a superior 

 method of feeding had induced a superior colour, inasmuch as 

 artificial feeding is a universal practice, its varied action prized 

 as a great secret, a knowledge of it coveted by all, and searched 

 for as diligently as for the philosopher's stone. 



I shall not do wrong, then, if I quote from Mr. Bamesby'a own 

 recipe for obtaining colour, which is as follows : — 



"Daring the moult supply no other but canary seed, and no 



freen food whatever, or you will counteract the food they will 

 ave to partake of — viz., canary seed, marigold flowers, and 



saffron cake, and solution During moulting, when 



beetroot or carrot is sufficiently grown, you may cut slices, and 

 after scoring them both ways with a knife, give them to your 

 birds in the raw state Give your birds during moult- 

 ing strong saffron solution, and a solution of cochineal only to 



drink They are both harmless, but necessary in 



assisting to improve, and striking out well the rich orange- 

 tinted feathers so desired and satisfactory to the eye of a 

 breeder and exhibitor of Norwich birds." 



I shall also not do wrong if I quote from a letter I received 

 from Mr. Bamesby ancnt the Cheltenham scandal. I may say 

 that Mr. Troake was present at Cheltenham when the bird re- 

 ferred to below was tested. " I must candidly say, from what 

 I have seen since the return of the birds, that there is want of 

 convincing grounds to prove that the bird has been treated 

 otherwise than they are treated here by the fanciers in having 

 stun to take inwardly, which adds so much in bringing them out 

 to such perfection as the breeders in the town have been noted 



for for years. If -'s birds are coloured, so have the}' been for 



years, not only those shown by the fanciers here generally, but 

 birds which were shown by at your own town years gone 



by, and by many others. I have always found an ardent 



honest fancier, and in such light I am in duty bound to support 

 him, which is my intention towards any man whom I find as 

 such." And I may add that Mr. Barnesby told me with refer- 

 ence to a very " hot " bird I saw in his own house, that it had had 

 " as much solution and cayenne pepper as would Icill a Christian." 



I said above that artificial feeding was general; aud apropos 

 to this, I will just mention that at Hartlepool there was quite a 

 scene in the committee-room while Mr. Bemrose was exposing 

 his scarcely half-moulted birds for examination. A gentleman 

 from Darlington who was very sceptical, at last expressed him- 

 self perfectly satisfied, aud shook hands on the public expression 

 of his faith. "But,", he said, " Mr. Bemrose, this wo'n't im- 

 prove breed. I show for breed ; that's what I show for ! " Mr, 

 Bemrose replied, " Now, just answer me one or two questions. 

 Do you use marigolds ? " "I do." " Do you use saffron ? " "I 

 do." " Do you use cochineal ? " "I do." " Do you use iron ? " 

 "You have me there!" "Well, what do you use marigolds, 

 and saffron, and cochineal for ? Is it not to give colour ? " 

 " Why, yes." " Well then, I am only a Uttle in advance of you," 



I did not intend to refer to Mr. Troake's statement about the 

 bird moulting up an inferior colour, as any tyro knows that, as a 

 rule, without hardly any exception, Norwich birds are at their 

 best the first season, aud not one per cent, of them ever see the 

 show stage the second year. Reference to any catalogue will 

 show this. This does not apply to marked or crested birds. 

 Their marking or their crest is as valuable the second year as 

 the first. Nor does it apply to Mules or to position birds. 



There is one feature in the case which deserves attention, but 

 it is a feature which Mr. Bemrose has only brought out more 

 prominently than before. It is this : It is useless for purchasers 

 to buy extraordinarily high-coloured birds under the impression 

 they will produce the like to a certainty. This has always been 

 the case, and it has always been a cause of complaint among the 

 uninitiated, that the colour was not perpetuated. It only goes to 

 prove a universal system of artificial feeding, which each breeder 

 has hugged to his bosom like a masonic secret, and which 

 Mr. Ashton referred to years ago as existing in Derby and other 

 towns, and which could not be bought with money. But this is 

 true (and I am not telling tales out of school when I say it), that 

 you must have high-bred birds to get high colour. The same 

 results cannot be got from a lemon-coloured Yorkshire as from 

 a Jonque Norwich. Each, when it is turned out of the moulting 

 cage, will preserve its distinctive shade, but much intensified. 



But I am forgetting Hartlepool. It was a great Show, not- 

 withstanding the usual pressure had been brought to bear in the 

 way of promises of withdrawal of support if the obnoxious 

 " Bemrose & Orme " birds were allowed to compete. But 

 Hartlepool has a way of doing as it Ukes, and any who thought 

 to dictate to Hartlepool found, as they say in the classics, that 

 they had "got the wrong sow by the lug!" Perhaps in these 

 days of controversy as to the respective values of capital and 

 labour, it might interest some to calculate which holds the more 

 independent position, the competitors or the givers of the 

 prizes ? There was an excellent entry, considering the extent 

 of the schedule, and the display must have been most gratifying 

 to the Committee. The Belgians were not numerous, but there 

 were two or three good birds among them. Among the Norwich 

 there were some birds of nice quality. Mr. Simpson, of Whitby, 

 appears to have a wrinkle or two somewhere ; he showed a 

 nice Jonque. Mr. Cleminson, of Darlington, too, had some fine 

 quality of feather, though tho great desideratum was wanting. 

 Of " breed " there was no lack, and when ho learns the "grand 

 secret " his birds are bound to run forward. In crests Mr. 

 Hawman was first with his Whitby purchase, a grandly-topped 

 bird, but if tho schedule had not been general in its classifica- 

 tion, Mr. Goode's bird (Leicester) must have been first. As a 

 simply crested Norwich bird, Mr. Hawman's bird won on the 

 crest alone, though even in that respect there was not much to 

 choose between the two, Mr. Goode's having exquisite finish of 

 crest, grand style, good quality and clearly-marked wings. The 

 Yorkshire birds were well represented, but iu the race for size 

 there is a manifest departure from the old stand.ard. A plain- 

 headed Coppy is not a Yorkshire bird proper, and if the Coppy 

 be introduced to obtain size, all traces of coarse feather should 

 be bred out. Cinnamons were fine, the admixture of Norwich 

 blood affording grand scope for the development of colour. 

 Those behind "Bemrose tt Orme" were, as at Whitby, 

 unusually good. Mr. llitchio and Mr. Wataon had it all their 

 own way among the Lizards. Silvers wero a show in them- 

 selves, and a more level lot it would be diffif ult to find. They 

 were all tjuality, and formed a lovely group of birds, attracting 

 deservedly a lion's share of attention. Tho Mules were, most 

 of them, old friends, and one looks anxiously for some new 

 faces among them. Mr. Goode's Jonque, though much blemished, 

 is one of those richly-coloured lusty birds not seen every day. 



The Show, as a whole, was of great merit and, judging from 

 the influx of visitors, bid fair to bo a great financial success. 

 Hartlepool seemed to bo en pie. The very cab.^ were covered 

 with posters as on election-days, and large bills on all sides 



