December 11, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



■477 



its covenant. It pledged itself, on little slips of blue paper and 

 by public advertisement, that *' no unnatural colours " should 

 be staged, and on the faith of that pledge received the support 

 of many exhibitors who would otherwise have stood aloof. But 

 having taken its stand as the avowed oppouent of pro;^ress, how 

 does it reward its friends 1 Sicaply by altogether ignoring its 

 promise and admitting the very class of birds it had pledged 

 itself to exclude. I remember when I was a lad a village orator 

 saying, at a parish meeting, ** wm^/na est Veritas et prevalehit,'^ 

 to which one of the other side replied, " Yes, great is the troth, 

 and will not only prevail a bit but will prevail a great deal ! " 

 And so it is. Since Whitby, despite the opposition Bemrose 

 and Orme have met with, in the face of organised attempts to 

 damage their reputation and the intrinsic value of their high- 

 bred birds, exhibitors, even unknown to their nearest intimates, 

 have confessed to themselves how beautiful they are, and the 

 Derby wizards have hardly been able to supply the many orders 

 for these gorgeous gems which, for brilliancy of plumage, almost 

 rival the dazzling beauties of southern climes ; and in almost 

 every fancier's stud throughout the country is to be found one 

 or more of these birds which are destined to make the names 

 of Bemrose & Orme famous, and the year 1873 a landmark in 

 the history of cage-birds. But notwithstanding this, Darlington, 

 listening to bad counsel, determined to put its heel on this 

 onward movement, little dreaming, possibly, how many here 

 and there had purchased from the Derby aviary; and the 

 natural outcome of this was that it had either to decimate its 

 Show or, breaking faith with its supporters, allow these obnoxious 

 birds to compete. I have no doubt the alternative was disagree- 

 able, and the awkward position in which it found itself was to its 

 Committee a matter of regret ; but it was nothing more than 

 could have been expected from such a miserable time-serving 

 policy and such a direct departure from its original programme 

 " a clear stage and no favour ! " 



I had been courteously solicited to accept the office of judge 

 conjointly with Mr. Bamesby, but, for reasons which will be 

 understood without entering into them here, I declined. This, 

 of course, was before the prize list was supplemented by the 

 nnfortanate addendum ; for, apart from any other considerations, 

 I think I could never so far forget my dignity as a judge as to 

 consent to officiate as such after any committee had usurped to 

 itself my functions. 



The Darlington Show is, however (my howevers creep in as 

 anrely as Charles I. on Mr. Dick's kite), a great triumph. And 

 here let me say, before adverting to that particular triumph, 

 that the Show, as a show, was an immense success. I spent a 

 few hours among the birds, and was delighted, and apart from 

 the contretetyws to which I have adverted, I can again endorse 

 the opinion I formed last year. It is undoubtedly the winter 

 show of the north. There are some discordant elements in it 

 (and where are there not ?) but give it its due — it is essentially 

 a great show. I will just suggest to the Committee that it 

 would be better to stage the birds so that the Evenly-marked 

 and the Crested classes should be on a level with the eye, and 

 Dot at such an elevation as entirely precludes the possibility of 

 examining the specimens without lifting the cages, a thing I 

 never set a bad example by doing, and so was prevented from 

 arriving at a definite conclusion on some birds I went specially 

 to see. 



But I said the Show was a great triumph. It sets at rest for 

 ever the " Bemrose & Orme" controversy, and in vindicating 

 the character of their birds offers some prospective compen- 

 sation for the annoyance they were subjected to at the Crystal 

 Palace. There is no doubt that a well organised attempt was 

 made to have them excluded from Darlington Show for reasons 

 which must be manifest to everyone. The persistent way in 

 which they have been elsewhere written down by i'Esop's happy 

 creation ; the scurrilous way in which the breeders' reputations 

 have been assailed, in most wretched grammar, alike indicative 

 of a low order of mind and defective education ; the unmanly, 

 unprincipled, wicked way in which they have been attacked 

 from behind a flimsy transparent screen which it requires no 

 expsrt to remove ; the manifestation of jealousy and vexation ; 

 the line of conduct, at once unscrupulous and illustrative of the 

 lowest type of character, which has lain scarcely concealed 

 beneath the surface, cropping-np at every step in all its de- 

 formity; all this has had to succumb. I say that Darlington 

 has set at rest the " Bemrose & Orme" difCcnlty; for Mr. G. 

 J. Bamesby, who at the last Crystal Palace Show ignored the 

 claims of the two pioneers of this phalanx of wonders, and not 

 a month ago attempted to write them down, had at Darlington 

 to award the highest honours to this identical class of bird. 



Before I bring these notes on the deeds and misdeeds of 1873 

 to a close I would like to ask a question about a statement made 

 in the report of the "Good Intent" Show, at Northampton, a 

 week or two ago. The " Good Intent " was the show to which 

 I referred jast now when I said another town had become 

 "wise " and preached the beanty of virtue. The resolution of 

 this virtuous community appeared in the "Letter Box," and 

 was to the effect that, " Shotild any suspected unnatural-coloured 



specimens be sent to our forthcoming show, they will not be 

 staged under any consideration, but will be immediately removed 

 from the hall." I have not the circular by me from which this 

 is an extract, but I shall not err greatly when I say it advertised 

 the integrity of the Committee as a first-class article which had 

 been before the public for about twenty years, and there is 

 something very refreshing in the way in which determination 

 to watch over the public morals is avowed. The resolution is 

 signed, among other names, by T. Harwell, and I notice iu tha 

 same issue of the publication in which the wisdom of the " Good 

 Intent " was paraded, that the Judges of the Nottingham Show, 

 Messrs. Tuckwood and BarweU, are spoken of as having " dona 

 honour to the cause by their previous judging and also vic- 

 tories as prizetakers." Now, may I ask whether the Barwell 

 who vmdertakes the custody of public morality at the " Good 

 Intent " Show and the Barwell who has done " honour to the 

 cause " by " victories as prizetaker," is or is not a Barwell of 

 " Barwell & Sons" who exhibited the bond fide painted birds at 

 this very " Good Intent" Show where the genuine "Bemrose 

 and Orme " birds were rejected ? — W, A. Blakston. 



HOW TO OBTAIN HIGH-COLOURED CANARIES. 



We intimated in a previous communication that on some 

 future occasion we should make known the method of feeding 

 adopted by us to obtain high colour in Canaries. Our reason 

 for now departing from that resolution and at once informing 

 fanciers of the so-called secret is, that having sometime ago 

 communicated it to a fancier under the pledge of secrecy, wa 

 now learn that he is turning a dishonest penny by selling it to 

 various parties. As this is a grave breach of confidence we have 

 determined at once to make known the method referred to, tind 

 preserve fanciers from annoyance and save their money. 



Those who have so persistently contested the genuineness of 

 our birds wiU, we are sure, after a fair trial of the recipe have 

 the candour to admit that we have been honest and truthful 

 in both our actions and statements. To those committees 

 who have acted without bias, uninfluenced by the threats of 

 competing exhibitors, and have given us a fair stige and no 

 favour, we tender our warm and hearty thanks. Those narrow 

 and exclusive committees — Nottingham, Northampton, Darling- 

 ton, Ulverston, to wit — who have endeavoured to burke our 

 endeavours, who have been a stumbling-block in the way ol 

 advancement, and who have shielded themselves behind a re- 

 striction they cannot define, have only to follow another year 

 the course they have pursued in this to ensure their schedules 

 being consigned to the oblivion of the waste-paper basket. — 

 Bemrose & Obme. 



J?ecy)«.— Egg, biscuit, and cayenne pepper. These are the 

 whole of the ingredients used by us, which have proved so suc- 

 cessful in producing the high colour so much admired. 



DRONE COMB IN SUPERS. 

 As none of your correspondents has adverted to Mr. Petti- 

 grew's mode of utilising drone combs in supers, I may be par- 

 doned pointing out, for the benefit of the novice, that his pro- 

 cedure would be looked upon as bad practice with us here in tha 

 north. From the much coarser appearance of supers composed 

 either wholly or in part of drone comb, they are rated at far less 

 value, either on the competition-table or the counter of tha 

 honey merchant. Consequently, instead of inserting it as guide, 

 or yet for filling in my apiary, as soon as it unfortunately 

 appears at all iu supers, or in excess in stocks, it is, if noticed iu 

 time, carefully excised, transferred to the melting-pot, passes 

 through the embossed wax-sheet machine, and re-appears to do 

 duty in correct worker form. The novice will also find that a 

 thoroughly sealed-ont super, as a rule, takes precedence with 

 both the judge and the merchant, despite your correspondent's 

 conception that " a few inches of cells half filled and open, give 

 supers of glass an appearance more artistic and pleasing." — 

 A Eenfbewshibe Bee-keepeb. 



HONEY-SUPERS AT EXHIBITIONS. 



Torn readers have been entertained (or shocked, as the case 

 may be) at the novel mctliods adopted by certain successful ex- 

 hibitors this year to fill supers with honey, and so win the prizes 

 offered. Certainly the ingenuity displayed by the several parties 

 to attain their object has been as interesting to lookers-on as it 

 has been clever. I presume that this was not exactly tha 

 object aimed at by those who offered the prizes, but as they 

 were not very precise or definite in the wording of their ad- 

 vertisements, no real fault or deserved blame can attach to those 

 gentlemen who simply did that which they were in a manner 

 bribed or tempted to do. Nevertheless we should havo felt 

 somewhat " sold," and have gone home with our simple faces 

 looking very blue, had wo been among the less fortunate ex- 

 hibitors who interpreted the advertisements according to their 

 spirit rather than the letter, and exhibited supers, if any did so, 



