November 17, 1863. ] JOTJSNAL OF HOKTICULTITBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENER. 



401 



Apples. -I, Lemon Pippin ; 3, Braddick's Nonpareil ; 3, Striped Queening. 

 Othere unknown. (H. B.).- Apples.— 12, 'a^wthomien. Pcnrs.— 2, Vicar 

 ot \''inkfieid ; 3, Forelle ; 4, Passe Colmar. The others cannot be identi- 

 fled. lA Pear-Grovei). -loo decayed to be identified. {T. Q.).— Pears.— 

 2, Beurri! Langelier ; 3, Crasanne ; 6, Crasanne; 7, Winter Nelw. Apples. 

 1, Allriston ; i, Fearn's Pippin. Otliers not recognised. (iJ. Webb, Calcot). 

 The high-coloured Pear is Beurre Clairgeau, and the greenish-yellow one 

 is ConBeillpr de la Cour. Very fine indeed. The baking Pear is Winter 

 Franc Real. The Pears Croft Castle and Wormsley Grange were deUoious. 

 The two nuts Webb's Cob Filbert and Thin-shelied Deviana are, perhaps, 

 the largest and best we have seen. 



Names of Plants.— Some of our correspondents are in the habit of 

 sending small fragments of plants for us to name. This requires from us 

 snch a great expenditure of time that we are compelled to say tliat we 

 cannot attempt to name any plant unless the specimen is perfect in leaves 

 and flowers. :Ji. S.).— l, Thuja tatarici ; 2, Thuja Menziesu ; 3, Biota 

 orientalis gracilis ; 4, Thuja plicata. t.Zeta, Red Hill).— I, Funkia albo- 

 marginata; 2, Thuja pendulai 3, Cupressus sempervirens. (A Subscriber). 

 Doubtless a Callistachys ; but we cannot determine the species without 

 seeing another flowering specimen. Send us a flowering sprig in a httle 

 damp moss. [J. ft).— Your Ferns are— 1, Lastrea Filix-mas ; 2, L. dilatata. 

 {Miss lf'ah!i). -Yimr bulb is Nerine undulata. 



POULTEY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE- 



ABOUT MANY THINGS. 



"An Exhibitob in a Small Wat," pours out his griefs 

 in a recent Number of yotu- Journal, and seems to imply a 

 want of fairness in the management of poultry shows. I 

 am also an exhibitor in a small way, and I have had my 

 share of disappointment both in prizes and in sales ; but I 

 cannot agree with yoiu- correspondent altogether. There 

 are many mistakes — there is occasional unfairness : I do not 

 see how these things are to be avoided. There is, on the 

 other hand, a nattu-al disposition in exhibitors to grumble at 

 want of success, and to have an impression that their own 

 pens must be the best. 



Supposing unfairness or carelessness on the part of judges 

 and others at shows, there is a remedy in the hand of every 

 exhibitor, which I mean to use vigorously as soon as I come 

 across too glaring a mistake or the shadow of dishonesty. 

 The awards cannot be altered, but the shortcomings of 

 judges and of officials can be posted in the newspapers, and 

 nothing would more shake the system of prizes and sales at 

 shows than a suspicion of dishonesty or carelessness. The 

 amount of money and time expended to produce birds worthy 

 of exhibition deserves the strictest honesty and the greatest 

 care. I recommend exhibitors to agitate publicly every 

 want of honesty or care, making due allowance for the diffi- 

 culties that both jvxdges and officials have to contend with, 

 not overestimating then- own stock or suffering themselves 

 to be blinded by prejudice or disappointment. 



At the recent Crystal Palace Show I failed in aU that I 

 tried for, both in prizes and in sales ; but from my own obser- 

 vation of the Show I was perfectly satisfied. I saw mistakes 

 there — to wit, a prize Game fowl whose legs were faulty ; a 

 prize Sebright with more than what Mr. Baily calls the " sus- 

 picion of a sickle feather." By the way, all the Sebright 

 hens were to my mind faulty in the comb. We do not raise 

 such birds as old Su- Jolm's. I saw buds, very many of them 

 as good— or so nearly so that it was hard to teU the 

 difference — as the prize birds. I saw birds marked in the 

 catalogue at ages which I am sui-e were incorrect. But I 

 really could not find any reason for a complaint of either 

 carelessness or dishonesty, nor do I think that small exhibi- 

 tors had less chance than others. For my own birds, I must 

 say that they received the greatest care, came back to me 

 quickly in as good condition as I sent them, whilst I am 

 bound to acknowledge the civility and attention of the 

 attendants and the courteous painstaking of the Secretary. 



I mean to try my luck at Birmingham with some very 

 <!hoice pens, and I shall be perfectly content if I am beaten 

 by better. I cannot suppose for a moment that there will 

 be any shelving of small exhibitors ; should it be so, you 

 will hear fi-om me again, and I should state the unfairness 

 in several other jjapers. 



I do not lOie the rumour that the Committee of the 

 Birmingham Show mean to confine the poultry exclusively 

 to the poultry bay regardless of the amount of entries. 

 Either let them close their entries or prociu'e sufficient 

 space. They will I am sure act fairly in this, as weU as in 

 seeing to the size of the pens for the larger varieties — a 

 great want in former shows. 



I would exhibit also at Manchester, which Show is second 

 to none in fairness, care, and punctuality, but that I agree 

 with another of yoirr correspondents in objecting to the 

 employment of people away from their homes on Christmas- 

 day, and I do not choose to have my birds exposed to a 

 blank day in the middle of the Exhibition, on which day a 

 certain amount of negligence might naturally be expected. 

 I hope that this second hint to the Manchester Committee 

 may be taken, or that exhibitors who have not entered will 

 withhold their entries. Exhibitors have a great power in 

 their own hands if they use it with temper, fairness, and 

 discretion. Small exhibitors cannot expect the success of 

 gi-eat exhibitors, any more than small traders can hope to 

 make the profits of large ones. The field is open to all, and 

 shows will depend very much upon small men, who, of 

 course, in this, as in everything form the majority. A 

 small man who can hit hard and fight fairly, is a troublesome 

 fellow amongst dishonest men. Honesty is the best policy, 

 if it is not anything more ; and if poultry shows are to last 

 and be profitable, they can only be upheld by straight- 

 forwardness on both sides. 



The suggestion of your eoiTespond.ent that you should 

 " set apart a column of your paper, in which your subscribers 

 could for a small fee insei-t their wants, whether of buying, 

 selling, or exchanging, without the formality of an adver- 

 tisement," is a very good one ; I hope you will find that 

 you can carry it out. To this I would add, that you might 

 publish after every great Show a list of the pens sold, their 

 prices, names of exhibitors, prizes, &c., as a supplement to 

 your usual account and prize list. — Egomet. 



SHEFFIELD AND HALLAMSHIRE FANCY 

 PIGEON SOCIETY. 



The foui-th annual exhibition for tliis year's birds was held 

 in the large club-room of the New Inn, Shales Moor, Sheffield, 

 on the 2nd inst. . 



There were more than two hundred birds shown, mcludmg 

 old ones ; but the prizes were given only for young bh-ds of 

 this year. In Carriers, Mr. CoUey took first, second, and 

 third prizes with three splendid 1)irds, Mr. E. Brown coming 

 in fourth. In Pointers, Mr. W. Taylor stood first with a Mealy 

 cock, also foui-th with another of same colour- ; Mi-. Ashforth 

 second with a good Blue; the third went to Mr. Smith. 

 Fantails, Mr. Smith took first and second ; Mi-. Taylor thii-d 

 and foui-th. ChuU, Mr. Wilkinson first and fourth ; Mi-. 

 Benninson. second and thh-d. Variety Class, Mr. H. Brown 

 first ; Mr. Ashforth second and third. 



There were some very good old bu-ds shown in Carriers. 

 Mr. CoUey was greatly in advance of the other members. 

 A pair of good Duns, which took first at CoUingham List 

 week, were sho-wn by Mi-. E. Brown. 



Mr. H. Brown showed some excellent Powters, including 

 Red White, and Yellow ; one of the last colour he sold for a 

 o-ood sum. Ml-. W. Taylor, also, had some very good Blues 

 and Mealies, and a large Mealy cock that has taken several 

 prizes Mr. Simpson, of Newark, brought a few good Powters, 

 also a beautil'ul pair of Yellow Short-faced Mottles. There 

 were Owls, TurUts, and other sorts shown by different mem- 

 bers of the Society. — E. B. 



BEAHMA POOTEAS NOT WELL ENCOUEAGED. 



Allow me most fully to endorse the facts and opim^ns con- 

 tained in the letter of yom- able correspondent " Y. B. A. ^. 

 We all know that the most " rising " fowl of the present day 

 is the Brahma Pootra, and yet it is equaUy certain that this 

 fowl is more hai-dlyused and more systematically discounte- 

 nanced by the managers of shows than any other kind. 

 Compare, for example, the treatment of the Brahma with 

 that of the PoUsh fowl, which latter is so feebly repre- 

 sented in point of numbers at oui- gieat shows ihere 

 were only fom- pens of one variety and a single pen ot 

 another variety of Polish fowls at the Crystal Palace, and 

 yet these five pens competed for precisely the same sum 

 hi prize-money as was offei-ed to aU the pens of Brahmaa, 

 twenty-fom- in number. . 



Again : in spite of what youi- con-espondent points out, 



