December 12, 1667. ] JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



4SI 



quality of the birds that are shown than any other person.- 

 Exhibitor. 



T.VIL-LESS COCHIN-CHINA PULLETS. 



Lv tho criticism of the Bristol awards by " Y. B. A. Z.," 

 which appeared in your issue of November lltli, mention was 

 made of the disqualification of a pen of Buff Cochin pullets, 

 on account of the absence of their principiil tail-feathers ; while 

 in your own report of the Show in the next number you speak 

 of " several instances in which the whole of the principal tail- 

 feathers had been abstracted;" many of the trimmed (?) birds 

 having been on this account passed over unnoticed. 



Now, having for several years watched somewhat closely the 

 development of broods of Buff Cochin chickens, I will venture 

 to raise a doubt as to the possibility of proving that such tam- 

 pering has taken place, and to express my opinion that it is 

 just as likely that the birds may have been unfairly disqualified. 

 At a certain stage in the development of pullets of this breed 

 the majority of the birds put out a tail of undue prominence, 

 often consisting of a number of black feathers spread out like 

 a fan. These feathers generally drop out one by one when 

 the bird is between six and seven months old, and it is not un- 

 frequently the case that the principal feathers of the per- 

 manent and closer tail do not make their appearance, certainly 

 do not project beyond the flutT, for weeks afterwards. 



Supposing, then, that birds in this transitional state are ex- 

 hibited, is their owner to be, therefore, accused of having 

 tampered with them, and ought they on that account to be 

 disqualified ? 



If very early-hatched birds are exhibited in November or 

 December in this condition, they must, of course, have been 

 unfairly trimmed, but May and early June birds, it exhibited 

 at any of the shows which are now taking place, or are shortly 

 to take place, must necessarily, in a large majority of instances, 

 be exhibited either tail-less or with a few ragged and awkwardly- 

 projecting tail-feathers, which are ready to drop out with a 

 touch. Now, ought it in fairness to be called " trimming " to 

 remove these, when in a few days at the farthest the bird would 

 have herself cast them, and seeing that the feathers abstracted 

 form no part of the permanent puUet-development, but are 

 the last remaining relics of the chicken-stage of existence ? 



If the absence of the prominent feathers of the tail, in birds 

 of this age, is to be considered as a disqualification, surely it 

 would be far moro satisfactory if judges would let it be well- 

 known that they will in future award no prize to Cochin 

 pullets which have not already assumed their permanent tails ; 

 and if the Secretaries of poultry shows would expunge from 

 their list of rules that which informs the public that the age 

 of the specimens will be taken into consideration in the award 

 of the prizes. Exhibitors would then be saved the useless 

 trouble, expense, and disappointment of sending for exhibition 

 their later-hatched but often much more promising pullets. 



If the shameful deceptions now, alas ! so commonly practised 

 are to bo put down, it certainly is not by pouring the full vials 

 of judicial indignation upon an abstraction of a few feathers 

 which only by a few days anticipated Nature, or upon (what is 

 just as likely to bo mistaken for this). Nature's own work. 

 There are modes of disgraceful imposition, to detect which 

 requires the keenest and most watchful eye. No judge of 

 poultrj- can keep too anxious a look-out in order to expose such 

 dishonest practices ; but, if the attention be diverted to cases 

 where, there having been no concealment, there can have been 

 no intention of deceiving, I firmly believe that by such over- 

 refinement arbitrators will encourage what their object is to 

 put down. 



WTien I first read " Y. B. A. Z.'s " comment, I resolved on 

 endeavouring to call attention to this subject. I have since 

 been informed, on whst I believe to be excellent authority, that 

 the pen of Buff Cochin pullets alluded to in that straight- 

 forward and out-spoken critique, as having been disqualified at 

 the Bristol Exhibition, had bad the first piize awarded to them 

 at Ipswich about a week before, and, what is more, by one of 

 the same .Tudges who afterwards disqualified them, though they 

 were exhibited at both Shows in precisely the same condition. 

 I leave this to tell its own unsatisfactory tale ; comment would 

 be superfluous. — Delta. 



Han-ley PorLTRV Snow.— The prizes for poultry and Tigeons 

 are liberal enough, but there is the very unsatisfactory includ- 

 ing of totally dissimilar birds in some of the classes. For 



example, " French fowls !" No judge can fairly award a prize 

 where Houdans, Cri>ve Coeurs, and La Flcche compete in the 

 same class. " Dorkings, any variety, single cock." What 

 chance has a White cock against a Coloured one, though 

 equally good ? 



PRIZES FOR BANTAMS. 



I AM glad to find that the ill-treatment of Black and White 

 Bantams has been made the subject of a few remarks from a 

 correspondent (see page S'.f.i). I admit that committees have 

 a right to distribute the prizes as they think proper; yet I 

 believe that, as a rule, they are actuated by a desire to draw 

 up tho schedules on the most popular basis. 



In the Somerset Association's schedule, otherwise of the 

 most liberal character, the Game Bantams are offered £10, 

 Sebrights £1 10,?. ; whilst Tekins, the most unproductive of 

 aU unproductive poultry, are invited to a quiet walk-over in a 

 contest with Black and White for another £4 10s. ; and as 

 though for the special benefit of Game and Pukin, all varieties 

 are to compete in a general class for the same amount. 



Next comes the Manchester schedule, once the fairest of the 

 fair. Here £57 are offered to Game Bantams alone, while all 

 other varieties are snubbed with the offer of £0 to be competed 

 for in a general class, and with the same entry fees as the 

 Game Bantams. 



In the Kendal schedule Game Bantams must compete for 

 £10 7s., with the all-but-certainty of winning the £5 5s. cup, 

 and all other varieties are quietly shut out with £2 l'2s. 6d. 



Now, I will admit that the entries of Game Bantams are 

 generally large, but I hold, also, that it the other varieties 

 combined were ofJered the s^ame amount as given to the Game 

 Bantams alone, their entrius would much exceed those of the 

 Game ; and I think the modesty of this hint must strike even 

 those most interested — the Game Bantam exhibitors them- 

 selves. It the committees were desirous to exclude from the 

 shows some of the most useful and beautiful of pet poultry, the 

 present mode would prove the most successful that can be 

 adopted. — Faikplay. 



Allow me to thank your correspondent for his remarks on the 

 Weston-super-Mare schedule of prizes. I have several pens of 

 White Bantams which I should like to enter it I thought they 

 would be likely to meet with the attention which I believe 

 their merit deserves ; but I was taught last year, and still 

 more forcibly this, that a pen of White Bantams in an " any 

 variety " class stands no chance whatever. As a last experi- 

 ment I sent one pen to Bristol, where, as your correspondent 

 justly observes, " of course " they were unnoticed. 



Now I am, I trust, one of the last persons to feel annoyance 

 at being honourably and fairly beaten, but I must say it is 

 surprising, to say the least, that the "foreigners" should be 

 so much better than Whites, or even Blacks ; that the 

 former should in almost all cases carry off the prizes, while the 

 latter obtain no mark of commendation at all. Having been a 

 breeder of both "^"hites and Blacks for many years, and seldom 

 missing a good word, it not something better, when my fa- 

 vourites are in classes by themselves, I have often wondered 

 what was the charm about the foreign varieties which gave 

 them so enviable a preeminence in the eyes of the judges over 

 their old-fashioned but elegant rivals. However, as I said 

 before, I have been taught a lesson, and do not intend to enter 

 'White Bantams in an " any variety " class again for some time 



to come. ,,. .. . .1 



While I am writing, let me express my obligations to tire 

 Bristol Committee for their care of my birds at the late 

 Show.— P. P. 



SILVER-GREY DORKINGS. 



Yorn answer to a correspondent in " Our _ Letter Bos," 

 November Slst, gives information quite at variance with my 

 experience of Silver-Grey Dorking fowls. 



You say, " We do not believe that in any yard all the birds 

 bred are Silver-Greys." I have served above two seven years' 

 apprenticeship to the trade, and ought to be somewhat of a 

 iournevman bv now. For several years I have not failed to 

 produce every bird a Silver-Grey. This year I hatched off 267 

 chickens, and could not distinguish among them one bird 

 varving from the other. Many years since some chickens 

 carne quite a canary colour, and when in plumage were not 

 true to colour. 



