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TOURNAIi OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND OOTTAaE GARDENES. [ February 25. W-9. 



aelusiou and a snara (a resolution indicating retnrning sanity) — 

 I say that when, after all this, I found myself the next night 

 deliberately walking to the railway station and coolly asking 

 for a second-class return to King's Cross, well knowing I Lad to 

 travel six hundred miles for no other purpose than to see the 

 " last Canary show of ths season," I said to myself, " W. A. B., 

 yon are mad ! " The officials, however, not suspecting my in- 

 firmity, handed me my ticket, and on entering a carriage, to 

 my great delight I found a brother lunatic, one of the very men 

 ■who had expressed such sound prudential maxims the night 

 before, snugly ensconced in a corner, back to the horses, bent on 

 the same errand, and in a few minutes we were whirling along 

 at express speed towards our destination, the Crystal Palace. 



There were upwards of 1000 entries, nearly 700 of wliich consisted 

 of Canaries anil Goldfinch Mnles, snfficiently attesting the increasiriR 

 interest whicli attaches to the breeding and eihibition of these beantiful 

 sre^imens of the feathered tribe. A3 a whole, the Show was a success, 

 but I am sure 1 have seen soma classes better represented in previous 

 years. I noticed that some exhibitors were cotwpictK'tt-s by tluir cdisftKC • 

 but a glance at the catalogue showed the names of Waltei-, Mackley, 

 Hawldns, and Judd, whom, without making invidious selections, I 

 inow to bo good men and true men, whose names are a guarantee for 

 tie honesty of the specimens they show; while among amateurs, 

 'Messrp. Bcmrose and Besson representinR the Derby School, and the 

 ■firm of Moore S: Wynn with thirty -nine entries doing valiant betlle for 

 Northampton. Vine from the Isle of Wight, with Ashton, Doel, and 

 Young — loviiithans among Mules — were in themselves a tower of 

 strength. All the above exhibited fine studs ; but I have seen Walter 

 in better form. He has not been fairly " in the hunt " this season. 

 _ Time was when this last Canary ijbow of the season was without a 

 rival, and exhibitors kept their best specimens for it ; but other really 

 ijrst-class shows with liberal prize lists coming on before it, breeders 

 are induced to exhibit elsewhere, and one by one their best specimens 

 are claimed, till, by the middle of February, their stnds become so 

 diminished that tht y are obliged to till up their entries with birds much 

 inferior to many they have lost by sale at bygone shows. Hence this 

 great winding-up show of the season assumes more the character of a 

 great market for stock than a gathering of the choicest specimens. 



In AVc-iWi birds, Clear Yellow and Clear Buff were numerously 

 represented. The Ist prize birds ui each class shown by Mr. Havers, 

 of Norwich were good specimens. The evenly-marked 1st and 5nd 

 prize birds, and 1st and 3rd in Classes .3 and 4 respectively, exhibited 

 by Messrs. Moore & Wynn, of Northampton, deserved their position ; 

 and 172, 2nd prize, Class -1 (Mr. Bemrose, Derby), was a grand bird, 

 though lame. The ticked and unevenly marked birds were not a 

 remarkably striking class. Two prizes only were awarded to the 

 Yellows, while a sjilendid .specimen of the very bird the class is in- 

 tended for — i.e.. birds not absolntely clear, was tmnotieed. I refer to 

 No. 210 (Ml-. Havers), an exceptionally fine specimen. An equally 

 strange oversight occurred iu Class -1, where No. 177 (W. Walter. Win- 

 chester), was vei-y highly commended as an even-marked bird, though 

 Kotched on one side of the neck, and should not have been iu the class 

 at all. The Crested Norwich were iu many instances not up to the 

 mark, the classification being very open, including eveiy description 

 of Crested Norwich bhd gi-onped under two heads only I think that 

 the power to award extra prizes should surely have been exercised 

 here to its fullest extent. Among the Buffs were two of the finest 

 crested birds in England ; 276, clear body with dark green crest 

 (J. Young, Monkwearmoutb), and 277 (W. Walter). The former in 

 particular has a marvellous crest. 



The Belgians^ do not seem to ba quite so fashionable as formerly, 

 Ibnt some fair bu-ds were shown. The Crested Belgian class is, I think, 

 a mistake ; there are few, if any birds of this description, as there are 

 only very few breeders who have made it their study to import the crest 

 into this variety. The bulk of the specimens shown as such are for 

 'the most part Manchester and Yorkshire Crested, and I think that in 

 ;Bdjudicating a class avowedly for Crested Belgians, the properties of 

 ithe Belgian variety (■position birds) should materially influence the 

 iaward. A class for "Any variety of Crested Canary not being 

 Norwich," would admit all descriptions of crests. 



Among the London Fancies, No. 360 (W. Broderick), was a glorions 

 bird. 



The Lizards were a wretched lot, though individual specimens were 

 good; 390 (G. Tuckwood), Ist prize Golden-spangled was a gem, and 

 " found " at bis selUng pnco ; and 397 (Howarth Ashton), 2nd prize, 

 was a beauty also. The same names stood in the same relative 

 positions with equally good birds in the Silver-spangled class. 



The Cinnamons were excellent, the chief honours falling to Messrs. 

 Moore & Wynn, and to Mr. H. S'ine, Isle of Wight, whose Ist prize 

 Buff, No. 442, was very high in colour and quahty. 



In the " Any otlier VarieUj " class the Judges paid a in^aceful com- 

 pliment to our friends across the border by giving 1st and 2nd prizes 

 to two remarkably fine specimens of the Glasgow Don or Scotch Fancy 

 — the first, I think, ever sent so far south. These two birds have 

 gained highest honours elsewhere, and may be considered as types of 

 their class, which are mongrels. One glance at their contour will show 

 that, and Belgian is stamped in their every motion. 4.18, S. Hinds, 

 wrongly entered, would in its proper place, Class 7, have taken a high 

 position. 



What shall be said about the J/i/Zcj ? Thoy were simply superb ; bnt: 

 I was grieved to see one or two birds of tuowu merit standing low taj^, 

 the list purely from want of condition. The Dark Mules were a gogod 

 class; .''iST |.J. Young) was wrongly placed among the. Tonques, or must 

 have stood 2nd, if not Ist. Among the Linnet Mules, 6U8 (.1. Baxter), 

 only wanted soap and water to have placed it first ; and 616, Green- 

 finch and Goldfinch (Ashton) in the " Any other Variety " class fairly 

 earned its 1st prize ; not so No. 619 the very highly commended 

 attached to it. It is a Goldfinch and Canary Mule, and should be in' 

 Class 25. 



The British and Foreign Birds were numcrons and interesting, bnt" 

 I leave them in other bands. The Canaries and Mules are my- 

 " fancy." I travelled some hundreds of miles to see them, and though, 

 when I found myself being carried homewards bv mail express, I began 

 to wonder whot bud eent me on such an eriaud, 1 believe that next year 

 I shall do the some. I spent two nights stretched on the seat of a se- 

 cond-class carriage, with a pair of boots placed crossways for a pUlow, 

 and a rug for counterpane — not the most comfortable arrangement in 

 the world ; bnt we in the far north do not see the Crystal Palace every 

 day, and it is worth all the trouble and inconvenience if it be only to 

 moot old familiar faces, and sh.ake hands once a-year. I received 

 much attention from Mr. Wilkinson, the Superintendent, and when by 

 an ' ■ open Sesame " kind of process ho passed me through a private 

 door without the precincts of the building to smoke a cigar on the 

 sunny side with Major Ashton and one or two friends, I wrote him 

 down in the tablets of my memoi-y as a modtd manager. Vivant Crystal 

 Pslace, its Bird .Show, and its Superintendent.— W. A. B. 



The Judges were Mr. G. J. Bamesby, Derby ; Mr. A. Willmore, 

 London; Mr. T. Moore, Fareham; and Mr. W. Goodwin, London, for 

 British and Foreign Birds. 



TEOFIT OF POULTRY-KEEriNG. 



I KEEP poultry not for the sake of profit bnt for the pleasure 

 of seeing the fowls run about. The account below shows tlie 

 result of last year's experience. I had tbirty-nine birds at the 

 beginning of the year, and forty-eight at its end. The value of 

 the eggs is taken from the weekly selling prices in the adjacent 

 town, a seaport in the county of Durham. I sold numbers at 

 these prices, the lowest being fifteen for Is,, and the highest id. 

 8-piece. I have taken nothing into account for the manure or 

 for the feathers of the birds used for the table on the one side, 

 or for scraps from the house, rent of poultry houses (these 

 being part of my occupancy), or attendance (the latter is by 

 one in my establishment, and is a labour of love) on the other. 

 I bad to buy every ounce of food, and have kept a striot 

 account of the outlay, but the birds have an unlimited grass 

 run. I sold a few birds for the spit, and obtained 2.«. M. eBoh 

 for them. I kept two pairs of Guinea fowls during the year, and 

 do not tl ink I had forty eggs from them ; the hens seemed to 

 bo constantly laying, but they laid away in the fields and the 

 eggs were stolen. 1 ought to have had nearly three hundred, 

 which would have materially increased my profit. The food 

 was varied just as I could buy it cheapest, and consisted of 

 barley, oats, wheat, Indian' corn, buckwheat, boxings, &o. 

 By-the-hy, I saw several paragraphs in your Journal for and 

 against buckwheat, my experience is decidedly in favour of it. 

 I was unfortunate at the beginning of the year and had not a 

 score of eggs before February, but I was fortunate towards the 

 end, as I had 417 eggs in November and December, and sold 

 most of them at 2d. each, and glad the people were to buy them. 

 Since this year came in I have had on an average seventy-five 

 eggs a- week. 



Now it appears to me that the pleasure of poultry-keeping 

 can be enhanced by making a profit without having fancy birds 

 to be sold at fancy prices ; and if more attention were paid by 

 the humbler classes to the pursuit, it would be an advantage 

 to them, and tend not only to their pleasure but their profit. 

 The sum of £6, which I gained in the year, would be a great 

 assistance in a poor man's household. — A Subsobibeb fob Six- 

 teen Teaks. 



£ s. d. 

 Thirty-nine birds on 1st 



Jan., 1868, at 'ii. Bd. each 4 17 6 

 Paid for food during the 



year ..„ 10 1 8 



Value of e^s set 10 1 



Profit during the year .... 6 4 9 



£21 14 



£ s. 

 Value of eggs (2208) ilnriug 



tbe year 11 6 6 



Value of birds for table 



during tbe year, Ihirty- 



■ five at 28. 6rf. each 4 7 6 



Forty-eigbt birds on Slst 



Dec, 1868, at 2«. 6ri. each 6 



£21 14 



Testimoniat. to Mb. Dean Wolstenholme. — On Tuesday 

 evening, the 23rd inst., in the Freemasons' Tavern, Gr«at 

 Queen Street, London, Mr. 'Wolstenholme was presented with 

 a purse containing £50, subscribed by ,the leading Pigeon 



