364 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 27, 18C9. 



In liahhits, the first and GeconiT prizctakers were good in lop ears, 

 tut the Himalayan in the " Variety class " were not perfectly marked. 

 We published the prize list last week. 



RABBITS AT EXHIBITIONS. 



Many of your subscribers in Hull were greatly pleased with 

 Mr. Rayson's letter under the above heading in your issue of the 

 13th inst., where he justly complains of the frequent absence 

 of any notice of the Rabbits in the published reports of the 

 poultry shows. There is an instance of this neglect on the 

 part of somebody on the very page where this letter appears, 

 and, indeed, I was looking in vain for some mention of the 

 prize Rabbits at the Epworth Show when that complaint met 

 my eye, and yet twelve lines were devoted to the names of the 

 winners in the cage bird classes. It was a still greater disap- 

 pointment and source of wonder to frnd no notice whatever of 

 the prize-winners of Rabbits at the PIuU Poultry Show last 

 week, where there were sixty-one pens, containing the picked 

 Rabbits of England, fifteen prizes, including cup and medal, 

 given, and I myself heard the Judge (long experienced in these 

 matters) remark that there had never, perhaps, been so large 

 and choice a collection of Rabbits brought together in this 

 country. Everybody knows that it is an expensive hobby and 

 does not pay the most successful exhibitor, in a pecuniary sense, 

 but it is encouraging and gratifying to his innocent vanity to 

 see his name in print if a winner, and very mortifying not 

 to be able to learu who has beaten him if he go to the wall. 

 I observe that occasionally there is a notice of Rabbits at small 

 shows where four piizes are given, and not a dozen pens 

 entered, and it would be esteemed a favour by myself and a 

 number of your other subscribers here, and doubtless hundreds 

 elsewhere, if you would kindly add a footnote enliehtening us 

 on what appears a strange anomaly. — B. Hcdson, Hull. 



[The following are the awards made to Rabbits at the Hull 

 Show : — 



Black and White, or Grey and TVhite.—l, W. Allison. 2, T. Ingham, 

 c, C. King. Yellow and U'liite, or Tortoiseslwll.—l and Cup, B. Hudson. 

 2,J. Svkes. ;ic, A. H Easten ; H. Yardlev. c, T. Ingham. Self-colour.— 

 1, A. H. Eaeten. 2, F. Stainburn. he. T. Ingham ; — White ; W. Allison, 

 c, S. Hall. Himalayan.— \^ .T. Butterwortb. 2, J. R. Jessop. he, S. G. 

 Hudson, c, S. G. Hudson. Other Varieties. — 1, A. H. Easten. 2 and he, 

 S. G. Hudson. SclUnn Class —1, S. Hall. 2, T. Ingham, he, 1. Strayton ; 

 B. Hudson. Silver Medal, F. E. Thompson.l 



THE SHEFFIELD ORIGINAL FANCY RABBIT 

 SOCIETY'S SHOW. 



The fifteenth half-yearly Show was held on the 17th inst., when 

 the largest and best stock of Fancy Rabbits that was ever exhibited 

 was shown. Prizes were awarded as follow ; — 



Length op Ears.— 1, W. Allison. Length of ears, 22J inches ; width 

 B^ inches. Age. 5 months 10 days. 2, W. .\llison. Length of ears 

 224, inches, width 5^ inches. Age Jj months 11 days. 



Black and White.— 1, W. Allison. Length of ears, 21J inches, width, 

 5 inches. Age 3 months 14 days. 2, H. Frith. Length of ears, 21 inches, 

 width 4^ inches. Age 4 months. 



Grey and White.— 1, H. Platts. Length of ears, 19^ inches, width 

 5^ inches. Afje 4 months. 2, H. Platts. Length of ears, 19 inches, 

 width, 4 inches. Age 5 months. 



Tortoiseshelt,. — 1, W. Allison, Length of ears, 21 inches, width, 

 4|. Age 5 months 10 days. 



Blue and White. — 1, H. Platts. Length of ears, 18 inches, width, 

 4Mnches. Age 2 months 7 days. 



Self-Colour. — 1,H. Frith. Length of ears, 21.^, width, 5 inches. Age 

 4 months 4 days. 2, G. Moore. Length of ears, 20 inches, width il inches. 

 Age 4 months 4 davs. 



Weight.— 1, G. Moore. Weight 10 lbs. Age 6 months. 2, B. Marshall. 

 Weight 9 lbs. 12 ozs. Age 7 months. 



Messrs. Allison and Platts contributed greatly to the breeding stock, 

 including Allison's Champion, said to be the longest-eared Rabbit in 

 the world, measuring 'iiJ^ inches and G inches wide, and his splendid 

 pair of Black and White, winners of some of the principal prizes in 

 England. 



Almost Siamese-twin Chickens. — I have recently had a 

 brood of chickens hatched, and among them was one with four 

 legs, four wings, two perfect bodies, and one head. It died 

 before the hatching was complete, and I have had it preserved. 

 — W. Bakpoot, Queen Street, Kettering. 



Aylesbury Ducks. — An Aylesbury Duck laid such a large 

 egg on the 13th inst., that I weiphed it and found it 8 ozs. 

 Two Aylesbury Ducks have laid 231 eggs since January 1st. — 

 F. W. B. B. 



Eakly Swap.ming at WATEEEEAcn, Cambiucgeshikb. — Mr. 

 \spland, of Rosemary Hill, Waterbeach, head gardener to the 

 Eev. W. Wilson, had a very fine swarm on the 21st of April. 



Mr. J. Deneon, Jan., Florist, &c.. High Street, Waterbeach, 

 had a fine ewarm on the 2oth of April. 



STRENGTHENING STOCKS. 



I HAD two good Bwarma of Ligurians, but tried to strengthen 

 one of them at the expense of the other by changingthe stands, 

 which did not answer, as one of them killed the bees as they re- 

 turned home, consequently it is so weak that it is useless. — S.H.G. 



[Changing places with stocks should only be done when the 

 bees are busily at work in the middle of a fine day, when honey 

 is coming in rapidly. At such a time we are assured on excel- 

 lent authority that the populations of strong and weak stocks 

 may in this way be equalised with little or no risk of a mishap.] 



MY DOGS.— No. 5. 



MY DOG WHEN I BECAME A RECTOR. 



Dogs seem capable of two kinds of strong attachment- 

 attachment either to the horse they live with, or to some one 

 member of a family, usually their master. You may also 

 notice that it the love is strong and warm the dog is no Fenella, 

 but one of a high degree of intelligence. As to the dogs of the 

 common caste of nature, they eat and drink, obey you, like a 

 walk, and are grateful for it, and there all ends. That is the 

 history of their lives from year to year. 



But among dogkind as among mankind, Shakspeare's canon 

 holds good : — 



" Nature hath meal and bran." 

 An observant eye which has watched the world for some years 

 detects easily enough the bran. That boasting, coarse-minded 

 man, rich he may be, fairly educated he may be, prosperous 

 he may be, yet for all that you see at once he is but of Nature's 

 "bran." So, too, that vulgar-minded woman, who wears her 

 gaudy clothing like a clotheshorse, but in spite of her apparel's 

 costliness is yet not a gentlewoman. She, too, is of Nature's 

 " bran ;" while, on the other hand, that quiet, true, gentle man, 

 who winces and shrinks under the broad stare and loud talk of 

 Mr. Vulgarian Pluto, is readily recognised as being of Nature's 

 " meal." And that quiet-demeanoured woman, who welcomes 

 you with a smile and soft voice, who would have just satisfied 

 Ben Jonson's wish when he said — 



" Give me .a look, give me a f.ice. 

 That makes simplicity a grace ; 

 Robes loosely Howiug, hair as free. 

 Such sweet neglect more taketh me 

 Than all th' adulteries of art : 

 They strike mine eyes, but not my heart." 



She, too, as you see at once, is of Nature's very finest " meal." 

 Now, as I before said, just as among mankind, so among 

 dogkind, " Nature hath meal and bran." A dog of high intel- 

 ligence is of the former class, and he has always a very warm 

 heart ; but in this class there are degrees. One such dog forms 

 the warmest attachment to his stable-sharer the horse, which 

 he will welcome with joy, whine for when absent. Sometimes 

 he will lie on his back ; at other times the horse will, in a sort 

 of stupid loving way, put down his long kind head for the dog 

 to lick his face. As the two do not by nature partake of similar 

 food there is no quarrel over the dividing of provender. Such 

 a dog I have known, who was wont to biing his stable-friend 

 an apple from the orchard as a little love-gift and token. But 

 the highest-class dog of all is the one who loves with wonderful 

 depth and warmth — depth seen in his eyes, warmth felt in his 

 caresses — his own master. Such a dog you see in Sir Edwin's 

 picture " Anxiety." A noble Newfoundlander is sitting on 

 the extreme point of the pier, with his master's plumed hat 

 kept safe beneath one weighty foot, while his eyes are looking 

 from his bent head far into the waves beneath, asking the sea 

 to give up the beloved form, or to tell. Is my master safe, or is 

 he lost ? Or that other picture, where the shepherd dog is 

 laying his head on his master's coffin in a state of loving grief, 

 he so soon to die of a broken heart. 



Of such an affectionate dog I have now to speak. She was 

 a terrier, not of the rough Scotch kind, at one of which Punch 

 represented a London City Arab looking, and saying, " Which 

 is 'is 'ead and which is 'is tail ?" though much may be said 

 for the docility and intelligence of such. No, Fanny was an 

 English terrier, black and tan. 



But I must tell all in proper order. One bright Sunday 

 morning in late spring or early summer, that best of times in 

 the West of England, I was crossing the road from my church 

 to my rectory. To the church I had been, country parson-like, 

 to look round and see if all was right for service to begin half 



