14 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUHB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 3, 1 



with you and see the birds after office is over. Yon increase 

 the bribes till he consents. The first visit is to the poultry. 

 Where is the bold bird that cried defiance at you in the morn- 

 ing? Yon cannot see him ; but on close examination you per- 

 ceive a sort of semicircular bunch of feathers in the corner of 

 the pen. There is the gallant bird of the morning. His tail 

 is on the ground, his head as near it as may be. You can only 

 say, "It is very odd." He will, and does recover; but those 

 ■who keep them know this is a common case. Now for M. 

 Jacque. 



Proportions and general characteristics :— Body slightly 

 rounded, of ordinaiy proportions, tolerably near to the ground, 

 standing firmly ou large feet. Breast high, legs and wiugs well 

 developed, large head, half top-knot, whi&kersand beard, triple 

 transversal comb, five toes on each foot. Plumage splashed or 

 spotted white, black, or straw colour ; in chickens, black and 

 white only. 



An adult cock should weigh from to 7 lbs., made up prin- 

 cipally of flesh, the bones weighing only an eighth. He should 

 be put up to fatten at sixteen, and be killed at eighteen weeks 

 old. 



His comb should be triple and transversal to the direction 

 of the beak, composed of two lengthened, rectangular, and 

 flattened spirals, opening from right to left like the leaves of a 

 book ; they should be thick and fleshy, and notched or uneven 

 at the sides. The third spiral should grow from the middle of 

 the other two, be about the size of a lengthened nut, and shaped 

 like an irregular strawberry. A fourth, independent of these, 

 and about the size of a tare, grows above the beak and between 

 the nostrils. 



Deaf ears small, and hidden by the whiskers ; half crest 

 inchning backwards and to the fides. 



Beard begins between the wattles under the beak, and should 

 he larger at bottom than at top. 



Physiognomy of the head differing from that of other breeds 

 in many remarkable particulars. The head forms with the 

 neck a very close angle, so that the beak takes the appearance 

 of a nose. The square and flattened comb looks like a fleshy 

 forehead, the cheeks are surrounded with curling feathers that 

 look Uke whiskers, the drooping corners of the beak look like 

 a mouth, the feathery cravat joined to the gills simulates a 

 beard, the top- knot looks like a luxuriant head of hair, and the 

 whole face immediately gives the idea of that of a man. 



In the adult the legs should be of a leaden grey, in the 

 chicken bluish grey and white, with rose-coloured spots. 



The plumage of both sexes should be entirely composed of 

 black, white, and straw colour ; those that show any red should 

 be pitilessly got rid of. The plumage of the Houdan should 

 be either spotted or splashed, irregularly made up of alternate 

 black and white feathers, sometimes of black tipped with 

 white, sometimes of white tipped with black. 



The adult hen should weigh from 5 to lbs. 



Both sexes must have five toes on each foot. The hen is an 

 abundant and early layer of large eggs. 



This is truly a hardy fowl, and is reared more easily than 

 any other French fowl. They are also more domesticated and 

 less destructive to gardens and crops than any other. 



the loth of June, five weeks from the 11th, the first goshngs 

 appeared, and the others came out during the following day. — 

 L. B. 



NOTES ON HATCHING. 



The necessity of keeping eggs damped previous to hatching 

 is adverted to in page 396. I find doing so very beneficial, 

 and very rarely lose a chicken at hatching time. I sprinkle 

 the eggs at intervals with flowers of sulphur, but not when the 

 eggs are ready to hatch. Just before I expect them to do so I 

 take a bowl of water, and try the eggs, put them all in, and it, 

 after carefully watching them for a few sescnds, there is no 

 movement, remove the bad ones ; it gives the others more 

 room, and facilitates hatching. I seldom sprinkle the eggs 

 during this hot weather, but pour half a hand-bowl of water 

 over them. 



" Nemo," in the same number of the Journal, thinks an 

 easterly wind prejudicial to hatching. I cannot now call to 

 mind the time the east wind prevailed. It is said about this 

 part of Sussex (near Uckfleld), that if a Goose sits when the 

 wind is easterly she will require five weeks to hatch. My 

 Geese have hitherto hatched in about thirty or thirty-one days. 

 One of mine laid a second time, and sat on the 11th of May. 

 Of this I am positive, as I put the date on all the eggs. I 

 found she did not hatch at the usual time, and would have 

 taken her eggs away, but she sat in a damp place out of the 

 way near a bed of rushes, and not far from a pond. On 



STAVELEY POULTRY SHOW. 



Having entered a pen of birds for the Stp.7eley Show, which 

 was fixed for June 23rd, I was somewhat surprised on the •22nd 

 by receiving a letter from the Secretary, stating that '• owing 

 to the small number of entries the Committee are soiTy that 

 they cannot see their way clearly to holding the proposed Show 

 at the present time," and returning the amount of my entry fee. 

 The entries, it appears, closed on June 13tb, therefore the 

 Committee must then have been aware of the " small number 

 of entries." Why, then, I ask, did they not immediately 

 signify the abandonment of the Show without waiting eight or 

 nine days, and until almost the day of the Show ? Had they 

 done so, I for one should have been less displeased. 



I would suggest to the Committee of the Staveley Show, and 

 the same suggestion may apply to some other committees, that 

 in their advertisements they should state more definitely where 

 the place is situated. After ferreting through a gazetteer and 

 Bradshaw's Guide I concluded that this Staveley was either in 

 Westmoreland or Derbysbue. I, however, addressed my ap- 

 plication for a prize list simply " Staveley," and in due course 

 received a list, but by which I was not further enlightened. 

 Seeing, however, that the list was printed at Chesterfield, I 

 concluded it must be the Derbyshire Staveley. — Lex. 



BEVERLEY POULTRY SHOW. 



The entries at Beverley this season, -were scarcely so nnmerous as 

 in previous years, no doubt from the dates for the Spalding and 

 Stareley Shows being almost simultaneous. The latter matting was 

 withdrawn by the Committee all but at the last moment, on acconnt 

 of the paucity of entries, and. consequently, many intending com- 

 petitors were thrown entirely out in their calculations, and from this 

 cause only a large number of excellent fowls that would otherwise 

 have been at Beverley, remained at home. Kven with this disad- 

 vantage, there were "290 entries, and with the single exception of the 

 Game classes, the birds <^juite maintained the reputation which this 

 meeting has enjoyed for eleven years. 



This year's Show was held in the grounds of W. Croaskill, Esq., 

 of Walter Gate, and certainly a moie beautiful spot for such an ex- 

 hibition could scarcely he imagined. Very extensive tents were pro- 

 vided, the arraogements were complete, and although at repeated in- 

 tervals a thunderstorm seemed imminent, the weather fortunately 

 proved fine throughout. The Honorary Secretary, Mr. Harry Adams, 

 was as indefatigable as ever, and the most complete order and regu- 

 larity prevailed. 



A veiy extraordinary effort to surreptitiously obtain possession of a 

 much-coveted premium at this year's Beverley Show deserves a mo- 

 ment's notice at our hands. An exhibitor who. we are informed, holds 

 a very good social position, within a few days of the Show addressed 

 a private letter to the Judge, directing his particular attention to hoth 

 the class and likewise number of his pen that he purposed to exhibit 

 for a silver cup, and then very modestly requested its appropriation. 

 The letter also contained a post-otHce order drawn by the exhibitor in 

 the Judge's favour. The sequel will, we trust, teach most expressively, 

 that such conduct will never receive the sanction of any pai-ty worthy 

 of the position of a public arbitrator. The course pursued by the 

 Judge was this : The evening before the Show he read alond the letter 

 to a full meeting of the Committee, signed the post-ofiice order in 

 their prf sence. and at once handed it over to the funds of the Show, 

 expressing his unalterable determination "to pass over" this par- 

 ticular pen, good or bad, as an empty one. when engaged in hia 

 decisions of the morrow. This done, the Committee passed unani- 

 mously a resolution, that the exhibitor should not be permitted again 

 to exhibit at any future meeting of the Beverley Poultry Society. It 

 is but justice to the birds themselves to add, they proved a very ex- 

 cellent pen, but from this cause only they were (as foretold), '' passed '' 

 unheeded by the Arbitrator, though they did not at all lack the especial 

 attention of visitors generally. We pass without comment, for it needs 

 none, from this really unpleasant affair. 



ilost of the Game fowls exhibited were birds of high repute, and 

 again added other laurels to the many they had preriously obtained, 

 but the rapid moult that is taking place this season so unusually 

 early, caused the Game classes, to an unpractised eye, to appear of 

 far less interest than on former occasions. Six weeks or even a couple 

 of months must now elapse before the fowls can again recover their 

 usual condition and essential hard feather. The silver cup for 

 A^i«7(iV; fowls was awarded to an extraordinarily good pen belonging 

 to E. Jones, Esq., of Clifton, the competition being at the same time 

 unusually severe for the remaining premiums in this class. Of Cochins ^ 

 the display was excellent, and the emulation for the cup proved that 

 the breeders of Cochins were fully aware of the value of its possession, 

 both as to the sale of extra stock, and also as an addition to their 



