104 



JOUBNAIi OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ August 6, 1868. 



leathers, for as a rule the bird will have been lowered quit® 

 enough by the few drops of blood lost at the moutb, and the 

 copper, which with all care can hardly be prevented from enter- 

 ino the stomach. — W. S. 



PIGEON JUDGING. 



In Pigeon-judging "A Foreigner" says no dealer ought to 

 judge, and in this I quite agree. If committees would ask for 

 advice from any of the columbarian societies as to what 

 fanciers or breeders are competent to judge, then we should 

 profit by experience. Many gentlemen from all parts of the 

 cotmtry would come forward as judges. 



Again, take the way in which the Judges were appointed at 

 the last Birmingham Show. At the eleventh hour, or shall I 

 say as the two Judges were proceeding to their duties, another 

 gentleman being of opinion that they had more work to per- 

 lorm than their time would allow of, asked them to go to 

 the Committee, and say he would withdraw his entries, and 

 help them to judge, if they would allow him to do so, which 

 the Committee did. Is this fair? I think the fairest plan 

 weuld be to have one judge from London, one from Lancashire, 

 and the other a local gentleman, and let each take a cer- 

 tain number of classes, according to what variety of birds he 

 has kept, and judge them on his own responsibility ; then when 

 an exhibitor asks the judge why he has passed over such and 

 such birds, there would be no cause for the oft-heard remark, 

 that " Mr. So-and-Sowas with me, he would not give way, and 

 I was obliged to do so." 



Now, with regard to the small number of the entries at some 

 of the shows, the reason, in my opinion, is because dealers are 

 allowed to exhibit with fanciers. What fancier has a chance with 

 & dealer 7 Look at the last Bath and West of England Show ; 

 two of our largest dealers took seventeen out of twenty-eight 

 prizes. Again, take the " Any other variety " class at the last 

 Birmingham Show ; one dealer exhibited no less than twelve 

 pairs of recently-imported birds. Has any fancier a chance ? 

 In all columbarian societies there exists a rule to the effect 

 that no dealer shall be admitted a member ; could not a similar 

 jregnlation be framed for the principal exhibitions? Why 

 should the dealer and Pigeon-fancier be placed on equal terms 

 in exhibiting, when the nurseryman and amateur flower-grower 

 have separate classes ? If a fancier go to a dealer and buy his 

 best pair of birds to exhibit, he is compelled to give a good 

 price for them. As soon as he is gone the dealer sets to work, 

 And scours the country to obtain another pair as good, if not 

 better, than that which he has just sold, and at the first show 

 at which the fancier and dealer meet, the former is beaten with 

 lis own money. Allow me to quote Mr. Fulton (see page 41.5 

 of last volume) — " It is a well-known fact that many good 

 fanciers and exhibitors have of late given up the idea of send- 

 ing their birds for competition " owing to the reason I have 

 just named ; and is it not discouraging to exhibit when we are 

 placed on equal terms ? 



Separate classes could not be formed at all shows, but I 

 think it would be well to make a trial of doing so at one of the 

 principal shows. The summer shows I always consider the 

 dealers' harvest. Look at the columns of " our Journal," and 

 see who are taking the prizes ; they speak for themselves, 

 though I admit that no ardent fancier would take his birds 

 from their eggs or young to send to shows at this season. 



To carry out such a rule as I propose, the question woiald 

 arise. Who are dealers ? Bather an awkward question to de- 

 cide ; still, it they will not come forward and acknowledge them- 

 selves dealers, it would become the duty of all columbarian 

 societies to send up a list of names to the London Society ; 

 perhaps, better still, appoint an independent gentleman to 

 decide. I think it is a question of the greatest importance to the 

 fancy at the present time, and the period is not far distant for 

 a great change to take place, for the fancy has the worst of it 



— namely, feeding? They will do anything required of them, 

 and I would advise every fancier to try them. I have done so 

 with the greatest success, and intend to double my stock by 

 next season. At the same time, cannot we improve them? I 

 most certainly say they do not deserve what they have received 

 at the hands of '• Wiltshire Eector," and the author of 

 " Pigeons." What class pays so well at Birmingham ? At 

 the last Show there were twenty-two pens entered. In my 

 opinion there ought to be two classes for them — namely. Dun 

 and Dun Chequer, Blue and Blue Chequer. I should like to 

 hear the opinions of Mr. Weir, Mr. Cottle, and Mr. Hewitt as to 

 what an Antwerp should be ; then, possibly, some exhibitors 

 of them would be better satisfied than they are at present with 

 the judging of that class, as there is no recognised standard to 

 work to at the present time. — A Young Fancier. 



It is the duty of every fancier now to join a columbarian 

 society, and endeavoar to amalgamate the whole of the societies 

 in England and Scotland together, and form a centre in London. 

 Their union would be strength, and our voices would be heard 

 at every Pigeon show throughout the kingdom. I have not 

 raised this subject as a raid against the dealers, but as a ques- 

 tion of fairness to the fancier in showing. 



Now let me add one word of praise for the Antwerps so ably 

 defended by " A Foreigner." Why should they be discarded 

 vrhen they posucsa a property invaluable to a breeder of^Toys 



Driffield and Haslingden Snows. — We are asked to state 

 that Mr. Hewitt was not present as a Judge at the Has- 

 lingden and Driffield Poultry Shows, although under a previous 

 engagement to officiate. He unexpectedly received a subpcena 

 to give evidence on a trial at the same date. 



BEE IRREGULARITIES. 



From one hive I had, on the 19th of June, a first swarm, 

 which was safely hived. The bees clustered about the entrance 

 of the parent hive agaiu on July 4th, as if about to swarm. 

 The same occurred on the 5th, and at two o'clock in the afternoon 

 the bees rose in the air as if swarming ; but they alighted on 

 the hive they had just left, and soon entered it again. 



In the evening of the 6th, a " lifter " was placed under the 

 hive, to give the bees more room. On the '7th all was quiet. 

 On the 8th they again made an attempt at swarming, and 

 alighted on exactly the same spot that the first swarm had 

 chosen. No sooner had they alighted than they began to fly 

 back to the hive. Indeed, there were two streams of bees 

 crossing each other, the one going from the parent hive to the 

 tree, the other returning from it to the parent hive. It seemed 

 as if it were a race in which all should touch the goal and 

 return immediately. It was all over in about five minutes. 

 On the ".Hh they again swarmed, but this time they were in 

 earnest ; they alighted on a pea rod, and were safely hived. All 

 this puzzles me, and may be of interest to some of your 

 readers. — Henry Cullin, Galwaij. 



[We cannot account for these erratic mauffiuvres. Can any 

 of our correspondents explain them ?] 



THE BARON VON BERLEPSCH ON FOUL BROOD. 



{Continued from page 87.) 

 mode of ikfection. 



The disease may be communicated — 



First, by feeding bees with honey taken from foul-broody 

 hives. 



Secondly, by inserting combs taken from such hives, espe- 

 cially those containing honey and pollen. 



Thirdly, probably also by the miasma of the surrounduQg 

 atmosphere. 



Fourthly, by bees from healthy stocks robbing or attempting 

 to rob the foul-breeding hive of its stores. This is especially 

 apt to be the case if the robber bees have brood to rear at home. 



Fifthly, by the bee-keeper himself, if after opening and ex- 

 amining a diseased hive he proceeds to open and operate on a 

 healthy one without previously waehing his hands. 



Sixthly, by uniting the bees of a diseased stock with those of 

 a healthy one when there is young brood in the hive of the 

 latter, although the union can be safely effected where there is 

 no brood. Even honey from foul-breeding stocks given to 

 colonies which have no brood seldom does any harm, although 

 it would otherwise certainly introduce the disease. It is usu- 

 ally considered that a queen from a foul-breeding stock in- 

 troduced alone into a healthy colony will not communicate the 

 disease. Spitzner says, however, that he infected a healthy 

 colony by introducing such a queen into it. The same occurred 

 to Dr. Asmuss in two cases, to Mr. Arnold in one ; and in my 

 own apiary iu 1867, a colony, certainly healthy at the time, 

 became diseased shortly after I had introduced into it an 

 unattended queen taken from a foul breeding stock. There 

 1 seems to be no good conceivable reason why a queen should not 



