October 29, IBBS. ] 



joubnaij op hobticulture and cottage oabdeneb. 



339 



leuf 80ut, hoDce uucortaia. 



, Boffoulft Daviosii; 3. Uodychiunn ftppurontly, but only a I turn ounoatmn ; 8, Asplonium Adiantum-aigrum ; 4, Lycopodium ro- 



{Uo3»ini).—l, Adiuutum tejiorum ; '2, Aduiu- , bui*luu»j G, Davnllif 



Din pyxiduta. 



METEOROIjOGICAL observations in the Suburbs of London for the wcok ending October 97th. 



POULTKY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHEONICLE. 



POULTRY snow DETAILS. 



Mitch has been said and written on various occasions by ex- 

 hibitors, respecting the present system of liolding so many 

 shows simultaneously. This to my mind seems suicidal, for 

 Dot more than one show out of four, I think, can possibly prove 

 a decided success as regards the quality of the birds exhibited 

 (which is very important), and in the end a serious pecuniary 

 loss to the various committees is the result. Besides, com- 

 mittees are now under the necessity of having persons to act as 

 judges who are not possessed of the necessary qualifications, 

 and although such persons may wish to act honestly towards 

 all, yet their lacking the proper qualifications must inflict an 

 injustice on exhibitors generally ; so that instead of people ex- 

 hibiting the various kinds of poultry with pleasure, as it ought 

 to be, it very often proves to be a source of annoyance and 

 vexation to many. The consequence is, that one show after 

 another becomes a thing of the past. 



To tho above circumstances, with a few others, I think may 

 be traced the total abandonment of many shows. In order 

 that a better state of things may exist, I wish to call the at- 

 tention of committees, and others, to the importance of having 

 at all times, as far as practicable, gentlemen well qualified to 

 perform the duty devolving upon them. I have no wish what- 

 ever to apeak disparagingly of any who may be called upon to 

 act as judges ; but I think the time has now arrived when we 

 require judges possessing a general knowledge of all the classes, 

 and not persons who really only understand one or two classes, 

 fo long, therefore, as matters continue as they are, nothing 

 but dissatisfaction and fault-finding can be expected. I, as an 

 individual exhibitor, would like eight or ten persons selected 

 to act as judges, and that they should be exclusively employed; 

 but, of course, the committees to make their own selection 

 from that number, and if only the exhibitors could agree as to 

 who those gentlemen should be, better results would soon 

 follow. 



I see shows advertised that are likely to clash with each 

 other ; such being the case, one of those gentlemen might be 

 appointed to ofliciate alone in all the classes at one show, while 

 another was allowed to judge at another, and thus the great 

 object would be obtained in each case ; something Uke correct 

 decisions being arrived at to the satisfaction of exhibitors 

 generally. — Exhiditoe. 



Beistol and Clifton Show. — We have just received a sche- 

 dule of the Bristol and Chftou Poultry Show, its programme 

 this time surpassing even Birmingham in the silver cups 

 offered for competition. To Dorkings two cups each of the 

 value of ten guineas are offered, while Cochins, Brahmas, 

 Spanish, and Hamburghs, have two cups awarded to each, one 

 for cocks or cockerels, and the other for hens or pullets. The 

 Black Hamburghs will have to creep into the " Any variety " 

 class, this useful fowl not being yet appreciated to its full 

 value. At the last Clifton Show, it will be remembered chickens 

 only could compete ; this year, however, old and young will 

 compete together in most of the classes. There is one lesson 

 that we think Birmingham could learn from this young but 

 enterprising Society. We refer to the entrance fees. While to 

 Birmingham every exhibitor vrill have to send no less than four 



pens, here the fancier of a single variety only will be able to 

 compete without having to pay the obnoxious guinea, before 

 he can show even a single pen. The entrance fees for the 

 Bristol and Clifton Show are the same as for the Manchester 

 and Liverpool recently held. 



BREEDING DUCKWING GAME FOWLS. 



In breeding Duckwings for correct match, the " golden " 

 rule, that " like produces like best," should be attended to ; 

 and the most correct-coloured Duckwings, especially Silver- 

 Greys, are produced by breeding " Duckwings with Duckwings." 



Selecting first-rate strains of the same colour and match, if 

 good, but of quite different blood, the cock in crossing of one 

 strain, the hens all sisters and of a different strain from the 

 cock, but matching him, put two, four, or six'hena to one cock ; 

 two will be the best if crossing. All should be two-year-old 

 birds, as in their prime ; if breeding in-and-in, an old cock to 

 be put to two-year-old hens, or a two-year-old cock to old hens. 

 Breed chiefly in April or May, or the last ten days in March, 

 setting no more than eleven or twelve eggs under each hen. 



The common way of best producing Duckwings for exhibition 

 with the required high-coloured cocks and the Silver hens, is 

 to breed theDuckwing cock chickens from a good Black-breasted 

 Bed cock put to Duckwing hens, and to get the pullets from a, 

 Duckwing cock with Duckwing hens, which gives the true silvery 

 bluish grey colour, but does not breed cock chickens sufficiently 

 high coloured. Breeding the cock chickens from a Duckwing 

 cock with Partridge hens, is, I think, equally good, and makes 

 more Duckwing cocks, and better on the whole, perhaps. 

 I, however, always prefer breeding both cock chickens and 

 pullets from Duckwings bred from Duckwings, as the cock 

 chickens are then the true match for the pullets, and are not 

 mongrels. No good or true-coloured Silver-Grey Duckwing 

 pullets can be obtained by crossing with Beds, but only the 

 yellow or yellowish pullets with brown-marked wings and 

 shoulders, and coarse red-fawn breasts, but such as the latter, 

 when hens, can be used for breeding the high-coloured Yellow 

 Duckwing cocks which match them, and will do so better than 

 breeding with the Partridge hen a second time. 



The true colour for pure-bred Duckwing hens is a beautiful 

 silvery bluish grey thickly frosted with silver, with a delicate 

 pale or silver-fawn breast, instead of the coarse red breast, and 

 a red fawn breast is only proper to the Partridge or other Bed 

 hens. The neck hackle of the Duckwing hen should be, of 

 course, silvery grey striped with black, less black near the 

 head. . Tail blackish grey or greyish black. I prefer the Duck- 

 wing cocks that really match such hens as these and are bred 

 with them, but they will throw cocks according to the cock put 

 to them, either Silver-tirey, Grey Birchen, Birchen Grey, and 

 Yellow Birchen Duckwing cocks. The hen and not so much 

 the cock, is the parent stock and true foundation of our Duck- 

 wings, which were first bred from Black-breasted Beds acci- 

 dentally throwing Duckwing hens or pullets ; and these, being 

 perpetuated by interbreeding, produced also Duckwing cocks, 

 the Yellows first and then the Silvers by selection afterwards. 

 Greys are harder and gamer if rightly bred than any Yel- 

 lows are, as Yellows are often softer than Beds, as when the 

 Beds throw to Greys they throw hard birds, and when to 

 Yellows often soft birds. I mean really good Greys and not 

 the soft mealy colour. The high-coloured orange-copper-backed 

 cocks are very handsome, but never breed good-coloured pullets, 

 being only handsome cross-bred birds themselves. 



