December 2i, 16i^ ] 



<i 'I y. '.\i I ■./ :. .\ \ri i. vri > 

 JOURNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



487 



the stroDR Imx and b»sket form, no oortU or nnils being nsod in either 

 case, And tliu trays or iuslde boxctj eo nrraugcd tbiit uo packing cxcopt 

 paper is ut'oesnary. Neveithelosa, your c;iso soems a pood ouo, aud if 

 cheap cuougb will, no doubt, scU with or without u patent. 



AucCBA BEnnirs— Dbainino (H. />.).— They will become red next 

 year. Place the draiuiug-pipoa beneath the lawn in your clayey soil 

 3 feet below the eurfuco, and in linos 1'^ foot apart. 



■ Names op Fiiuits {JC. S.).—li is the Winter Strawberry Apple. {L. L. D.). 

 —Your Apple is Lady's Finger. (7*. TUmiianl d- 5on).— Your seedling 

 rusaet Apple is one of great txctllence. (ih-nmacn).—!, Easter JSeurri,''; 



2, Not known. {Centurion).— Hha Pear b is Rnndelet, not T\'inter Nelis; 

 A, i^ not Chnumonte], and wo cannot Bay what it is. Xho Apple is 

 Ueinctto do Caux. (.-/. A.].—\, Crasanue ; 2, Probably Winter Nells 

 », Chaumonttl; 5, Ravelstono Pippin. 



Najies of Plants {U. (7.).— Wo cannot name plants from their leaves 

 only. (/. TV. iW.).— Cestrnm aurantlacnm. (/r. J?.l.— 1, Enpatoriom, not 

 determined, allied to E. panicnlatum ; 2, C, C, Polystifhum annulare; 

 iJ, I'olystichiini aculcatum ; 4, Lastrea dilatata. (An Innuircr], — Babro- 

 thamnu3 lascieulatus. Roq^uirca ordinary gvecnhouso treatment. May 

 be planted against a pillar with advantage. 



METEOROLOaiCAIi OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the week ending December 22nd. 



POTTLTSY, BSE, and SOTJSEEOLD CHROITICLE. 



TRIMMING AND OTHER ARTIFICES AT SHOV/S. 



When I wrote the other day, I stated tbat I did not then 

 know the result of a formal protest I had handed in at I!ir- 

 minghatn ngainst a prize pen of Brahma hens, on the ground 

 that the hocks of one of them were even more than usually 

 trimmed. Tliat result is shortly stated. I received the next 

 day a note from the Secretary, stating that he had laid my 

 protest " before the Council, and was directed to say the same 

 could not be entertained." It was never even alleged that the 

 accusation was false, and, had the case been defended on its 

 merits, I had, and have, testimony which would place the 

 matter beyond doubt. • 



At first I was naturally irate ; but on looking over the Bir- 

 mingham schedule I found that the Council could not do 

 otherwise ihan they did, as they state that no appeal can be 

 had from the decision of the Judges unless some " rule " of the 

 Society be proved to be broken, and Birmingham has no rule 

 whatever against trimming. Nay, on further examination, I 

 find that Liverpool, Manchester, aud Bristol are in the same 

 position, 60 that I fear no committee which has not published 

 a rule on the subject could withhold a prize without being 

 subject to an action at la?,'. Eeally, it is time the question 

 were mooted ! I state these facta that it may be seen I can 

 sympathise with committees iu their difficulties. 



Nevertheless, what has appeared has had ciifoct, for since 

 then I have received copies of several schedules containing 

 excellent " trimming clauses." Some of them have always 

 contained them — others not. As.a specimen I quote the Kendal 

 schedule, which enacts that " Trimming, or artificial alteration 

 of the plumage, or of any other part of a bird (except the comb 

 of a Game fowl), will disqualify it from receiving a prize." The 

 Whitehaven Society has a similar regulation. 



And let not committees of shows which this year have no 

 rule, think that they are absolved from responsibility. Their 

 duty is — as " no appeal" can be made from tlie judges — to 

 specially request their judges to give particular attention to 

 this point, and to disqualify all evident cases. It is perfectly 

 notorious that judges do not do this at present; if requested 

 they may do so. They seem actually to be afraid of some 

 exhibitors. We can all remember seeing occasionnlly some 

 trickery exposed in these pages by them, with all the virtuous 

 indignation imaginable, but in every case (I am speaking of 

 poultry — I was glad to see prominent sinners disqualified in 

 the Pigeon classes at Birmingham), the " example " has been 

 some outsider, some exhibitor of no name or iulluence. I do 

 not remember unc case where an influential exhitiitor has been 

 exposed, though I have seen cases quite as bad and equally 

 evident. Let committees, therefore, draw the attention of 

 their arbitrators to this matter, and next year insert the needful 

 clause in their schedules. The Birmingham Council, evidently, 

 by the Pigeon decision, are anxious to do justice; and I have 

 every confidence that next year such a protest as I made will 

 not be made iu vain. Meanwhile I am taking other steps. 



the nature of which will soon be made public ; and in the 

 interim any who may bo willing to give real aid in putting 

 down this growing nuisance will greatly oblige if they will 

 communicate with me through the Editors. 



But now I want to mention an important phase of the 

 matter. I learnt from personal friends that after I had left 

 Birmingham a certain poultryman had been not only slandering 

 me in many ways behind my back on account of my protest, 

 but had openly derided my attempts to get justice done, saying 

 that " nine-tenths of the exhibitors did it," and " was it hkely 

 we could pirt it down ?" Now, let me eamcttly impress upon 

 all readers of our Journal that this is the real issue. Very 

 frequently the trimming is not done by exhibitors themselves, 

 who are often men of the highest honour. I believe this to have 

 been the case with the very gentleman whose pen I objected tp. 

 But, on the one hand, there are a comparatively few men paid 

 to look after their master's stock and superintend his yards. 

 Some of them it is a pleasure to know — others, like my kind critic 

 above mentioned, have no ambition but to win, and will stoop to 

 any meanness rather than be beaten. They are the real sinners, 

 as they are the real masters, having sole control over the birds 

 under their care. On tho other hand there is the large class to 

 which land others belong, the real amateurs, who breed our own 

 birds, who like to reara few fine fowls at our own hemes, and show 

 them fairly iu friendly competition, earrying into this useful 

 hobliy the manner and conduct of Chrii=tian gentlemen. We 

 do not like to cheat, and so we are daily cheated. Yet we form 

 by far the largest class of exhibitors ; it is we who keep the 

 poultry fancy from degenerating to the level of the prize-ring ; 

 and if ever the day come, as it seems fast coming, when no 

 gentleman can win at a poultry show, the said fancy will nevet 

 recover the deserved degradation. 



Well, my critic and his clan laugh at us. And now the 

 ; simple question is. Are we, the largest aud most influential 

 body, to be really at the mercy of a few fellows like this ? It 

 seems hard, rather ; and I am not sure that we are so yet. We 

 will have a hard fight for it first, and do our best, We want 

 nothing but truth and justice; it may be we are strong enough 

 to secure them in spite of the tricksters in the poultry world. 



I may, perhaps, be allowed to say that I have not taken this 

 matter up as a personal one. It is well known, on the one' 

 hand, that being engaged in bnsiness, and not able to afford', 

 the luxury of keeping one of the gentry I refer to, I very rarely; 

 show ; and, on the other, that I am not quite a novice, and if 

 I liked could " trim " hocks as neatly as — *— himself. No 

 one could be less aggrieved personally than I am. I speak on 

 behalf of tho many who are r.ot skilled in these deceptions^ 

 but only know how to show their fowls honestly as naturae 

 made them. All honour — notwithstandng my critic's ridicule 

 — to then- innocence ! He thinks it very " green," but green 

 is a handsomer colour than black after all. 



One more sentence. At Birmingham I saw the first-prize 

 Brahma cock of last year. Then he was trimmed, and got first 

 prize ; this lime he was shown — all honour to his owner ! — ^in 

 his natural state, and was not named ! In other respects he was 

 in good order, and as well worth a prize as he was then, and 

 he was equally hocked last year — anyone could see it ! What 



