512 



JOUrsNAL OF HOETICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



[ December 81, 1868. 



they do send, or woiUd seud a letter or telegram. Thia would 

 save committees a world of trouble and anxiety, who send again 

 and again to the station, and are full of fear lest the missing 

 birds are really lost. Now, a notice sent that they were not to 

 be expected would save all this trouble. The judging, con- 

 sidering the number judged and the darkness of a short Decem- 

 ber day, to say nothing of one Judge not arriving, was excellent, 

 and gave satisfaction. 



As I frequently turned to look at thia beautiful shoT of 

 beautiful birds, filling a large hall and a large room, I could 

 not but regret that more visitors were not present. I know 

 one reason is, that one must be a fancier to properly esteem 

 birds of fancy — the eye must be educated in order to appreciate. 

 Yet feathered beauty ought itself to draw crowds, and people 

 BO drawn learn to love and enjoy. For thia reason I, in my 

 humble capacity, endeavour so to write as to bring the fancy 

 to the pubhc, in order (and it is being done gradually), to 

 bring the public to the fancy. Dry details are not generally 

 read, but a light general sketch is read. Every man needs a 

 hobby, the more needed as the life of man becomes busier and 

 more full of care. Modern life draws hard upon the brain. 

 Now, here is a hobby free from every possible vice, never ex- 

 hausted, always something fresh to learn, and which also pro- 

 motes kindliness, and brings men of different ranks aud opinions 

 harmoniously together, and so, in fact, makes the world better. 

 People who have exchanged kind words about a mutual fancy 

 will not break each other's heads at an election, or become 

 fierce and fiery-eyed over a religious controversy. For my own 

 part I greatly enjoyed the company both of the birds and their 

 owners. I beg to put in print my best thanks to the Committee 

 of the North British Columbarian Society for their kind iuvi- 

 tation. Faces are now known to me instead of mere names. 

 It did not rain in Glasgow — yes, it did ; it rained kindness. I 

 begto thank my Scotch friends for their public welcome and 

 their private hospitality. To several houses I was taken ; to 

 others I was to have gone had time allowed. Often in a mood 

 of afterthought, in the dusk hour, the gloaming, shall I think 

 over all I sew in Glasgow. 'Tis pleasant to add to one's list of 

 friends those who have kindred tastes. " Let Glasgow Flourish " 

 is that city's motto. I would add to it, " Let the North British 

 Columbarian Society flourish." It is a great advantage to the 

 fancy to have in it gentlemen of spirit, and taste, and means. 

 As to the fancy itself, that must be a good one which makes 

 eyes look kind and hands meet warmly — that causes a kindly 

 welcome and a regretful parting. 



And now I will conclude with the prettiest Pigeon anecdote 

 I ever heard. My Scotch host told me that once, wanting a 

 particular variety of Pigeon, he heard where he could procure 

 one. He found a very humble home, but a tidy, middle-aged 

 motherly woman. The birds were kept in a little pantry open- 

 ing into the living-room. He was bidden to wait a few minutes, 

 as the owners, the woman's two sons, would soon be home 

 from the foundry. A neighbour in passing noticed the woman 

 sweeping up some sand which had blown into the room from 

 the Pigeon place, and said, "I wonder, mistress, ye bother 

 with they doos " (Pigeont). " Aye," replied she, " no bother 

 to me, for they bring the laddies sune hame at night." No 

 sooner said than the laddies came in, two stalwart grimy sons 

 of the forge, who preferred their birds to the public-house or 

 the idle corner. Tes, to enjoy them " the laddies came sune 

 hame at night." — Wiltshiee Eectoh. 



RABBIT JUDGING AT THE LEEDS SHOW. 



Bein'o one of the largest exhibitors of fancy Kabbits in 

 England, and having suffered through incompetent judges 

 being employed at many shows — Hull, Bingley, &c., I think I 

 may venture to say, and my brother exhibitors will agree with 

 me, that the Eabbit-judging at Leeds thia year beats all we 

 ever experienced or heard of. 



Just allow me to make a remark upon one or two classes, 

 and I may add that in each class there were a good many 

 entries, and that they contained amongst them some of the 

 very best Fvabbita in England. In the class for the best Yellow 

 and White, the first prize was awarded to a Babbit that for 

 colour could not be worse marked. Imagine a yellow Rabbit 

 well splashed with a whiting brush and you will arrive at my 

 meaning, and Babbits in the same class, unnoticed, perfectly 

 marked, an inch longer in the ears, and perfect in all other 

 points. For the best Black and White, the second-prize Bab- 

 bit was (can it be believed?) not lop-eared but oar-lopped, and 



dreadfully so, a bad black and white, not at all well marked ; ears 

 not more than 19 inches ; and those unnoticed were beautiful 

 perfect specimens for colour and quality. The next class, which 

 had twenty-two entries, is the last one I shall notice — the best 

 Self-coloured Babbit, all properties — and this crowns the rest 

 for bad judging. The first prize was given to a young Blue 

 doe, 21 inches in length, bred by the exhibitor, which came in 

 second at York for the working men's prize — a poor Babbit in 

 all properties. And what were those left in the rear ? ■ Some of 

 the very best Babbits known, with ears from 22 to 23J inches 

 long, perfect in all points, form, eye, and colour. The decision 

 arrived at by the Judge needa no comment of mine, it speaks 

 for itself. 



What I v.'ant to show is, that if societies offer prizes for 

 Babbits, and would give general satisfaction, they cannot be 

 too careful to see and select competent judges, such as Mr. 

 Hewitt, Mr. Teebr.y, or Mr. Fletcher, of Hull, men whose 

 names are above suspicion, and who cannot be influenced one 

 way or the other. If suc'n judging as we have seen at Leeds 

 be allowed quietly to go by unnoticed, the respectable portioa 

 of the fancy will be disgusted. — One of the Fascy. 



NEW BOOK. 



The Naturalist's Note Book for 1803. London : Beeves and 

 Turner. 



This is an " Annual Begister " of facts noticed or occurring 

 during the year in the various departments of natural science ; 

 and numerous and interesting is the concentration in its pages 

 of subjects relating to Astronomy, Meteorology, Botany, Ethno- 

 logy, Geography, Geology, Microscopy, Zoology, Chemistry, 

 &c. It is a volume useful for reference to the scienced, and 

 for leading the youthful into the paths of science. We will 

 make one extract, not only because appropriate to our pages, 

 but because we can testify to the success of the practice. 



" I have for some time kept a fiue pair of ' Leperoys,' a French 

 breed of the large tame Grey Rabbits. I adopted the German mode 

 of keepin}^ them — viz., I converted a rubbish heap in my garden into 

 a sloping bank. I laid a foundation of bricks (about two dozen), 

 which I placed on the gronnd in four rows of threes, and on these I 

 fixed my hutch, made of an ' egg-chest,' bought of a pork and egg 

 merchant for ?>s. 6d. The rabbish heap was in a corner of my garden. 

 I levelled it at the top, and enclosed it with wire netting at 3d. per 

 yard, cut a hole in the back of the hutch, and jammed it up against 

 the end of the bank — wire netting for Hares — enclosing bank and side 

 of hutch, into which I placed a pair of * Leperoys ' (a cross between 

 Hare and wild Rabbit originally), who in a few days worked their 

 way out of the hole in the back of the hutch into the back of the bank, 

 and made a hole, through which they came on to the top of the bank. 

 Here thoy used to feed on the food I threw on to the bank daily over 

 the top of the netting. After a time these Rabbits burrowed into the 

 bank again from a hole they made in the angle of the wall, which 

 composed two sides of their bank, and burrowed under the whole bonk 

 in a straight line back into their hutch. I have now^had three litters of 

 young ones, and my object in writing this letter is to say that the idea 

 that the buck Rabbit will devour his yonng if left with the doe during 

 the time of her littering is fallacious. The first litter my doe had I 

 took the buck from her ; the second and third time I left him on the 

 bank. The doe was so fierce he dared not so much as put his nose 

 inside the burrow in which she had made her nest and deposited her 

 young, and the doe keeps him on the top of the bank until the young 

 Rabbits are six weeks old. Then, and only then, does the doe allow 

 him to enter the burrow, and sho again Uves with him. 



" I have now about twelve or thirteen young Rabbits ; my doe is 

 about nine months old. She had two yonng ones only in her first 

 litter, six in her second, and eight in her third. Several of the little 

 ones have been roasted for dinner, and she is now again making her 

 nest. The buck never attempts to kill his offspring ; so if any of your 

 readers wish to keep Rabbits let them adopt my plan, instead of keep- 

 ing a lot of miserable captives in solitai-y confinement in dirty bad- 

 smelling hutches. Let the male and female dwell together always on 

 a bank, in unity, as they do in nature ; feed them well with vegetables 

 and weeds from the garden, all of which, even nettles, they greedily 

 devour, with a feed of carrots and corn mixed with bran ouce daily, 

 and they will find they will increase faster than they wish even. At 

 six or eight weeks old I put the young ones on another and similar 

 bank, away from their parents, and thns fatten them up for sale or for 

 our own table. Every six weeks my doe has a litter, and the young 

 ones make then- appearance on the top of the bank about twenty-eight 

 days after I have supplied the doe with hay and leaves, with which 

 she makes her nest, either inside the hutch (over the front of which I 

 always have a waterproof curtain), or in the burrows they have them- 

 selves made in several different places on the bank, which is about 

 10 feet square, and .B or 4 feet high. " 



It is a mistake stating that the Leperoys are a hybrid be- 



