Uay 14, 1868. J 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICUIiXURE AND COTTAGE UAUDENEK. 



867 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



PRESENTATION OF TESTIMONIAL TO 

 MK. HEWITT. 

 Un the 12th instant a few of the 8ub8crii>er3 to this testi- 

 monial dined together at the Public Rooms, Hall, to present it 

 to Mr. Hewitt, and with it an accompanyini; address. The 

 sum subscribed was just over £400, and it was presented to 

 Mr. Hewitt in the form of a gold chronometer, having on its 

 inner case a suitable inscription, and the balance was in a 

 purse of sovereigns. The chair was occupied by Mr. Jessop; 

 and the presentation was made by Mr. Fletcher, one of the 

 Committee, who spoke as follows :— 



Mr. Chaiiiman and Gentlemen. — Tbo tluty yon have done mt 

 the honour of placing in my hands I undertake with mingled feelings 

 of pleasure mid pain. Whilst, on the one hand, I fully appreciate the 

 honour, I sincerely regret on the other the circumstances which con- 

 ferred it on me in preference to another gentleman, in every way more 

 tiualihed than myself. Mr. Jessop, as the originator and principal 

 promoter of the testimonial, the presentation of which has occasioned 

 our present meeting, had the first claim to the performance of my 

 present office, and would, doubtless, have fulfilled the requirements of 

 it with greater efficiency than I can hope to do. We must all deeply 

 sympathise with him in the affliction which has incapacitated him from 

 taking his proper share in these proceedings, and under these circum- 

 stances I must ask your indulgence for the manner in which I may 

 acquit myeelf in the duties I have to perform. Most persons have 

 some favourite piarsuit — some hobby, if you please, to which they 

 devote their leisure from the more arduous task which their business, 

 calling, or profession imposes upon them. It is only natural that 

 such should be the case. The mind requires some object on which to 

 unbend itself after the more serious toils inseparable from daily cares, 

 and among the pursuits of this nature none are less exceptionable 

 than the effort of improving the quality of domestic animals for the 

 pur]iose of exhibiting to the public what may be achieved in this 

 direction. It is, moreover, as useful and innocent ag it is interesting. 

 It does not ailmit of the ruinous system of gambling connected with 

 some other pursuits. There was a time when fowls were bred for the 

 purpose of fighting. The preparation of them for exhibiting precludes 

 this use, or rather abuse, of this interesting portion of animated 

 nature. How superior is the presentation of them in their most perfect 

 form and beauty of plumage, to a pursuit which brutalises and degrades 

 the mind and character, need not to be pointed out ; it is self-evident. 

 Hence it is a pursuit in which all who have a taste, whether engaged 

 in business or profession, not excluding that of the clerical office, may 

 join ; and it is not improbably owing to its unexceptionable character, 

 that it has achieved so great successes. The extent to which poultry 

 shows have advanced is evident to those who remember what they 

 were when first instituted. For instance, the first pen of Game I ex- 

 hibited, and which gained the first prize, were of diS'erent colours — 

 a circumstance which now would amount to disqualification. A corre- 

 sponding improvement has likewise taken place in their value. In 

 those early days a few shillings or a sovereign was considered an 

 extra price, whereas now as much as £20 or £30 are paid for choice 

 bii'ds. From the nature and object of these exhibitions, the degree 

 in which their success is dependent on the uprightueas and intelli- 

 gence of those whose duty it is to decide on the respective merits 

 of the objects exhibited, and on the confidence Uis character in- 

 spires, must be evident. "When, too, the office of judge is filled by 

 a gentleman who unites to a careful study of the subject a judicious 

 and kindly exercise of its functions, contributors dei-ive an important 

 benefit from his hints and suggestions relative to points where im- 

 provement should he aimed at. Being thus in advance of exhibitors, 

 he can render them valuable assistance in their efforts to improve the 

 breed of those birds to which their attention is more particularly 

 devoted. The injury that would, on the other hand, be indicted by an 

 incompetent person, one wanting experience, or devoid of high moral 

 principle, would be incalculable'; such an individual ought not to attempt 

 such a duty, or, if he attempt it, ought not to be allowed to exercise it. 

 In Mr. Hewitt we have not only a gentleman combining the necessary 

 quahfications for this office in an eminent degree, but one who in a 

 sense may be regarded as the parent of poultry exhibitions : and the 

 estimate in which he is universally held is a sufficient evidence of the 

 unexceptionable mode in which he has exercised the power entrusted 

 to him, and I feel satisfied that the encomiums passed on him in the 

 address I am about to read will be considered by those I have the 

 honour to address to be well merited. For my own part I most fully 

 and cordially endorse the sentiments expressed in it. But it is time, 

 air, that I should proceed to the more important part of my duty, and 

 with your permission will read the address which accompanies the 

 testimonial to our esteemed guest. 



Adih-ess inrsfutal to Edward HEw^TT, Esq., of Eden Cottage, Spai-h- 

 hroc'k, Birmitujham, in recognition of his valv able sen'ices in con- 

 nection with Poidtni Shoius. 

 "Dear Sik, — The periodical shows for the eshibition of prize 



poultiy may now be regarded as one of tho permanent institutions of ' 



the country ; and their ostablishmont is justified by tho impetus which 

 has thereby been given to the improvement of this department of 

 animal culture — an improvement beyond what is known, save to thoBQ 

 practically interested in the matter. Under their auspices the breed- 

 ing of fowls has become a science. New kinds have been imported, 

 new varieties have been produced, aud the value of choice birds has 

 been greatly enhanced. Feeling how much this snccess is duo to 

 your invaluable and unwearied labours, tho onderaigned hereby desire 

 respectfully to tender to you their sincere acknowledgment of the 

 obligations under which your services have laid them in the promotion 

 of this object. They further request tho favour of your acceptance of 

 the accompanying watch, together with a purse, contributed by a large 

 proportion of those, who, as exhibitors or otherwise, are interested in 

 the subject ; and they offer it, not as an attempt at the remuneration 

 of your self-sacrificing exertions, but as a slight Tkstoioslvl of the 

 sense they entertain of the uniformly upright manner in which yoa 

 have exercised the functions of judge in the numerous exhibitions all 

 over the country whore you have filled that office, aud the unvarying 

 impartiality which has characterised your decisions. 



*' They are fully sensible that your greatest satisfaction will arise 

 from your own consciousness of the rectitude of your motives ; they, 

 nevertheless, feel that it may not be unacceptable to you to know the 

 appreciation in which your conduct is held by those with whose in- 

 terests you have been so largely entnisted ; they, therefore, tender to 

 you this small mark of their esteem for the honourable course which 

 has ever marked your connection with these exhibitions. 



" Accept, dear Sir, the sincere congratulations of those who hereby 

 testify their regard, together with their fervent wishes that you may 

 long be spared to continue your useful labours, and that, under an 

 All-beneficent Providence, your advancing years may be attended with 

 increasing happiness." 



And now, Mr. Hewitt, it is my pleasing duty to present to yon, in 

 the name of those who have been active in the matter, this purse and 

 watch, which are intended as a tangible expression of the kmd senti- 

 ments and good will to you, and the address I have just read, in which 

 those sentiments are more fully described. I flatter myself, sir, that 

 fully appreciating the intentions of your fi-iends, these evidences of 

 their esteem cannot be other than cheering to yon in the labours still 

 in store for you in the cause to which you have been so long devoted. 

 It is the hope of those to whose exertions these testimonials are due, 

 that, in the words of the address, you may long be spared to enjoy the 

 esteem of your friends, and labour in the cause which owes so much 

 to vour exertions. 



Mr. Hewitt then returned thanks, expressing very forcibly his 

 feelings upon the occasion. He said that this testimonial had attained 

 dimensions which he had never anticipated, and that was no doubt 

 attributable to the infiuence which the press had exercised. So large 

 was the sum that at one time he was in doubt how to appropriate it ; 

 for. having retired some years ago, and being independent of business, 

 he did not require it for any needful purpose. He had received many 

 letters suggesting various modes in which it might be invested. One 

 had proposed a silver candelabrum ; but he was fearful that on some 

 occasion when he was absent from Birmingham, judging at some far- 

 distant poultry show, he might on his return find the candelabrum had 

 been removed into Birmingham and converted into some other form. 

 Another proposed a diamond ring ; but as he had no weakness in that 

 direction, he declined adopting that suggestion. His own feeling was 

 to convert it into something more permanent and useful than either ; 

 and as his present residence, which thirty- five years ago was far in tho 

 country, is now absorbed in the town of Birmingham, he had deter- 

 mined'to leave it and purchase with this money a piece of ground ten 

 or twelve miles farther in the country, and there to build a house 

 where he would always have around liim the evidences of this high mark 

 of the respect which 'his numerous friends have exhibited towards him. 

 Mr. G. W. Johnson then, at the request of the Chairman, ex- 

 pressed the great pleasure he felt upon the present occasion. The list 

 of subscribers was evidence of the high estimation in which Mr. 

 Hewitt's services were held, and Mr. Johnson bore testimony to the 

 same. It so happened that fifteen years since, in this very month in 

 the year 18o3, he saw for tho first time the awards of Mr. Hemtt at 

 Exeter, and in the July of the same year at the metropolitan show, 

 and then, and ever since, he had seen the same skill and the same 

 uncompromising honesty in Mr. Hewitt's decisions. The press, which 

 Mr. Hewitt had thanked, had but one object in view— the establish- 

 ment of truth, and in attaining that they had to rely upon the infor- 

 mation and aid afforded bv such gentlemen as were now present. 



Mr. Tegetmeier and "the Chairjian then briefly addressed the 

 meeting, after which it separated. 



GAME FOWLS. 

 I READ with considerable interest the article by Mr. Trevor 

 Dickens (" Newmarket "), in your number of April 30th, and 

 I readily concur with him in his " dislike of the half-Malay- 

 looking, large, drooping-tailed Game cocks and hens, &c. ;"and 

 had he merely expressed himself in this way in his former re- 

 marks which I felt called upon to condemn, instead of asserting 

 that such birds were " of a quiet and tame disposition," my 

 public appearance in your paper would have been avoided. 



