172 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



I February 23, 1873 



and moult his tail three parts white. Ne cede tnalis. Never yield 

 to misfortuue — trauslatiou for those who have forgotten their 

 Latin. Brave motto ! but when the eldest daughter of the fickle 

 goddess not only visits you often, but comes to stop, one is apt 

 to undervalue her polite attention. 



I was highly amused the other day; a man came to inspectmy 

 pets with a view to purchase some birds that would make up 

 some defects in his own run. In reply to my question of what 

 description the defects were, he said, "Well, ma'am, my 

 Brahmas are very small, they are very bad off for feather, and 

 they are not at all a good shape." Size, shape, and feather being 

 defective I gave up the case in despair, referring him to our 

 Journal. But I thought of the old-fashioned tale of the Irish- 

 man, whose gun ouly required k new " lock, stock, and barrel." 



Yes, our Show was a success, but I should like to make one or 

 two suggestions. I think, and others are also of the same 

 opinion, if they made the pens a few inches higher in the Cochin 

 and Brahma classes, the birds would have been able to stand up 

 their full height, and perhaps have prevented the continuous 

 " stirring-up " process with sticks and umbrellas. When will 

 committees of poultry shows give the humane order that sticks 

 should be left at the doors ? I noticed that a man who seemed 

 to be selling some splendid Cochins, made them rise instantly 

 by simply blowing in their faces, and he went from pen to pen 

 doing this in each case successfully. Fowls evidently object to 

 he " blowed." 



On leaving the Show I was told (in confidence) that probably 

 next j'ear we might have another. If sS I will let you know. — 

 J. K. L. 



POULTRY-SHOW JUDGES. 



I coBDiAXLY agree with the remarks of " Observer," as well 

 as those, of the Eev. T. B. Cato, that a standard for the guidance 

 of breeders is necessary in other classes as well as the Silver- 

 Grey Dorkings is generally admitted, and that unless some 

 means be adopted to establish a code of rules such as will enable 

 breeders to know what they have to breed for, jioultry shows 

 will soon become extinct. Already several known breeders have 

 intimated their intention of not exhibiting again, simply on 

 account of the uncertainty of judging. It has occurred over and 

 over again during the past season that birds which have been 

 awarded cups as well as first and second prizes at one show 

 have, when reviewed at the next by different judges, been en- 

 tirely unnoticed. Perh.apa the breeders of Dark Brahmas have 

 most cause to complain, inasmuch as birds that would have 

 been branded as i-ulture-hocked last year, are now considered 

 comparatively clean-legged. What an injustice, then, is this to 

 a breeder who has been doing his best, possibly at considerable 

 cost, to reduce the leg-feathering of the previous year, iu order 

 to carry out and meet what then seemed to be the opinion of 

 the judges ! 



In the absence of a code of rules by which judges as well ^3 

 breeders should be guided, there appears to be no hope of satis 

 factory judging. 



As regards judges being either breeders or exhibitors, com- 

 plaints on this head were so loud at Birmingham that I scarcely 

 think this mistake will be repeated. 



There is another evil which also requires to be remedied, and 

 that is the want of impartial criticism by journalists. Nothing 

 can be more easy than for a man to write his own character in 

 the pages of a journal when he has free access, at the same time 

 having the power to exclude a competitor from even making a 

 remark iu justification of any act complained of. This leads me 

 to inquire how you reconcile the statement in the Journal of 

 the 6th inst. that the Brahmas exhibited at the Devizes Show 

 were not equal to anticipation, whereas it so happens that the 

 cup and second-prize pens exhibited at Southampton were 

 amongst the number ; and as they gained a victory over the 

 Crystal Palace and Birmingham cup bird, it follows that the 

 cup pen at Devizes must have been a very superior pen of birds. 

 Added to this, I beUeve the Oxford cup and first-prize birds 

 ■were present, as weU as the Worcester first. I heard but one 

 opinion expressed at Devizes, and that was a most favourable 

 one ; and as regards the Brahmas, I went through the whole 

 class with Mr. Teebay, when that gentleman expressed himself 

 freely, the cup pen evidently being in liigh favour, as well as 

 the pullets in the two pens exhibited by Mr. Lingwood.— 



JnSTITLi. 



[We wish that you had confided to us your real name. Our 

 reports are from various reporters, and each exercises his own 

 judgment. 



" 'Tis with oiu- opiiiions as our watches : none 

 Go just alike, but each believes his own." 

 —Eds.] 



MALAYS. 



I MTST take exception to your reply, in an editorial note, to 

 " Hawthns," in reference to "Malay fowls and their position at 

 shows. The reply appears to me altogether erroneous. Let me 



ask at starting. What is the object aimed at by committees in 

 poultry exhibitions ? Vrell, some tell us, by printing after the 

 name of the society, that it is for the encouragement of the 

 breeding of our domestic poultry. If you grant me this, it 

 follows as a matter of course, that all established breeds should 

 receive it. Now, the Malay fowl is one of the very oldest. It is 

 true that it is no longer so popular. How can it be when it gets 

 no encouragement ? I have often urged in your columns the 

 impossibility of saying beforehand positively what breed of 

 fowls will be most largely entered at any given show — probably., 

 Bow-a-days, Brahmas or Game — yet sometimes these give, con 

 Bideriug their popularity, ridiculously small entries. For in' 

 stance, at Bristol in 1872, Brown Bed cocks ten entries, hens 

 seven ; Duckwing cocks nine entries, hens seven ; Game cocks 

 any other variety, three entries, hens two entries. Now, is not 

 this worse than ridiculous, when in each class i'5 5s. was offered 

 in prize money, besides two silver cups ? At the same Show 

 in 1873, Dark Brahma hens mustered twelve pens ; any other 

 variety of Game cocks nine, hens five entries. I do not suppose 

 anyone will say that beforehand, he could have predicted this 

 shabby exhibition. But I recollect a worse instance — viz., when 

 at oue of the leading southern shows five entries of Buff Cochins 

 contended for three prizes, £3, .i'2, and -tl. In your reply to 

 " E.^^MiiNs, you say, " Barely are there a sufficient number of 

 Malay entries to pay the amount of the prizes ; " but surely you. 

 will not tell me in the cases I have mentioned above, or ill 

 those mentioned lower down, that the entries were sufficient to 

 pay the prizes. Why, then, are all these classes retained especi- 

 ally when at both these shows Malays, which received a smaller 

 amount of encouragement, greatly exceeded these entries ? You 

 then go on to state that it would be a good plan to obtain sub- 

 scriptions for a special prize. Well, for several years the Malay 

 breeders assisted by special subscriptions the Birmingham Show 

 with this result, that the Birmingham Committee refused to 

 alter the division of the money in accordance with the wishes 

 of the subscribers, so the latter declined their subscriptions, 

 and the Malay prizes have been considerably reduced (another 

 capital form of encouragement). Take, again, the Crystal Palace 

 Committee. Mr. Brooke urged them to give a Malay class at 

 their first Show, and offered them most generously £1 towards 

 it, the result was a class of nine entries. These, with Mr. 

 Brooke's subscription, paid the prize money, yet the encourage- 

 ment (?) given last November was to offer the smallest prizes iu 

 the schedule to the Malays, with this result that only three 

 competitors appeared. Now, contrast with this Bristol, which 

 during 1872 and 1873 has given a fair amount to Malays. In the 

 first year there were twenty-seven entries, in the second twenty- 

 five. Now, I ask any impartial member of a committee to look 

 at these figures following, and carry them out in the ouly logical 

 way that your reply to " Hawkins " suggests. At Bristol in 1872 

 and 1873, the same amount of prize money was offered to all the 

 following breeds, and here are the entries : — 



1-4 

 15 

 IG 

 19 



1873. 

 21 

 28 

 20 

 37 



Silver-spangled ditto. 

 Gold-spaugled ditto . 

 Malay 



1872. 



. 12 . 



. 21 . 



. 27 . 



1873. 

 22 



25 



Pnlands 



Black Hamburghs . . . 

 Silvcr-liGucilled ditto. 

 Guld-peuciiled ditto . 



Now, all these figures with the exception of Gold-pencillecl 

 Hamburghs iu 1873, are iu favour of the Malay, aud according 

 to your reasoning in your note, all except the Gold-pencilled 

 Hamburghs and the Malays ought to be removed from the next 

 prize schedule, a very pretty, and I have no doubt, very popular 

 result ! 



Now, take Devizes, and I take these two shows as the only 

 shows in the south that have offered a fair encouragement to 

 Malays. 



Coloured Dorkiugs. . 



Silver-Grey Dorkiugg 



Other variety ditto 



Partridge Cochins. . 



Other variety ditto . 



1872. 

 . S 



187S. 

 10 



Considering the popularity of the Dorkings aud; the cups 

 offered to them, 1 say theirs is a miserable display compared 

 with the despised Malay. The Cochins are not so good; in 

 fact, the Polands alone are really better. 



Writing as you do with all authority, I cannot but think your 

 reply to " Hawkins " very injurious indeed to the poor Malays. 

 Considering how they are snubbed on all sides. Editors, com- 

 mittees, &c., the ouly wonder to me is, that they show-up so 

 well when they are offered a chance, as at Bristol and Devizes. 

 — JosBPH Hinton, Warminster. 



[Tlie object of a poultry show is and ought to be to improve 

 the brci-i.s of our domestic fowls, aud if OTir energetic corre- 

 spondent can persuade committees to include Malays iu their 

 prize lists, we will neither pen nor publish anything to render 

 his effort still more difficult. — Eds.] 



Prizes for R.ibbits at NoRTBLorpTON. — Seldom do we find 

 BO attractive a schedule. There are eight classes, exclusive of 



