306 



JOUKNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I October 10, 18C5. 



three acres each, in whicli the fowls have full liberty, good food, 

 and plenty of it; but all in vain. I have just lost a Brahma 

 cock for which I gave £1 Is. a short time since — the third, 

 which has died in the same w.ay. He seemed moping, and I 

 found him very thin. The only noticeable ailment was a 

 difificulty of breathing after eating, and an inflamed month and 

 tongue, with little ulcers on it. In spite of careful nursing and 

 feeding he died ; the comb and eyes were bright to the last. 

 The hens seem to escape better ; I have only lost one ; but 

 the 3'oung chickens are dying rapidly ; seemingly well one hour, 

 and the next evidently dying. 



One pecuharity in the coclis was a constant shaking the head, 

 but no gaping, nor indeed any sj-mptom to guide me as to 

 theii- malady. I shall be glad if any one can suggest the 

 nature of the complaint or a cure. 



I have a complaint among the Ducks also. They are fat and 

 well one day, and the next the crop looks greatly distended, 

 but no food in it. The voice becomes a harsh croak ; they 

 refuse to eat, but drink incessantly ; diarrha^a follows, and in 

 two or three days they die. Up to the present time they have 

 been remarkably fine Ducks, in capital condition. As I have 

 lost several I shall be much obliged for any light thrown on 

 their disease and its treatment. — M., Sunny Vicarage. 



[We beUeve that if the livers and intestines of yonr fowls 

 and Ducks had been examined that one or other, or both of 

 those viscera, would have been foimd ulcerated. It is a 

 disease usual in autumn, and might be expected to be more 

 than usually prevalent this year, for we believe it is occasioned 

 by the extreme variation between the day temperature and the 

 temperatures of the night and early morning.] 



POULTRY SWINDLING. 



The inquiry of " C. A. G.," in your last, and your reply to 

 it, opens up a subject which has, I feel sure, been much need- 

 ing discussion for some time past. Every amateur who buys 

 or seUs valuable poultry must have met with similar cases to 

 that of " C. A. G." I have lost several choice birds through 

 sending them to uultuowu correspondents on the faith of their 

 promise to send payment ; and yet you say, " We are at a loss 

 to account for any one sending money to a total stranger before 

 they receive the goods." The fact is, there are some difficulties 

 on both sides, and it is well known that there are numbers of 

 poultry sharpers who profess to buy and sell, and who look 

 out for advertisements likely to alford them opportunities of 

 swindling. Cannot some plan be adopted by which references 

 can be given to you as security for the position and respect- 

 ability of amateur poultry dealers ? 



Some time ago a person WTote to me under the name of 

 Firebrace, for a valuable pen of Buff Cochins. The letter 

 appeared to be that of a lady, and I forwarded the birds. No 

 )ia.\-ment has ever been made, but I received a request for more 

 (which I did not send), and from that day to this I have not 

 been able to discover the rogue. Could not some arrangement 

 be made by winch, on yom- keeping books of reference, such 

 as the "Clergy List," Medical and Law Lists, and Post Office 

 Directories, inquiries might be made through you of all doubt- 

 ful cases. A very small sum contributed by aU your subscribers 

 would furnish sufficient to defray the cost of these, and either 

 buyers or sellers, if they have any position at all, would easily 

 be recognised. I merely, through your columns, wish to throw 

 out a suggestion which possibly may bo put in a more prac- 

 tical form by some one else who has been like myself— A 



SUFFEBEK. 



[We would readily aid in protecting onr subscribers in the 

 mode suggested, if we did not foresee that it would involve an 

 amount of anxiety, consumption of time, and responsibility, 

 for which no payment could compensate. We the less re- 

 luctantly announce this conclusion, because every vendor and 

 every purchaser may most easily be his o^vn protector. If a 

 purchaser unknown to us applies for poultry, we invariably 

 write to some one in his vicinity, or, with a stamped aud 

 directed envelope enclosed, to the head of the police in the 

 district. If we wish to buy we never do so without first seeing 

 the birds, and if we thought we were unknown to the seUer, 

 we should seud a reference when we made an application for 

 an inspection of the birds, and give a promise to prepay the 

 carriage it we declined purchasing. But if there were' any 

 difficulty about obtaining a reference, all such difficulty can 

 be avoided where prepayment is required, by the purchaser 

 avaihng himself of this postal rule relative to money orders : — 



" Rule 50. In order to enable the remitter to obtain an ac- 

 knowledgment of the receipt of a money order before the 

 money is paid, it is arranged that he may make his order 

 payable ten days after date, provided that, in the presence of 

 the Postmaster, when he obtains the order, he affixes thereto, 

 in the space after the request C, a penny receipt stamp, and 

 WTite his signature across the stamp."] 



OSWESTRY POULTRY EXHIBITION. 



October 5th. 



To many of our readers, no donbt, it will be well known that the 

 supply of live poultry for table purposes has, for a long series of years, 

 beeu ii principal feature of tbe Oswestry market. Indeed, long prior 

 to tbe in.stitution of railways, dealers from towns so distant as Slau- 

 ehester, Liveii)ool, Wolverhampton, Chester, iinil Birmiugbam con- 

 stantly attended this weekly market, aud as from year to year the 

 demand increased so has the supply also augmented, until 0.5westry 

 holds position among tbe principal markets of the Idugdom for live 

 poultry generally. At lengtb a few local breeders of tbe surrounding 

 district thought an exhibition of poultry-, to be held annually, w*ould 

 arouse a spirit of useful eom]K'tition, and tend still further to improve 

 tbe quahty of the poultiy that was customarily at that time brought 

 to market. Although some of its iirst promoters are now dead, still 

 the acting Committee of tbe present hour are evidently men who do 

 not intend to let the matter sleep, but to push onwards until Oswestry 

 Show sliall hold its own among even the most noted of local poultry 

 meetings. 



At its first institution the birds were all exhibited in pens erected in 

 an open tield, aud, as it then bapjieued that heavy and continuous 

 rainfall ensued, ample provision was this year made to pronde against 

 such an exigency, should it unfortun.ately arise. We are glad to say 

 that the weather was, on tbe contrary, as lino as eould be desired, 

 accompanied by bright sunshine. The tent prorided, however, still 

 proved quite a luxuiy, not only as giving the most welcome shade to 

 the numerous visitors, with which it was constantly well filled, but 

 also an equally appreciable amount of comfort and ease to the really 

 excellent collection of fowls, for which it was especially engaged. 

 Tbe tent itself was 1'2U feet long by about oae-third that width, whilst 

 the height was most ample, and the expense of hire only £S. It 

 would easdy have accommodated three or four bundi'ed pens. A tent 

 even ten yards longer can be engaged for £10, which includes all 

 expenses ; consequently few Committees can longer plead the item of 

 expense, as forbidiUng this call upon their exchequer, nor need we 

 hear the complaints, so frequently urged by owners, of birds being 

 ruined by exposure. 



It is pleasing to record the fact that only one pen of poultrv showed 

 any symptom whatever of disease ; they were from Whitehaven, and 

 were very properly not permitted entrance to the tent. Though ex- 

 cellent in quality, the condition of this one pen was absolutely '* tiltby," 

 and it was most undoubtedly very reprehensible of the owner to send 

 them out in such plight, as it was evidently a disease of long stanihng, 

 strongly confirmed, aud of a highly contagious character. The prompt 

 vigilence of the Oswesti-j' Committee is, therefore, the more worthy of 

 approval in at once excluding them and retumuig them unpenned. 



The Omne classes were of very high character, and, as no limits 

 was placed on the competition, m:iny specimens from distant locahties 

 were entered, thus well-tilled classes resulted. Mr. George Owen, of 

 Plas Issft, Uswestrv', however, managed to make a clear sweep of the 

 prize list, with specimens of both Black-breasted Reds and also Duck- 

 ^rings, that Would gi"eatly add to the cretht of even tbe largest of our 

 sho\vs. Mr. Burgess, of Whitchurch, also exhibited some Brown 

 Red Game fowls, sucb as leave little room for improvement when a 

 couple of months older. In Grey JJorliii;/s the Show proved very 

 strong ; Mr. Zurhnrst, of Dublin, however, took first prize with a most 

 lovely pen, and shown in such condition that few persons would have 

 credited that they had travelled so far : indeed, their contUtion was fault- 

 less against a capital competition. Mr. Edward Shaw, of Plas Wilmot, 

 t)swestn,'. gixined tbe second premium. In Partridge-coloured Cochins 

 the Oswestry, class was a show in itself ; it is long since we saw so many 

 and so good ones at any one meeting. Mr. Tudman, of Whitchurch, 

 carried off both premiums, with birds as excellent in colour as they were 

 perfect in feather. This gentleman's yard, strengthened as it has 

 been, we are told, by the purchase of the whole of the Partridge 

 Cochins belonging to tbe late Mr. Peploe Cartwright, of Oswestry, 

 will uow doubtless be ver>' successful during the season without much 

 difficulty. In Buff Cochins we confess disappointment, only two pens 

 were entered ; the princijial prize birds of Mr. Tomliuson, of Bu-ming- 

 ham, consisting of a first-rate cockerel, but the pullets were by no 

 means Al. Mr. Zurhorst, of Dublin, was winner of tbe second prize 

 in this class. The class for Sjxn/i.sh fowls fall of this year) were the 

 best collection yet shown in 1805. The most barefaced case of 

 " trimming," till not a single feather remained between tbe eye and 

 comb, in a really good pen of Spanish, here met with its deserts, 

 being passed over ; they would probably otherwise have been success- 

 ful. Tbe Nanihun/hs were all good, in fact unusually so, taken on the 

 aggregate of shows, though at previous meetings at Oswestl-y, Ham- 

 burghs were failures. No Polamh were exhibited. Black-breasted 



