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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 14, 1SG6. 



later prove extremely prejudicial to the interests of onr poultry 

 shows. In sending our pens for competition we should possess 

 the firmest persuasion that the standard by which they will 

 be tried is that which has been set up in former years — that 

 which is recognised and fully approved of by exhibitors them- 

 selves, and that no deviation from it will in any wise be made. 

 If defeated, we can then patiently endure it, because we know 

 that the rules of judging have been strictly and impartially 

 carried out. If, however, on a sudden a judge shall be pleased 

 to make such alterations in the standard as shall strike at 

 some of the finest characteristics of a class, convert that which 

 was formerly deemed essential and ornamental into a glaring 

 defect, and sweep from the proud and high position it has long 

 held that very type of perfection in a class which till late never 

 contested for a prize but to win it, and which never appeared 

 at an exhibition but to be most admired ; — what remains for 

 exhibitors but to protest against such an abuse of delegated 

 power, and to take effectual steps to prevent the recurrence of 

 such a prodigious wrong ? If what is accepted as perfection in 

 a cla?s one year may, through fickleness and caprice, be repro- 

 bated the next, what reliance can breeders possibly repose 

 even upon the most promising specimens they are rearing? 

 and what faith can they have in the judges themselves when 

 their opinions are so fitful and contradictory? 



By allowing the question to remain an open one nothing 

 but confusion and mischief must ensue. It is highly detri- 

 mental to the whole class of Brahma fowls ; it creates suspicion 

 where it did not exist, and feeds the flame where it has been 

 already kindled ; it unsettles breeders ; it disheartens many ; 

 it misleads persons who are providing themselves with stock ; 

 it makes a wrong impression abroad, and works injuriously 

 every way. If not brought to a speedy termination, it will 

 require no prophet's eye to foresee the consequences that v. ill 

 spring out of it in a considerable diminution of entries for our 

 annual shows. If we are at the expense and hazard of sending 

 a few pens to an exhibition, we ought certainly to know before- 

 hand what specimens should be sent ; and if objections are 

 taken to any particular marking which have not heretofore 

 been taken, and which are not taken by other judges of equal 

 ability in judging, are we not entitled to inquire upon what 

 ground those objections are raised? and does not common 

 courtesy demand that an explanatory answer should be given ? 



I have been at the trouble of writing to several eminent 

 hreeders of Brahmas upon the subject of the vulture hocks, 

 and I find that most of them are decidedly in favour of it, not 

 merely on account of the feathering itself, which they con- 

 sider ornamental, but because the birds thus marked almost 

 invariably carry the heaviest fluff, and have the shortest, best- 

 feathered legs. The feathering we are contending for is not a 

 long, stiffly set mass of feathers, reaching nearly to the ground, 

 which may be deemed unsightly, and which I have never ob- 

 served in birds of the larger growth, but a moderately curved 

 frill, from 1 to 1} inch round the joint, of soft and flexible 

 texture, and this, a popular writer on Brahmas affirms, " should 

 appear." To the inquiries I have made only one gentleman 

 has objected ; and when I pressed him for his reason, to my 

 great surprise and infinite amusement he sincerely remarked, 

 that " the vulture hock was a sign of weakness in the leg joint, 

 and therefore it was a defect.'' A greater blunder was never 

 made. Birds of stouter frame, of larger limb, with bones 

 stronger, thicker, more firmly set, and knit together with more 

 powerful joints, are not to be found among the Brahma species ; 

 and if our opponents have no better reason for supporting 

 their opposition than this, I would advise them at once to give 

 up the contest, or for ever hold their peace. This was, however, 

 the only person that I have found object to our specimens. 

 Among those who approve is a lady, whose treatise on poultry 

 many have read and admired. She remarks. " It is hard upon 

 us, this change of fashion in Brahmas. To be abundantly 

 feathered there must be a tendency to vulture hocks." 



So strong and general a predilection existing in favour of 

 our birds, is it not much to be deplored that any gentleman 

 holding the office of a judge should come down with a pounc- 

 ing veto upon them at the annual shows? It is, however, a 

 satisfaction to know that other judges are unbiased by the pre- 

 judice we are combating, as was evident from their award of 

 prizes at the last West of England Show to birds that were 

 more or less vulture-hocked. But Birmingham is looming in 

 the distance, and whether a broad line of demarcation between 

 the covered and uncovered hock joint will be drawn at Bingley 

 Hall, is a question in which all exhibitors, like myself, are con- 

 cerned. We insist that it should not be drawn for the abun- 



dant reasons which have been brought forward in the course 

 of this controversy ; but if arbitrary rule should be allowed to 

 over-ride popular opiuion and calm remonstrance, we have no 

 alternative but to keep our pens at home. I sincerely trust 

 that the grievance which has so frequently been complained of, 

 will, upon sober reflection, be speedily removed. It is in tho 

 power of the unknown but able Judge to do it. 



The breeding season is now over : thousands of beautiful 

 Brahma chickens, full of young life, are heard at early morn, 

 chirping their cheerful notes as they rapidly and eagerly snatch 

 up the grain scattered over their green runs ; and when we 

 visit the older broods at noonday — pretty creatures ! there 

 they are, stretching their fine large limbs on sunny bank, or 

 beneath the shady covering of the hawthorn hush. Day by day 

 they are gaining size, and strength, and plumage ; their good 

 points are coming more and more prominently into view, 

 amply repaying us iu promises for the future for all the ex- 

 pense, care, and anxiety we have sustained in rearing them ; 

 and now from this and that goodly group the most admired 

 and likeliest to win many a laurel in the hard-fought battle 

 are about to be selected, and all that we demand for them is 

 fair play and nothing more. Let them be permitted to enter 

 the lists without any distinction being made between the 

 vuitured and naked hock, and our end is gained, our ambition 

 is gratified. The pen of controversy will then be allowed to 

 return to its resting-place; our confidence in the decision of 

 judges will be restored ; our co-operation with existing poultry 

 committees will be heartily rendered ; the aloe of contention 

 will be exchanged for the olive branch of peace; a good under- 

 standing will exist ; a fresh stimulus to friendly and honour- 

 able emulation will be imparted; and, forgetting the past, we 

 shall rejoice in the harmony which has been established, and 

 render all honour to the judge, the sentence from whose lips 

 has conferred such a boon upon a large number of the pro- 

 scribed and oppressed offspring of the Brahma tribe. — Jusiuli. 



[We have always admired the vulture-hocked Cochins, and we 

 know that some of the earliest bred by Mr. Sturgeon were so 

 feathered. We also know, from our own experience, that some 

 of the finest birds are vulture-hocked. " Jcsiitia " says the 

 same of Brahma Pootras. Such being the ease, why not have 

 separate classes — vulture-hocked, and not-vulture-hocked ? — 

 Eds.] 



EVIL DOINGS OP THE SUFFOLK OF. 

 AYOODERIDGE POULTRY SOCIETY. 



The above Association, under the presidency of the Right 

 Hon. Lord Rendlesham, and under the patronage of Lord 

 Henniker, Sir Fitzroy Kelly, and a large number of the clergy 

 and gentry of Suffolk, is earning a notoriety which is not to be 

 desired. Although the Show was held on the 21th of May last, 

 the prize money and silver cups have not yet been delivered, 

 and every application by letter, of which there have been a vast- 

 number, is left unanswered. In one instance, and probably in 

 many others, a pen of birds has not been returned to the owner, 

 and he is not able to obtain any answer to his applications as to- 

 what has become of his property. In my own case I can neither 

 obtain my prize money nor an answer to my letters. 



Were there any difficulty or failure iu the results of the 

 Show, in a money point of view, no one would have been more 

 ready than myself to meet the Committee, either by a total 

 abandonment of my claims, or by receiving a composition ; 

 but when the letters of gentlemen are left unanswered, and 

 the names of others who patronise the Show are indirectly in- 

 volved in the evil doings of the officials, any consideration of 

 the kind, even if needed, is entirely out of the question. 



I do not suppose that these remarks will be very intelligible 

 to those for whom they are intended ; but there is a method of 

 addressing these people which is not beyond their compre- 

 hension, and which I shall adopt — namely, by process in the 

 County Court. — Egomet. 



PRESERVING EGGS. 



In the Number for July 21th, some hints are given as to a 

 mode of preserving eggs in lime. The plan is undoubtedly 

 very good, and I have myself practised it successfully for 

 several years, but I found some difficulty in taking the eggs out 

 of the lime without breaking them. For the last two years- 

 I have adopted another plan. I take a deep earthenware jar, 

 ' slake the lime in it, and as soon as the lime has settled, I sink 



