tUmmhei an, ise«. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



897 



will ensue. It must not be forgotten, too, that now Manchester 

 Show is established as one of the greatest poultry exhibitions 

 of the day, prizetateng at this Show invariably leads to sales 

 of all winners' surplus stock at remunerative prices. Another 

 most commendable feature is, that not only are the birds ex- 

 hibited in most commodious buildings, but that every possible 

 comfort is givon to the poultry during their stay, regardless 

 alike of outlay or trouble ; whilst another recommendation is 

 Messrs. Jennison's first rule, that " Judges of acknowledged 

 experience and ability will be appointed." 



• • "NEWMARKET" AND MALAYS. 



There have been several points in Malays that I! had been 

 intending to notice, but have delayed doing so. Now I must 

 commence with a word or two on " Newmarket's " rough 

 notes on the " Standard." " Malays are a most worthless 

 variety of poultry, being great, cowardly, coarse, yellow-fleshed 

 birds, though not bad layers, but worst fm I ible of all." The 

 italics are my own. It is useless, perhaps, disputing many of 

 these points, they axi simply differences of opinion; but in 

 these rough notes the writer has been so sweeping in his con- 

 demnations, that one is tempted to inquire whether, as in 

 grandmother's coffee-pot, there are any grounds for all that is 

 written. It surely ought not to be necessary to raise the 

 character of one breed on the demerits of the rest. Game 

 have plenty of admirers, and so long as there are Englishmen 

 there will be Game lovers. May their shadows never be less ! 

 There are many of our breeds of poultry in which size is a 

 necessary quality. That these are "large" is no fault, nor is 

 coarseness any necessary adjunct of this size. This, I think, 

 every breeder of any experience will allow. The limbs certainly 

 will he larger, it is necessary for the extra weight. I cannot 

 say that I consider the flesh of the Malaya as yellow, whilst as 

 to its flavour I certainly consider it first-rate, juicy, and tender 

 when young, whilst they truss np very well. 



But " Nbwmarket " has given Malays another character, 

 which is so opposite to all I have ever heard of or seen in 

 them, that I am at a loss to reconcile the conflicting opinions. 

 He calls them cowardly. I almost fancy this has slipped out 

 accidentally. Speaking disparagingly of any animal after 

 "great," " cowardly " comes naturally, but certainly my ex- 

 perience does not bear out the character. I call them, cocks 

 and hens, terrible birds to fight, quite objectionably so for 

 prize poultry. I never saw hens fight with more determination. 

 The young cockerels fight among themselves most fiercely, 

 quite as much so as do Game cockerels. A frienl of mine who 

 had spent many years amongst the natives in India, hearing 

 that I had some Malays, came to inspect them. He {Old me 

 that the natives always n ed Malays for their cook-fighting 

 diversions, and that they fought most gamely. He told me — it 

 might be drawing the long-bow — but he said that the natives 

 had one strain noted for killing their antagonist ; then, scratch- 

 ing a hole in the sand, they push the vanquished foe into it. 

 and terminate the rites of sepulture by mounting the dead 

 body to crow ! If they did not thus act the natives would 

 soon make curry of them. I think these ideas of the natives 

 certainly bear out the opinions of those who have kept Malays 

 in this country — that they are by no means chicken-hearted ; 

 indeed, I still think that this epithet slipped out accidentally 

 from " Nr.-. 



Now to a matter less controversial than the epithets of " New- 

 mabke-t," which, by-the-by. I notice, have ruffled the feathers 

 of some other breeders besides myself. It is a well-known 

 fact, that in the rapid-growing varieties deformities are liable 

 to occur. It, is also a common failing in the Poland race . I ni 

 I have never seen snob a wholesale case of deformities as in 

 one set of m; chickens, about thirty in number, for in 



spite of their careful bringing-up, they are. like some two- 

 legged unfeathered beings, turning out very badly — the line of 

 beauty in a variety of forms, but of the wrong sort; wings 

 -.'rowing out and going over; like some turncoat in politics, to 

 the opposite side ; tails that look as if they had been con- 

 stantly in use to wipe one eye and neglect the other; hips 

 varying in height and defying any attempts of the cock to 

 make a " good appearance." These are some of the results of 

 very careful management. Some of the same chickens reared 

 at another run are straight and perfect. The error would, 

 therefore, seem to he in the establishment where the de- 

 formities have appeared, and there, I think, I have discovered 

 the cause. The chickens there have the run of a small yard 



opening into a field, the communication being through a hole 

 in a door. This hole is nearly a foot higher than the bottom of 

 the door, and was originally intended for poultry years before 

 Cochins ever crowed in this country. I do ni I n Uect that 

 any of the produce of the Minorcas of those days turned out so 

 fundamentally wrong. I have before stated my own observa- 

 tions of Malays, that they are shy. The advent of a stranger 

 to the yards has been the signal among the small fry to make 

 pell mell for the hole ; sometimes it was a dead heat between 

 a pair with imminent risk of a dead lock in the hole, half in, 

 half out. Of course, the struggles for priority were fierce, and 

 in these contortions of the body some of the lateral muscles 

 appear to have obtained undue strength, and the most mis- 

 shapen forms have resulted. Yes. " Xi v. mauii i ," these are 

 " ugly," nay, worse, they are painfully ugly, an eyesore and a 

 heartsore. These are " gawky " if you will ! but the others — 

 oh, no ! and Malay love did not take me at first sight. Nay, 

 perhaps once I agreed with " Nev.mai-.ket," as I think the 

 first lines written under my " Persian " name contained a com- 

 ment on their " ugliness." 



"Newmarket" adds in one paper the opinion that their 

 feathers need not be as hard as the Game. Is not this an 

 error ? Is not the feathering particularly hard and close ? — 

 Y. B. A. Z. 



P.S. — Lucky man " Newmarket," and man, I think, yon 

 must be, to be a Game fancier ! We have no lady Game 

 fanciers. Lucky man, I say, to be so game ; but now yon need 

 to be game. Why there is not a bird in our yards, and ap- 

 parently few owners, whose feathers are not ruffled and showing 

 fight. Y'ou will need all your Game qualities, my friend. 

 Better, perhaps, have upset an " Egyptian " hive with its game 

 inhabitants always eager for the fray, than have run foul (no 

 pun), of the motley group of "non-ornamentals" ready to 

 peck your eyes out. It is not, I apprehend, pleasant even to 

 the valiant Game to have a full-weighted Dorking, Cochin, or 

 Brahma opposed to him. What must it be for you, friend, 

 when these, added to Spaniards and Hamburghs, neither very 

 deficient in courage, hover round your flanks ! These reflections 

 came over me as I read in this week's issue (Nov. 6th), the 

 clarion notes of the " non-ornamental " poultry. I wish you 

 safely out of the wood, " Newmarket ;" at least may they give 

 you breath to finish the Game emendations ! — Y. B. A. Z. 



NEW SHOREHAM EXHIBITION OF POULTRY 



AND PIGEONS. 



This Show was opened on Monday, the 12th inst., at the Swiss Gar- 

 dens, Shoreham. and proved a very great success, the entries in most of 

 the classes being unusually large. This may 1 d for in some 



measure by the fact, that in almost every instance five prizes were 

 offered in each class, besides eups for the best pens in certain com- 

 binations of classes. This caused, of course, a competition for the 

 triable prizes — viz., the fourth and fifth, that few persons would 

 e, adding very much to the elithcnlties of awarding such 

 premiums, and sadly encroaching on the limited time given the gentle- 

 men who officiated as Arbitrators. This, combined with the fact that 

 the after part of the day proved very dnl! and rainy, caused the arbi- 

 trations to extend to a late hour. VTe much regretted to notice, that 

 by some oversight of a considerable number rs a couple of 



. re sent for competition instead of a single one only, con- 

 seejuently disqualification ensued in all such eases. No amount of 

 care can be considered as wasted in consulting specially every prize 

 list before any entries are made. 



The show of DorJdngs was peculiarly good, Bcarcely a second-class 

 bird being exhibited; but, perhaps, fcl il-earned successes 



were those in the classes for both Dark and n mas, the num- 



ber of pens com], tin I fond prei lent, cud the quality 



throughout of these* cla ill only he- appreciated by those in- 



dividuals who visited Shoreham. M res were the 



chief prizetakers in I but the whole of the Brahmas shown 



were unusually good. Many of the < -ere excellent, and 



both Buff and Partridge-coloured, were capital, with the 

 exception of .■ ■ akes class for ingle I ii in which 



at in an appearance, audit evidently proved 

 tin ; ■ pstakes" are by no mi ans popular among breeders, a 

 aount as a prize, however small, invariably obtaining a pre- 

 The Selling class alone consisted of upward . f forty pens, 

 and comprised breeds of many rare vaiieties and of i Hence, 



although the sale price was limited by the ii, pen. It 



: li nt that many of these fowls v 



. I , or in some for the rar, it they 



were absolutely worth some pounds beyond the price at which they 

 appeared as entered in the catalogue. 



In the classes for Ayle : I .'■ M ' . the excellence 



