14 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTURB AND COTTAGE GABDEKEB. 



C Jannmrr 3, U06. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the teu days ending December 30th. 



POULTRY, BEE, and HOUSEHOLD CHRONICLE. 



THE BIRMINGHAM AWARDS. 

 When persons attempt to stifle inquiry and repress inves- 

 tigation, it generally arises from a secret conviction that there 

 are matters which will not bear the light, and from which it is 

 the interest of parties connected with tliem to divert pubhc 

 attention. I was very forcibly impressed with this fact in 

 reading the communication of " Bbauma ; " and your readers 

 who have pemsed bis letter with care must have been struck 

 with the circumstance (bat, whilst he displays his familiarity 

 with subjects and events <iuite foreign to the question, he has 

 not adduced a single fact in support of the positions for which 

 he contends. His letter is purely deprecatory. According to 

 his representation, the gentlemen who exercised the office of 

 judging at the late Show at Birmingham are such perfect 

 paragons of wisdom and impartiality, that dissent from their 

 decisions is sheer impertinence, and can only be accounted for 

 on the supposition of its arising from disappointed parties, who, 

 not being able to bear the defeat of their expectations, " make 

 np by clamour what they lack in argument." After thus at 

 one sweep disposing of the complaints of the dissentients, it 

 might have been expected that " Bb.^hma " would have avoided 

 the same defect ; instead of which, he has furnished a practical 

 illustration that, to say the least, the clamour minus the argu- 

 ment is not all on one side. "Bb.^hma," it is true, is lavish 

 in his denunciations against those who do not bow with im- 

 plicit submission to the awards of his clients, stigmatising 

 them as men who " doubtless beUcve they have been hardly 

 dealt by," but are not " so happily constituted, or so capable 

 of cool judgment in their own matters, as to justify them in 

 impugning the awards of experienced and honourable men " (of 

 course, none of the dissentients have any claim to either honour 

 or experience), or not " able to overcome evil passions and 

 prejudices, and to act dispassionately, when smarting under 

 disappointment," although he is charitable enough to hope 

 that "when they cool down," they will become scnsihle of the 

 enormity of their conduct, and be touched with a feeling of com- 

 punction for their misdeeds. But with all this vehemence in 

 axraigning the conduct and motives of the other side (a vehe- 

 mence somewhat, by the way, remarkable, if the disclaimer put 

 in by "Brahma" to being an "exliibitor " means that he has 

 no personal interest of any kind in the matter), where are his 

 arguments? He is very facetious, again, on Solomon Eagle and 

 Eastern Pashas, which may be all very witty, but unfortu- 

 nately has no connection with the subject. 



To bring the matter, however, more closely to an issue, 

 should "Biuhma" return again to the charge I beg his at- 

 tention to the following questions: 1st, I wish him to explain 

 the points of superiority in Admiral Hornby's Dorkings over 

 those of Tiscoimtess Holmesdale ? 2nd, In what the qnahfi- 

 cations of the Brown lied cock and the old Piles consisted, 

 whereby they were entitled to the prizes respectively awarded 

 to them ? and .3rd, Why the Black Bantams which have been 

 disquahtied at a show held since, should at Birmingham have 

 obtained the first prize ? But as, according to " Brahma," he 

 " attends few shows," he may not be aware of these facts. 

 Were he, however, to visit more of these exhibitions, he would 

 probably become acquainted with some facts of which he ap- 

 pears to be ignoianl, or which at all events ke ignores. He, for 

 instance, would have learned that in the show held since that at 

 Birmingham, tho decisions at the latter not only in reference to 



Black Bantams, but in Dorkings, Cochins, Game, and, indeed, 

 in almost ever;- other class, have been reversed. And had ho 

 been an exhibitor where fowls notoriously the worst carried off 

 the palm from birds having greater claims, ho might possibly 

 have been as loud in his complaints as those whom he now 

 censures. 



Towards the close of his communication, however, he dis- 

 closes what it is that has caused his ire. It is the Poultry 

 Club, " the point of whose offending " is, that they have de- 

 nounced the practices of the Birmingham Judges which he 

 pronounces to be " in bad taste, " and he charges them with 

 " having no confidence in any judges but their own, and 

 blaming the conduct of every show not subservient to their 

 mandates." To say nothing of this being a pure libel on a 

 body of gentlemen numbering among them, according to 

 "BnAHiiA'H" admission, several "very honourable" men, 

 how does this charge agree \vith the statement " Brahiia " set 

 out with, that the malcontents did not exceed some twenty, at 

 most, clamorous individuals, who, by the pertinacity of their 

 representations, makeup for the paucity of their numbers? 

 One statement contradicts the other, and both cannot be tme. 

 And then as to the excuses made for the .Tndges, through the 

 multiplicity of their duties preventing their performing them 

 with due care, I have only to say that tlie .Judges ought to be 

 held responsible for their deci-sions, and that if they undertake 

 duties under circumstances which preclude tiie due performance 

 of them, the blame rests on their shoulders. Whether from 

 this cause or from incompetence, it is notorious that the de- 

 cisions at Birmingham have caused very wide-Kpread dissatis- 

 faction, and it is equally certain that imless it be brought under 

 a different rftihm' it will be superseded by other shows at which 

 exhibitors may calculate on receiving more even-handed justice. 

 — ExniBiioE. 



The arguments by " Biuhma," in The Jocrsai, of Houti- 

 CCLTCRE, of December 19th, extort revisal. This correspondent 

 proceeds to say, " The truth is, the prizes at Birmingham 

 Show are so important to all, and such a source of profit to 

 many, that they cannot bear to lose." This statement by 

 " BavHMA " is quite incapable of dispute, still it must not be 

 overlooked by amateurs, that though these remarks bear with 

 all possible force as directed against exhibitors alone, it is 

 sureh- at least equally severe and cr.tting, if applied to the 

 interest of parties by whom piniltry is supphed to competitors 

 at Birmingham, for, as "Brahma" himself asserts, "such a 

 source of profit to many, they cannot bear to lose." A truth, 

 no doubt. It is evident that the triple anecdotes of the tm- 

 popular Pasha, Mr. Primrose, and Solomon Eagle, are slirewdly 

 introduced by " Brahma," to sen'e as a kind of private back- 

 way, by which this year's almost universal complaints of the 

 decisions at Birmingham may be eluded or countercharmed. 



" Brahma " states, " Four or five discontented in a lavge 

 class congregate together, and loudly make their complaints." 

 Had "BrjinMA" not purposely turned a deaf ear to such com- 

 plaints at the Birmingham Show, he must have witnessed a 

 striking illustration of his old proverb, " Let the losers laugh, 

 for tho winners are sure to do so ; " for the winners at Bir- 

 mingham, certainly in many instances, not only "laughed" 

 in their sleeve.'!, but blushed also at their unexpected and un- 

 merited success, supporting their sincerity in so doing, by not 

 only offering their own prize birds in barter for those in the 

 same class that were unnoticed, but eventually a few sovereigns 

 to boot, to induce still further the much-coveted exchange. 



