Februai? 27, 18GG. ] 



JOURNAL OFHOR'riCULTURE' km COTTAfiU 9'AKBENEK; 



173 



"Wmshihe Rector's" comparison with the "t-olip^ mania, 

 „, « p " very properly obseiTes, lias nothing to do witli tne 

 bame Bantam question. In the latter a judge sees and knows 

 what he is buying; in the former he did not. I had a large 

 superfluous stock of birds at the beginning of last season they 

 met with a ready sale. If I had had twice the ^^^^b/^, ^ °S^^ 

 easUy have disposed of them ; I could not supply half the 

 demand. It is tme the eggs of Game Bantams are very fertile 

 but that is the only sense in which " Wiltshiek KE.Ton, ox 

 any one else, can say they are easy to breed. W th i". ana 

 '■ W P E " I again aver that no variety of fowls is more diih- 

 cult 'to' breed than really first-class Game Bantams, be they 

 Beds, Duckwings, or Piles.— GALL0S. • ■.„! «,» Pm-,Urv 



P S —Like " Audi Alteram P.ujtem " I visited the Poiiltiy 

 Club's Show at Rochdale. The room was much too smaU (as 

 is Bin-ley HaU) for the number of pens that were crowded into 

 it: but, nevertheless, especially when we know how hm'necUy 

 it was got up, like your first correspondent, I thought it a 

 very great success." If " Aum Alteeam Paetem had read 

 vour Journal he would easily have ascertained what steps the 

 Poultry Club had taken to discover the perpetrator of the 

 Pigeon outrage. I fervently hope the Poultry Club will agam, 

 ere long, " make themselves responsible for anotuer bhow. 



"Wiltshire Rector" has received a letter from Mr. John 

 Crossland, from which the following is extracted :— 



" I quite agree with you respectmg Game Bantams and their 

 breeding I believe I am one of the oldest breeders of them, 

 and it is well known to aU that if a man understands the 

 breedin" of Game fowls he can breed Game Bantams. 1 have 

 bred them for upwards of twenty years, and I every year breed 

 a large number of first-class birds, and supply many prize- 

 takers in England. As a proof : if a breeder has a thoroughly 

 good breed he has no need of a cross, (as although Bantams are 

 required to be small, yet Game Bantams need not be so smaU 

 as other Mnds). From a single yard in Yorkshire there have 

 been sold upwards of £180 worth of Game Bantams m twelve 

 months, and the greatest part of these fowls were sold to our 

 weU-known exliibitars in the Game Bantam classes. ihe 

 breeder has also taken himself, I see from this Journal, from 

 December isfi4 to December 18C5, four silver cups, cup and 

 second at Darhngton 1864, cup at Thorne for two years, 1864 

 and 1863, cup and second at Darlington 186-5, cup at Birming- 

 ham, given by subscribers. 1865. This breeder, I should say 

 has won about £30 in prize money. If this is not a proof that 

 good Game Bantams can easily be produced, I am at a loss to 



know what is. ,.,.,• a i, _:ii 



"If "P." go on crossing the feather of his birds he wiU 

 never breed good ones. I have only crossed once in ten years, 

 and I gave £3 5s. for the bird— first at Birmingham, first at 

 Plymouth, and first at Liverpool.— John Crossland." 



My plan in hfe is never to enter into any controversy, but 

 openly to state my opinion, honestly formed, on any subject 

 that Ues m my wav. If some others do not think as I do, very 

 -ivell- " doctors differ," that is all. On the other hand, if I see 

 good reason to change my opinion I as openly aver the change ; 

 but my opinion is imchanged in regard to the easiness ot 

 breeding Game Bantams. As " P." has slightly misappre- 

 hended me in one point, I will add a few words to the letter 

 which Mr. Crossland was kind enough to send to me, which 

 letter, coming from the great Yorkshire breeder of these fowls, 

 ought to set the matter at rest. One word previously : it is a 

 fact that comparatively tew poultry fanciers thoroughly imder- 

 stand their birds, and these few become regularly first-prize- 

 takers. Others equally fond of fowls, equally desirous of suc- 

 ceeding, and who often go to great expense in crossing and re- 

 crossing, yet do not succeed, save occasionally, because they 

 are not masters of the arts of breetling, rearing, and choosinu. 

 Thus many persons do not even send the best birds they 

 possess to a show, they have a fancy tor this one or that, and 

 of course they fail ; wliile if another eye has looked over their 

 stock and chosen for, or with them, they have at ouce suc- 

 ceeded. Not only ladies do this, who are most apt to have un- 

 deserving favourites, but even gentlemen err in this way. It 

 is very odd how an owner (I am not speaking of an adept), will 

 sometimes overlook the best bird in his yard. These are two 

 secrets in breeding and rearing which are not learnt in a day, 

 and by some never learnt. Again, as to crossing strains — I 

 know three of the first breeders, if not the three_ very first 

 breeders, respectively of Spanish, Dorkings, and Light Brah- 

 mas— I put this question to each one of them, " How often do 



you CTOss yota Strains.? " The same, answer cajne from each, 

 " I dare not do it, when I have done so I have obtained worse , 

 birds or only my own back again." First-class birds are known j 

 to-a fii-st-elaaseye; and, with first-class management and.j 

 choosing, comes first-class success, , , t t * 



In regard to Game Bantams being easy to breed, I mean al- , 

 most all their eggs are. fertile, the hens are good sitters and 

 mothers, and the chickens are hardy, and, if of a thoroughly 

 "ood old-established strain, there will be a large proportion of 

 good birds ; on this point notice what Mr. Crossland says. 

 This is not the case with some other varieties. Of course 

 when I speak of easiness to breed first-class birds, I mean m 

 proportion to some other sorts. Here " P." misapprehends 

 me I know in this world it is in everything easier to produce 

 what is indifferent than what is good-a weed rather than a 

 flower, or a tolerably good flower rather than a first-rate 



°There are g'^od- strains of Game Bantams about the country 

 and also inferior ones, having coarse legs, spotted breasts and 

 much too Bantam-shaped to suit the name Game ; but the 

 number of Game Bantams appearing at our shows is a conclu- 

 sive proof that they are easy to breed. I do trust, however, that 

 other varieties of the Bantam, and also Polish and even Malay, 

 wiU not cease to be exhibited. Again, I beg to state that 1 am 

 not insensible to the beauty of these mimature Game fowls. 

 I like to see General Tom Thumb and his party very well, but 

 I should prefer looking upon ninety-nine well-formed and fuU- 

 sizedmei to ninety-nine Tom Thumbs, and should consider 

 the former to be of a great deal more use in the world I re- 

 gret I have unintentionally ruffled the feathers of some of oui 

 Game Bantam fanciers.— Wiltshire Beciok. 



SOUTHERN POULTRY SHOWS. 



Mat I be permitted, Messrs. Editors, to endorse most heartily ■ 

 the grievance so well stated by your able and entertaining cor- 

 respondent, our kindly friend, the " Wiltshire Es.c™« ? " 

 is wholly inexplicable why all the poultry shows, with veiy few 

 exceptions, should lie held, as my factotum, with doleful jasage 

 exnresses it " up in Yorkshire and them parts. BeaUy the 

 fet of shows which the "Wiltshire Rector" gives, however 

 creditable to " canny Yorkshire," is a disgrace to ^^^ so«|l^°'¥; 

 Why is not the list interspersed with the names of well-to-do 

 towns and goodly cities in the south and west? Wh,*} J' be 

 fault ? Surely, as Sam Weller put it "Somebody 0^!^^"° If 

 wopped for this!" Are exhibitors to blame? I think not. 

 Those of us who send a couple of hmidred miles to Manchester 

 or Rochdale would gladly raUy reund shows nearer home oflei- 

 ing so many advantages-less risk less expense, a sho ter 

 absence of the birds from home, and a chance "f ?^eing them 

 in the exhibition pen, without encountering the difficulties and 

 discomfoi-t, so foreibly suggested by the " Wiltshire Rector 

 in the vain attempt to reach some Ultima Thule o the noith. 

 Does the blame rest, then, with managers of shows? HavE, we 

 not men of pluck as well as men of knowledge m the sou h ? 

 Could we not encourage such men as Mr. Houghton to start a 

 show by the promise of a guarantee fund? Must London and 

 Sydenham shows of necessity be failm-es ? Will these places faJ 

 to clo what every Yorkshire market town-aye and many ^ul- 

 lage-succeeds in doing year by year? WiU not the Poultry 

 Chib give us a metropolitan show worthy of its authois ? Such 

 a show would meet ^th more support in the south where no 

 rival was at hand, than if held in Yorkshire, -t^? °t^^=; ^^^^^^^^ 

 jostling it on every side. One more question I ask OoiUd not 

 we ouftern exhibitors form an association after the mode of 

 the Pi-eon Societies, to guarantee one good annual show either 



n towi or in some southern city which would receive the asso- 

 ciaWor^vith open arms-that is, with local organisation and a 



^°As*you have another con-espondent who has lately been 

 addressing you as " Brahma," and it is advisable to preserve 

 our separltl identities, I must ask you not to omit the latter 

 half of my wonted signature— Brahma Pootra. 



DRAGON PIGEONS. 



I HAVE but just seen, iu your impression of the 6th inst., a 

 letter headed as above from a correspondent «f?^>ijg ™f "^" 

 " A Dragoon-breeder," and who states that his attention ha^ 

 been called to a letter, in your paper of December 19th, from 

 Mr. John Percivall, of Birmingham, relative to the judging ot 

 some of the Pigeon classes at the late Birmingham Show. 



