292 



JOOKNAL OP HORTICGLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEH. 



[ October 7, 18«9. 



METEOROLOGIC.VL OBSERVATIONS in the Suburbs of London for the week ending October 5tli. 



POULTRY. BEE, AND PIGEON CHRONICLE. 



LONDON POULTRY SHOW. 



A MEETiNo of those iuteresterl iu the above was held on 

 Taesday last, at Evans's Hotel, Covent Garden, Mr. Esquilant 

 in the chair. Amongst those present were Messrs. James, Jones, 

 Crooke, Ford, Hans, 'I'oby, Hale, Uoutoherp, Esden, Fulton, 

 Wright, Haslelow, Howard, Waller, Barge, Davis, Wright, &c. 



It was the unatiimous agreement of those present, that a 

 Poultry, Pigeon, and Babbit Show should be held iu the me- 

 tropolis during the present year, provided there bo a sufficient 

 guarantee fund raised to warrant a Committee commencing 

 without the fear of a considerable pecuniary loss to themselves. 



The feeling of the meeting was decidedly in favour of hold- 

 ing the Show during the Cattle Show week, aud, if possible, at 

 the Floral Hall, Covent Garden, but as tbere appeared to be a 

 doubt whether the proprietors would let tbe Hall for such a 

 purpose, through the objections made by several residents of 

 the neighbourhood ; among a number of other pl.ices suj^gested 

 the Crystal Palace was named as a most suitable place, and 

 likely to draw a large attendance of visitors. 



A Committee was then appointed, composed of tbe following 

 nine gentlemen, with power to add to their number — viz., 

 Messrs. Esquilant, James, Jones, Crooke, Ford, Tegetmeier, 

 Hans, Howard, and Esden, who will report at a general meet- 

 ing to be held on the 19lh inst., at 4 r ii., at Evans's Hotel, 

 the place tbty consider most desirable for the Show, and the 

 amount of support they have received towards the guarantee 

 fund and other expenses, also an estimate of the cost of the 

 whole Exhibition. Decided steps to be then taken if the Show 

 is to be held this year. 



The sum guaranteed at the meeting was about £50. A prize 

 of .£10 from the Fichl, another of .£.3 from Land arid Water, 

 and nearly another £10 was promised by some of the gentle- 

 men present towards the prizes and expenses. The Proprietors 

 of The Journal of Horticulture will also give a prize, or 

 contribute £10 towards the expenses. 



There now seems every chance of the Exhibition being 

 started with little fear of a failure, but this will, of course, 

 depend in a great measure upon the activity of tbe Committee. 

 Those present expre.«=ed their surprise that a similar meeting 

 had never been held, and this in some way may account for 

 previous failures at attempts to hold a Show iu the metropolis. 



A FEW DAYS IN A CHICIvEN DISTRICT OF 

 SUSSEX. 



"They must manage them better in Sussex." "Then why 

 do you not go there and inquire ? " To this home response no 

 ready rejoinder rose to my mind, and then the querist added, 

 "You are fond of antiquities, you are fond of rustic simplicity, 

 you are fond of shooting, you are fond of poultry-keeping, so, 

 why not go with me to-morrow?" There was no adverse reason, 

 so my gun-case, portmanteau, and self, were at the Victoria 

 Station, aud by two of the afternoon of the day following I was 

 in the parish of Heathfield, in the county of Sussex. 



I wonder how many of your readers know where that parish 

 lies, for it is six miles from a railway station, and never had a 

 stage coach run through any one of its widely separated margins. 

 Well, there I was, and there I shot, and there I feasted on 

 home-laid eggs, home-made butter, homemade bread, cream as 

 thick as hasty pudding, vegetables fresh cut, and chickens 

 such as Sussex breeds. Ah! there's the subject of my special re- 

 search. " They must manage them better in Sussex." That 

 observation resulted from reading a letter written by a well- 



known poultry-fancier, stating that "only twenty chickens were 

 reared of eiglily-five that were hatched." However, 1 shall tell 

 my story in my own wa\% aud any one objecting to my preface 

 can "skip" to the more practical portion. If I am prosy I 

 like to be prosy, and if you do not choose to permit me to be 

 prosy, don't print my notes. 



The two-miles walk from my friend's farm to Heathfield 

 church is across fields, and over hills and dnlos, tlirough farm- 

 yards, and by tbe side of plantations that would have made a 

 misanthrope smile that day, so gladsome were they in the un- 

 clouded sunshine. The church was reached, the keeper of its 

 key was found, and the key was placed in my hand, and 1 was 

 allowed to enter and remiiiit in the church quite unattended. 

 I might have carried off all its bibles and prayer books nn- 

 hindered. This was no carelessness, no want of vigilance, bnt 

 the result of people honest, confiding in the honesty of others. 

 Thus for days I went into the sheds among the cooped chickens 

 iu the neighbourhood. There were hundreds of chickens, every 

 door open, and not a living human being in the houses of the 

 owners. They were all away "hopping!" The honesty pre- 

 vails even where it is rarely met with — namely, in the epitaphs, 

 for iu the church chancel on a marble slab to the memory of 

 Thomas Courthope, and Mary his wife, without any dates or 

 other verbiage are appended these lines — 

 " A kappier coaplo 



There never was wod, 

 But much more eo 

 Now they are dead." 

 Let us hope that this is true, but it savours of honesty refrain- 

 ing from suggesting that any regret was felt by thiir survivors. 

 The very iron that used to be here manufactured — the bills 

 are full of iron ore, and the springs chalybeate — was the most 

 honest iron of our foundries. It was the hardest and toughest, 

 cannon made from it would bear a heavier charge than cannon 

 made from the iron of other localities. Lord Heathfield, 

 whose memorial tower is on the hill to the right as I descended 

 from the church, could bear testimony to this, as the defender 

 of Gibr.altar. His choice of title and residence here were tbos 

 far appropriate, and looking from his mansion's windows open 

 Warbleton church, he there saw where one of the district's 

 most celebrated iron-founders, Bichard Woodman, was confined 

 previous to his martyrdom at Lewes. 



I have not said much as yet about chickens ; and before I say 

 more concerning them, let me tell any brother pilgrim straying 

 to Heathfield, to notice within as well as without the over-shot 

 watermiU at the base of the church hill. For picturesque 

 position, and for antique formation, it cannot bo exceeded in 

 all England. Tbe miller told me it is known to have been 

 there more than four and a half centuries. He, like everyone 

 around, is a breeder of chickens, and there in one of his sheds 

 were a lot of them in the horseshoe-shaped coop peculiar to the 

 district, waiting to be fetched away by some local fatter of 

 poultry. They were made of the horseshoe form to fit round 

 the waist of a man, with a leathern suspender over bis shoulders. 

 That was in days when the collectors were pedestrians, and the 

 form remains unaltered, though better roads, and the greater 

 number of chickens to be collected render feasible the employ- 

 ment of horses and carts for tbe purpose. 



This is a district of none but small, very small, farms, and 

 labourers' cottages, and I commend all those who take an in- 

 terest in answering the question, " Are small farms desirable ? " 

 to sojourn here and judge from the evidence attainable bj bis 

 own eyes and ears. 



These small-farm holders, and these cottagers, are all breeders 



of chickens. The coops are to be seen on the grass verges by 



the sides of the roads, and the corners of the fields ; there are 



! bnndreds of these coops in the parish of Heathfield. The 



