December 9, 18C9. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



463 



places. The witliJrawal of a great came from Bristol as a 

 committeeman would not pull down that show, and the owner 

 of that name could well afford to pass without plucking another 

 laurel there for his fame in Spanish fowls. I mention these 

 cases because they are put forward by "An Old Committie- 

 lUN ; " but what is true of them is true of all. 



"No Committeeman-" writes also in the same number of your 

 Journal ; bat beyond vague and general assertions he says 

 nothing that needs mentioning, except, perhaps, the expression 

 relating to committeemen "deprived of success, doubtless, 

 greater at home than abroad." It is not easy to see fully the 

 meaning of this remark. No man is a prophet in his own 

 country; and unless a man happens to live in the home of a 

 great show, I question whether he would not think the success 

 of winning a cup greater abroad than at home. All England is 

 open to BucceHS for committeemen who have really winning 

 birds to show. They must, therefore, either givenp all claims 

 to praise for hard work and expenditure, or be content to win 

 where others are working and spending money for them. 

 There is need of reciprocity in more things than free trade. 



I regret very much to find, from a notice in your Journal, 

 that "ALiQns" is too ill to reply at present to his "oppo- 

 nents." Do not let us keep that word. For my part I shall 

 meet him in all friendliness, not to oppose, but willing to go 

 with him in anything that may conduce to the welfare of 

 poultry shows. — Egomet. 



CONSEQUENCES OF ASSOCIATING HENS OF 

 DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 

 I AM very much interested in the remarks of " Egomet " in 

 " our Journal " about the consequences of associating together 

 different hens of different colours, especially as only this season 

 I have had instances in my own yard which at the time very 

 much puzzled me. I had some White Cochins in a large pen ; 

 there were two hens and a cock, also there were running with 

 them two Creve-Cceur hens. I hatched several White Cochin 

 chickens ; they were principally pure white, but three were 

 slightly spotted with black feathers, while one chicken was 

 much spotted on the breast and back, and had a black tail. At 

 the time I could in no way account for this, and imagined my 

 birds had bred back, though I gave a high price for them and 

 knew them to be pure ; they have, moreover, quite recently 

 taken a first prize. But now that I see some consequences 

 mentioned in " our -Journal " from the associating of different 

 breeds, I begin to think that the reason why some of my White 

 Cochin chickens were speckled was not from breeding back, but 

 from the fact of Crcve Ctt-urs running with them. I had the 

 chickens killed for the table as soon as large enough, for they 

 looted so spurious along with their white brothers and sisters. 

 I wish cow I had waited for further results. I shall be curious i 

 to know whether more instances may be recorded. — E. S. S. 



WOODGATE. 



Youa correspondent " Egomet," in the Journal of Novem- 

 ber 25th, in allusion to the subject of variation of colour in 

 poultry, says, " It is pretty certain that white and black, and 

 white and yellow, are interchan geable colours, whilst red remains 

 unchanged." Is not white a sign in most animals of impurity 

 of strain, or cross ? The following experience for two seasons 

 in my own small poultry yard may be not out of place on the 

 subject of colour. My fowls are mostly Grey Dorking, a few 

 Spanish, and two Buff Cochin-China hens. Duringone season 

 a White Dorking cock, and the other season a Grey Dorking, 

 has rnn with them. The progeny of the Cochin-China hens 

 have been both seasons alike — white with small black tails, 

 and a slight pencilling of black about the hackle and wings. 

 They are all alike. Their Cochin characteristics are very de- 

 cided, hut their plumage mostly white; while, although the 

 plumage of the hens is a uniform sandy buff, not a buff' feather 

 is to be seen in any of the pullets. The buff has changed to 

 pnre white.— C. M.'Hughes, 7, Paragon, Blackhcath. 



place you say that " our representative asserts, that the whole 

 number of pens left for Southampton a week previous to 

 the day appointed for fixing them ;" and then yon say that 

 "parties from the railway give the contrary version," which 

 implies a direct falsehood. Now what our representative really 

 did say was this, " that the portion of the pens, &c., which were 

 too late, was consigned to the Southampton Show more than a 

 week before the Show, which is correct. They were consigned 

 from Accriugton to Southampton before the order for the pens 

 was given, but the rest, which arrived in time, were sent several 

 days later, and we cannot lelieve the railway company in 

 Southampton will deny the truth of the above. No one can 

 regret more than we do the disappointment and inconvenience, 

 as well as the anxiety, consequent on the late arrival of a por- 

 tion of the pens, but everything was done that was possible, to 

 make the best of the matter under the circumstances. 



You suggest that a fine of ,^20 should be the penalty of non- 

 fulfilment of contract, but we can assure you that £200 forfeit 

 could not have altered the circumstances as far as the Show 

 was concerned, as everything was done as far as possible to 

 insure success in the arrangements, and it was not until too 

 late to remedy the effect that the cause was discovered, which 

 was that theraiiv.ay company had neglected to collect the goods, 

 until too late to reach in time. Again , you say that the cost of the 

 pens in carriage from place to place is merely nominal ; for 

 your information we beg to inform you that the cost of the 

 carriage of pens to Southampton was over one-third of the 

 amount receivable for the hire of them. 



We should not have troubled yon with these remarks, but 

 having invested considerable capital in exhibition pens, and 

 never sparing expense or trouble to fulfil our engagements as 

 far as lie in our power, we do consider it rather hard, as 

 soon as there is a miscarriage, to charge the blame upon us 

 in such an injurious manner. You are aware that as a rule 

 the exhibitors of poultry seldom make their entries until after 

 the closing time, which results in crowding all the arrangements 

 into a very short space of time ; and in order to prevent disap- 

 pointment we have had to incur m.^ny additional expenses in 

 getting the pens conveyed in time and fixed, and on several 

 occasions we have lost money in doing so, although the cause 

 was not ours. On one occasion we were as much as £10 losers ; 

 but we do not make a practice of publishing the shortcomings 

 of secretaries or exhibitors, and beg that in future, should any 

 misfortune occur, which we hope it may not, you will be as 

 charitable as possible. — Tur.NER & Sc;;, Sheffield. 



THE POULTRY PENS AT THE SOUTHAMPTON 

 SHOW. 

 In your number of the 18th nit. you mate statements in 

 your comments on the Southampton Show which are calculated 

 to produce erroneous impressions, as well as to iLJure onr 

 repntation in connection with poultry shows. In the first 



ORNITHOLOGIC.iL MONSTROSITY. 



I SEE that I have very much yet to learn in poultry lore. A 

 bird with four legs is a novelty. It is more, it is a curiosity. 

 It may be more than this — namely, a fortune to a raree- 

 showman. Fancy what might be done with it at the small 

 price of one penny ahead, being as large as life and twice as 

 natural. 



A penny a-head ! Eeally my head gets confused at the iJea 

 of a four-legged bird, and not only a four-legged one, but one 

 hit/hlij commended in consequence at Birmiugham. Surely some 

 heads are not worth a penny. Will any poultry judge kindly 

 tell me why this monstrosity was highly commended in a show 

 which is held for the encouragement of poultry-breeding for use 

 and for ornament? Was its deiormed hideousness commended, 

 or was Nature commended for an accident? Was its owner 

 commended indirectly for his ingenuity in producing a mal- 

 formation with which he had nothing to do ? I shall really be 

 glad of information, because if this is to be a rule of judging, I 

 shall send the first infant I have without a nose to the first 

 baby show that may offer itself ; and I shall go in for breeding 

 "ugly ducklings," in the certainty that I shall have commen- 

 dations for them, which I have failed to receive for very perfect 

 specimens of beauty at Birmingham and elsewhere. — Egomet. 



[You will see by the report of the Birmingham Show in 

 another page, that the highly commended card was misplaced, 

 being intended for the Cuckoo Dorkings. — Ens.] 



BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW. 



The twenty-first great annual Exhibition of poultry, &c., at 

 Bingley Hall — a long career of well-deeerved success ! It is 

 possible to have too much even of a good thing, and several 

 times the question before the Council has been. How can we 

 lessen the number of entries ? Various expedients have been 



