Juno 4, 1874. 1 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



455 



covering the wings black, with very bright tints of green, irre- 

 gularly spotted at the ends. 



POUTERS, ANY OTHER COLOUR OR MARKING 

 CLASS. 



At the beginninfr of this year there were certain letters vrritten 

 in favour of this class being continued as an exhibition class ; 

 one notably by my special friend at Glasgow, Mr. Huie. I had, 

 in my account of the great Crystal Palace Show, advocated just 

 the very opposite, and my opinion was strengthened by the fact 

 that Glasgow, the home of the Pouter, had excluded the mis- 

 marked birds from competition. The subject dropped, and I for 

 one was willing it should drop for a while, feeling sure that with 

 the advance in beauty of the birds now exhiljited at Pigeon 

 shows, these said Pouters would as gradually disappear as inferior 

 fowls have disappeared from our poultry shows. The other day, 

 however, a bundle of Fancier's Gazettes, all that have yet been 

 published, were sent me by a friend. I was as yet in ignorance 

 of this new publication, save by one odd number. Now, on read- 

 ing straight tiirough the whole numbers of the Fancier's Gazette, 

 I found that this Pouter controversy had been continued in its 

 pages, and myself by name, or rather 7wni de 2)lu}ne, quoted ; so 

 I hope, having been mentioned there, I may refer to the subject 

 here. Kindly always, but still several times, the words " Wilt- 

 sHntE Rector " have appeared in our new contemporary ; and 

 how my Scotch friends have battled, how they have come 

 up again and again, and cut and parried and thrust with a 

 vengeance ! Mr. Wallace ought to be a descendant of the re- 

 doubtable Sir WUliam Wallace, and the others have been 

 equally combative. Always commend me to Scotchmen for 

 going right ahead when once roused — calm, cold (externally, 

 never in heart), quiet, undisturbed ; not the tongue or ready fire 

 of a Celt, but, once roused, away goes the scabbard. I thought 

 real fighting was reserved for kirk matters, often such as we 

 Englishmen never can understand. I tried hard during the 

 four years I lived in Scotland, but I tried in vaiu. Scotchmen 

 can fight over kirk differences, slight to all save Scotchmen ; 

 and now I find there is another subject they can fight about, 

 and with a will too, and that is Pouters. While gently poking 

 ■fun at my combative Scotch friends, I glance upward as I write, 

 and there hangs a photogi-aph — a photograph much prized by 

 me as a memento of my visit to Glasgow and Glasgow Show in 

 1868. 'Tis a picture representing twenty-one Pigeon fanciers. 

 There sits in the centre Mr. Montgomery, looking benignant 

 upon everybody, and really his house at Belfast ought not to be 

 named as it is — " Wolf-HUl," for there is nothing of the wolf 

 about its master; and there, too, sits Mr. Huie — leaning, aye! 

 leaning upon Mr. Wallace ; he will not lean upon him on any 

 account. But enough of funning, now for my subject. 



I object as a rule to the exhibition of mismarked Pouters. 

 Their value is very great in the loft, they help in forming stan- 

 dard birds, and keep up good strong-blooded Pouters. But an 

 artist exhibits pictures, not his brushes, his canvas, his paints, 

 and his palettes. Now I hold that the grand standard Pouters 

 are the pictures, the others are what help to make the pictures, 

 and should therefore be kept out of sight. The Birmingham 

 Columbarian Society use these words {vide .Journal of Horti- 

 CL'LTURE, number for June 30, 1870, page 471), " We have had 

 of late so many mealy, mismarked, bad-coloured specimens, 

 that we are satisfied that there is yet room for improvement." 

 So say I. 



I agree with Mr. Wallace. I wantprogresa and advance towards 

 perfection. I think he has truth on his side when he alludes to 

 the mismarked as the scaffolding of the spire ; but the thing to 

 see is the spire, so remove the scaffolding. But I think there is 

 a difference to be noted among " Pouters, any other colour or 

 markings." Thus, a good Mealy or a good Chequer is to my 

 mind much superior to birds with here and there a smudge of 

 colour on a white ground. 



Now I propose this solution of the difficulty : Classes first of 

 all, of course, for the standard colours, always dividing the 

 Yellows from the Reds ; then prizes of less value for Mealies 

 and Chequers, and in Scotland for Sandies — in England these 

 birds do not take. Then I would wholly exclude from any exhi- 

 'bition all other mismarked birds, save that they should appear 

 in the Selling class, as many fanciers want such for loft use. 

 Mealy and Chequer are old and distinct colours, as distinct and 

 well known by me thirty-five years ago as now; and I have little 

 doubt their colours date from the earliest days of the Pouter 

 fancy. A good Mealy well barred is a pretty bird, and Chequer 

 is the oldest of all colours in Pigeons. Hence I would give them 

 a place — a lower one, it is true, in a show, but not let the smudged 

 splashed gentlemen appear at all. They to my mind are useful 

 tools ; but we must show, not materials for pictures, but the 

 pictures themselves. 



This is my suggestion, which I hope will meet with accept- 

 ance, and with a hearty shake-hands in imagination with my 

 Glasgow-made friends ; and I venture to add, " Ye ha' jist had 

 eiiea of fighttn, I ken, my lads." — Wiltshibe Rector. 



A PIGEON-BOX. 



We are indebted to Col. Hassard for the following sketch of a 

 Pigeon-box, sent us some time since ; it shows an arrangement 

 for Pigeons similar to what he advocated when iu Canada, and 

 few who knew him will deny his experience was great in this 

 respect. It was, he says, constructed for large birds, but the 

 fancier can alter the dimensions to suit the space at his disposal 



Elevation. — Door of nesting place removed to show the interior. 



as well as the size of his birds. If desirable, it may be made 

 only 3 feet wide ; it can also be made portable by any handy 

 carpenter, if so required, and by putting a false pitched roof to 

 the top, it would do against a wall as well as inside a loft. But 

 let us have the Colonel's own words. " You will say, 'We know 

 all this, you have told us so before.' Admitted, but an ounce of 

 experience is worth pounds of theory, certainly in Pigeon- 

 keeping, so I will give my reasons for sending it. I used to con- 



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struct them all as in the top or centre rows, whichever place 

 suited best, one over the other, so that except in the distance 

 from the floor they would be exactly alike, whichever arrange- 

 ment you followed, top or centre. The consequence of this was 

 that a bird making a mistake in flight found itself in the wrong 

 box, and, being somewhat dull of apprehension of that fact, 

 caused fights, smashed eggs, &c., as I know to my loss ; and to 

 obviate it I have placed the nesting places alternately, thus 

 causing a difference in appearance, so that they are not so likely 

 to go wrong. Besides, it is easier to construct it on this plan, 

 as the cross partitions can be nailed-in better. The bar across 

 each nest is for the birds to roost on at night, aijd to fasten 

 a door on to, as shown in the bottom compartment. I do not ap- 

 prove of any shelf running along the front outside ; it forms a 

 neutral ground for fights ; and to prevent this, on the top flat on 

 the plan the centre partition projects a little. This is by far the 

 best plan of box I have tried or seen."— (Canada Farmer.) 



CAUTIONS IN ARTIFICIAL SWARMING. 



As this year many bee-keepers are short of stock owing to the 

 fearful mortality that has taken place among bees within the 

 last twelvemonth, not a few will now be t hinkin g m«re of in- 



