Docombor IG, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICDLTORB AND 00TTAQ5S GARDENER. 



539 



of the present day is much as it was ten years aRO, while the 

 number of exhibitors, we should suppose, is considerably more 

 than ten times the number it then was, for every single variety 

 now boasts of a perfect host of admirers. We believe that if 

 the shows took to giving third prizes always, and even fourth 

 and fifth prizes — supposing, too, at first it had to be done at the 

 cost of lessening the value of the first prize— that the committees 

 would be repaid in a very marked way. 



Take the Show of Swiudou, for example, held a week or two 

 back, and see what a surprising number of entries they had in 

 every class — how their Hamburghs mustered better even than 

 at some of the northern shows, and we are at once shown what a 

 third prize does, which, too, was only 5s. in this case. Swindon 

 had no attractive cups in the various classes — only four for the 

 best pens in the Show among both poultry and Pigeons, the total 

 value of which were only .£9 9s., and which can coimt conse- 

 quently as nothing in regard to the numbers of entries made. 

 They had no large first prizes either, and yet we find an average 

 of eighteen entries in a class throughout the poultry and Pigeons. 

 This is a capital average, and the third prize was to a very great 

 measure the cause of the success. Taking this late Show at 

 Swindon, then, as an example of the triumph of the third-prize 

 system, we find the total sum received in entry fees for the 

 poultry and Pigeons comes to about £V2,1, while the money spent 

 in prizes comes only to MS'i ; which, too, is supposing that the 

 four cups are given in addition to the prize money. The balance, 

 then, is £14 to the good in entrance fees alone ; and we venture 

 to think, that had there been only two prizes of il and 10s. 

 the Committee would have been lucky to find that the entrance 

 fees had paid the money expended in prizes. We pick out 

 Swindon as being the last small show of the kind that we have 

 attended ; and though the marked courtesy of the officials there 

 may have something to do with the support this Show receives, 

 still we are Bare that their third prizes brought the main 

 success. 



There are some classes, too, at all shows where it is impossible 

 to do justice with even three prizes to award. Take for example 

 a variety class, where perhaps we may find Malays, Polands, 

 Sultans, Minorcas, Silkies, and so on, and all of nearly equal 

 merit. The awards to a great extent in such cases have to 

 depend upon the caprice of the judge, and no harsh words should 

 ever be used in reference to the awards in such a class, for the 

 judge is placed in a most difficult position. We would recom- 

 mend committees, then, especially those who leave many of the 

 more recognised breeds to tabernacle in the " refuge," to have 

 in that class two first prizes, two seconds, and two thirds. We 

 should find such a method of proceeding appreciated by judge 

 and exhibitors, while the entries would come in accordingly. 

 We know it has been recommended before, and in one or two 

 instances carried into effect with success. We should like, how- 

 ever, to see it become general in the interests of the fancy at 

 large. 



Although we mentioned, a few lines above, that to enable a 

 third or fourth prize being offered the first prize might be 

 slightly lessened, still there should be no real occasion for this. 

 Some weeks ago we mentioned a tariff for entrance fees in pro- 

 portion to money spent in prizes, which we thought would 

 answer all ends. We proposed that 3s. should he charged for 

 a A'l first prize, and Is. for every 10s. afterwards, which would 

 make a 7s. entry fee for a i'3 first prize. We still think this 

 would be a very fair and proper scale of charge ; and then if a 

 third prize was given to the value of a quarter of the first prize, 

 we believe that committees would find themselves less often in 

 that disagreeable position which is frequently wont to be the case 

 when the settling day arrives. Of course some shows have a 

 great pull in being held in a good neighbourhood, where the 

 station is a junction and the line of rail convenient for exhi- 

 bitors ; but it is the exhibitions that cannot hold out these 

 inducements which should especially study to arrange their 

 entrance fees and prizes in such a tasty way as to draw exhi- 

 bitors from the well-beaten tracks — that is, if once it is deter- 

 mined to hold a show without losing money ; for sometimes we 

 see shows advertised to be held in perfectly inaccessible places, 

 where success can hardly be expected under any circumstances. 

 In conclusion, then, we would recommend committees always to 

 give at least three prizes ; for while they would reap the great 

 returns the exhibitors would be pleased, and the arduous work 

 of the judges to some small extent might be lessened in having 

 more prizes to distribute among perhaps an even collection 

 of birds. — W. 



BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW. 



Ts:^ Midland Counties Herald states that, "in consequence 

 of the staff at the disposal of the poultry committee being 

 entirely fresh to their work, several errors occurred in the 

 labelling of the pens and in the despatch of the birds ; but the 

 Council hope that, after the efficient coaching which the clerks 

 received at the hands of Mr. G. C. Adkins, Mr. Heape, Mr. H. 

 Mapplebeck, and others, such mistakes will be avoided for the 



future. One pen, marked ^£0, was wrongly labelled sold, and 

 the owner wished to claim the money, as he thought the bird 

 would have been sold but for the error ; but, of course, the 

 Council could not hold themselves responsible, and he had to 

 be satisfied to receive it back. Another pen, priced in the 

 oatologue at sixty guineas, was unfortunately labelled ' reduced 

 to two guineas,' immediately sold, and since despatched to the 

 purchaser, who, it is hoped, will regard the transaction in the 

 right light, and return the birds. 



" In the hurry of despatching such a large number of baskets 

 of poultry one or two of the labels were transposed, and a few 

 people did not receive their own birds, but we believe all the 

 mistakes have now been remedied." 



[Oq such occasions all parties should act kindly, and do as they 

 would to be done by. — Eds.] 



DESPATCH OF BIRDS FROM SHOWS. 



Surely it would cause but little additional trouble to com- 

 mittees to have the pens belonging to one exhibitor collected at 

 the close of the show and despatched together. The present 

 system of sending off birds as they are packed, without the 

 slightest attempt at order, and without reference to the place of 

 destination, is productive of serious inconvenience and loss o£ 

 time to exhibitors, not to mention additional expense. 



Let me give my own experience. On a certain day three pens 

 of poultry were due to return from a show not a hundred miles 

 from home. I drove to the station to meet them, when I found 

 that one pen only had arrived. Having put up my trap at the 

 nearest inn I waited patiently the arrival of my birds. At length 

 by the last train that night a second pen arrived, and I had to 

 return home filled with dismal forebodings as to the fate of the 

 third. However, on sending to the station the next day the 

 missing pen was found to have arrived by a morning train, the 

 birds not improved by their long captivity in the hamper. I 

 should add that between the place at which the exhibition was 

 held and the station at which the birds arrived there was no 

 junction on whose broad shoulders the onus of responsibility 

 could be laid. On another occasion four pens came from a show 

 by four different trains ; and these are not the only cases. 



Now when I say that I Jive seven miles from a railway station 

 the loss of time, inconvenience, and expense occasioned may be 

 readily imagined. The use of double hampers to a great extent 

 remedies the inconvenience. Still they have a limit of capacity, 

 especially in the case of the large breeds, and there are shows 

 whose committees are wedded to old customs and decline to 

 adopt reforms. With the index which is appended to rnost 

 catalogues in hand, a steward or stewards aided by porters might 

 be told off to collect the birds of each exhibitor already packed 

 in their hampers, and despatch them to their destination together. 

 Much trouble would be saved to the railway officials at the over- 

 crowded station ; the birds would not be detained there so long 

 in the draught and cold, and much anxiety would be spared to 

 exhibitors like myself who have no poultry men to send with 

 their specimens. — Sukkey Parson. 



[It would give very little extra trouble if committees would 

 do as our correspondent wishes, and we knoio that it would 

 increase the entries. We have heard more than one exhibitor 

 declare he sends only in one class because his pens never came 

 home together. — Eds.] 



CANTERBURY POULTRY SHOW. 



We have come a long way to see this far-famed town and its 

 Poultry Show year by year rising to eminence. In spite of the 

 Kentish snow, deeper this year by far than we have seen in 

 many another county, well are we rewarded. The fanciers o£ 

 the counties of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Middlesex (for to these 

 four counties is the Show confined) are certainly most success- 

 ful and most enthusiastic, for in the generality of classes the 

 display of birds is finer than we see in ordinary open shows. 

 We rejoice that there are still some of these partially-close 

 shows, for here are brought out birds not a whit behind many 

 well-known winners whose owners have not the time or courage 

 to send to the great contest. They are often peculiarly fresh 

 and strong birds, are bought by great breeders, and throw 

 vigour into their strains. The Corn Exchange is a well-lighted 

 and ventilated building, and the temperature excellent. We 

 would suggest that grit in the pens would be far better than 

 sawdust, which the birds eat with their food and suffer from, 

 and that maize should not be given them with such unbounded 

 liberality. . 



Workings, especially Silver-Greys, are the speciahtc of this 

 part of Kent. Eifly-five pens are shown of a high average of 

 excellence. The Silver-Grey classes are the best, and the five- 

 guinea cup for the best pen in the four first classes is justly 

 awarded to a magnificent adult pair of this breed belonging to 

 Mr. O. E. Cresswell. The adult Coloured birds are not a good 

 class ; the prizes are well bestowed, but the first-prize cock has 



