7 6 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



another devote him- or herself to verifying the 

 prize tickets placed on the pens, and so on. A 

 system of advertising a show must be decided 

 upon by the show committee, and notices sent 

 to the various journals which are circulated 

 amongst fanciers. The class and prize tickets 

 must be ordered in good time either by the 

 secretary of the club or the manager of the 

 show. 



The best time of the year for a show as 

 regards the appearance of Persian cats is in 

 December or January. Then, if ever, these 

 particular cats should be in the best show con- 

 dition. As regards kittens, the early summer 

 or autumn is the best period, as spring kittens 

 will then be ready to make their bow to the 

 public. It is much to be regretted that the 

 two principal shows of the National Cat Club 

 namely, the Botanic Gardens and the 

 Crystal Palace Shows should be held re- 

 spectively in June and October, when Persian 

 cats are in poor coat. 



Quite three months before the date of the 

 show a managing secretary will start work. 

 Catalogues of previous shows must be collected 

 together, in order to ascertain the names and 

 addresses of likely exhibitors. 



Special prizes are now a great feature at all 

 cat shows, and a good deal of extra work is 

 entailed by writing to obtain promises of these 

 for the various breeds. If possible, it is well 

 to appoint someone who is in touch with those 

 who are likely to become donors, and to hand 

 over this department. I would advise anyone 

 undertaking this branch of the show to have a 

 book, and to head each page with the respective 

 classes of long and short haired breeds, and 

 then when a special is received say, for the 

 best black Persian cat to place this on the 

 page set apart for specials for this particular 

 breed. Keep a separate list for kittens, and 

 decline to accept specials given in the form 

 of stud visits or for cats bred from such-and- 

 such a sire ; these savour too much of self- 

 advertisement. There are so many specialist 

 societies nowadays, and as these provide their 

 own specials the show executive is consider- 

 ably relieved of the duty of obtaining prizes. 



Of course, there are always a certain number 

 of challenge cups, medals, and specials given 

 by the club holding the show, and care should 

 be taken to distribute these fairly amongst the 

 various classes. It is usual and advisable to 

 limit the competition of the majority of these 

 special prizes to the members of the club. 

 I do not approve of a special prize being 

 offered for the best cat in the show, as it 

 is almost impossible for the judges to arrive 

 at a satisfactory decision, and considerable 

 heartburnings are generally the result of 

 such a competition. A very useful mode of 

 assisting a show is by guaranteeing classes ; 

 and I would suggest yet another plan, namely, 

 to subscribe so much towards the expenses of 

 the show. These are necessarily heavy, and 

 it has been stated that no cat show can ever 

 be made a paying affair. 



As regards the specialist societies, I think 

 it seems the correct thing that the club in- 

 tending to hold the show should instruct its 

 secretary to write to the secretary of each 

 specialist society to ask if he is willing to 

 support the show by prizes or by guaranteeing 

 classes, and to name the latest date for re- 

 ceiving particulars of the support to be given. 

 The specialist societies have their own judges, 

 and it is only natural when they are offering 

 handsome prizes that a claim should be made 

 for first-class judging in the interests of the 

 breed. It is therefore essential, as matters 

 at present stand, for one of the judges from 

 the list of the specialist club to be selected 

 to give awards in the classes connected with 

 the society. It is important to obtain as full 

 a list as possible of special prizes from societies 

 and outside donors in good time for insertion 

 in the schedule, as a tempting list will ensure 

 a better entry. In the schedule the exhibition 

 rules of the club should be printed, and in 

 addition there should be a list of arrangements 

 in a prominent position setting forth details 

 as to the opening and closing of the show, the 

 time up to which exhibits are received, the 

 earliest hour at which they may be removed, 

 and the prices of admission. The names of 

 the judges, with their respective classes, should 



