182 



THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



my career as an exhibitor. I showed ' Jubilee ' 

 again at Graft's and Brighton the next year, 

 where he again carried off firsts, and was 

 described as the best smoke cat seen since 

 the days of the famous ' Mildew.' 



" At the Palace in 1894, I bought a smoke 

 female kitten from Miss Bray as a mate for 

 'Jubilee.' This mating proved successful, 

 and I had several grand litters of smokes, 

 most of which, I am sorry to say, went to 

 swell the ranks of neuter pets, being given 

 as presents to my friends. In time I learnt 

 wisdom, however, and kept my smokes my- 

 self. ' Jubilee's ' career as a show cat was 

 unfortunately cut short after his Brighton 

 win in 1894. He escaped one night, and in 

 a fight with another cat had his ears so torn 

 that I was unable to exhibit him again. A 

 year later, when I was away from home, he 

 was let out one day, and never returned, 

 having, I expect, been trapped in the woods. 

 At that period my smokes nearly died out, 

 as I had only one litter a few weeks old by 

 ' Jubilee.' Of the two smokes one was pro- 

 mised, and the other I kept, and he is still 

 alive as ' Champion Backwell Jogram.' So 

 I think I may consider I have had my share 

 of luck, though, like most breeders, I have 



MRS. A. M. STEAD'S SMOKE PERSIAN 



(Photo: E. N. Collins, S. Norwood.) 



" CH. RANJI.' 



had my bad times, and have lost sometimes 

 as many as twelve cats and kittens in a few 

 days from distemper, and once or twice a 

 very promising female has strayed into the 

 woods and been seen no more. I hope, how- 

 ever, that for some years, at least, ' Jubilee's ' 

 descendants will continue to flourish, as there 

 are a number of ' Jogram's ' kittens scattered 

 over England, and several have left these 

 shores for America. 



" In mating my smoke queens I have several 

 times tried a black sire, and have always been 

 successful in getting good smokes from this 

 cross. 'Jubilee II.' is an example, being by 

 ' Johnnie Fawe,' Dr. Roper's famous black 

 Persian. I have only once years ago tried a 

 blue cross, but the result was a mixed litter of 

 blacks and blues. I have found that all the 

 blue queens mated with 'Jogram' have had 

 chiefly blacks. Smokes may be considered a 

 very hardy breed, perhaps from the fact 

 that there has been little in-breeding so far. 

 'Jogram' lives in an unheated wooden house 

 all the year round, and has never even had a 

 cold. Kittens will also stand the same treat- 

 ment. 



" And now I will endeavour to give my 

 ideas as to the points which go to make up 

 a perfect smoke. A good smoke is perhaps 

 one of the most beautiful of the many beau- 

 tiful breeds of long-haired cats, a bad smoke 

 one of the plainest. The novice for whom 

 this article is principally written may there- 

 fore be glad to have a clear definition of a 

 smoke to start with. 



" The definition drawn up by the Silver 

 Society when it first started reads as follows : 

 ' A smoke cat must be black, shading to smoke 

 (grey), with as light an under-coat as possible, 

 and black points, light frill and ear tufts ; 

 eyes to be orange.' But the word ' black,' 

 having sometimes led novices to suppose that 

 a black cat possessed of a white under-coat 

 is a smoke, it would be perhaps safer to say 

 ' a smoke is a deep cinder-coloured cat shading 

 to grey, with a white under-coat,' etc. In 

 order to distinguish the difference between 

 black and the true cinder-colour of the smoke, 



