172 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



would believe. One such was a clergyman ; and another — a justice of the peace (!) — openly urged 

 that, while he would be rejoiced if it could be stopped, he "did think there could be little or 

 no harm" in doing what he affirmed "all committees openly recognised and winked at." These 

 things s.YQfacis ; and trusting that- the statement of them may lead to a better state of things, the 

 following is a rule which we would suggest, to be inserted in schedules, and carried out with 

 temper, but with firmness, on all occasions. We may add that the eminent judge already quoted 

 has pronounced the penalty here proposed to be "A i" for its intended purpose, and we venture 

 to say that if it be carried out fairly, we shall hear comparatively little more of trimming : — 



" The judges will be specially instructed to disqualify and mark any pens of birds which they may discover to 

 be fraudulently trimmed or altered in character for the purposes of exhibition. In case of any such disqualification 

 duly certified under the hand of the judges to the committee, all the pens of the same exhibitor throughout the show 

 will be also disqualified on account of such fraud ; and both the penalty and the reasons for it will be stated in the 

 prize list, and notice thereof legibly affixed to the front of the said pens. These notices will be maintained on the 

 pens throughout the show, and any one found removing or defacing them will be given into the custody of the police." 



Since the foregoing matter has been arranged for press, we have received from Mr. Hewitt 

 a third most valuable paper on various points connected with the management of shows and the 

 other subjects of this chapter, which we place before our readers with peculiar pleasure, as showing 

 how closely our own recommendations coincide with the matured and deliberate conclusions of 

 that veteran fancier and judge. The agreement is in truth remarkable, of which a curious proof 

 maybe given. On receiving from Mr. Hewitt the gratifying announcement that such a statement 

 of the results of his vast experience should be sent us if we desired, we thought it well to 

 forward for his perusal, along with our note of acknowledgment, proof sheets of the preceding 

 pages ; but in the meantime he had written his own MS. independently, and the package arrived 

 by post while it was lying, completed, on the table. In a private note accompanying his MS. 

 he states this, and adds, " My wife, self, and two gentlemen who happened to call in for the evening, 

 had a hearty laugh at the apparent impossibility of any two minds writing so perfectly in unison 

 on any subject, unknown to each other; and, as one of them justly observed, 'we must certainly 

 be getting very close to the truth to do so.' As your printed copy and my already zvritten article 

 lay side by side, nobody but some one who saw your package opened could credit that ' footsteps 

 could follow without previous arrangement in such perfect Indian file.' " It is in the hope of 

 leading others also to the reflection that conclusions thus confirmed must be very close to the truth, 

 and hence to the furthering as much as is in their power the interests which both this able judge 

 and ourselves have alike at heart, that with Mr. Hewitt's permission we mention these facts ; and 

 now proceed to give his remarks without further preface : — 



" I am myself, by long experience, perfectly convinced that the so-called ' open judging ' is 

 not the best adapted to promote the success of poultry-shows ; but that in order to obtain the 

 most reliable awards the judges ought to be screened from constant ' touting,' and from the un- 

 seemly display of violence of temper sometimes ensuing when awards unfavourable to the interests 

 of particular individual exhibitors then on the spot are recorded. Nor is this the worst light in 

 which open judging can be viewed, as may be easily imagined from the following facts: — I have 

 judged 'openly,' when exhibitors, after posting themselves on the opposite side of the pens then 

 under examination, have said audibly enough for any one easily to hear, ' I bred all my best chickens 



this year from that hen ; ' or, as in another instance, ' That's the same cock I won with at 



show;' or {as occurred since this has been put in type), when judging with Mr. John Martin, where 



