March 7, 1865. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETIGULTUEE AXD COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



giving its opinion on the diiferent qualifications which con- 

 stitute a prize pen, and leave exhibitors and judges to choose 

 whether they will follow its advice cr no, and not to wish to 

 appoint judges for every show, but leave that to the com- 

 mittees, who are much better able to do so. 



I admire the way in which the Hon. Sec. endeavours to 

 prevent any public discussion on the management. Still I 

 should have thought that, as the promoters desire that the 

 Club stand or fall on its own merits, they would be only too 

 willing to discuss them if it had any merits to stand on. Is 

 it because it has none that the Stewards are afraid ? Cer- 

 tainly one of the princiiml objects is a failure. Perhaps all 

 the others are the same. 



In conclusion, I think it would be better to have dealers 

 that are not exhibitors as judges than to allow dealers who 

 are exhibitors to choose them, for certainly the dealers who 

 exhibit have the most interest in who gets the prizes. If 

 the present system of judging is continued I venture to 

 predict that it will soon disgust all honest exhibitors with 

 the pursuit, and thus prove a cheek on a very entertaining 

 and useful fancy, as it has ah'cady done to one who has 

 ceased to exhibit, and become merely — A Lookee-on". 



Having noticed the letter of " A Tijiid Exhibitor " in 

 youi- Journal of the 21st ult., inquiring " who claimed the 

 first-prize pen of Game Bantams at the late llanchester 

 SJiow, and resold them there ? " I beg to inform him that the 

 pen was claimed on the suggestion of J\Ir. Douglas, but not 

 before the opening of the Show and the admission of the 

 public ; in fact, several other pens were claimed before it ; 

 also that Mr. Douglas had nothing whatever to do with the 

 resale of the pen. 



If we take your correspondent's definition of a dealer, 

 I fear we all come under that class. He wishes to prove Mr. 

 Douglas a dealer, because some two years a^o upon the Hon. 

 W. W. Vernon's relinquishing exhibiting, he sold that gentle- 

 man's stock of poultry, and has since adjudicated upon some 

 of it; but with vrhat result the instance named in "A TiiiiD 

 Eshibitoe's " first effusion only proved Mr. Douglas's in- 

 tegrity as a jiidge, for upon the occasion alluded to (Leeds), 

 though several birds formerly the property of Mr. Vernon 

 were competing, not one obtained even a commendation. I 

 would strongly advise your correspondent to write openly, 

 and attach his name to any charge he has to make against j 

 any one : but I fear had he done so in t'ais instance, he I 

 would not have been found the timid exhibitor he professes i 

 to be. — He that Ee-sold the Manchester First-prize 

 Pen of G-ajie Bantams. 



I am an amateur poultry-breeder, and I suppose that I 

 ought to be caUed a dealer, because during the past year I 

 have received ^40 by the sale of birds and eggs. This is an 

 admission some persons might not be wUling to mate. In 

 that pleasant book, " Our Farm of Four Acres," is the fol- 

 lowing — " Our fruit was as plentiful as our vegetables ; in- 

 deed, we might have sold the surplus for some pounds ; but 

 we soon found that to do so was to lose caste in the neigh- 

 bourhood." Oh, cold shade of shabby gentility ! perhaps 

 this may be the case in mine. I neither know nor care. My 

 fresh butter is sometimes stamped mth th e name of a baronet, 

 and at others with that of a wealthy squire. I neither like 

 them nor their butter the less for it. Pntil the beginning 

 of last year I did not make any attempt at sales ; in fact, 

 up to that time I had very few birds, and had only twice ex- 

 hibited. Hear this, ye " timid exhibitors," and those whose 

 groans about unprofitable poultry, and the unfairness of 

 shows, have from time to time appeared in these pages. 



From certain circumstances which occurred, I was at one 

 time disposed to look unfavourably on the Poultry Club, al- 

 though I advocated the principle of the association. I hive 

 since seen reasons which have induced me to become a 

 member. Two things, however, have not pleased me since 

 I was elected. The first was that sweeping condemnation of 

 the judging at Bu-mingham last year, where I exhibited, but 

 was not successful. The second is the offensive prominence 

 given by the Club to the fact, that dealers are to be ex- 

 cluded from public judging at the shows. 

 I I should not be at all afraid to trust myself in the hands 



I of more than one dealer that I know, whether he acted aa 



a salesman or a judge; but at the same time I can see good 

 reasons why dealers should be excluded. 



Except that an ug;ly imputation seems to be implied, I 

 think that few dealers can object to the principle of judging 

 laid down by the Poultry Club ; but if the rule exists, and I 

 am not inclined to oppose it, the matter should be fairly 

 carried out, and all persons should be excluded from public 

 judging who are either dealers by occupation, or who, as 

 amateurs, directly or indirectly sell poultry. 



In cases of dishonesty, I am afraid that exhibitors are fre- 

 quently as much to blame as judges, and in dealing I do 

 not think one is by any means safe in the hands of amateurs, 

 who frequently disappoint by ignorance as well as by design. 



There is a suggestion in a contemporary, which is worthy 

 of repetition, and which would meet the difficulty of judging 

 half way. It is proposed there that the Poultry Club should 

 adopt the plan followed at Manchester, where the pens are 

 numbered in the judge's book according to their order of 

 entry, and not according to the position of the various elasess 

 in the catalogue, so that no communication of numbers can 

 take place between exhibitors and judges. 



Judges should in aU cases be provided with books that 

 have neither the names of the owners of the birds nor the 

 numbers in the catalogue. The preparation of these 'in 

 manuscript would be simple and inexpensive. As I dislike 

 anonymous communications, I will give my name, which, 

 however, wOl be scarcely known, as I have seldom exhibited, 

 and as I have conducted my dealings in the first instance 

 in the name of my man. — George Manning, Member of tlie 

 Poultry Club. 



MORE CLASSES AT POULTRY SHOWS. 



At this season, there is by common consent a lull in the 

 poultry world. Shows are over, secretaries are resting after 

 theh' labours, prize birds are attending to their domestic 

 duties, nursing, perhaps, the infants whose full-grown pro- 

 portions will, next winter, be the admiration of BeUe Vue, 

 and Bingley Hall. This, then, is the time for managers to 

 review the past, and deduce useful hints for the construction 

 of future schedules. INow, too, is the time for a humble ex- 

 hibitor to express wishes and feelings which he believes are 

 in unison with those of others. Not long ago, a worthy 

 beneficed clergyman was asked, "What are the great wants 

 of our day." His reply was a ready one, " Cooks and 

 curates." Possibly he was suffering from the effects of a 

 half-boiled Potato, or an ill-cooked chop. Perhaps he felt 

 " Monday-ish " after a Sunday of overwork. Be that as it 

 may, we, too, have an answer to the question. " What is 

 the great want of poultry exhibitors." In a word, " More 

 classes." 



I need hardly explain why this is. At all but the leading 

 shows the classes are so few that several varieties compete 

 together, one of these often sweeps oft' the prizes en masse, 

 and the other varieties are ignored. 



Exhibitors will know the unsatisfactory feelings that arise 

 from finding their birds beaten by another breed or variety. 

 To see your noble White Cochin, over whose snow-white 

 plumage and fine proportions you have chuckled many a 

 time, "hiding his diminished head" from the victorious 

 Buffs ; to find your Light Brahma with his spreading black 

 cock's tail thrown into strong relief by his white body, 

 and with fluffy thighs bulging out like a Dutchman's in- 

 expressibles ; yes, to find even such charms as these un- 

 availing against his dark rivals ; to discover, alas, too late, 

 that White Dorkings have little chance against the coloured 

 birds — surely this is enough to sour the mUk of human 

 kindness in the breast of the exhibitor, and, then, as a result, 

 what happens ? He goes home, " a sadder and a wiser 

 man," and his conclusion may be embodied in the remark 

 of a certain Game breeder. " I am not such a fool as 



to send my Duckwing cock to . There is only one 



Game class, and the Eeds will take the prizes." Let me 

 then call upon managers to give us more classes, even if the 

 prize money in each class is reduced. Let the cake be cut 

 into more, though smaller slices, and then fewer will be sent 

 empty away ; for, after all, it is not the value of the prize, 

 but the honour of it, which we exhibitors are seeking. 



In conclusion, let me apply to poultry prizes the same wise 

 policy suggested, I think, in tlie '<Kejeoted Addresses," in 



