JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 25, 1878, 
W. Rudd. 3, W.J.Mason. Any other variety.—1, W. Rudd. 2, R. Walker. 3, 
H.C. Mason. DORKINGS.—1, J. Stott. 2,J. Walker. 3, W.H. King. COCHIN 
CHINA—1, J. Walker. 2, W. Mitchell. 3,E. Thornton. SPANISH.—Black—l, 
J. Powell. 2, J. Thresh. 3, J. Rawnsley. BRAHMA POOTRAS.—1 and 2, W. 
Schofield. 3,G.W. Henshall. HAMBURGHS.—Gold or Silver-pencilled.—1 and 
2,J. Rawnsley. 3, H. Digby. Black.—i, J. Rawnsley. 2, J. E. Smith. 3, W. 
Bentley. Gold or Silver-spangled.—1 and 2, J. Rawnsley. 3,H. Digby. BAN- 
TAMS.—Black Red or Brown Red Game—1, J. Sugden. 2, W. Rudd. 3, R. 
Swales. <Any other variety Game—l, J. Sugden. 2, he L. Holt. 3, A. Sheard. 
Any variety except Game.—1 and 3, J. F. Crowther. 2, W. H. Shackleton. 3,8. 
Bretherick. ANY OTHER VARIETY—1, J.Rawnsley. 2, H.W. & H. King. 3, 
J.E. Clayton. SELLING CLASS.—l, J. Powell. 2, H. Yardley. 3, J. Holmes. 
ANY VARIETY.—Chickens.—l, W. Mitchell. 2, H. W. & H. King. 3, G. W. 
Henshall. DUCKS.—Aylesbury.—ti and 2, J. Walker. 3, W.& P. Briggs. Rouen. 
—1, J. Walker. 2,J. Newton. 3,J.R. Pollard. Any other va iety—1 and 2,J. 
wee {et ick Walker. 2,J.F.Crowther. 3,J.Rawnsley. TURKEYS. 
—1, J. Walker. 
PIGEONS.—CARRIERS.—1, H. Yardley. 2, J. W. Robinson. POUTERS.—1 
and 2,J. W. Robinson. TUMBLERS.—1 and 2, H. Yardley. FANTAILS.—1 and 
2, J. F. Liversedge. DRAGOONS.—1, R. Woods. 2,J.Booth. JACOBINS.—1 and 
2,T. Holt. TURBITS.—1, R. Woods. 2,H. Yardley. OWLS.—1, J. Booth. 2, J. 
Thresh. ANTWERPS.—Long-faced.—1, J. Booth. 2,B. Rawnsley. Short-faced. 
—1,H. Yardley. 2,S. Wade. ANY OTHER VARIETY—1, J. Thresh. 2, J. W. 
Robinson. SELLING CLASS—1, J. Wright. 9, H. Yardley. : 
RABBITS.—LOP-EARED.—1, T. & E. J. Fell. 2,C. Clough. HIMALAYA OR 
ANGORA.—I, J. Robertshaw. 2, S. Buckley. SILVER-GREY.—1, T. & E. J. 
Fell. 2,J. Firth. ANY OTHER VARIETY.—1,E. Pepper. 2, J. H.& A. Petiar. 
JuDGES.—Mr, J. Dixon, Clayton ; Mr. E. Hutton, Pudsey. 
HEN COOP. 
WE are not surprised that your (“T. F.”) chickens do not thrive 
in the coop you describe. We recommend you to adopt the fol- 
4 
lowing. The advantage of this coop is that the hen can in rainy 
weather go into her sleeping house, 4, where she is effectually 
sheltered from the weather, and the food for her and her chickens 
can be placed behind the door B (which is made to open and 
shut), and the other fowls cannot get at it, which is the case in 
other coops ; but the coop can thus be left standing in the poultry 
yard with the other fowls. Besides, the second door, B,1s used 
in cleaning the coop out. There is also a piece of wood which 
fits to the wire bars in front and reaches three-parts of the way 
up, so that at night when it is put up the hen is securely shut 
in, and sufficient space left for ventilation. Another advantage 
in this coop is, that if suddenly a shower comes on, you can 
without the least trouble drive the chickens in, push down the 
two sliding wires, c, and the chickens are in al] safe with plenty 
of room to run about ;—the shower over, the bars are pulled up. 
PIGEONS—HINTS TO YOUNG AMATEURS.—No. 5. 
RUNTS. 
Way are the biggest Pigeons in the world called Runts? Turn 
to the first dictionary at hand, and you will find the word Runt 
thus entered and explained :—“ Runt, a small stunted animal.” 
Now, there is always a vein of humour in Englishmen, and especi- 
ally about anything very large. A father of a huge strapping 
son of 6 feet in his stockings pleases himself to call him “ his little 
boy,” and so often introduces him into company. Then there is a 
fess ajo pase ag Rae Te APOC 
Fig. 11—Part A is divided off from the rest of the coop by a partition, with a hole large enough for the hen to come in and out at pleasure, 
art B is not divided off, and is only to put the food behind. 
huge cannon, one of the very big guns of the world. Go down 
the Thames to a certain arsenal, and there you will find a great 
number of them, and they are called in playful fondness “ Wool- 
wich infants.” This is English fun. The first fancier who had a 
very large Pigeon said to his visitors, “‘ Now I want to show you a 
little Runt of a Pigeon I have imported or bred,” and forthwith 
surprised them by throwing open the door of his loft and pointing 
in triumph to a very big bird, which big bird in time, from mockery 
or fun, took the name of Runt. This is my explanation. I am 
quite aware that learned people say the word Runt comes from 
the Italian Tronfo; in answer to which I say, Pooh, pooh! And 
being also learned I reply, Runt comes from the Dutch word 
“rund.” Having now squared matters with my ideal learned 
opponent I goon comforted. That very large Pigeons in England 
called Runts came and come from the-shores of the Mediterranean 
I believe—yes, and from India too ; but Runt is a very old English 
word, and for fun a big Pigeon was first nicknamed a Runt, and 
then the name stuck to it. This is my solution of the difficulty. 
I spoke of the contrast between Pouters and Tumblers, and that 
each was benefited by the contrast, one looking much better by 
the side of the other. Just as in one way Pouters and Tumblers 
are perfect contrasts, so are Pouters and Runts; but they are also 
alike, thus Pouters and Runts are the longest-bodied Pigeons and 
the longest-feathered Pigeons—that means that the flight feathers 
and tail feathers are the longest. Here ends the similarity. Now 
for the contrast. Pouters longest legs, Runts among the shortest ; 
Pouters very slender, Runts very thickly built ; Pouters perpen- 
dicular Pigeons, standing up, looking around—Runts horizontal 
Pigeons, with eyes to the earth ; the one high up in the world, the 
other low down ; one a noisy strong flier for a short distance, and 
active too—the other not wishing to fly at all, but, like fat heavy 
people, not liking exercise of any sort. Yet these two Pigeons are 
near relations. I haye seen a great many Pouters, first cousins 
once removed to the thick short-legged Runts—yes, and bred 
them too. It is the old story of the man got up in the world and 
become an aristocrat, yet he has poor low relations somewhere. 
I found a poor man, a very poor man, in a cottage a few years 
since talking broad Wiltshire ; very down in the world he, as his 
immediate ancestors had also been—a labourer, that’s all, yet 
related distantly to a baronet of an old creation, and when the 
bart. was made acquainted with the fact he, much to his honour, 
helped the poor man, who somehow or other had his coat of arms 
lying by, but scarcely valued at all. So of our humble friend the 
Runt; he is a cousin of—not a baronet, but my lord Ponter, a 
very high and mighty gentleman indeed. ’Tis very odd, this 
relationship between the tallest and the flattest Pigeon—the one 
nearest to the ground, and the one furthest from it. The uses of 
the two are equally diverse. The Runt is the bird for the table— 
the biggest, and fullest, and fleshiest, the most pjesome (to coin a 
word) of all Pigeons ; but whoever thought of eating that aristo- 
cratic skeleton a Pouter? He carries no flesh—indeed he ought 
not to have any. “Long and lean” is his cut ; his waist is to be, 
according to fanciers, of wedding ring proportion. Then the Runt, 
if not too highly or closely bred, is an excellent feeder of its young 
and nurse for other young ; whereas Lady Pouter, like many great 
ladies, insists on that duty being done by some inferior. She 
always, as a rule, insists upon a wet nurse for her young ladies 
and gentlemen. 
Next about the varieties of Runts. Some years ago—a good 
many ; I remember several varieties—a huge, very huge, Runt was 
brought from London by a friend of mine and called a Roman 
Runt, which tried in vain to fly up from the ground with his 
other Pigeons. Then there was the Leghorn Runt that cocked 
up its tail and stuck out its breast, which, after having been lost 
sight of for long, has re-appeared at our shows under the name of 
Maltese or Florentines, and quite possibly they came from some 
Mediterranean port. ‘Then there was the most common of all 
Runts, which in those days was called the Spanish Runt; plumage 
