246 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 14, 1876. 



Nastes of Plants (F. E. H.). — It is Woodwardia radieans, and is, perhap?, 

 kept in a tempera! ure unsuitable. "We cannot name plants from leaves only. 

 {TV. H, O.). — ABclepias eurassavica. {Snapdragon) — The bine flower is Pole- 

 monium reptans. "We cannot name florist's varieties. IE. 0. T.). — Fankia 

 ovata. (P. Edwards). — Cannot name from fragment S6nt. {W. D.i. — 1, 

 Perhaps Costmary (Tanacetnm Balsimital ; 3, Sneezewort (Achillea Ptar- 

 mica); 4, Mentha rotundifolia. Specimens bal. {F P.). — Lastrea dilatata, 

 {Ecce). — 1, Sedum spectabile; 2, Symphorieirpus racemosus, St. Peter's- 

 wort, and known also as the Snowbeiry. It is a hardy deciduons shrnb 

 from North America. Your post-bos is simple aud effectual, a pattern of its 

 kind. 



POULTEY, BEE, AUD PIGEOK OHEONIOLE. 



THE POETSMOUTH POULTRY SHOW. 



We mentioned a week or two back that the Portsmouth Com- 

 mittee were doing all in their power to make wroDg right, and 

 we wondered what shape the indulgence they asked for would 

 take. Before the lines were printed almost the secret had 

 transpired, and the " little indulgence from the exhibitors " is 

 10s. in the pound. "We do Dot call it a little one, but a gigantio 

 one, and one we hope exhibitors will not agree with at all. In 

 the little epistle which accompanies the balance sheet the Com- 

 mittee generously state that " it would have been much more 

 satisfactory to them could they have paid in full." We concur, 

 and expect even now that many will insist upon full payment, 

 notwithstanding the b lance sheet and the £290 13s. id. We 

 quite think the time has come to investigate the principles upon 

 which these erring exhibitions work, and we hope exhibitors 

 will themselves take up the subject, for after all the matter is 

 only of importance to them. About this Show we have had 

 letters from all sides speaking in the strongest terms, and we 

 really do not wonder at the anger displayed in them. 



The balance sheet is very mystifying, and we could ask copious 

 questions about it. We are quite sure all will have asked them- 

 selves the same queries, but for the benefit of those who were 

 not prizetakers we will ask them here. (1), In the expenditure 

 column £54 we read has been spent in prize money. We ask, 

 Was this paid in full, and why have some been paid and not 

 others? (2), We read judges' fees and expenses came to 

 £27_16s. as if they were paid, when we believe we are correct in 

 stating that the expenses of one of the poultry judges had not 

 been paid on September 1st. (3), Judges' dinner and refresh- 

 ments came to £22 7s. 8d. Is it possible they can have partaken 

 so heartily ? or did they have a banquet? (4), Nine silver cups 

 and hire of plate came to £25 12s. 6d. Does this include the 

 cost of all the plate ? If so, we know of one gentleman who haB 

 never received bis cup, and we again a=k, Why Bhould some 

 have done so and not others ? (5), We find the balance to the 

 bad is put down at £290 13s. id., but of this £117 10s. 9d. was 

 the debt of the past year, and it does seem monstrous to try and 

 make exhibitors on this occasion nay debts contracted by the 

 Committee in past times. It really looks as if this last event 

 had been got up merely as a speculation, something like the 

 Birmingham Summer Show affair, with a " sink or swim " sort 

 of feeling. It surely was wroDg for a show so much to the bad 

 to incur the fresh risks of another exhibition, and having done 

 so to try and get their exhibitors to make up their debts. We 

 are sure the Committee will get no sympathy, for even on the 

 day when the public had to pay 5s. each to go iu and see the 

 judging, not one of the officers seemed the leaBt anxious for the 

 welfare of their visitors, as nothing could draw out from them 

 the winning numbers in the various classes, their thoughts 

 seemingly being entirely concentrated upon the banquet which 

 was to come off later on. We should be glad to hear what ex- 

 hibitors mean to do in the matter. We will support them in 

 every way, and we know of some who mean to put the matter 

 into the County Court. Anyhow, we would beg that no one 

 should agree to take less than their dues until matters have 

 become more arranged, for we do not Bee why this Show, like 

 the Aston Park fiasco, should get into the difficulty it has done 

 and out again bo easily. We are assured that some of the 

 Committee are in a position to pay the debts, and we do not 

 see why their supporters, who went to great expense in entrance 

 fees and carriage, should only be the losers. 



To give an idea of what fanciers think of this affair, we will 

 quote from one or two letters. One exhibitor says it cost him 

 £7_sending to end entering at the Show, and he' writes, "It is 

 quite time these wrong doings were put an end to — this last 

 affair has made the cup run over." Another writes, "It is the 

 coolest document I ever read. I have represented that cups 

 are put down in the expenditure, and that I have never-received 

 mine. Could not you expose the proceedings in the Journal ?" 

 While another writes, "Myreply to their disgraceful circnlarwas 

 that I had not the least intention of accepting 10s. in the pound. 

 Had the Committee not guaranteed payment within fourteen 

 days I should have acted very differently, but under the cir- 

 cumstances and owing to the incivility of the Secretary not 

 replying to several letters I feel iudisposed at this late date to 



accept their offer. At any other show not casting abroad such 

 ' baits ' I should pity them, and accept such an offer." We 

 cculd quote from many more, but we have shown the opinions 

 of three of our largest exhibitors, and we believe nearly every 

 other one agrees with them. We Eay, then, let the matter be 

 clearly settled once for all, so as to know whether committees 

 can do as Portsmouth wishes to do, and come out of the affair 

 as pleasantly as they commenced it. — W. 



ABANDONMENT OF THE ALEXANDRA PALACE 

 POULTRY AND PIGEON EXHIBITION. 



Yon will doubtless have Been Mr. Tegetmeier's announcement 

 of the abaEdonment of the Alexandra Show, but we feel that 

 your readerB and the whole of the breeders and exhibitors 

 throughout the kingdom should be furnished with full parti- 

 culars of this lamentable fiasco, in order that they may know 

 where the real blame lies. 



You are aware that we as Secretaries, with Mr. Tegetmeier as 

 Treasurer, carried out the Poultry and Pigeon Show last Oc- 

 tober, and the Cat and Babbit Show in the spring of the present 

 year, and we flatter ourselves that the mode in which these two 

 shows were conducted was such as to earn the approval of the 

 bulk of our exhibitors, and we have reason to know that the 

 authorities at the Palace were satisfied with our arrangements. 

 It is also perfectly clear from the many and kind expressions of 

 good will and promises of support we had received from exhi- 

 bitors in every direction that the Show announced to take place 

 in October would have proved a triumphant success, and we 

 deeply regret that circumstances over whioh we had not the 

 slightest control have prevented its being carried out. 



In anticipation of the Show, and in connection therewith, so 

 long ago as March last an interview took place between Mr. 

 Tegetmeier and one of the chief members of the executive staff 

 of the Palace, the result of which was that after corresponding 

 with secretaries of some other shows, the date of the Alexandra 

 Show was fixed and duly announced in the poultry papers, and 

 from that time we have been actively engaged in the necessary 

 arrangements for carrying out the Show, and that the autho- 

 rities at the Palace were fully aware of our movements is evident 

 from the fact that, in consequence of our having no permanent 

 office in London, a large number of letters have during the last 

 two or three months reached our hands through the Alexandra- 

 Palace, having been addressed to us there by the writers, and 

 forwarded to us day by day by the Palace officials. Yet, in 

 spite of all this, at the eleventh hour, when all our preliminary 

 arrangements were completed, and without our having received 

 the slightest previous intimation of even the probability of such 

 a thing occurring, on the 25th August Mr. Tegetmeier received 

 from the Palace a telegram to the following effect — " There will 

 be no Poultry Show this year. See me as soon as possible." Of 

 course no time was lost in placing ourselves in communication 

 with the authorities at the Palace, as we could only imagine 

 there must be some mistake, not thinking it possible that such 

 a thing could happen. Nothing definite, however, could be done 

 until the meeting of the Board of Directors on August 31st, but 

 from what transpired during the interval we were justified in 

 hoping that the catastrophe would be averted, and that the 

 Show would yet take place. When the Board met, without 

 affording us any satisfactory reason for their course of action, 

 and entirely ignoring the arrangements entered into with their 

 officials, they determined, owing, we believe, to some radical 

 change in their policy, that no Shows whatever were to be held 

 this year. It was in vain that it was represented to them that 

 we had been at work for months on the Show, that we had in- 

 curred considerable expense and serious responsibilities, that 

 we had engaged eight gentlemen from various parts of the 

 country to act as Judges, that offices were rented for which we 

 have now no use whatever, that our schedule was in type all ready 

 for issue, that we had two or three thousand postage wrappers 

 already addressed, besides a large quantity of stationery and 

 envelopes stamped and printed for our use, and that as men of 

 honour we should be seriously compromised if we were unable 

 to keep faith with the public and those friendB who had so 

 kindly promised us their assistance and support. Nothing would 

 move them for their determination. We offered to forego any 

 pecuniary arrangement we had made with them, and to carry 

 on the Show at our own personal risk and responsibility, and to 

 submit to any sacrifice rather than suffer the Show to collap6a. 

 All this had no effect, and we are therefore in our defence com- 

 pelled to lay before your readers this plain statement of facts, 

 and of what we cannot help feeling to be very bad and disgrace- 

 ful treatment, which is to us perfectly incomprehensible. 



With regard to our legal position in the matter, of that for 

 obvious reasons we say nothing, and only trust that our friends, 

 among whom we hope are included all the fanciers in the 

 kingdom, will absolve us from all blame in the matter, and give 

 ns credit for having done all in our power to avert the abandon- 

 ment of that which we had hoped and had good reason to believe 

 would have proved a most successful exhibition, the loss of 



