September 28, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



295 



8, E. Barker. Game.— Black Bed.—\ and Cap, J. Fletcher. 2, J. S. Hodgson 

 8, A. Brooke. Dticktcing.— 1, H. E.Martin. 2, J. Cock. S, J. Calladine. Pile. 

 — 1, J. F. "Walton. 2, G. Barnesby. B, P. Lucas. Brown Bed.-l, J. Cock. 2, 

 W. Beresford. Any other variety.— 1, 3. Cook. Bantams.— Black Red.—l and 

 Cnp, E. "Walton. 2. H. Walshaw. S, J. OBcroft. Brown Bed— 1, "W. H. Robin- 

 eon. 2, J. Fletcher. 8, J. Mayo. Duckwing.—l, W. L. Mason. 2, R. Newbitt. 

 S.J.Atkinson. Piie.—l, E. "Walton. 2, W. Roe. 3, J. Oscroft. Any variety.— 

 1, E. Walton. 2, R. H. Aehton. 8, R. Wingfield. Any other Variety.— 1, C. 

 Sidgwick. 2, A. 3. Webb. 3, J. Long. Geese.— 1 and Cup, H. Beldon. 2, E. 

 Snell. 8, F. G. S. Rawnon. Extra 3, E. Snell, T. P. Wood. Turkeyb — 1, E. 

 Snell. 2, J. Martin. Dcoks.—I, E. Snell. 2, A. & W. H. Silvester. 8, J. Denton. 

 Selling Class.— Coek.—l, A. & W. H. Silvester. 2 and 8, W. A. F. Fenwick. 

 Ben.— 1, E. S. Milnes. 2, A. Darby. 3, J. N. Lawson. 



Judge. — Mr. E. Hatton. 



CRYSTAL PALACE POULTRY SHOW. 



Mat I again, aB in former years, ask through your columns 

 for subscriptions towards a five-guinea cup for the best adult 

 Silver-Grey Dorking cock or hen at the forthcoming Crystal 

 Palace Show ? It will Bave me much trouble if subscribers are 

 kind enough at once to send me their donations without my 

 writing to them personally. 



I also am trying to collect £2, the first-prize money for an 

 Archangel class, upon which condition a clasB will be given to 

 that beautiful but neglected variety of Pigeons. — 0. E. Cress- 

 well, Early Wood, Bagshot. 



INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL CONDITIONS ON 

 PIGEONS' FORM. 



Take two families of the same strain of Pouters, all average 

 birds, place ons family in a large roomy loft, where they can 

 have plenty of action, feed them with the best of food, keep 

 them moderately warm all the year (temperate climate), and the 

 tendency is to increase in size and beauty, and with judicious 

 selection of the best specimen, a first-class strain is formed. 

 The other family is placed in a low small pen, exposed to the 

 inclemencies of the weather, and fed on refuse, and (notwith- 

 standing selection) is, in a few seasons, unrecognisable aB being 

 of the Bame strain with the well-protected family. With Carriers 

 and Bunts the same influences make or mar the strains. There- 

 fore all the birdB having Bize as a point must be well nursed, 

 and especially is it necessary while they are nestlings. Keep 

 them warm, and force them with feed. When breeding Pouters 

 and Carriers;- the difference between the summer and winter 

 birds was so great that I stopped breeding them during the 

 winter (until I heated my lofts), and during the breeding season, 

 after a number of experiments, feed mostly on black -eyed peas, 

 my best birds being forced by that easily-digested food. 



By strict attention in placing these three varieties under the 

 three influences of heat, food, and room, especially while young, 

 one cm increase the size (form) in a comparatively short time ; 

 while under the adverse circumstances of cold, <fcc, the form is 

 likewise changed, but rather unsatisfactorily. 



In a very short time a very perceptible change of form is dis- 

 covered in Pouters that are obliged to enter low boxes ; the con- 

 tinuous stooping elongates the back, and a pair of short-backed 

 birds will become roach-baoked, impressing that fault upon 

 their young, whioh, being bred in low boxes, will never be any- 

 thing else. Many a good strain of Pouters has degenerated 

 under such external circumstances, much to the disgust of the 

 owners. So have Carriers lost the bold upright carriage by 

 dodging into low boxee — some of my own among them. 



Suppose that instead of large we wished to obtain small size. 

 Expose the individuals to adverse external conditions. This 

 was vividly impressed upon me while breeding the ordinary 

 Speckled Flying Tumbler. One very cold winter there was but 

 one bird eBcapedthe inclemencies of the season; it was a grizzled 

 hen very much stunted by the cold ; several times it was revived 

 from a stiffened condition by placing it near the stove without 

 any anticipation of its recovery ; it did survive, however, though 

 always very small and delicate. It mated the following season, 

 and after raising two or three sets of young, died egg-bound' 

 From the young I obtained many very beautiful specimens no 

 larger than the Almonds. 



I extended the principle to Fantails, purposely exposing them 

 to the cold, and obtained some very beautiful birds; and I think 

 that exposure to cold while young has Borne influence upon the 

 nervous system of the Fantail in increasing the vibration of 

 neck, as the birds so exposed had the trait to higher degree 

 than others of the same strain. 



These examples are sufficient to suggest to the reader the in- 

 fluence of climate, while in almost every nest of moderate 

 feeders one of the young birdB ia neglected, becoming stunted 

 for want of food, thereby illustrating, side by side with its more 

 •fortunate companion, the influence of food upon change of 

 form. 



Pigeons have occupations as well as men ; or rather we should 

 say actions productive of change of form. Every action of 

 muscle changes form — of itself, and of the objects to which it 

 is attached. In its minor degrees this change is imperceptible 

 to the senses, but when it is continued for a period of" time 



it is more and more observable. A horse is taken from the 

 field, thin-legged, big-bellied, with flabby and slight enduring 

 musoles, and put in the hands of a trainer; within a few 

 months it is difficult to reoognise in the firm, compact animal, 

 with its rolls of muscles vibrating between the glossy hide, 

 the raw material culled from the field. Change of condition 

 has changed the form. So of Tumblers; keep them housed, 

 and the musoles are thin, the shoulders narrow, and flight ex- 

 hausting. Fly the same birds hard ; the shoulders broaden, 

 muscles are felt like bands of steel, and hours of flight are en- 

 dured. The form is changed by the conditions. As with 

 Tumblers, so with all birds of flight. 



Feathered feet is a condition that changes form. Birds with 

 such appendages bring into more determined action certain 

 muscleB necessary to drag the feathers through or over impedi- 

 ments, and their influences broaden the pelvis and flatten the 

 back, as is seen in Booted Swallows and Trumpeters. Thus it 

 is Been that the conditions of food and climate produce size, and 

 occupation or action unceasingly change it, and, being under 

 the control of man, place in his hands the power of moulding 

 forms to hia wish. — Dr. W. P. Morgan (in American Poultry 

 Bulletin). 



At a general meeting of the Central Norfolk Poultry Clnb, 

 held at the Boyal Hotel, Norwich, on Saturday, 9th September 

 inst., the Bev. T. S. Fellowes in the chair, it was proposed and 

 unanimously carried that the next show be held on Wednesday 

 and Thursday, 3rd and 4th January, 1877, and that in addition 

 to poultry and Pigeons the show should be open for the exhi- 

 bition of Canaries. 



BRITISH BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION. 



ALEXANDRA PALACE HONEY SHOW, Sept. 15th, 16th, and 18th. 



Continuing our report of last week we now come to the 

 honey, of which the show was very fine. For the second time 

 the Association offered prizes for the largest and beBt harvest of 

 honey in the oomb from one stock of bees under any system or 

 combination of systems. It was hoped that competitors using 

 Mr. Pettigrew's large skeps would have come forward here, but 

 Buch was not the case. Although Mr. Phillips gained the 

 second prize for aharvest of 131J lbs. in eight small superB from 

 a small Btraw hive, their quality was, however, exceeded by two 

 supers holding 120 lbs. of fine comb, exhibited by Mr. Cowan 

 from a thirteen-f rame Woodbury hive. These two exhibits were 

 notable examples of the two Bystems — wood versus straw, and it 

 would be interesting if Mr. Cowan and Mr. Phillips would fur- 

 nish to our columns a short detailed statement of their respec- 

 tive managements. The Bev. G. Rayner's super, weighing 

 67 lbs., exceeded in purity of colour either of the above, and had 

 it been heavier would have deserved a better place than third, 

 whioh it obtained. In the next class, for the beBt exhibition 

 of super honey from one apiary, Messrs. Cowan and Phillips again 

 held first and second places, the third prize going to a cottager, 

 Mr. Walton, who was a winner in eight other honey classes — 

 very creditable to his Skill in management of hia bees. In the 

 class for straw Bupers Mr. Phillips took first prize with 26J lbs., 

 a weight which would have been nowhere in wood or glaBS. 

 If we except Mr. Phillips' exhibits the show from straw hives 

 was very poor indeed, and there can be no question that they 

 have no chance under equal conditions with the others. We 

 may safely say, in the south of England at least, the day of straw 

 hives is past for those bee-keepers who go with the times. 



The remaining class for wood and composite Bupers was well 

 filled, boxes of upwards of 40 lbs. being quite common, the first 

 prize going to Mr. Walton for 75 lbs. of very fine comb. 

 Sectional supers for the first time at any show made a credit- 

 able appearance, Mr. Cowan again taking the lead with first and 

 second prizes — one exhibit in wood, the other in tin boxes. This 

 is a step in the right direction — i.e., to obtain fine honeycomb 

 in a saleable form. All that the retailer has to do when selling 

 is to wrap up the section in paper, and without waste or mess 

 this can be done. The cost of these sections very neatly made, 

 as exhibited by Mr. Lee and others, is under 2d. each. 



The first-prize glass super was a grand one — a noble vase in 

 the shape of an oriental oil jar well filled with 101 lbs. of honey- 

 comb; the colour of the comb was not fine, not by any means 

 equal to its neighbour, a globe containing 50 lbs. of exquisitely 

 white comb, to which was awarded the second prize. The pro- 

 duction of such supers as these may be very well for show 

 purposes, like over-fat cattle for Christmas, but for useful 

 purposes they are not desirable. In these two instances the 

 tees had certainly neatly filled the glasses, but they could only 

 be emptied by cutting and scooping the honeycomb out. What 

 retailer would or could profitably do this, and what private 

 person would care to see a 100-lb. glass of honey appear again 

 and again on his breakfast table until consumed? 



The exhibition of run and extracted honey was not large, and 

 not in all cases of good quality. An attractive show of clarified 

 honey was made by the Bev. J. G. H. Hill in small narrow 



