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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 21, 1863. 



casual bystander to determine who were the most deserving of 

 commiseration, the Judges themselves or the disappointed com- 

 petitors. Grouped within a few feet only of the arbitrators 

 followed a throng, not only of parties curious to know the result, 

 but still more so by those whose actual contending interests were 

 strongly implicated in the decisions. It must be evident on the 

 slightest reflection that where so conflicting desires for mastery 

 exist, the usual routine of consistency will not be very rigidly 

 adhered to where openly spoken and timely suggestions are 

 hoped to warp the opinions of those officiating. 



The impropriety of competitors requesting Judges to " re- 

 consider" before making their final awards was thrown aBide as 

 useless etiquette, and the matter was at length so extravagant 

 that cheers or murmurs followed the affixing of almost every 

 card, whilst a corresponding measure of dispute and abuse not 

 unfrequently broke out among the respective owners themselves, 

 and in these latter cases blows seemed imminent. 



I find that about five years since the same plan produced pre- 

 cisely the same result when reduced to practice, though then 

 tried in very far distant localities. 



I have not ever seen anything so productive of wrangling and 

 dispute among exhibitors, or so utterly objectionable to arbitra- 

 tors ; nor would it be necessary to encroach on your pages had 

 not application been made to several committees to adopt the 

 plan complained of. Surely the awards at any exhibition should 

 be so conducted as not to permit for a moment any interference 

 with the officials, on whose deliberate and unmolested scrutiny 

 so much depends. It is, therefore, in the hope to bring the 

 matter more fully under the consideration of those interested in 

 the perpetuity and welfare of poultry exhibitions that these few- 

 remarks have been indited by — An Ahatet/b. 



POWTEKS— A HINT. 



Every lover of pets, whether of Bantams, Rabbits, Pigeons, 

 or Hawks, or of the "smaller deer" Doves, singing birds, or 

 white mice, residing in or near to Bath, any time between the 

 beginning of this century and a few years since, knew " Old 

 Hobbs, bird-dealer, No. 1, Trim Bridge," in that beautiful 

 city. Perhaps my mention of this old man may revive in some 

 of your readers the memory of a friend of bygone days. How- 

 ever that may be, I knew the old Hobbs but of some ten years 

 ago. Par gone was he towards eighty — a thin, bent, small old man, 

 with sharp piercing eyes, and aquiline nose, quaintly clad in 

 short jacket and fur cap. He lived among his birds every day, 

 and all day long, and bo bird-like had he grown — to my eye, at 

 least — that if I had found him some day in one of his larger 

 oages quietly feasting on hempseed I should have been scarcely 

 surprised. Poor old man ! his life had been no path of roses. 

 Sorely vexed was he, too, by intrusive boys who would hang 

 over the half-door of his shop, and somewhat angrily did he 

 rate them ; powerless anger, alas ! for the next minute they 

 returned, eyeing the little shop all over, and criticising its in- 

 habitants. A little short, and curt, and crusty was he also to 

 new customers, but he had seen better days, to which, after I 

 had become a crony of his, he was wont to refer with sadness : 

 hence I held him excused, and I daresay every thinking person 

 would. 



" Such a pair of Pigeons, Bir," he would Bay, " I used to sell 

 for 30s. a-pair, and now I don't get 10s. for them ; but no 

 gentlemen keep the birds now, only schoolboys ;" and then he 

 would add bitterly, " and they make presents of them. There 's 

 no trade now-a-days." 



But to my tale. I pitied the old man, and asked him to spend 

 a day with me in the country, and never shall I forget his 

 softened .look. " Thank you, sir ; very kind of you, but I can't 

 leave them ;" waving his hand towards his feathered and furred 

 family. Forthwith we were friends ; he always let me know if 

 he had anything choice, and welcomed me with a smile. Now, 

 I never knew old Hobbs' equal in knowledge of Pigeons. One 

 day, standing before a cage of fine Blue Powters, I said, " Pity 

 they wo'n't bring up their own young ones; for it makes keep- 

 ing them so troublesome." 



" Nonsense, sir, they will if there 're only fed properly. Now, 

 listen to me, sir ; feed them on beane, and they will rear their 

 young as well as any Pigeons." 



It happened that a friend of mine bought these very Powters ; 

 they had several pairs of young ones, none of which they reared. 

 He then fed them on beanB, and I saw them some months after- 



wards with several pairs of young ones parading in front of my 

 friend's house. This, then, is the hint I beg leave to give to 

 your Powter-loving readers. I myBelf have not been a breeder 

 of Powters for some years. Even if the plan of bean-feeding 

 does not answer with every pair, still, if it does with some, here 

 is a gain : and if your knowing readers already know it, and 

 smile at my want of knowingness, still, on all hands, I hope my 

 motive for communicating this fact (a fact in one case at least), 

 will be my full apology. 



I the more readily send this, as m none of the Pigeon-books 

 I possess, neither the old ones nor the two newer works, not 

 even in that admirable and exhaustive one by Mr. Brent, " The 

 Pigeon-Book" — the only one I know up to the present day — is 

 the necessity of feeding Powters on beans mentioned. — Wilt- 

 shire Rectoe. 



P.S. — Just let me add that a son of old Hobbs oarries on, not 

 unworthily, his father's business. 



KEEPING DUCKS. 



It is said that a nobleman on coming of age once asked in 

 despair, on being told. he had £50,000 per annum, "What 

 could a man do with £50,000 ?" Many of our readers — and we 

 hold the same opinion ourselves — think a great deal may or 

 might be done. It takes our breath away to think of Buch an 

 income. We fancy we would do nothing but good ; we would 

 restore the golden age to the place fortunate enough to be our 

 residence ; we would encourage virtue, put down vice, and keep 

 lots of poultry. This puts us on our feet again. It is a common 

 thing to hear the owner of a thousand acres lament his inability 

 to keep more than one breed for want of convenience, and regret 

 that he cannot keep Ducks because he has not a piece of water. 



We have six poultry- houses on an acre of land. It is an 

 orchand, crowded on two sides with trees. Each house is 12 feet 

 long by 6 wide, 6 feet high in front, with a slated roof, slanting 

 to 4 feet in height at the back. An enclosed space in front of 

 each house is 21 feet long by 12 wide. Each house lias a separate 

 breed for tenants, arid each has the run of the orchard for two 

 hours every day. This involves no trouble. The fowls look for 

 their liberty, and return cheerfully to their confinement. Of 

 course the breeds are selected. They are Cochins, Spanish, 

 Brahmas, and Creve Cceurs. We should not expect Dorkings to 

 do as well. It is impossible for any birds to be in higher eon- ' 

 dition than these are. Their food is ground oats twice per day, 

 whole corn given sparingly at midday, Indian corn once per 

 week. 



Now for Ducks. People imagine that a lake is almost a 

 necessity for half a score of Ducks. It is a mistake. We keep 

 a great many, and, protected by our incognito, we do not blush 

 to say they have in the way of water only a ditch. This is. 

 perhaps, 18 inches deep in places. This is all that is necessary. 

 They enjoy it very much, they are in perfect health, they lay 

 and breed well. The plain and sober truth is, that Ducks do 

 not live on the water because they can swim, any more than 

 birds live in the air because they can fly. Ordinary Ducks and 

 Geese seldom take to the water except as a refuge. It is wanted 

 for the condition and comfort of their plumage, it has much to 

 do with their health ; but for all necessary or useful purposes a 

 puddle is sufficient, if it be 18 inches deep. 



LAEKS AND WAGTAILS. 



Although the Larks, Pipits, and Wagtails have by natu- 

 ralists been separated into three orders, still I think there is 

 even more similarity between them than there is between some 

 of those birds classed in one order as Finches. 



Of the Larks proper' we have only two species common in 

 this country — the Skylark and the Woodlark ; the Crested Lark, 

 common on the Continent, is only a rare visitant to England. 



Of Pipits we have more species, all of which are frequently 

 confuBed under the common title of Titlarks. The commonest 

 is the Meadow Pipit or common Pipit Lark, which, like the 

 Skylark and Woodlark, remains with us all the winter. The 

 next is the Tree Pipit, which is the true Titlark of the London 

 bird-fanciers — a delicate bird much prized for its song, and 

 which is migratory, pasBing only the summer months in this 

 country. We have also the Hock Pipit or Shorelark, a rather 

 local bird, more frequently found on the seacoast, and one or 

 two others occasionally met with, but which can scarcely be 

 called English birds. 



