152 



JOUKNAIi OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ February 23, 1871. 



eqnal to those of the Cochin or the Hambnrf^h, bnt for the table 

 there was nothiDg to eqnal them. Of conrse in some localities, -where 

 the soil was damp, he did not think the Dorkings would do very well. 

 Another objection was they were rather delicate, and liable to hare 

 the roup ; but this, he thought, arose very often from the overcrowding. 

 With regard to the keeping of fowls, he said he had a very large range 

 for them, and he had the roosting place swept ont every morning, and 

 some of McDougall's powder scattered about. He would recommend 

 every stock-keeper to use this for the prevention of disease. He had 

 kept the Hamburgh, and for an amateur there was nothing superior to 

 the Silver-spangled Hamburghs. They laid almost for ever, and for 

 Qie table there was no poultry that would surpass young Silver Ham- 

 burgh chickens. The Game were very fine, but they were rather 

 ieggy. They had been known to lay more than 300 egQS in a year. 

 A good deal depended npon their situation. At any rate they were 

 constant layers. He spoke favourably of the old Pheasant fowls, 

 Moonies, or Redcaps, as they were called. Nothing was more worthy 

 of the attention of any gentleman than the old Golden Pheasant, 

 The Cochins, as a rule, were very good for the table, but he complained 

 that they had too much a propensity for sitting. With regard to the 

 Malays, they were a very valuable fowl, and he was surprised they did 

 not receive more attention. Speaking of the question of cmsses, he 

 *Lhonght it was a mistake ; but the best of all crosses was a Brahma 

 and Dorking. He was sorry to say with regard to the Dorking that 

 'they did not exhibit so strongly at the last poultry show as they had 

 clone. This he attributed to the drought of last year, which cansed 

 •the worms, upon which the fowls often fed, not to be so plentifnl. 



Mr. Brooke in answer to the question put to him why he did not 

 mention the breed of Malays, said that they were very long in the leg 

 and looked unsightly in the market, and people would not therefore 

 ^uy them. Then, again, he did not recommend them to farmers 

 "because they were very pugnacious, and it was very hard work to keep 

 Tieace amongst them [laughter]. After again recommending the 

 Brahmas, he said he had listened with pleasure to the discussion, and 

 "he hoped that at some future day they might have more discussion on 

 the same subject. 



Nan'Twich Poultry Show. — I sincerely hope that another year the 

 ■Committee will open the Show to general competition, and offer prizes 

 which will induce some of our most prominent exhibitors to send, and 

 *chat the ladies in the neighbourhood will render their assistance, and 

 give cups for those classes which your correspandent considers so 

 oniserable. Then, should he favour us with a report next year, we 

 -shall hope that his praises may be more evenly divided. — Spectator. 



WooDBRiDGE Show. — This Show will take place on the 15th and 

 16th of March next., and deserves encouragement. There are six silver 

 cups value £5 5s. each, and three of £3 35. for poultry, and a point 

 cup of £3 3s. is also offered in each section of Pigeons and Cage Birds. 

 The prizes for poultry are *20s. and 10s., for Pigeons 15s. and 7s. Gd., 

 and for Cage Birds 10s. and 5s. If desired, money will he paid iu lieu 

 of a cup. There are twenty-three classes for poultry, fourteen for 

 !?igeoiis, and sixteen for cage birds. 



CRYSTAL PALA.CE CANARY SHOW. 



I SHOULD like to have given a more extended notice of the Norwich 

 ■variety than I had time to do last week, the entries in the eight classes 

 Apportioned to them including, as they did, more than one-half of the 

 entire number of birds exhibited in the thirty three classes of Canaries 

 proper and Mules, but I was very tired. I had had a busy day.. 

 The notes I had scribbled on the margin of my catalogue on Saturday 

 were some not very legible, and others not very clear as to their mean- 

 ing, and I had paid a flying visit to the Palace to refresh my memory, 

 and take a final peep at the gems of the year. No great undertaking 

 certainly ; but why did I leave home in tight boots ? At my time of 

 life I ought to have known better. I was very jaded when I returned 

 ■to my hotel, and the bare idea that the printer was waiting for ■■' copy," 

 and that I might at any moment receive a visit from one of his imps, 

 was in itself quite enough to paralyse my energies. Besides, there 

 was what we call in the north, a meat-tea waiting for me. A meat- 

 tea is tea with " something to it," and my something to it was a 

 steak. Those who thought my last week's notes not equal to the sub- 

 ject must make allowance for human weakness. I handed my hasty 

 anems to the imp in attendance, who. by the way, was not an imp at 

 all, but a most courteous member of the staff at No. 171, promising 

 to — " supplement them next week." That was his composition, not 

 mine ; but when I saw it in print on Thursday I thought it read very 

 well. I think it's very neat. 



I was not sorry to have had some sort of excuse for paying my 

 second visit to the Palace, and was well repaid by meeting friends I 

 knew only by name, as well as old faces I had not seen for years. 

 Before leaving — and it's hard work to get away from the birds while 

 ■there is anv light to see them — Mr. Bemrose and Mr. Walter, with 

 Messrs. Cockle & Watson, " shed a tear" with me at the extreme end 

 -of the Tropical Department, where the thin slices of ham are spread 

 out on cold marble slabs to bleach. We had a deal to talk about and 

 not much time to do it in, and with many regrets that there is not a 

 British National Canary Society- of gentlemen, holding iU annual 



show in various towns in England in rotation, and having its annual 

 meeting of parliament, we said good-bye, longing for the time when 

 the fancy will take the matter up in earnest, and carry out a project 

 as simple in itself and in its working as A B C. 



Jfais rcvenoiis it iios 'nioutons. The Show was not held in the Tro- 

 pical Department as of old, but in an elegant tent or awning erected 

 in the nave between the transept and the Christmas tree. The ar- 

 rangements were excellent, and inasmuch as the unbroken area allows 

 of a more regular and systematic grouping of the cages than is practi- 

 cable in the Tropical Department, the tent is in this respect the better 

 place ; but, I think, in this reepect alone. Exhibitors, I was told, were 

 much pleased with the arrangement, as well they might be, for the 

 subdued light would add many shades of colour. As far as judging is 

 concerned, the light was ■' as fair for one as another ;" bnt that is a 

 wrong principle to start with. I have no hesitation whatever in saying 

 that many birds bought under the shade of the tent would not have 

 teen recognised by the uninitiated when exposed to an open light. 

 Undoubtedly it is to the interest of dealers to have their wares shown 

 to the best advantage, but the Crystal Palace Canary Show claims to 

 be something more than the great market it is. The Tropical end 

 was beautifully warm. That is the place for the Show. Any screen 

 arrangement which can be devised to keep off draughts I should cor- 

 dially approve of, but by all means have a clear light. How the 

 Judges managed without taking the birds from under the awning I 

 cannot imagine. They must have had a very arduous task. 



Before passing to the Belgians in my promise to " supplement my 

 remarks," I revert to the Norwich birds just to say in general terms 

 that Derby seemed to be somewhat oat of form, Norwich was in force, 

 Northampton came up smiling bnt a little exhausted from loss of 

 blood, and Coventry showed its ability to fight in any arena. 



There was only a very small entry of Belgians. The Daily Xeios 

 of Februarj' 11th said, " France and Germany are scarcely represented, 

 and Belgium sends fewer birds than usual." I don't think the Daily 

 yi^v'S is in the fancy. The importation or non -importation of Belgian 

 Canaries is not the cause of the paucity of entries. There are plenty 

 of Belgians, first-class Belgians, in the country; but it is a great risk 

 to send such delicate fragile things from home at this season of the 

 year, to say nothing of six days' exposure in open wire cages. I am 

 not referring to birds such as some I saw in Classes 9 and 10. I mean 

 Belgians. No bird is so sensitive, or suffers so much from the exposure 

 and excitement of a show as a high-bred Belgian. I use the word 

 excitement advisedly, for I have seen specimens the centre of such a 

 circle of attraction, that the poor things were being " put up " through- 

 out the entire day, and had scarcely any time to eat a grain of seed. 

 But then they were Belgians, and not things as devoid of shape as 

 Adam's inexpressibles. The classification, too, has something, nay, 

 a great deal, to do with the slack entry. I have before enunciated my 

 opinion on this matter in the columns of the Journal, an opinion 

 which I believe is entertained by most admirers of this remarkable 

 bird. In brief, I maintain that it is essentially a position bird, and 

 that colour is a secondary point ; that the presence of a simple hoiiA 

 fide tick (not a blotch — every fancier knows what I mean), is no detri- 

 ment whatever to a Belgian ; that the highest-bred clear birds ■will 

 throw ticked young ones ; that both clear and ticked belong essentially 

 to the same school ; and that if there be not a separate class for the 

 ticks (for which there is no real necessity), both should compete in 

 the same class. The Variegated Belgian is another bird altogether. 

 The marking has been imported from some other variety, and though 

 perhaps nearly all trace of the cross has been bred out, still the cross 

 is there precisely the same as among some of the variegated Cinnamons 

 till recently in vogue among north-country fanciers. I have seen 

 Cinnamons, selfs and variegated, as hich up in Belgian properties as 

 many so-called Variegated Belgians. To class ticked birds with these 

 is manifestly absurd, since they belong to two different classes; but if 

 they be, however much at variance with common sense, grouped to- 

 gether in one, and yet have to be contented with two prizes while less 

 comprehensive classes have three, one cannot help tracing the small 

 entrj' to causes other than those assigned by the Daily Xeirs. The 

 best bird in the four classes was No. 3'2S, a good bird, J. N. Harrison. 

 Mr. Doel's were in Norwich cages, and seemed afraid to stand up. 

 No. 310, G. Tuckwood (who knows a good bird and spares no trouble 

 to get it), was more massive in the shoulder than most of its compeers. 

 Mr. Poole, of Notts, was second in the clear classes with birds of no 

 great merit. I tried them all, but could develope no great beauty in 

 any. The subscription list for the cup for this variety did not fill, 

 neither did that for the Norwich, wliich is a thing "no fellah can 

 understand." 



The London Fancy made a brilliant show with thirty entries, among 

 which the weU-lmown names of J. Waller and W, Brodrick were con- 

 spicuous. In Jonques Mr. Brodrick showed two, and was fi«t and 

 highly commended, while Mr. Waller was second, third, and very 

 highly commended with the remaining five of his seven entries — a 

 great performance. In Mealies Mr. Waller was first and carried off 

 the cup. which the half dozen enthusiastic admirers of this remarkable 

 ' variety had no diflicnlty in raising, with a glorious bird well moulted, 

 though I fancied it had a foul feather on each side of the tail. I 

 ' do not say this as reflecting on the Judges, for even if it were so there 

 were no doubt sutficieut counterbalancing points to enable it to occupy 

 ' its proud position, and they would have a better opportunity than I 

 for careful examination. Mr. Waller's remaining four birds all re- 



