2U 



JOURNAL OF HOKTIGULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ Mirch 30, 1871. 



be in the direction in which it is being moved. Nature has 

 intended the head always to go first, and in this case I do not 

 think it polite to oppose Nature ; at all events, the plumage is 

 much less likely to suffer displacement by pursuing this method. 

 In the ease of Brahmas and Cochins, the primary feathers are 

 very apt to get temporarily displaced by handling ; these should 

 always be adjusted as soon ae the birds are placed in the pen. 



As a rule, I think the less a bird is handled by the legs the 

 better ; Ducks certainly never should be. It is a common prac- 

 tice to carry Dacks by the head ; but I think the persons who do 

 so should be performed upon in the same manner. In the case 

 of exhibition birds weighing 8 or 9 lbs. each, it is evidently cruel ; 

 a firm hold of the wings at the shoulders with one hand, and the 

 abdomen supported with the other, is much more humane. 



In conclusion, I think it is due to exhibitors that the com- 

 mittees of poultry shows should appoint a responsible and 

 practical person to pen the birds as they arrive, and also to 

 pack them after the show, in which case I believe we should 

 hear less of damage done to plumage, which is certainly very 

 annoying, and in some cases unwarrantable. — W. J. 



PROTECTING EXHIBITED POULTRY. 



AriEK the number of outrages and accidents to poultry, 

 Pigeons, and Rabbits in transit, it is high time that some 

 means of prevention should be devised. Should things go on 

 as at; present, the exhibition interest will be seriously injured. 

 Such occurrences are not only very expensive but extremely [ 

 aggravating. As a means of reducing their number, I would ', 

 suggest that exhibitors should provide themselves with baskets | 

 made either of small-meshed wire netting or wickerwork let \ 

 into a morticed hardwood frame, with a door at the top fastened 1 

 by a lock and key. The exhibitor should provide himself with 

 two keys to the lock. Two or three days previous to the show 

 he should forward one of his keys by post to the secretary — 

 they can be sent for a penny stamp — by tying them on a cloth 

 label, on the back of which should be written tbe sender's 

 name, the class, and number. The secretary would on the 

 arrival of the cases go round and unlock them, leiving the key 

 in, and after the exhibition was over and the specimens returned 

 to their respective packages, then lock them up and force the 

 key through a small hole in the case provided f .,r that purpose ; 

 by so doing no one could interfere with the stock. Of course 

 when arrived home the exhibitor would unlock the case with 

 his other key, and the second one can then be secured. The , 

 extra trouble to the secretaries of having keys, and the locking 

 and unlocking business, will be much better and time-saving j 

 than the string nuisance, which is very insecure and tedious 

 work, especially if there are only two hours to catch the next ! 

 train after the close of the exhibition. I shall have a case in- 

 tended for Rabbits at the Stroud Show, and anyone on appli- 

 cation to the Secretary can see it; 



I cannot help giving the Stroud Committee great credit for 

 their schedule of the forthcoming show. The prizes for Rab- 

 bits, though not so large as at Colchester, are well arranged 

 and give every variety a chance. Ribbit fanciers one and all 

 should enrol themselves members of the United Kingdom 

 Ribbit Club, head office, GoUargate, York. By its influence 

 we may expect to see a great reaction in this class of domestic 

 pets. — David P. Gooding, Colchester. 



tied down ; and when my man reached the station to bring it 

 away a number of porters were round the hamper with the lid 

 half opened, and no doubt they helped to do some of the damage. 



— Ax ExHIEIIOK. 



MALAYS— CUPS— PACKAGES. 



During the year 1870 Malays were not deemed worthy by 

 most committees of a separate class ; however, it is gratifying 

 to find in this age of improvement, that in the year 1871 they 

 are sometimes allowed to compete in the form of a " Sweep- 

 stakes." Northampton kindly set the example; Stroud pur- 

 poses, I believe, doing likewise. I trust that every important 

 showwill henceforth allow llalays to figure in the prize-list; itia 

 far preferable to competing with "Silkies" in the Variety class. 



If committees could possibly arrange that their shows should 

 not terminate so late in the week as Friday, I believe the 

 entries would be far more numerous. For instance, the late 

 Woodbridge Show closed on the Friday night — my Malays 

 arrived home on the following Tuesday morning. Being raven- 

 ous, they had devoured most of the ticket enclosed in the ham- 

 per, announcing the fact that they had won the first prize. I 

 have not yet been able to pay the carriage, as the waybill has 

 been lost — no wonder, after being so long on their journey ; 

 perhaps they ate that also. 



If silver cups were abolished, and the money prizes in each 

 class made larger, would it not be a step in the right direc- 

 tion ? When a silver cup is, as is often the case, offered for 

 the best pen in the Polish, French fowl, and Variety class, you 

 may generally notice that it is awarded to the Polish. Again, 

 when there is no separate class for either Polish or French 

 fowls, and they have to compete in the Variety class, the 

 Polish are mostly victorious. I often wonder that there are 

 not more exhibitors of Polands, on the strength of it. 



Allow me also to suggest that a secure way of sending valu- 

 able fowls to a show, is to have the lid of the hamper fastened 

 with a puzzle padlock, having letters round it, which can only 

 be unfastened by knowing the word fixed upon, and which 

 could be communicated by letter to the secretary. — A. G. 

 Brooke, Rectory , Shrawardine, Salop. 



EGG-EATING HENS. 



I SHOULD recommend " G. T.," or anyone else who is troubled 

 with hens eating their eggs, to break an egg and dust the con- 

 tents nicely with fine Cayenne pepper, afierwards turning the 

 egg round so as to get the pepper below the yolk if possible, 

 and leave the egg in the oiiender's nest. Or, if he catches her 

 in the act of eating an egg, let him drive her away quietly and 

 place pepper in the remainder of the egg, endeavouring, as 

 stated above, to get the pepper underneath. He will very soon 

 see her running furiously about with distended beak. If one 

 dose is not sufficient, administer another a little stronger ; but 

 I think once will be enough, for I saw the remedy tried, and 

 it turned out to be — A Perfect Cure. 



P.S. — Does " G. T." throw his old shells back to the hens 

 when he has eaten the eggs ? That is the best way of learning 

 hens the bad habit. 



In reply to Mr. Tonkin's letter in your last number, allow 

 me to suggest the use of letter-padlocks for locking exhibition 

 iiampers. They require no key, and can be obtained through 

 any ironmonger at a trifling cost. The password to unlock 

 them could be sent by post to the secretary of a show. This 

 would in a great measure prevent the mutilation of birds in 

 transit to and from an exhibition ; and it each member of a 

 committee would undertake the personal supervision of a given 

 number of pens during the time the show was open to the 

 public, and leave a person of well-known respectability in charge 

 during the night, I cannot see how any damage could arise to 

 the birds, providing competent persons penned and unpenned 

 them. 



If the padlocks above mentioned would not answer, why not 

 have the lids of the hampers secured with wire instead of 

 string ? I sent a cockerel to the Northampton Show, and it 

 came back with every feather in its tail broken. I was at the 

 Show on the first day, and when I left the feathers were perfect. 

 I wrote to the Secretary about it, but he assures me it was not 

 done at the Show. The lid of the hamper was only slightly 



THE POULTRY JUDGING AT WOODBRIDGE. 



I WISH to avail myself of your colnmns to ask the name of the 

 judge, who at the recent Exhibition at Woodbridge has rendered 

 himself conspicnoas by reversing the decisions of many of the tried 

 and acknowledged judges in poultry matters ? How is it it has not 

 appeared in any of the reports, or in the catalogue, as ia customary, 

 and indeed necessary to the due responsibility of the judge and the 

 satisfaction of the exhibitor ? In my own case I should think this 

 gentleman's vision must have deceived him, or else my birds must have 

 been put in some dark comer, as I sent two pens of Buff Cochins such 

 as should have caught the eye of any Cochin judge, as they have never 

 failed to arrest attention before in the best company in England. 

 Indeed, one pen, contaiaiug the Manchester first-prize cock and a large 

 beautiful lemon-coloured hen, has taken first prizes at Wolverhampton, 

 Northampton, Portsmouth, and numerous other leading exhibitions, 

 yet here it was never noticed ; and the birds in the other pen were 

 winners of first and second prizes. In my Dark Brahma pen I showed 

 the first-prize Birmingham pullet, which also took the first prize and 

 cup at Wolverhampton, with a splendid Black-breasted cock which 

 has never been shown before without gaining a first or second prize. 

 This pen does appear to have drawn the attention of this excellent 

 judge, as he gave it a high commendation. Now, as a test of this 

 gentleman's judgment, I am prepared to show my Buff Cochins and 

 bark Brahmas against any fancier in the kingdom for £50, to be 

 judged by two judges of the highest standing, say three pens of Cochins 



