JOUKNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



[ Jlay 25, 1871 



jadging where clifierent breeds compete in the same class, I 

 have always as a first step, before making the awards, noted 

 down the respective breeds opposite the numbers in my judging 

 book ; and in case of various colours of the same variety com- 

 peting, colour has been as invariably prefixed. At Harwood 

 Show I find both the winning pens of Yellow Dragoons were 

 afterwards each checked off five separate times during the judg- 

 ing, which, it a mistake, would necessitate in all twelve con- 

 secutive mistakes on these two pens alone, which even any one 

 check would at first sight have corrected. Both pens were 

 yellows without any mistake ; my award-book is unmistakeable 

 evidence, and I am prepared to ratify this fact by the most 

 solemn deposition. 



As one proof of the unmerited annoyances to which I have 

 been subjected for simply and fearlessly doing my duty, I have 

 forwarded for your perusal the whole correspondence between 

 Mr. Ashworth and myself, with other official vouchers, totally 

 confuting his uncalled-for insinuations. On return they will 

 be open for inspection, and will give conclusive proof that I am 

 far more sinned against than sinning. — Edward Hewitt. 



[This letter must close the subject in our columns. We 

 have read the letters that have been received, and copies of 

 those written by Mr. Hewitt, and our thorough conviction is 

 there was foul play. Who was the delinquent we do not 

 attempt to say, though if it could be proved to us wo would 

 hold him up to the scorn he deserves. Every lover of honesty 

 must regret that Mr. Hewitt has been subjected to so much 

 annoyance, but we are sure that it will not deter him from his 

 WGll-knovm honourable course. — Eds.] 



THE VARIETY OF PIGEONS YOU SHOULD 

 KEEP. 



Okce at a poultry show, I noticed that an elegant-looking 

 young lady was much attracted by the Pigeons. She stood 

 before this pen and that pen, now her head on one side, then 

 on the other, scrutinising and admiring ; she drew the at- 

 tention of her mother to this variety and that variety. That 

 mother, a dear, pretty old lady, gentleness and goodness itself, 

 more than once kindly said, " Whichever you like, dear." 

 How many nice old ladies there are in the world, kind and un- 

 selfish, and therefore loved, and therefore very happy ! I 

 said this was a very pretty old lady ; hush ! impertinent 

 youths of both sexes, and especially of the softer, whichever 

 tbat may be, there is such a thing as a pretty old lady. Ah ! 

 prettier than many of you young ones, and a great deal prettier, 

 too, and this was a very pretty old lady. She had abundance 

 of snow-white hair, a smooth wriukleless forehead, bright 

 but at the same time gentle-looking black eyes, and a neat, 

 oblong, finely-chiselled face. She looked, too, so calm, and 

 quiet, and good, and she was ready, I am sure she was, " to 

 go up higher." The daughter was pleasing, too, tall and 

 graceful, and her lip playfully pouting now and then. " Like 

 her father," I said to myself, for the mother was a widow, 

 and in the lavender stage of her weeds. The daughter drew, 

 almost dragged, her mother to notice the Pigeons, and kept 

 saying, " I should like to keep Pigeons so much, but I do not 

 know which sort to keep," emphasising these words with a 

 sharp tap of her parasol on the pens, and the old lady always 

 said in reply, " Whichever you like, dear." Bat this, though 

 most amiable on her part, did not help the young lady to a 

 solution of her difficulty ; nor, I believe, was that young lady 

 alone in her difficulty. I have had the question put to me by 

 word and by letter more than once, so I can well imagine a 

 great number of persons who, having had their attention at- 

 tracted (and what more attractive?) by the beautiful speci- 

 mens of all the varieties of fancy Pigeons exhibited at a good 

 show, have had this question on tlaeir lips, " What variety 

 of Pigeons shall I ketp?" This question I shall now en- 

 deavour to answer for the benefit of inquirers of all sorts and 

 sizes, of all ages and both sexes, of all ranks and all capacities 

 of purse. 



Fancy Pigeons are very numerous as well as very beautiful, 

 and there are almost infinite varieties of form, as well as 

 blending of feather. Where will you find such varied beauty ? 

 Nowhere, I think, in one class of bird. Hence tastes the very 

 opposite may be gratified. Does the eye delight in colour ? — that 

 c^u be gratified ; witness especially some of the German Toys, 

 especially the Snabians. Does another delight in gracefulness 

 of f orm ? — that can also be gratified , witness the slender Dragoon, 

 and stronger Carrier; or another delight in size? — Eunts the 



long, and Pouters the tall, will please ; or another delight in 

 smallness and colour? — there is the Almond Tumbler. 



Are you, gentle reader, a man in good easy circumstances, 

 not as Charles Lamb hath it, " a slender annuitant," but with 

 expenditure less than income ? or are yon a lady having nothing 

 to do but sign your name twice a-year to receive from Messrs. 

 Plutus & Crosjus, those heavy sums? Well, if you are either, 

 be thankful that you are so circumstanced in a world where 

 men, aye, and women, too, have to strive and jostle for bread. 

 Oh ! be very thankful. Now, supposing also that you delight 

 in a country life, revel in a landscape, delight in a garden and 

 greenhouse, and all country home pleasures, and like to make 

 your beautiful home more beautiful each year. Then if so, you 

 have the greatest source of Pigeon pleasure al your command, 

 for you can keep all the varieties. You can go in for elegance 

 of structure ; a breeding-place furthest back, three sides of a 

 square, shut in when needed from all cold, where yon can sit 

 in winter among your pets, or stroll round from box to box. 

 cigar alight. This innermost compartment may open into a 

 wired space for flight, that again opening into another, where a 

 fountain may play, a gentle jet only, and a shallow gravel- 

 bottomed space beneath where the birds can wash ; and pretty 

 creepers may be outside both wired enclosures. A rockery 

 and a fernery flanking all this would be ornamental, no-t de- 

 trimental in a garden. Within, the Pigeons of all varieties 

 — the tall bulky Pouter beside the tiny clapper Tumbler ; the 

 long-beaked beside the short-beaked ; the turned-crowned be- 

 side the smooth-crowned; the whole-feathered, the pied, the 

 chequered, the magpied, the pure white, the raven black, the 

 mottled, the splashed, the black-headed, the white-headed, the 

 soft-feathered, the hard-feathered. Wiiat a lovely assortment 

 of feathered pets yon would be able to enjoy, and how much 

 pleasure you would derive from them ! It still a busy man at 

 times yon would the more enjoy the leisure hour spent with 

 your birds; and if quite a retired man, having sheathed your 

 sword with which you cut your way to success in life, then 

 you would, looking back and talking over your past active 

 career — you would have an agreeable pastime for your well- 

 earned repose. You would be the very man I should, if I 

 dared, envy. 



But all are not rich enough to possess all the varieties, there- 

 fore the best plan is to adopt one variety at a time, and study its 

 capabilities, and breed it to perfection. Then each variety of 

 man may be suited with some variety of Pigeon. Thus there is 

 in the world a walking class of men ; a genus to themselves are 

 these great walkers, they greatly benefit their shoemaker and 

 butcher, while their doctor regards them with great disgust. I 

 know the men at once — thin men, long-legged men, what there- 

 is of them all bone and muscle ; they have a tanned cheek, and 

 an expression of face 



" Gained by knitting of their brows 

 Beneath the glaring sun." 



These are the men who might have been colonists, explorer.', 

 travellers, and they are the men to keep homing Pigeons. They 

 always want a walk and an object. Let them keep Antwerps. 

 Farther and further they may extend their walks, and toss 

 their birds on some lone hill or breezy down, and timing their 

 flight from their hand stride home eager, and hot, and anxious 

 to find how long their birds got there before themselves. 



Bat all men are not great walkers ; habit, business, in- 

 firmity, or taste, keep some at home. To such their house and 

 garden are all in all. They may suitably keep, if on a hill or 

 in an open spot, high-flying Tumblers, who, like themselves, 



are — 



*' True to the kindred points of heaven and home," 



face upward watching their birds, or tending them, in which 

 there is always a special interest, as Tumblers are the cleverest 

 and tamest of Pigeons. Little, confiding, bold fellows they are, 

 who will feed out of your hand, and finding nothing in it peck 

 sharply at your finger. Then there are the still more home- 

 keeping varieties wlio rarely fly save from the ground to the 

 top of their house, and, therefore, never stray away and annoy 

 neighbours ; at least, neighbours fancy they annoy them. Or, 

 again, are you a little pleasant smiling fat man with a dot for a 

 nose, a double chin, and double the stomach allotted to most 

 men, and with a little weakness for tasty viands ? then if so, the 

 full-fleshed Eunt must be your lore, not the prize birds, which 

 are bad breeders, but the smaller, yet krge-bodied and ex- 

 ceedingly appetising in pie or from spit. Then if you reside 

 in close London, or closer manufacturing town, where oats in 

 brigades abound on roof or wall, and make night hideons with 



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