300 



JOTJBNAIi OF HOBTICELTTTEE AXD COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 11, 1SG4. 



lations of the Show. Xo. 1 runs thus — " The Judges, whom 

 the Poultry Club -will select, will be empowered to withhold 

 a prize or prizes for want of merit or competition, but ad- 

 ditional prises will be given v;here the entries are numerous and 

 meritorious." This blue ribbon of distinction was reserved 

 for Brahmas. I trust Mrs. Birmingham will make a note of 

 it ; this, too, at a show, where Bark and Light birds were 

 divided, and a class for pullets added. Judging from the 

 prize list, amongst all the classes for single cocks, there could 

 not have been one with a more severe competition than the 

 Brahma, thirteen entries, eight being named in the prize 

 list. 



Then hail to merry Islington, 

 And to the Poultry C i 



And when they nest do hold a Show, 

 ilay I he there to Bee. 

 — T. B. A. Z. 



[ \v e hope we may meet you there, and that then the 

 classes may be better arranged. May White and Coloured 

 Dorkings be separated, and Polands of all sorts be un- 

 mingled.] 



GAME FOWLS AT THE ISLEN'GTOX' POULTRY 

 SHOW. 



As an exhibitor of Game fowls, I attended the Poultry 

 Show at Islington last week, and you may imagine what my 

 surprise was, after devoting almost a year's trouble and 

 expense, and taking great pains to breed chickens in 

 January, to see the following words written in pencil on 

 one of my pens. " Disqualified. Old birds." 



I immediately spoke to Mr. Douglas on the subject, and 

 he told me that he had given it as his opinion at the time 

 they were judged, that the birds were chickens of this year, 

 and he still entertained the same opinion about them, but 

 that the Judge would have it to the contrary, and there was 

 no appeal from his judgment. jSo w, Mr. Editor, after a man 

 like Mr. Douglas (who, I suppose, has been the most suc- 

 cessful exhibitor of Game in England), gives it as his un- 

 qualified opinion that my birds were bred this year, I do 

 not think the person who judged them could have had much 

 knowledge about a bird, or he never would have indulged in 

 such a strange freak as he did. 



My principal object in writing to you is, that you may 

 publish this letter to clear my character from an unjust im- 

 putation which has been thrown on it by some one who 

 ought to have known better. 



In conclusion I must say, that I think the rules of the 

 Poultry Club have been compiled by the members solely 

 with an idea of pleasing their own fancies. If such were 

 not the case, I do not think we should have seen prizes as 

 thickly distributed to the members as they were. — Geok<je 

 W. Eantvell, Kingston Crescent, Portsea, Hants. 



POULTEY SHOWS XOETH AXD SOUTH. 



The remark has been made that more poultry shows are 

 held in the north of England than in the south, notwith- 

 standing that the south is more favoured by climate. 



I think I can discern the cause. In the north they keep 

 fowls more for eggs. The Eose-combed Everyday-layers are 

 there the favourites; Silver and Golden-pencilled, Golden 

 and Silver Pheasant-marked, Eedcaps, and Black and White 

 Everlastings (I object to the name " Hamburghs"), are there 

 admired and exhibited, many of the shows appropriating 

 five or six classes to them, which are eagerly filled by the 

 neighbouring fanciers. 



In the south — that is, in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and Hants 

 — those Everyday-layers are scarcely known; and as the 

 breeders here keep fowls only for rearing chickens, the 

 coloured legs and non-sitting propensity of that sort is 

 directly against their being kept. Tet our southern poultry 

 committees are so blind to their own interest, or so ignorant 

 of the poultry fancy, that they still reserve four or more 

 classes for those north-country breeds, while all the southern 

 varieties must compete in one class. This is, in my opinion, 

 the cause of the failure of poultry exhibitions in this part 

 of England. As for Shows, we have the Islington, the 

 Tunbridge Wells, the Brighton, and the Maidstone. The 



Eose-combed Everyday-layers for the north, the Spanish, 

 Shanghais, and Brahmas for such places as Birmingham and 

 Liverpool, and Game for all England; but for the home 

 counties the varieties of the Dorking, or Surrey and Sussex 

 fowls, axe the birds for exhibition. 



I have just xetumed from the Agricultural Exhibition at 

 Tunbridge Wells, where I was forcibly reminded of the above 

 fact. There the Dorkings, though they had only one class, 

 yet made half the exhibition ; while the four classes of Eose- 

 combed Everlastings (alias Hamburghs), had not many more 

 entries than classes ; Cochins and Brahmas no entries. 



Can anything be plainer than that if the southern com- 

 mittees wish their poultry shows to be a success they must, 

 like the northern managers, patronise their local breeds? 

 Let them give the Dorkings five or six classes — namely, White 

 Dorkings, Cuckoo, Grey, Speckled, and any other coloured ; 

 then, as the neighbouring breeders find these varieties pa- 

 tronised, they will join in the e xhib ition , and instead of 

 regarding it (as the many now do), as a sort of rare show, 

 they will in a year ox two become inteiested suppoxtexs. I 

 beg to request the committees of our southern shows to con- 

 sider this question for another year ; for I am sorry to say 

 that even the London Show does not give the Dorkings a fair 

 chance, for there only two classes are offered for all varieties, 

 the White and Silver-Greys being mixed in one. Is this 

 fair? I repeat the Dorkings should have five classes — 

 1, White; 2, Silver-Grey; 3, Cuckoo; 4, Speckled; and 

 5, Other colours ; then, and not till then, will they have 

 justice done them. 



I have been referring more particularly to the southern 

 shows. I do not wish it to be supposed that I desire the 

 Eose-comb Everlasting layers to have less respect shown 

 them ; but I contend that in this part of England Dorkings 

 are entitled to an equal if not a larger amount of encou- 

 ragement. 



It is all very well to divide the Bxahmas into Dark and 

 Light (though they axe only varieties of Shanghais), yet 

 would it not be better to sepaxate the Spanish into Black, 

 White, and Blue ? — B. P. Beent, Dallington, Sussex. 



EEEOES EN" THE ISLIXGTOX PEIZE LIST. 



I see you have an error in the prize list of the Islington 

 Show. Ton have it the same as it is in the official prize list, 

 which is incorrect I should fancy — viz., Class 14, Brown Eeds, 

 Mr. Fletcher first, second, and third, whereas he only showed 

 two pens, numbered 201 first prize, 202 third prize. Mr. 

 Dyas showed pen 195, to which is awarded second prize. 

 Also in Class 15, Duckwing Greys and Blues, you have it 

 Mr. Aykroyd first, which is right, and Mr. Mathews second 

 and commended, whereas he only showed one pen in that 

 class ; the second prize was numbered 20S, which belonged 

 to Mr. Everard; third, Mr. Fletcher, which is right. Xow 

 you will stop a good deal of dubious feeling if you will in- 

 quire into the matter, and put it right in your next dumber. 

 — Thomas J. Smith. 



P.S. — Tou do not give the names of the Judges. 



[We corrected one error, the name in the prize list being 

 " Eose " instead of " Pease ; " and we are requested tc correct 

 another — viz., the second-prize single Spanish cock be- 

 longed to Mr. W. E. Bull, not Bell. We have no means of as- 

 certaining now whether our correspondent is correct in what 

 he concludes. We did not publish the names of the Judges 

 because they were not officially announced, but we heard 

 that Mr. Teebay judged the Spanish, Brahmas, and Coehin- 

 Chinas ; Mr. Dixon, Polands and Hamburghs ; Mr. Cnalloner, 

 Game and Game Bantams. Who the other classes were 

 judged by we did not hear.] 



ERAHALi POOTEAS at the ISLENTGTOjST SHOW. 

 The wise policy of the Islington authorities in dividing 

 the Brahma class lias been signally justified by the result. 

 The Brahmas ranked among the five most numerous breeds 

 at the late Show; they equalled the combined muster of the 

 four varieties of Hamburgh fowls, more than doubled the 

 Spanish, and were just six times as numerous as the Poles. 

 The new class of Light Brahmas exceeded in its numbers 



