and twenty guineas a piece), Roses (of which there are 1500 varieties), Anemonies, 

 Heart-ease, Ranunculusses, Auriculars, &c. &c. &c." 



Extract from the " Cottage Gardener and Country Gentleman' s Companion " 



"Time was, not tnany years since, when *a Pigeon Fancier' was associated in 

 all men's minds with Costermongers, Pugilists, Rat-catchers, and Dog-stealers, 

 and for no othel- reason that we can discern than that the majority of P geon 

 Fanciers were artisans — men who lived in the courts, alleys, and other by places 

 of the metropolis. Such men, in those days, drew towards them no sympathy — 

 they were the profane vulgar — the pariahs of Society — and their pursuits were 

 deemed scaifcely fit to be mentioned within audience of 'ears polite.' The 

 Auricula and the Polyanthus became 'vulgar flowers,' fur they were pets of the 

 Manchester and Spitalfields weavers ; and the remnant of this bad spirit lingers 

 with those who talk of abandor^iiig Pine-culture, now that this fruit is become 

 familiar to ' common people.' Such pride and exclusiveness would have a 

 heaven for gentility, with a wide gulph between th^it and the heaven of the poor. 



"Gladdened are we by the. knowledge th^t these seiitiments are gradually 

 lessening both in intensity and in the number of their disciples, and respect for 

 the man, rather than a belief in the degradation of his pursuit, is now felt for him 

 who shows a taste for the purer occupations of life. 



" The cultivator of a Pansey in a court-yard of Whitechapel, and the breeder 

 of Pigeons in Drury Lane, is now more often thoaght of as one who exhibits a 

 praise-worthy frame of mind— and that the love of nature implanted in our first 

 parents in their state of innocence being yet unefFaced, he is raised in the scale 

 of worthiness. It is justiy felt that he clings to all he can of-fKe country — that 

 though he cannot have a flower-border, he finds the best substitute within his 

 reach in a flower-pot upon his window-sill — though he cannot have a poultry- 

 yard, he has aif he can of its tenants, over which to be solicitous in the pigeon- 

 hutches of his attic. The man in whom such tastes remain and triumph over all 

 opposing difficulties, so far from being altogether had, is one in whiim much that 

 is estimable prevails. .We have too long watched and made notes among 

 Cottage Gardeners not to have had this fully proved, and to Ir^joice in the 

 knowledge that it may be admitted as a rule, that he who loves the country loves 

 virtue too. 



" How strong the prejudice must have been against the pursuits of the masses 

 was never so strongly demonstrated as in the prejudice against the breeding of 

 Fancy Pigeons. The Dove, or Pigeon, is associated "^'ith all that is holy in 

 Christianity, and with much that was held sacred in Mythology. Its very name 

 in Hebrew, Jona, is derived from a word signifying gentleness, and from the 

 day it brought the olive-leaf to the ark, both the plant and its winged bearer 

 have been esteemed emblematical of peace. Even the Brahmins tell of their 

 deities assuming the form of the Dove ; Mahomed had an attendant spirit in the 

 same form ; and in the same similitude has appeared the Divine Spirit. Yet, 

 notwithstanding this sacred association, notwithstanding the gentleness and 

 beauty of the bird, its rearing and cultivation, until very recently, has been 

 anathematized as ' a low pursuit.' 



" Common sense is prevailing, and, consequently, prejudice is g'ving way even 

 here, and we are well pleased with the prospect of seeing the breeding of Pigeons 

 improve." 



Provided two of our richest peers. One had a hobby in Race-horse<, the 

 other took no pleasure in ihem, but his hobby and delight was in Pigeons. He 

 con d equally afford to give as much for a Pigeon as the other lor a Ract-horse, 

 and, after all, prove most economical, without being pregnant with the danger. 

 There are very few among us that can afford to breed Race- horses, and few 



