CHAPTER XXXVl. 



TRICKS OF THE TRADE. 



Poultry exhibitions had been or were now being held 

 all over the country. In the New England States, in New 

 York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, numer- 

 ous fairs had come off, at which the customary competition 

 among breeders of fancy poultry had been duly shown ; and 

 for a time, yet, out of Massachusetts, the fever still raged, 

 though with comparative abatement. 



It was now a common thing, and certain men were in the 

 habit of visiting the express offices, and examining coops of 

 fowls, and taking the names of the persons to whom they 

 were directed, and then writing them that they would furnish 

 such fowls at a much cheaper rate. This occurred, gener- 

 slly, while the stock was en route to its destination ; but it 

 never disturbed me. 



Among the Rhode Islanders (who, by the way, generally 

 speaking, have raised the best of all the Chinese varieties 

 of fowls, for five years past) a feeling of desperate rivalry 

 had grown up. At the Providence shows, many of the 



