[72 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
would believe. One such was a clergyman ; and another — a justice of the peace (!) — openly urged 
that, while he would be rejoiced if it could be stopped, he “ did think there could be little or no 
harm” in doing what he affirmed “all committees openly recognised and winked at.” These 
things ar q facts ; and trusting that the statement of them may lead to a better state of things, the 
following is a rule which we would suggest, to be inserted in schedules, and carried out with 
temper, but with firmness, on all occasions. We may add that the late eminent judge already 
quoted pronounced the penalty here proposed to be “ A i ” for its intended purpose, and we venture 
to say that if it were carried out fairly, we should hear comparatively little more of trimming: — - 
“ The judges will be specially instructed to disqualify and mark any pens of birds which they may discover to 
be fraudulently trimmed or altered in character for the purposes of exhibition. In case of any such disqualification 
duly certified under the hand of the judges to the committee, all the pens of the same exhibitor throughout the show 
will be also disqualified on account of such fraud ; and both the penalty and the reasons for it will be stated in the 
prize list, and notice thereof legibly affixed to the front of the said pens. These notices will be maintained on the 
pens throughout the show, and any one found removing or defacing them will be given into the custody of the police.” 
After the foregoing matter was arranged for press, we received from the late Mr. Hewitt 
a third interesting paper on various points connected with the management of shows and the 
other subjects of this chapter, which we place before our readers with peculiar pleasure, as showing 
how closely our own recommendations coincided in all but one point with the conclusions of 
that veteran fancier and judge. The agreement is in truth remarkable, of which a curious proof 
maybe given. On receiving from Mr. Hewitt the gratifying announcement that such a statement 
of the results of his vast experience should be sent us if we desired, we thought it well to 
forward for his perusal, along with our note of acknowledgment, proof sheets of the preceding 
pages ; but in the meantime he had written his own MS. independently, and the package arrived 
by post while it was lying, completed, on the table. In a private note accompanying his MS. 
he states this, and adds, “ My wife, self, and two gentlemen who happened to call in for the evening, 
had a hearty laugh at the apparent impossibility of any two minds writing so perfectly in unison 
on any subject, unknown to each other; and, as one of them justly observed, ‘we must certainly 
be getting very close to the truth to do so.’ As your printed copy and my already written article 
lay side by side, nobody but some one who saw your package opened could credit that ‘footsteps 
could follow without previous arrangement in such perfect Indian file.’ ” It is in the hope of 
leading others also to the reflection that conclusions thus confirmed must be very close to the truth , 
and hence to the furthering as much as is in their power the interests which both this able judge 
and ourselves have alike at heart, that with Mr. Hewitt’s permission we mention these facts ; and 
now proceed to give his remarks without further preface : — 
“ I am myself, by long experience, perfectly convinced that the so-called ‘open judging’ is 
not the best adapted to promote the success of poultry-shows ; but that in order to obtain the 
most reliable awards the judges ought to be screened from constant ‘ touting,’ and from the un- 
seemly display of violence of temper sometimes ensuing when awards unfavourable to the interests 
of particular individual exhibitors then on the spot are recorded. Nor is this the worst light in 
which open judging can be viewed, as may be easily imagined from the following facts: — I have 
judged ‘openly,’ when exhibitors, after posting themselves on the opposite side of the pens then 
under examination, have said audibly enough for any one easily to hear, ‘ I bred all my best chickens 
this year from that hen ; ’ or, as in another instance, ‘ That’s the same cock I won with at 
show;’ or (as occurred since this has been put in type), when judging with Mr. John Martin, where 
