I 
118 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 3, 1882. 
districts actually lie below the fog level, which does not make a good 
night lair for them. 
Bath and West of England Society and Southern Coun¬ 
ties Association. —At the Council meeting held at Bristol on the 
25th ult., Lord Brooke, M.P. (President), in the chair, Mr. Charles 
Edwards (as Chairman of the Finance Committee) brought up the 
quarterly statement of accounts, and reported that all prizes in con¬ 
nection with the Cardiff Show had been paid, and that after meeting 
the liabilities of the year a balance of from £700 to £800 in favour of 
the Society was anticipated. Letters strongly advocating the choice 
of Maidstone as the place of meeting were read from the Mayor of 
that town, Sir J. F. Lennard, Bart., and Mr. Brassey, M.P., and it 
was unanimously resolved that the Secretary do inform the Mayor 
that the Council will be prepared to visit Maidstone in 1884, on con¬ 
dition that the requirements of the Society are complied with. 
EARLY CHICKEN SHOWS. 
The season has come round at which we observe one or more 
classes for chickens in all the many schedules of forthcoming 
poultry shows which are sent to U3. Doubtless, many a beginner 
and would-be prizetaker is much interested in these. He or she 
may have bought a high-priced prize pen at one of last year’s 
autumnal shows, and longs as soon as possible to test the merit of 
their produce. Success or failure at a first attempt brings much 
elation or disappointment with it in graver matters than poultry¬ 
showing. In this particular pursuit we have often seen tbe great 
mistake made of supposing that a victory with an early chicken 
at some small shows must inevitably lead to a series of triumphs 
all through the season. On the other hand, we have known a 
young exhibitor, whose Geese of course are all Swans, utterly dis¬ 
gusted because some in his eyes perfect bird has been beaten by 
another of a totally different kind at an early show, at once 
denounce all shows and judging as unfair, and never again exhibit 
a bird which when more developed and shown against others of 
its own breed where classification is more complete could not fail 
to become a winner. 
It seems to us the time to say a little about these early shows, 
which are in our opinion by no means an unmixed source of good 
to poultry-breeding in general. Like other things they have their 
use and abuse, though we are inclined to fear that the latter some¬ 
what preponderates over the former. At any rate, it is well to 
consider what each is. To take their disadvantages first. 
1. The number of very early birds which are now fit to show and 
likely to be entered is necessarily small, consequently the pro¬ 
moters of exhibitions cannot afford to give separate classes and 
prizes for each variety, much less can they do so for the different 
sub-varieties ; the result is that several breeds are shown together. 
Three or four schedules are now lying before us which offer very 
fair classification for adult poultry, but in which there are but two 
classes for birds of this year—viz., one for “ the best cockerel and 
pullet, Cochin, Brahma, or Dorking;” the other for the “best 
cockerel or pullet of any other variety.” Imagine the difficulty 
—we might say the impossibility—of satisfactorily judging in 
such classes. We need not dilate upon the number of classes into 
which each of these would be expanded at one of the later and 
better shows. The fact is self-evident that the choice of prize¬ 
winners in a large and good collection of such a miscellaneous lot 
of varieties must under an indifferent judge go much by chance, 
and under a good one much by his individual fancy. This is 
extremely unsatisfactory, and frequently leads, as we have already 
said, to false hopes on the one hand, or to unnecessary disappoint¬ 
ment on the other. 
2. We have so often written against the forcing of chickens by 
overfeeding and stimulants that we are not now going to repeat 
our remarks on this head. For the perpetuation of a vigorous and 
hardy race vigorous and hardy birds are necessary, and only those 
are such which have been reared in a natural way. But to take 
the fancy of a judge and to command success in a large and mis¬ 
cellaneous class it is almost absolutely necessary that a young 
pair of birds should be precocious in plumage, with bright and 
well-developed combs—the very points which those destined to be 
eventually first-rate ought not at this period to have. Of course 
an exhibitor wishes to win, and so is tempted to force on his 
young stock—no difficult thing to do with a fortnight’s high feed¬ 
ing—to a state of blooming condition which commands attention. 
Now and then a very careful judge tries rather to descry the signs 
of ultimate merit in undeveloped chicken-like birds than to pick 
out those at present the largest and most forward. This, however, 
is very exceptional discernment, and indeed we think on the whole 
that prizes should be given for birds as they are, and not as they 
might be. 
3. These early chicken shows offer some temptation to the un¬ 
scrupulous to exhibit late birds of the past year. To what extent 
this deception is practised we have no means of judging ; but, 
unless we have been much misinformed, there have been yards in 
which Asiatics have systematically been hatched in October and 
November to win as chickens at the following summer’s shows. 
We remember the dry remark of a sharp and clever poultryman 
standing before a stupendous prize Brahma cockerel at an early 
show: “Ah, he has eaten a good Christmas dinner!” On the 
other hand, these early shows have their purpose and their use. 
It is well to know what it is. To produce really fine table poultry 
by midsummer much care and some skill is necessary. We live 
in an age of competition, and those who take the pains to do any¬ 
thing well are not satisfied now-a-days with the bare result : they 
expect to display it to their neighbours. These classes, then, are 
useful as showing the results of care and judgment in the rearing 
of spring chickens. We should be very much inclined to confine 
them to table poultry and to pullets destined for early laying. It 
is something to know what breed or what cross between two 
breeds is specially adapted for hatching in winter. Really early 
spring chickens will always command an extravagant price in the 
markets of London and large provincial towns. Many a cottager 
might pay his rent by the production of a few broods, and many 
a farmer might manage to tide over hard times who would take 
the trouble to rear three or four hundred spring chickens. Some 
breeds and some crosses are adapted to this business, and some 
are not. A good early show of chickens suitable for the table is 
a great help to one who wishes to select a profitable breed for the 
purpose. Again, eggs in the late summer, autumn, and early 
winter are scarce and command a high price. There is conse¬ 
quently some use in learning from what breeds strong and early 
pullets ready to lay are obtainable. In both cases these birds are 
not destined to be used as breeding stock ; in the one they are killed 
off as soon as fit, and their runs left to freshen up for another 
year ; in the other they are kept for the production of eggs alone, 
and are probably killed subsequently. There is, therefore, no 
harm done by forcing them on. 
Breeders of exhibition poultry, on the other hand, we advise, as 
a general rule, to eschew these early shows ; the birds which win 
at them seldom win afterwards, when laurels are far more valu¬ 
able, and if kept for breeding stock generally disappoint their 
owners or purchasers. There are, of course, some ardent fanciers 
who breed both for early and for late showing, and are not satis¬ 
fied unless they win all the year round. Those who have 6pace 
and time thus to indulge their hobby may well do so, but we 
would remind them not to expect too much from early success, or 
to be disheartened with early failure. We have known several 
Crystal Palace and Birmingham cup-winners which bad failed to 
carry home a card from a village show in summer.—C. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. SI® 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet,. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
1882. 
C2 C<J ^ 
C CO 01 (Jj 
§ +-J 72 > 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
I Rain. 
July. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Sun. 23 
Inches. 
29.643 
deer. 
57.8 
deg. 
55.2 
S. 
deer. 
60.8 
deg 
71.9 
deg. 
53.0 
deg 
124.0 
deg. 
53.0 
In. 
0.006 
Mon. 24 
29.763 
64.7 
56.2 
W. 
60.7 
72.2 
52.3 
110.7 
47.3 
0.206 
Tues. 25 
29.872 
57.8 
55.0 
N.W. 
59.9 
65.5 
51.6 
79.7 
48 0 
0.030 
Wed. 26 
30.259 
61.1 
55.3 
N. 
59.0 
71.3 
50.7 
127.0 
47.7 
— 
Tliurs. 27 
30.469 
65.3 
57.8 
N.W. 
59.5 
75.5 
47.2 
119.9 
44.3 
0.074 
Friday 28 
30.364 
61.0 
57.1 
N.W. 
6 '.0 
68.5 
55.6 
81.2 
54.6 
— 
Satur. 29 
29.252 
61.8 
69.0 
N.E. 
59.9 
76.9 
54.2 
120.3 
50.3 
— 
30.089 
61.4 
56.7 
60.0 
71.7 
52.1 
109.0 
49.3 
0.316 
REMARKS. 
23rd.—Slight showers in morning, afterwards fine and bright with much wind. 
24th.—Heavy showers in forenoon ; fine afternoon and evening, but cool. 
25th.—Very dark in west all the early part of day ; showery in evening. 
26th.—Fine and bright; windy at first ; calm evening. 
27th.—Morning fine and bright; afternoon cloudy. 
28th.—Overcast; very dull and oppressive; fog in evening. 
29th.—Fog in early morning; fine and bright during day ; thick again in 
evening. 
Temperature much the same as last week, but air damper.—G. J. SYMONS. 
