334 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t October s, im. 
cultural distress which has been felt so keenly during the past few 
years. 1, A fair amount of sun, genial springs, hot summers, and dry 
autumns. 2, Increased produce obtained by means of larger outlays 
on a smaller acreage. 3, More home breeding of live stock, and less 
danger from disease. 4, Keeping only the best classes of stock, and 
aiming at early maturity. 5, A thorough readjustment of local 
taxation. C, More drainage, better accommodation, more care of 
manures, &c. 7, The reduction of holdings and employment of more 
capital per acre. 8. Close supervision and more task work. 9, More 
personal attention to buying and selling, and more care in selecting 
seeds, manures, ifcc. 10, Better accommodation for young stock and 
feeding cattle, and for the making of manure. 11, A fair and 
equitable Tenant Bight Bill, or an improved Agricultural Holdings 
Act. 12, Longer leases at fair rents, and with proper freedom of 
cultivation. 13, The introduction of improved labour-saving ma¬ 
chinery. 14, More roots and forage crops, more pastures, and con¬ 
sequently more stock and more manure. 15, Greater confidence 
between different classes, and a determination to work together for 
the good of all. 
v POULTRY SHOWS AND ENTRY FEES. 
We have never concealed our opinion that there are now far 
too many poultry shows— i.e., far too many large shows open to 
the world, and to which all comers are invited. Of local shows 
confined to particular counties or particular districts and groups 
of parishes there can hardly be too many. The former, if carried 
to excess, promote overshowing of birds, and so impair their 
health and productiveness. The latter encourage just those classes 
who need encouragement in poultry-breeding—viz., amateurs who 
are just taking to the pursuit, farmers and cottagers who wish to 
know the relative worth and excellence of their stock and how to 
improve it. Especially are these shows useful when held at the 
same time as, or in connection with, agricultural meetings. Their 
further advantage, too, is that they seldom extend beyond one 
day. 
The evils, however, of the over-multiplication of open shows 
have often been pointed out in our columns, and we are not going 
to weary our readers with a general repetition of them. Exhi¬ 
bitors have the remedy entirely in their own hands. No one is 
compelled to overshow his birds. 
The point to which we will now confine attention is the absurdly 
high fees which are frequently charged for the entrance of birds. 
This is one of the consequences of there being too many shows. 
At one time any exhibition of the kind was well attended by the 
public (they are still so attended in some districts, especially, as 
we have lately observed, in the south-western counties and South 
Wales), and the money paid at the gate sufficed to meet most of 
the expenses. The promoters of them could then afford to be 
liberal. Now this is all changed. We have beautiful shows of 
the best birds the kingdom can produce, well arranged and 
managed in light airy halls of such towns as Bristol and South¬ 
ampton, yet almost empty. Where the inhabitants of the neigh¬ 
bourhood take so little interest in them they cease to do good. 
However, ardent local fanciers will seldom recognise this fact, 
and often, at great sacrifice of time, trouble, and money, attempt 
to keep them up when the public refuse to do so. This can only 
be done by raising the entry fees ; in fact, by practically making 
the classes a combination of sweepstakes, with a handsome deduc¬ 
tion for the general expenses and management. 
We have lately been specially struck by some schedules sent us. 
We do not for a moment wish to discourage the efforts of any 
committee ; it is seldom that they are not personally losers, and 
so it would be unjust indeed to write harshly; but we do candidly 
say what we think—that it is a great mistake to get up schemes for 
shows when they can only be floated by enormous entry fees 
utterly disproportionate to the prize money. Many a breeder is 
deterred from this cause from making a beginning in showing, 
and a species of gambling in poultry and Pigeons.is promoted by 
it. If there were only one or two schedules which we could 
instance we should hardly like to call attention to them ; but the 
mistake is so general that without risk of being invidious we may, 
by way of comparison, review several. We put out of considera¬ 
tion such great and famous meetings as Birmingham, the Crystal, 
and the Agricultural Hall. The entry fees of 8«. or 7s. 6 d. for 
poultry are dear enough, but immense expenses are involved in 
exhibitions of such magnitude. A ‘‘highly commended” or “very 
highly commended,” which is considered a barren honour at most 
places, is valued in such competition, and adds value to the 
noticed specimen ; besides, the opportunities of sale offered are not 
to be despised, and the fact that the exhibits necessarily come 
under the gaze of thousands of eyes. 
We will take some schedules of lesser exhibitions lying before 
us. Among the more liberal of them we note that of the Man¬ 
chester and Liverpool Society, probably because the poultry 
show is a part of the general agricultural show. The prizes in 
each class (and the classification is good) are £3, £2, and £1. 
The third prizes are added by some local committee, so we will 
not take them into account. This leaves £5 for the aggregate of 
prizes in each class, and the entry fee is 5s. —viz., 5 per cent, on 
the prize money ; this seems to me a very fair proportion. Again, 
we take Tredegar ; here the prizes are £2, £1, and 10.?.—viz., 
£3 10,?. in the aggregate; but then there are specials of two 
guineas given in addition to the prizes for the best specimen in every 
two or three classes of adults, and of one guinea for every three 
or four classes of chickens. The entry is 5s., not a much higher 
proportion than that of Preston. At Nottingham we find a rather 
higher rate of entry—viz., 35. Gd. for three prizes amounting to 
355 ., but then there are many specials from three guineas down¬ 
wards to be awarded in addition to first prizes. On the other 
hand, we find that at Merthyr Tydfil the entry fee is 4.?. Gd. for 
each bird, with prizes of 30.?., 155., and 5s., and no extra premium 
—viz., 9 per cent.; and at Exeter the Committee value as highly 
the honour of a prize at their first forthcoming show, where a 
like fee is charged for an equal amount of prize money in the 
aggregate though distributed rather differently. We might point 
out further the great difference in the proportion of entry money 
to prize money between show and show. The cases cited are 
enough for our purpose. Where a committee do not see their 
way to arrange a schedule in the proportion of 5 or 6 per cent, entry 
on the prize money we doubt very much if it is worth while holding 
a separate show. It is very well to talk about the honour and 
glory of a poultry prize card being sufficient, but the people who 
are satisfied with such decorations are as a rule the rich ; and glad 
as we are to interest all classes in poultry-breeding, those who 
can afford to buy winners are not the class for whom we pri¬ 
marily write. Many a poor man has been led by a first victory 
with his home-reared chanticleer to turn more attention to and 
lay out m re money on his poultry yard. Whatever discourages 
such people does harm, and absurdly high entry fees necessarily 
do discourage them. The possessor of “ certain winners ” pays 
them as a speculation. The diffident beginners hesitate risking 
so much on a hazy chance.—C. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Rabbits (T. J.). —It is contrary to our practice to recommend dealers ; 
besides, we are not acquainted with the breed you name. Is not the designation 
a local one ? 
Victoria White and Uxbridge Wheat (Bailiff). —These are distinct 
varieties and both very good. The Victoria grows rather taller thau the Ux¬ 
bridge White and has longer heads, but does not always give a better yield of 
grain. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
c3 
« 
1882. 
September. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32« 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
snn. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 24 
30.055 
55.3 
52.1 
Calm. 
52.4 
63.4 
46.3 
77.7 
40.3 
— 
Mon. 25 
29.874 
58.8 
55.9 
E. 
53.0 
68.1 
49.3 
111.9 
40.4 
— 
Tries. 26 
29.493 
56.6 
54.0 
N.E. 
53.6 
62.9 
49.4 
95.6 
41.2 
0.040 
Wed. 27 
29.239 
53.7 
51.3 
E. 
53 6 
61.4 
47.9 
91.6 
40.7 
0.05 L 
Thnrs. 28 
29.7"2 
61.3 
47.3 
N.W. 
53.2 
61.7 
42.0 
109.7 
37.8 
0.856 
Friday 29 
29.304 
55.1 
54.3 
s.vv. 
53.8 
57.1 
49.7 
80.7 
46.0 
— 
Satur. SO 
29.945 
50.2 
49.0 
S. 
53.3 
62.4 
43.3 
73.4 
38.7 
— 
29.659 
54.4 
52.0 
53.3 
62.4 
46.8 
91.8 
40.7 
0.947 
REMARKS. 
24th.—Fine pleasant day, but not very bright. 
25th.—Fine bright day. 
26th.—Cloudy day, with one or two slight showers. 
27th.—Cloudy day, with a shower in the afternoon. 
28th.—Beautiful spring-like day ; clondy evening ; rain at night. 
29th.—Heavy rain early ; dull damp morning ; fair afternoon ; cloudless night. 
30th.—Damp cloudy day, with frequent slight rain. 
On the whole an unsettled and rather showery week, but not so wet as would 
appear from the total rainfall, as a very large proportion of it fell during the 
night of Thursday. Temperature very near the average, and remarkably 
accordant with that of the preceding week.—G. J. Symons. 
