540 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
[ December 7, 1882. 
There were present the Hon. and Rev. F. G-. Dutton (in the chair), 
and Messrs. 0. E. Cresswell, A. Darby, C. F. Montresor, and A. 
Comyns. 
The Disqualification’ of the Dark Brahma Cock at the 
Palace Show. —The Secretary reported that he had written to Mr. 
C. Davenport Jones, a member of the Club, in reference to the dis¬ 
qualification of the fourth-prize Dark Brahma cock exhibited by that 
gentleman at the Palace, and as to an allegation in the pages of the 
Stock-keeper that the wings of the cockerel also shown there by the 
same gentleman had been tampered with. It appeared that the fourth- 
prize cock was disqualified in consequence of both his wings having 
been observed after the adjudication of the prizes to be tied up with 
string. Mr. Jones stated as to this that the string had been put on 
simply and only for the purpose of keeping the bird’s wings in proper 
position during his moult, and had been by an oversight left on by 
his poultryman in his own absence from home when the bird was 
sent to the Palace Show. He denied that the cockerel’s wings had 
been tampered with by himself or any person with his knowledge, 
and stated that up to a short time before the Banbury Show the 
bird was out at a run at his gardener’s cottage, and was not seen by 
him from the time he was quite a chick until just before the Banbury 
Show. He further stated that the man who attends to his birds, an 
ordinary gardener, and not a regular poultryman, assured him he had 
not, neither did he know of anyone having drawn a feather out of the 
bird. The bird was examined, on Mr. Jones’s behalf, by Mr. E. 
Morgan of High Street, Hastings, Mr. F. C. Davis of Southampton, 
and the Inspector of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals at Hastings ; and in the opinion of these gentlemen the 
bird had not been tampered with in any way. The bird was. at the 
request of Mr. Jones, examined by a Sub-committee of the Poultry 
Club on Wednesday, November 22nd, and the following was the 
report of that Sub-committee :— 
“ A special meeting of the members of the Committee residing nearest to 
London was convened on Wednesday, November 22nd, 1882, at 47, Chancery 
Lane, so that the cockerel exhibited by Mr. C. Davenport Jones at the Palace, 
and reported on in the Stock-keeper as having been trimmed, might be examined. 
This was done at the request of Mr. Jones. There were presen t—Messrs. T. W. 
Anns, J. C. Fraser, C. F. Montressor, and A. Comyns ; Messrs. Leno and Teget- 
meier, both of whom had examined the bird at the Palace, also kindly attended 
for the purpose of identifying the bird. 
“A very careful examination of the wings was made. It was found that 
several of the lower secondaries of the left wing were but partly grown, while 
one was entirely missing, and that the upper primaries of the same wing were 
also but partly gro . The remaining feathers, both primarj and secondary, 
of this wing were, with one exception, fully grown, as also were all the feathers 
of the right wing. The lower secondaries of the right wing were somewhat 
curved, which tended to prevent the primaries from going properly under the 
secondaries. 
“ Those present came to the conclusion that the state of the left wing could 
only be accounted for on the supposition that the partly-grown feathers and 
missing feather had been removed some time since to allow the primaries to slip 
under the secondaries, and thus get rid of the defect of a slip-wing.” 
It also appeared that Mr. Leno, who judged the birds at the Palace, 
and Mr. Tegetmeier, who, at Mr. Leno’s request, also examined the 
bird at the Palace, agreed with the conclusion arrived at by Sub- 
Committee. Mr. Leno, who had at the Palace, in the first instance, 
highly commended the bird, subsequently, and before concluding the 
judging, discovered that the wing had been tampered with, and so 
entered it in his judging-book, intending to pass the bird over on 
that account, but had inadvertently omitted to remove the h.c. pre¬ 
viously entered in his judging-book. 
The following was the decision of the Committee :— 
“ The Committee can form no opinion as to whether the string was left on the 
fourth-prize Dark Brahma cock at the Falace Show accidentally or otherwise ; 
but the Committee have reluctantly come to the conclusion, from the evidence 
before them, that the left wing of the Dark Brahma cockerel—pen No. 533—h.c, 
at the Palace Show, had been tampered with. 
“ They accept Mr. Jones’s assurance that he had no personal knowledge of 
the transaction, but are compelled to come to the conclusion that his poultry- 
man could not have been equally innocent. They, therefore, call upon him to 
discontinue the employment of such man in connection with his poultry as 
provided by Rule 21.” 
The Secretary was directed to communicate with Mr. Jones as to 
what action he intended to take in the matter. 
Dorchester Show. —A complaint as to the withholding of prizes 
at this Show having been under the consideration of the Committee 
at a former meeting, the Secretary now reported that he had, as 
directed at the previous meeting, written to the Secretary of the 
Dorchester Show on the 18th November, asking an explanation of 
the withholding of prizes in certain classes, but" that he had as yet 
received no reply. The Committee thought that some further time 
for an answer should be allowed to the Dorchester Committee before 
any definite action in the matter was taken, and the Secretary was 
directed to write again to the Secretary of the Dorchester Show. 
Next Meeting. —The date of the next meeting was fixed for 
Wednesday, December 13th, 1882, at the Charing Cross Hotel, at 
2 p.m.—Alex. Comyns, Hon. Sec., 47, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., 
Nov. 20th, 1882. 
CHICKEN VACCINATION. 
Dr. D. E. Salmon stated in his Montreal address that he had 
discovered vaccination to be a cure, or rather a preventive, of 
chicken cholera. The vaccine matter is procured by diluting the 
blood of a cholera-infected fowl in about the same way Pasteur 
obtains the attenuated virus with which he protects sheep against 
anthrax. A New York report of this address says :—“As a stand¬ 
ard he has used a virus diluted 1 to 10,000. This produced a local 
lesion in some cases, which appeared in a few days, and this in 
two or three weeks was followed by fever. All such fowls were 
afterwards exempt from the disease, even if inoculated with strong 
virus. Some chickens were susceptible to a virus as weak as 
1 to 75,000, and by such inoculation were rendered proof against 
attack. Fowls not susceptible to a weak virus proved to be so to 
a stronger. Thus by grading the strength of the vaccine, which 
was easily and quickly done, all fowls could be successfully in¬ 
oculated, and so rendered safe from these fatal innocerophytes. 
We need much more experimentation to determine whether there 
are still better methods to attenuate the virus, and whether we 
can protect against danger from other contagions, such as Texas 
fever or pleuro-pneumonia, not to speak of various human diseases, 
by the use of a similarly attenuated vaccine, which may be easily 
secured by diluting the blood of an individual diseased or dead of 
any of these contagions. Pasteur is at present busily engaged in 
this direction .”—(The Prairie Farmer.) 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Farming ( Marian ).—For a young man studying agriculture we cannot 
recommend any better work than Morton's “ Encyclopaedia of Agriculture.” In 
addition the student should peruse the articles on any particular subject pub¬ 
lished in this Journal during the past five years for practical directions. 
Improving Pasture ( Waaer ).—You state that you have unfortunately 
succeeded to 20 acres of land covered with a mat of couch grass, and ask for 
information as regards its treatment to bring it into sweet pasture on the lines 
recommended by Sir J. B. Lawes. IVe think that is not a question to be con¬ 
sidered how many sheep should be kept per acre, but a question of feeding by 
a large flock of sheep if you possess one, in order that the couch may be eaten 
down as bare as possible. The sooner the better. The sheep to have 1 lb. of cake 
each per day in the meal state mixed with a few cut roots, and be penned in a 
close fold at night time, to be shifted on to fresh ground every day, the fold to 
be made on the poorest part of the field with the least couch upon it. But it 
should be remembered that unless a large flock is now kept it would not pay to 
buy sheep at present prices for the treatment of 20 acres of land only, besides 
which regard must be had to the future treatment of the field. The nature of 
the soil has not been stated, but the first treatment to eat down the couch is 
the most important, and if this cannot be done with profit by sheep it may be 
done equally well by young cattle or dairy cows. After the couch is eaten down 
close the land may then in the spring be dragged with Howard’s self-lifting 
harrow in order to obtain a little loose earth to receive the seeds for renovating. 
The seed to bo per acre 10 lbs. of white Dutch Clover, 10 lbs. of Cocksfoot, 10 lbs. 
of Meadow Foxtail, and 10 lbs. of Timothy Grass, -without any annual grass 
seeds, only adding 10 lbs. of Pacey’s Perennial Rye Grass, to be sown in the 
month of March, and the land after a good bite of grass is grown to be fed with 
cattle only, but no sheep to be allowed to feed thereon, as they eat out all the 
best grasses and Clovers to the injury of the pasture, the cattle to be allowed 
4 lbs. cotton cake each per day. If the soil, however, is very light or sandy 
5 lbs. of white Clover and 5 lbs. of yellow Suckling should be sown instead of 
10 lbs. of white Clover, but the grasses as named to be sown, also let the soil 
be heavy or light. But the process of obtaining a pasture or turf which would 
supplant the couch would be very slow unless manures were used ; therefore we 
advise in February in each year 4 cwt. of bone superphosphate should be sown, 
and if it is light soil 1.) cwt. of nitrate of soda per acre in addition. These 
annual applications, if supplemented by dressings of earth and manure composts 
occasionally, would much sooner produce a good turf. We must desire our 
correspondent to carefully peruse and study the contents of the series of articles 
just completed on “ Neglected Pastures and Waste Lands.” 
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. 
| Rain. 
1882. 
November. 
December. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32 ft 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
| Temp, of 
Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass. 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sun. 26 
29.318 
42.4 
39.5 
s.w. 
43.3 
48 0 
3*.9 
66.8 
34.8 
— 
Mon. 27 
23.848 
38.0 
34.8 
N.W. 
42.5 
48-2 
34.0 
76.5 
28.8 
— 
Tues. 28 
30.1111 
38.5 
34.8 
N. 
41.2 
48.1 
34.2 
71.6 
30. > 
0.252 
Wed. 2t 
29.715 
42.5 
41.0 
N. 
40.0 
46.1 
31.0 
50.2 
26.0 
0.038 
Thnrs. 30 
30.081 
40.1 
30.0 
N.W. 
41.1 
46.2 
39.3 
67.7 
37.4 
— 
Friday 1 
29.992 
32.2 
3’.2 
N.E. 
40.3 
35.4 
28.0 
35.5 
21.4 
— 
Satur. 2 
30.110 
2S.8 
28.8 
N.E. 
39.2 
38.2 
23.0 
37.2 
27.3 
0.068 
29.873 
37.5 
3G.0 
41.1 
443 
33.1 
57.9 
29.4 
0.358 
REMARKS. 
26th.—Generally fine, sprinkle of rain in afternoon. 
27th.—Very bright sunny morning, afterwards showery ; moonlight night. 
28th.—Fine, bright, and cold. 
29tli.—Rain early ; damp day, with drizzle. 
30th.—Fine throughout. 
Dec. 1.—Thick fog early ; hazy throughout. 
2nd.—Dark foggy morning ; thick all day. 
Cooler, with much fog on the last two days.—G. J. SYMONS. 
