604 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ December 30, 1880. 
laying:, it will hardly be necessary to say much respecting their 
exhibition qualities ; but here again they are not deficient, as they 
are beautiful birds in the show pen, and in Scotland they always 
head the list at the best shows. At the late Edinburgh Show 
there were 130 pens of Scotch Greys, which proves that in the 
north they occupy the position they so well deserve. 
True birds have a Dorking-like head, and evenly dappled grey 
or cuckoo colour. The legs are generally the same colour until 
the birds are a year old, when they become quite white; and in 
this respect they differ widely from the Plymouth Rocks, which 
they otherwise somewhat resemble, as the legs of the latter are 
so yellow that they are not readily disposed of in market.— 
J. Muir, Margam. 
SMALL POULTRY YARDS. 
I SHOULD be much obliged to “ M. M.” if he would give some 
more minute details concerning the fowl yard of Mr. Clatworthy. 
The whole yard appears (see page 560) to be 42 feet long by 
27 broad ; if out of this there be taken a grass plot 27 by 12, and 
a 2-foot path all round it, there is left a space of 5^ feet. The cir¬ 
cumference being divided by 12 gives to each run a space of 
about 12 feet by 5J. Is the whole of this space roofed-in and 
divided ? If so, is it divided by boards, with only wire in front? 
If only the roosting place is roofed-in, what is its size ? Then 
again, “ M. M.” speaks of the top range being divided into twelve 
coop-like runs. I hardly know what a run would be like to re¬ 
semble a coop, and if by the top range is meant a space at the end 
27 by 5£ I cannot see of what use this would be when divided by 
12 for rearing chickens. Would “ M. M.” or Mr. Clatworthy 
furnish a drawing of the runs and roosting places, so as to give 
others an opportunity of following so good an example ?—C. J. 
EYMORE BLACKS. 
Mr. T. C. Burnell, in the pages of a contemporary, states his 
reasons for giving these birds a prize at Birmingham. He had 
awarded one prize to La Fleche and another to Plymouth Eocks, 
then he had to find a third-prize pen. The representatives of 
other known breeds present were defective in one characteristic 
or another: and although he might have gone to a second pair of 
good La Fleche, he considered that “this would be making it 
pretty much a La Fleche class,” and it has always been his 
endeavour in a mixed class to distribute the prizes as equally as 
possible. He has always understood the Variety class to be 
meant especially for any new variety. The clean-legged Lang- 
shan-likc fowls called Eymore Blacks were in brilliant condition, 
and were perfectly new to him. He could not see any other pen 
particularly deserving a prize, so he gave the third to the Eymore 
Blacks. 
The explanation renders the Judge’s method of reasoning 
which led to award the prize plain to all, but we must say that 
we cannot agree with Mr. Burnell. We think a judge who 
undertakes to award the prizes in a Variety class should make 
himself acquainted with every known variety, and that an ex¬ 
hibitor who in these days of easy diffusion of knowledge hides 
his newly found treasures under a bushel until they appear in the 
show pen ought to expect to have them passed over by the judge. 
It is manifest that the system of awarding a prize to a bird 
simply because you have never seen its like before is an erroneous 
one. The exhibitor of known varieties is obliged to at least 
approximate to a standard, and is thus placed at a most unfair 
disadvantage as against the exhibitor of a breed which may have 
come from “ a hitherto unknown port of the Black Sea,” as 
Mr. Burnell jocosely puts it, but the points of which are as un¬ 
known to the judge as the port in question to the geographer. 
Will the exhibitor tell us something about these Eymore Blacks ? 
We would suggest as a heading for his communication, “Besults 
of a Cross between a Langshan and a Dorking.”— A Fancier. 
EFFECT OF HENBANE ON FOWLS. 
In your issue of December 2nd I read with much interest your 
answer to a correspondent on the effect of Foxglove on fowls. 
Of that plant I have not had any experience, but I can speak of 
the Henbane, which is a very destructive'plant to poultry gene¬ 
rally. A friend lost two Ducks full grown without being able in 
any way to account for their deaths. These Ducks had been to 
the bottom of the grounds where Henbane was growing, and 
there also was a fowl house in which a few fowls were kept, one 
of them a great pet. At feeding time this pullet could not be 
found, but on looking into her roosting place she was discovered 
standing up with her neck stretched out and her beak resting on 
the ground as if all spinal power was gone. She was taken in 
and dosed with brandy and water for two days ; she recovered, 
and is now strong and well, and was able to make her appearance 
in the show pen. The Ducks had no antidote administered, and 
therefore paid the penalty of their greediness. A few days after 
this occurrence I read the following in a French poultry book :— 
“ The Jusquiame, a poisonous plant very common in our villages, 
and unfortunately much sought after by Ducks, Geese, and other 
fowls, is mortal to them all. It is this Jusquiame noire, which 
the English designate by significant appellation of Henbane, 
otherwise poison for hens.”—L a Fleche. 
VARIETIES. 
We understand that the last Committee meeting of the Poultry 
Club for this year was held yesterday (29th) at Oxford. 
- Hereford Poultry Fair. —Probably the largest poultry 
market or fair held in the kingdom is that which takes place at 
Hereford before Christmas. It was held on Wednesday in last week, 
and in spite of most unfavourable weather the city was thronged with 
visitors to it. The following is from the account of it in the Hereford 
Times: —“ Hereford Christmas poultry market has for an age been 
famous for the great quantity, fine quality, and exceptionally good 
dressing of poultry. In the arts of breeding, plucking, and dressing, 
the Herefordshire farmers’ wives and daughters have always carried 
off the palm, though the scalding and drawing of the poultry, while 
giving a fine and tempting appearance to it, does not allow of 
its preservation for such a length of time as when it is not drawn. 
This objection, however, cannot have much weight when the market 
is so near Christmas day. The fame of Herefordshire poultry was 
at its height years ago when prizes were given at the Christmas 
market for the best specimens, and spectators as well as buyers came 
from long distances. These prizes were discontinued about ten years 
ago, when some of the unsuccessful exhibitors contended they were 
as deserving of the prizes as the successful exhibitors. The absence 
of the prizes has since been continually regretted. A new generation 
of stallholders have since then entered the lists, and maintained the 
good name which the old stallholders obtained for good poultry. 
The attention previously paid to fattening for the Christmas prizes 
was directed more to the breeding ; and the poultry, minus much of 
the usual fat, became still more appetising at the dinner table, and 
profitable also to the consumer, for it is stated there is considerably 
more flesh-forming matter in poultry than in butchers’ meat. At 
this year’s great Christmas poultry market, which was held on 
Wednesday last, money prizes as undermentioned were once more 
given for the best poultry, not simply for select birds that might be 
chosen by their owners for competition in the hop room as in years 
gone by, but for birds pointed out in the open market by an able 
judge.” Stalls were held by about one hundred farmers’ wives and 
daughters, and on some of them there was a magnificent display. On 
one there was 105 head of poultry. One purchaser is said to have 
taken away a ton of poultry. The largest Turkeys weighed about 
30 lbs., the largest Geese about 16 lbs. The prices obtained for Tur¬ 
keys, Is. to Is. 3 d. per lb.; Geese, 8t?. to lOrZ.; Ducks, 6s. to 10s. couple ; 
fowls, 4s. Cd. to 8s. and 10s. couple; eggs, eight and nine the shilling. 
- Death of Mr. Mechi. —The death is announced of Mr. J. J. 
Mechi, the well-known agriculturist, whose recent failure evoked 
so much sympathy. It took place on Sunday last at Tiptree Hall, 
Essex. Mr. Mechi, the son of Giacomo Mechi, a citizen of Bologna, who 
early in life settled in England and obtained a post in the household 
of George III., was born in London in May, 1802, and was trained in 
a mercantile house engaged in the Newfoundland trade. By his 
industry and the profits derived from an invention of his own he was 
enabled to start in business as a cutler in 1827, and between 1830 and 
1840 realised a fortune by the sale of a razor strop which bore his 
name. In the last-mentioned year he bought the farm at Tiptree 
Heath, consisting of about 130 acres of inferior land, and forthwith 
began his farming experiments by deep draining and the application 
of steam power. He was laughed at by his neighbours as an enthu¬ 
siast, but he persevered, and by-and-by made the farm pay a hand¬ 
some profit. In 1856 he was appointed to the shrievalty of London, 
and was elected an Alderman the following year. About this time 
