JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 25, 1883. ] 
85 
parts. Those which drop their lambs at the earliest period, say the 
first half of the flock, may be kept apart from the late-lambing ewes, 
so that the latter may be fed in a different manner, and kept in fair 
stock condition only, and eating roots off the land without cutting, 
with a fair allowance of hay, but no cake or corn ; but the lambs 
running in advance of the ewes should be kept in the best possible 
manner, as we have often described, in order that they may be ready 
for sale early, or continued on to make heavy weights as tegs. The 
ewes having been only fed for stock when the lambs are sold or 
weaned, as the case may be, will be found in excellent condition, and 
will, if properly managed, make first-class stock to hold over, and 
bring their lambs early in the next year, and from being acclimatised 
will prove better for themselves and lambs also than any which can 
be purchased at the fairs in the autumn. After being shorn and the 
rams turned amongst them they may be folded at night if well kept 
during the day on the best succulent food, such as rape and vetches, 
until they all prove in lamb, when moderate keep will be sufficient 
such as old lea, down, or hill pasture. 
In the case of the early-lambing half of the flock which had been 
purchased in the previous autumn, these should be fed with Mangold, 
or Carrots, or Swedish Turnips cut and placed in troughs mixed with 
cake meal and bean meal, being fed also with good sweet Clover hay 
three times a day, taking care, however, that they do not have too 
many cut roots given to waste. This should be regulated by the 
animals eating all the cut roots in admixture with cake before they 
leave their troughs, and the troughs turned upside down imme¬ 
diately afterwards, in order that they may be clean for the next 
feeding. It will then be carried out without waste of superior food, 
and when the lambs are sold the ewes, too, will be fit for the butcher 
at the same time, for we have sold the Dorset Down ewes at Easter 
(with lambs at side), weighing 14 stone of mutton when fed as we 
have described. The dairy cows are now in most cases out of profit 
and are forward in calf, in which case it is not ■well to keep them too 
high with cake or other extra food, for it frequently leads to inflam¬ 
mation of the udder and other difficulties at calving time. If the 
cows get a few of the large Drumhead Cabbages, and sweet oat straw 
daily it is the best food they can have after the milking period is 
passed and before they calve. We do not approve of cows running 
in the pastures during the wet weather, as their tread is very 
damaging to pastures. We advise if the animals are in calf that they 
have something like an hour’s exercise every day, but not to be 
allowed to remain out and be found shivering under some hedge or 
shelter they leave their droppings, which is lost. 
ABOUT A DORKING CHALLENGE CUP. 
On reading the article with regard to the above signed “ C.,” I 
thought at first something good might come of it, hut on reflection 
I could not determine where from. “ C.” points to the Game fowls, 
and says, “ See what a challenge cup has done for them ; ” hut of 
that presently. Supposing there were a challenge cup for Dorkings 
subscribed for. In the first place where are they P secondly, who 
should act as tbe judge ? To my mind certainly not those who have 
been so acting, for it is entirely to their want either of knowledge 
of the true bird or to timidness in the administration of their 
awards things are as they are. I do not intend to go largely 
into the matter, as it is not convenient for me to do so at the 
present time ; but I trust I may be able to show in a few words 
what I mean. In the Standard of Excellence, which was really a 
very, very good one, published many years ago by the then 
Poultry Club, after enumerating the many good points a Dorking 
should possess, it goes on to say, Disqualification “ legs any other 
except white,” and this is also put forward as a disqualification in 
the new Standard of Excellence sent by the present Poultry Club. 
Does the word “disqualification” mean anything or nothing? 
If the latter I have no rn< re to say. If the former, it means, I 
contend, that a bird hav ng those defects stands disqualified 
without any act on tin part of the judge ; in other words, it is 
“ out of Court,” and “ out of Court” for many a long year have 
often been the so-called D ukiugs, the owners of which have carried 
away the prizes, the same Dorkings having dark legs, dark spots 
in their legs, dark toes, &c. On one occasion I pointed out to my 
good kind old friend, the late Mr. Hewitt, that the first-prize had 
small stubs of feathers on its legs. “ Yes,” said he, “ but see what a 
large bird it is.” “But,” sad I, “it is not a true Dorking.” 
“Well,” said he, 11 they will have size, and Dorkings are not my 
forte.” I said no more. Again, I pointed out not long since a 
prize bird with dark legs to the judge. “I know it is wrornr,” 
said he, “ but where are we to get the old pure white ones ? They 
will have it so.” J only asked who are “ they.” I am always met 
with that word by judges, who are so called wrongly, but none 
have ever defined to me who “they ” are. It is always pushed on 
to someone else, some invisible unknown being. Why does not 
the judge speak out fairly, honestly, and openly, and say at once 
“ Others are doing wrong, and I am not strong enough to act up to 
the proper standard, and insist upon what is right?” Forgetful 
also is ho that he is doing an injustice by giving away prizes that 
should properly and truthfully belong to others, giving prizes to 
birds that stand even before he comes to judge them, Disqualified. 
There is no hope for the Dorking or any other breed of fowls or 
Pigeons arriving at the height of excellence under the present 
method (for I call it nothing else) of judging. 
A Dorking challenge cup would not help the Dorking breed 
one whit unless they are judged up to the tnie Dorking standard 
in all its entirety, which certainly is not the case now; hence the 
muddle and mongrelism that take the place of order and breed. 
At the commencement I said I would say something about the 
Game fowl challenge cup. What I would say is, that to my think¬ 
ing the falling-off is most lamentable. When I look back to the 
time when French’s Game cock won at Birmingham, and before it 
left the showyard sold for £100, and compare it with the long- 
legged, long-thighed, breastless present show bird, I cannot for 
one think “ change is progress.” It is said that as fighting days 
are over the Game fowl should not be what it was, yet the show 
Game fanciers talk a quantity of utter nonsense about length of 
reach, &c. Bah! it makes sad one who has handled many a bird 
of the old type—a bird of beauty of form, beauty of colour, a 
representation of the Englishman for courage; a bird for table 
purposes surpassed by none for flavour and fine tissue, not even the 
playmate of my childhood, the Dorking of world-wide renown. 
Look at him as he stands, the true old English Game cock, thick¬ 
set and sturdy, with the “ light of battle in his eye,” with his proud 
and haughty step. Even his very hens standing about seem to 
admire him as one would Adonis. Look at him in his bygone days, 
and look at what the challenge cup has brought him to. Look on 
this picture and then on that. 
I am not speaking of individual birds, but the show Game as a 
class. All must admit that the cup Black Red at Birmingham had 
his attractions, but a genius like that of Capt. Heaton’s refines and 
give lustre to all it touches. 
No, I for one am much obliged to “ C.” for his suggestion of a 
challenge cup for Dorkings, but cannot see that it would remove the 
present difficulty in any way. —Harrison Weir. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
This is of all others the time of year at which the management 
of our breeding stock is of importance if we are to have many 
and strong chickens. Starved or overfat fowls will not produce 
vigorous or healthy offspring. The latter is by far the most 
frequent fault. During the moult and autumn fogs much nourish¬ 
ment is necessary to make birds resist the cold and bear the strain 
on their system which the growth of fresh plumage entails. When 
this is over we are too apt to continue the same scale of diet to 
their great detriment. They are just now peculiarly liable to put 
on too much flesh, especially in such warm weather as we have 
lately had. Fanciers should beware of this, and look well that 
those who have charge of their stock do not continue the same 
bountiful diet that we have prescribed for the late autumn, but 
diminish it judiciously as the days lengthen and temperature rises. 
In another fortnight or three weeks all Pigeons may be mated ; 
it is now, therefore, high time to be putting the loft in order. 
Every removeable nest should be removed, thoroughly cleansed 
and disinfected. Much trouble from vermin in the summer may 
thus be obviated. No birds need now be disturbed by their 
quarters being turned out in a way which in the middle of the 
breeding season would cause disastrous alarm and confusion. 
Coops, too, which ought all to have been thus cleansed before 
being stowed away at the end of last chicken season should now 
be looked to and repaired. It is very bad economy to put broods 
into rotten or dilapidated abodes when a few shillings would make 
them warm and watertight. 
Tiie financial management of the first Buckingham Poultry and 
Pigeon Show, held last w'eck, might well be copied by managers 
of other shows who wish to make them popular. We know that 
in some cases cheques for the prize money must have been posted 
within tw’entv-four hours of the close of the Show. This prompti¬ 
tude is peculiarly satisfactory to young exhibitors ; we often hear 
of their surprise and disappointment at having to wait weeks for 
