148 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. November 24. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Winchester and Southern Counties’ Poultry Exhi¬ 
bition. —The first meeting of any newly-formed Society is 
often materially aided by the zeal and energy consequent on 
novelty and excitement, apart from any consideration of the 
real utility of the Institution. In matters of graver import 
than those now about to occupy our attention has this 
observation been found correct, and thus the second 
anniversary is frequently a fair test of ultimate success or 
failure. 
The first exhibition of the AVinchester and Southern 
Counties’ Society was held at that city in November, 1852, 
and the 16th and 17th of this month has witnessed the 
second of their proposed annual meetings. On the former 
occasion, the expectations of those with whom the idea of 
the Association had originated were fully realized, and the 
critical period of the second year has now confirmed their 
opinion, that the district around that city is a suitable 
position for the purpose they had in view. 
Now, whatever breed of poultry may be found most 
suitable to our several circumstances, it will certainly be to 
our ultimate advantage to get the best of their race, and this 
we are most effectually enabled to do by means of our 
Exhibitions, which have encouraged a spirit of enquiry 
and research that has already conferred great benefits, and 
will, we trust, do still more for poultry-keepers generally. 
Fowls, Geese, Ducks, and Turkeys, to say nothing of the 
less important members of the poultry-yard, are now im¬ 
ported from whatever quarter a rumour of excellence may 
be heard. The points of breeding stock are carefully 
weighed and mutually adjusted ; food and management are 
attentively studied; and various experiments on the results 
of cross-breeding between the different varieties of the 
same family are specially detailed for public information. 
Hence it follows that a degree of practical knowledge has 
been attained, for which we should have looked in vain to 
any other source. We have dwelt on this fact, from our 
knowledge of the common depreciatory tone in which 
remarks on Poultry Shows are often uttered. External 
appearances, distinct from culinary excellence, are there, it 
is true, held of importance, but never, we believe, to the 
rejection of greater merits in an economical point of view 
in any of those classes which base their claims to public 
consideration on their character as profitable poultry. 
Let our readers be assured that the prize Dorking will 
be, at least, as satisfactory on the spit as any of its defeated 
neighbours of the same race; the Shanghae, again, victo¬ 
rious from its combination of meritorious features of 
form and plumage, will, in death,no less than life, maintain 
its honours ; and to carry our comparison to the end, the 
Toulouse Geese, and the Rouen and Aylesbury Ducks will 
drive their competitors from the kitchen as easily as they 
conquered in the Exhibition. 
To avert the very suspicion of partiality, the classes, on 
this occasion, were arranged alphabetically, so Bantams had 
precedence, and the successful birds were of fair average 
merit. 
Shanghaes, in right of their alias, Cochin-China, followed; 
but in the old class for these birds the entries were not 
numerous, and the unfavourable character of the present 
autumn had evidently retarded their moult. The first prize 
for Buff and Cinnamon fell to Mr. Punchard, for Pen 25, 
containing birds that fully justified the honours of their 
position. The same gentleman met with similar success in 
the class for chickens of the same colours, hatched during 
the year. 
There were, also, several commendations in this class, 
but, in most instances, sufficient attention had not been 
paid to matching the birds, both as regards their form and 
feather. The pullets, as usual, were generally of higher 
pretensions than their companions of the other sex. 
Among the White Shanghaes, discoloured legs were more 
numerous than we could have wished, and the difficulty of 
obtaining “ black” cocks, altogether free from bronzed fea¬ 
thers, does not appear to have diminished. 
The Coloured Dorkings were good, and the prize and com¬ 
mended pens included many very creditable specimens. 
The birds placed in Pen 110 were selected by the Judges 
for a second prize, but were subsequently disqualified on 
account of their owner having omitted to send the proper 
ticket with them, so that it was impossible to assign them 
their proper place, or to know by whom they had been en¬ 
tered. In Class 15, the chickens in Pen 102, belonging to 
Edward Turner, Esq., of Bishpstoke, were remarkably well- 
grown, and well-matched birds, promising, at no distant 
date, to contribute to the merited celebrity of their race. 
The White Dorkings were certainly meritorious, and were 
exhibited in capital condition; we could wish, however, that 
there was less tendency manifested in these birds to the un¬ 
seemly discolouration of the bill. 
Among the Game Fowls were some fair birds, especially 
the Duck-wing cocks; but the delicate tone of their plum¬ 
age would have appeared to greater advantage had the dull 
slate-colour of their legs been exchanged for a lighter hue. 
Exhibitors of these birds should carefully remember the 
distinction between the black-breasted and other reds. 
The Hamhnrghs, especially the Silver-spangled, of which 
latter, Mrs. Mills, of Bisterne, bore off the two first prizes 
in Class 42, were a much better lot than the southern 
districts of England are accustomed to produce. The 
Golden-pencilled cockerel and pullets of Mrs. Iver Seymour, 
and the Golden-spangled birds of Mr. Dawson, were well- 
selected pens of great merit. 
The same award of praise is due to several pens among 
the Poland classes. The Black, with white crests, had spe¬ 
cimens of unusual excellence, especially Pen 178. Of the 
others, the Silver would take precedence of the Golden. 
In Malays, there were well-bred specimens of both the 
Coloured and AA r hite varieties. 
Since our comments on the Spanish classes would not 
cheer the owners of the pens that were placed in com¬ 
petition, a short word of advice is all to which we will now 
give utterance. The white face, unimpaired in the effect of 
its strong contrast with the comb and plumage, is justly 
required as essential to the perfect specimen of the Spanish 
fowl. A dark line of feather at the base of the comb, 
separating it from the face, is therefore fatal; and to this 
defect there is too often added a blushed or red-stained 
appearance of the face itself. Now, these birds have, of 
late, commanded very high prices; and great dissatisfaction 
is, therefore, often expressed, when pens, on which their 
owners have based great expectations, are passed over by 
those to whom the office of judge has been confided. 
“ AVhy, how can such a decision be just,” is a question con¬ 
stantly asked, “ when the birds came from such or such a 
stock?” naming persons whose success with these fowls has 
become matter of notoriety. Our reply is a very ready one, 
and is simply this—that probably among fowls of no other 
kind is there more uncertainty in the character of the pro¬ 
duce, even when the parent stock has been selected with the 
utmost care and judgment. But it really would seem that 
the purchaser of a sitting of eggs thinks he is most unfor¬ 
tunate if any of the produce fall short of their ancestral 
excellence. Nowhere, indeed, are patience and persever¬ 
ance more requisite than in the yard of the Spanish breeder. 
Class 59 offered two first and two second prizes for the 
old and young birds respectively of “ any other distinct 
breeds." The task of the Judges here becomes an onerous 
duty with great responsibility, both as regards the com¬ 
petition of different varieties of fowls, as also from the 
necessity of strictly scrutinizing the alleged new introduc¬ 
tions. Regarding economy as the only safe basis on which 
the efforts of the poultry-keeper should be grounded, a 
wide line of demarcation may be at once drawn between 
the profit-producing and the mere ornamental, that is, the 
“toy” poultry. On the present occasion, a very hand¬ 
some pen of Andalusian fowls were awarded a first prize; 
and since in their merits as layers, and excellence for the 
kitchen, these fully equal their sable countrymen, they 
deserved their position. 
Among the birds entered as “ Brahma Pootras ” were 
specimens that manifested a closer approach to the standard 
of Shanghae excellence than any we had yet observed. 
The lighter birds appeared to most advantage, but a pen of 
dark Grey were excellent in both form and substance. It 
was a fair opportunity, therefore, for a rigid search in quest 
of such properties or characteristics that might be urged on 
their behalf as a separate and distinct breed ; but none such 
were visible in the birds before us, since nowhere was seen 
