350 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— August 12, 1856. 
on the account published in the last Cottage Gardener. 
I will reply lo the paragraphs that call for answer in the 
order in which they are placed. 
Firstly, it is stated that no protest would be received 
against the awards of the Judges unless one guinea were 
paid at the time of making it. In answer to this it is only 
requisite to state that the protests were received without 
any payment whatever, and it was only mentioned to the 
secretary, that in case of a perfect stranger making a 
protest, lie should be asked to deposit a guinea as a guarantee 
of his good faith, which sum was to be afterwards returned. 
With regard to the withholding of the Brahma Cup and 
the first prizes, the opinion of the Judges that there was 
not a pen of birds exhibited that in present condition and 
character were worthy of a Cup, was acquiesced in by all 
breeders of the variety that 1 inquired of, saving, of course, 
the protestors. It was amusing to a looker-on to see that 
three of the exhibitors claimed for their own birds the 
character of being the best ever seen, and I proposed a tri¬ 
angular duel between them, the committee to settle matters 
with the conqueror. The two pens named in the report are j 
very unfortunately selected. One hen in Mr. Davies’ pen 
was ruptured to a degree, that, to use the words of a con¬ 
temporary, “ was painful to look upon,” and Mr. Botham 
rejoiced in the presence of brown feathers, specimens of 
which still remain in hand. 
With regard to the Dorking protest, I will only quote the 
account of your reporter, and say, “When there is a separate 
classification for peculiar feather, it should be insisted on 
strictly.” The prizes were distinctly held out for “ Dorking, 
Speckled (Blue or Cuckoo);” that is, for the old-fashioned 
blue or cuckoo colour, of which Mr. Elgar’s were examples. 
The Judges, however, awarded prizes to other colours, and 
the committee did not like to withhold them; but surely an j 
exhibitor who shows and wins w'ith red birds in a class for 
blue or cuckoo should be the last person to protest against 
another taking a prize with a grey bird. 
Now comes a matter which more immediately concerns 
myself, respecting the supply of whole barley to the fowls; j 
and this I can best answer by stating the manner in which j 
they were fed. At five o’clock in the morning the pens j 
were cleaned out, fresh gravelled with screened gravel or 
coarse sand, and a green turf placed in each. As soon as i 
this w’as accomplished, the birds were fed with soft food, ] 
consisting of three parts barley-meal, and one part fine i 
middlings, made into a stiff mass with water. In the j 
course of each day they had a supply of sliced cabbage ! 
(two light cart-loads having been consumed during the I 
Show), one small feed of whole barley, and two more of 
soft food, one man being constantly engaged in supplying 
water to the pens. Under this diet and regimen two birds 
only died during the Show, contrasting strongly with the 
number of deaths in the shorter Show last year, when the 
management was in other hands. 
A regret is expressed that Mr. Forest’s Duckwing ’ 
Bantams were unnoticed. The facts that one hen is yellow- ; 
legged, the other white-legged; one rose, and one single- , 
combed, were doubtless noticed by the Judges, and, I 
consequently, the pen disqualified, spite of the extreme I 
beauty of the cock. 
Some remarks w r ere made on the Polands exhibited I 
by myself as Black-crested White, in which they are ’ 
described ns “ having bodies nearly wdiite, with darker 1 
under feathers, spotted necks, and their top-knots part 
cuckoo, with a few light brown feathers." I can only state, in j 
reply, that the latter part of this description is simply false. 
There is not a single brown or cuckoo feather in either of | 
the three birds shown ; the crest of one was perfectly black, 
that of the others of a very dark slate , one having a few 
white feathers in the crest, that I allowed to remain, as 1 ' 
wished to show them as they were, and not as they ought to 
have been. I enclose specimens of the crest and body- 
feathers of each of the three birds exhibited, and would 
request the Editors’ opinion respecting their colour, believ¬ 
ing that most of my readers will consider them forwarded 
in good faith as to the mode in which it is stated the birds 
may be produced. Your reporter only published his profound 
ignorance of the laws which regulate the production of colour 
in fowls, and of the actual results of crossing the different 
varieties of crested birds, in hazarding the assertion that he 
made. The fowls were not exhibited by myself as perfect, 
but they are by far the nearest approach to the required 
standard that has ever been made; and when it is taken into I 
consideration that many amateurs have been trying in vain 
for years to accomplish a restoration of this long-lost breed, 
I think they were not unworthy of the notice they received; 
and this opinion I have every reason to believe is held by nine 
out of every ten persons who saw them. —W. B. Tegetjueier. 
[Some of the feathprs forwarded were perfectly black, and 
the others perfectly white.—E d. C. G.] 
THE ANERLEY EXHIBITION OF DOMESTIC 
POULTRY. 
(From another .Reporter.) 
This long-anticipated treat to poultry amateurs fully 
justified the preconception that for many months has been 
the opinion of most parties, viz., that for spirited compe¬ 
tition it would far excel all that had preceded it. The 
grounds of the Anerley Gardens are especially well suited 
for the purposes of a Poultry Show, being very spacious, 
extremely well kept, and particularly rural. Large numbers 
of the trees have evidently stood for very many years prior 
to the general “laying-out" of the pleasure-grounds ; and, i 
as the weather was excessively hot, their shade was duly 
appreciated by the crowds of visitors who attended. Among 
them we noticed, not only many of the aristocracy, but also i 
amateurs who had travelled from Liverpool, Manchester, ! 
and even so far as Northumberland, for the single purpose 
of being eye-witnesses of the rivalry among, not only the 
best fowls in the kingdom, but also birds that had been in¬ 
tentionally kept back from other Shows, that their condition 
might be unimpaired on this occasion. There are but few 
counties that did not forward some variety of fowls to 
Anerley, and, from this cause, the interest of the exhibition 
increased proportionably. The efforts of the managing 
committee to please all parties were untiring, and it is 
simply justice to say that poultry were never better 
attended, during any exhibition, than at Anerley. Green 
food was liberally provided as regularly ns possible, and 
proved most acceptable, from the scorching nature of the 
weather generally, and the continuous health of the poultry ; 
was consequently very good. Without farther comment we j 
will take a rapid glance at the various classes. 
The Sebright Bantams, which stood first on the prize 
list, were superior, and most perfectly-laced birds, although 
the condition of the majority was open to exception, from 
their having commenced moulting. The other varieties 
of Bantams do not call for any especial mention, if we 
except a few pens of very good Game Bantams. 
The Hamburgh Cups were well disputed, and the poultry 
here shown excellent; but many competitors lost every 
chance, from the “ old fault ” of placing a lop-comb, to the 
inevitable disqualification of birds otherwise well calculated 
to fulfil their owner’s wishes. It will be seen, by reference 
to the prize list, that the premiums were pretty equally 
divided among those most notorious for these varieties, 
many of whom have expended large sums in procuring 
their exhibition stock. It is, therefore, a pleasure to refer to 
the fact, that a labouring cottager took precedence in the 
Silver-pencilled Chickens of this present year, in the most 
Severe competition with more than two dozen of really 
excellent pens. We trust this may serve to raise the 
emulation of other parties similarly situated. The Polands 
were very superior, and the premiums closely run for. “ The 
great gun” of the exhibition may aptly here be referred to, 
viz., a pen of Black-crested White Polands. They were 
certainly most extraordinary birds, such us have never 
before been exhibited, and excited a good deal of attention; 
they were chickens of the present year, and were un¬ 
doubtedly the nearest the requirements of this all but 
extinct variety we have yet seen. In Spanish we do not 
remember to have ever witnessed so good and well-filled 
classes. The birds from H. D. Davies, Esq., not only, 
however, fully maintained their previous position, but it will 
have been seen that that gentleman secured both first nnd 
second prizes in adults, closely run by his spirited and 
untiring rival, Captain Hornby, of Knowsley. It strikes us 
