THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
01 
April 27. 
supporting.” And, moreover, gentlemen wlio reside in a 
locality are more likely to know better what arrangements 
are most probable to succeed in their district than gentle¬ 
men who reside three hundred miles oft’. But, notwith¬ 
standing all this, the Committee purpose to hold their 
shows earlier in the season, us soon as their finances will 
i justify the change. 
i “ You also express dissent at the arrangement of the prize 
I list. I shall not attempt to make it appear faultless; hut I 
would observe, that we have only one variety of Spanish, to 
which the Society offers £3 7s. 6d., whilst to each variety of 
Hamlmrghs it is intended to give £2 5s. A sum not 
altogether out of proportion when it is understood how 
very much the Hamburghs are prized in the North, as 
much for being good layers as for their beauty of plumage. 
Nor do I think the Bantams should have les 3 offered to 
them than 15s. for each variety. 
“ In continuing, with your permission, my remarks upon 
your criticism, I bog to be allowed to express my surprise 
at finding that you so strongly condemn class 38, ‘Cock and 
Four Hens of any breed,’ when you cannot have already 
forgotten how strongly you wrote, in your report of our 
show last year, in praise of this class,—that was in April, 
1853,—the consideration of which would naturally lead one 
to suppose the production in your paper of the 9th ult. is 
that of a ‘ dissatisfied person.’ In alluding to this class, 1 
would beg to differ with you with respect to the difficulty of' 
judging between different varieties which are so unlike each 
other. Having had some experience myself, not only with 
poultry, hut also with cattle, Ac., exhibitions, I write with 
some confidence on this point. At our leading agricultural 
shows, we generally find a good prize offered for ‘ the bes-t 
beast of any breed in the yard ;’ and 1 do not recollect of anv 
more dissatisfaction having been expressed at the award's 
of such prizes than at others, where (he competing animals 
were all of the same breed. Thorough judges can manage 
such things with comparative ease ; but I grant it must be 
perplexing to others. In your report of the show in 1853, 
you wisely commended the extra prizes given to cottagers; 
how is it, then, you condemn its wording this year, when the 
words used are alike on both occasions ? I cannot see the 
fairness of your interpretation with respect to the secretaries 
being obliged to receive cottager’s baskets wthout any pre¬ 
vious notice, when the lot, to enable to compete for these 
prizes, must be entered and exhibited in some other class. 
Neither fee nor entrance is required; it being simply the 
duty of the secretaries to make out a list of the pens ex¬ 
hibited by cottagers, and to place it in the hands of the 
judges. 
“ Not being a ‘ Pigeon Fanoier,’ I do not profess to be able 
to judge of the merits of your remarks on the Pigeon 
arrangement of the list, but I hope the Committee may 
benefit by them. 
“In adverting to eggs, I might state, that dealers in them 
soon display in a market their preference to this or that 
basket, attributable to a cause which I thought all must 
have known ; but perhaps, Mr. Editor, you have, like some 
of your correspondents, met with ‘ an abomination of six 
months,’ and, therefore, are not interested about eggs. 
“ I cannot see but there is some connexion between the 
production of Poultry and of Butter, both being depart¬ 
ments of farming, which come under female management; 
and, perhaps, you may hereafter report proceedings of 
Societies established for the improvement of Domestic 
Poultry and Dairy Produce. 
“In conclusion, I beg to state that these remarks are 
penned with no bad feelings, but simply in defence of the 
Society upon which you have, in my opinion, been rather 
severe in your criticism. My remarks have been written 
hastily, but I trust you will find nothing in them which is 
out of place.—W. T., Bywell:’ 
[In reference to the above, we can only observe that “local 
influences” must, of course, be duly regarded by the Com¬ 
mittee of a Poultry Society; but we must, at the same time, 
express our doubts as to whether any such reasons will 
really compensate for the extremely unfavourable season 
that has, in this instance, been selected. As regards the 
prize-list, we still hold, that where a distinct breed of fowls, 
like the Spanish, are necessarily comprised in a single class’ 
their premiums might be permitted to range somewhat I 
j higher than those assigned to each separate variety of the 
j Polish, Hamburghs, or Bantams. We would not, for in¬ 
stance, assign £9 15s. to Hamburghs, and limit Spanish to 
| £3 7s. Gd. 
A cock and four hens are a needless number for the 
illustration of the breed, and at such a season the female 
| contingent is difficult to attain. 
We are certainly of opinion that there may be common 1 
, points beyond that of mere condition running through the 
stalls of the Herefords, Devons, and Shorthorns, which 
afford readier grounds for judgment than where a long and 
varied list of poultry competitors is to receive a single 
I champion. “Thorough Judges" have, again and again, 
reiterated their complaints of the practice of submitting to 
j their arbitration for a single prize birds of whom mere I 
condition would oftentimes be the only common standard 
to which they would be referable. At Birmingham, and 
elsewhere, the objection is specially guarded against by the 
directions that in the miscellaneous class each breed shall 
be judged separately. 
M e are always glad to see the announcement of Cottagers’ 
prizes ; what we objected to, in this instance, was the vague¬ 
ness of the notice, that “no entrance is required for this 
class; ” and extreme accuracy is always desirable in such 
announcements. 
That we are very far from being indifferent on the subject 
of eggs is apparent from our recommendation of the prac¬ 
tical test of internal quality, in addition to those of form 
and size. 
In an exhibition for “ Domestic Poultry and Dairy Pro¬ 
duce," butter and fowls would be in legitimate alliance ; but, 
where a Society is instituted for the former purpose only, 
the fact of butter being a “ department of farming," seems to 
convey no title to admission. 
W. T. is inclined to believe that some “dissatisfied” 
person must have been the author of the article to which lie 
refers. We beg, however, to assure him that this is not the 
case, and that the remarks he finds fault with resulted 
solely from a conviction of our obligation to comment, with¬ 
out reserve, on all that interests the poultry community, with 
out partiality, and, as we hope, without prejudice.] 
A FEW WORDS ABOUT HAND-GLASSES. 
I have tried cloches : they are very good (but the crates 
and carriage from a distance make them very dear] ; also 
hell-shaped hand-glasses not ventilated: these require wiping 
dry, and something put under to raise them to admit air. 
I think the ventilated ones the best. I should recommend 
glass tubes of various sizes, that would pack one in the j 
other, say from eight inches to eighteen inches in diameter, 
sorted depths according to the size, and to put over the 
tops Hartley’s sheet-glass; two sticks could be put against 
the glass tubes to prevent the tapered sheet-glass from 
moving; a hole might be made in the sheet-glass for putting j 
a wooden peg through, also to prevent its moving; and to 
slope the glass tube it is only to press it a little deeper in 
the earth on one side, and the rain would run off; and to | 
ventilate it would only require a strip of wood put under 
the sheet-glass; and to remove the damp from the sheet- 
glass, it would only require the damp side turned upper¬ 
most. Three weeks since, I sent Messrs. Chance’s Glass 
Works, Smethwirk, near Birmingham, this idea of horticul¬ 
tural glasses, and I am in hopes they will make them, and 
l am in hopes of hearing of them through The Cottage I 
Gardener. They would be cheaper than the bell-shaped 
hand-glasses, very portable for packing, easily ventilated, ] 
and no wiping away the damp. I have also used sheet zinc, | 
thin, to protect flower-seeds sown in round patches in a 
flower-border, and merely slipped on an iron cramp, thus 
to hold the two ends together in a round shape, and put , 
wood covers over to keep off the heavy rain, Ac., I. B. 
FACTS RELATIVE TO LOULTRY. 
You are continually expressing a desire for “ facts ” from 1 
poultry-keepers. Are the following worth inserting ? You 
may rely upon their being accurately stated. 
