THE COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 
l^ECEMBER 23. 
226 
for cliickens exclusively, all chickens should, in our opinion, 
he shown in them. In many varieties, especially of what 
are known among fanciers as ‘‘feathered fowl," old birds are 
shown to a great disadvantage against chickens, whose 
feathers are necessarily more clean and pure in colour ; and 
in ever 3 ' class this practice admits of a sort of speculation on 
the part of the judges, whether or not the chickens will 
some day he better than the old fowls arc now; instead of 
their being conlined, as, we submit, they ought to he, to a 
simple, because certain, decision which of the two or more 
pens is the best at the time of the show. 
Before we proceed to notice the dilferent classes, tve will 
mention the only other drawback—and in our opinion it is 
a serious one—to the Birmingham Show. It is the very 
objectionable practice of employing a dealer as one of the 
judges. To it may undoubtedly be traced the dissatis¬ 
faction, “ not loud, hut deep,’’ expressed by many good 
judges, both at the last and the present show, with some of 
the awards made. We have no personal feeling in the 
matter; it is to the principle, and not to the individual, that we 
object. It is not in the nature of things that the confidence 
of the public should be placed, or expected, in anj' man who 
may be the seller of the very birds of which he is called 
upon to judge. It is to inspire confidence on the part of the j 
exhibitors—not to attach suspicion to the judges—that we j 
thus contend that dealers should not be eligible as judges. | 
The task of finding fault is always an invidious one, but as 
public journalists, and having the public good exclusively 
within our view, we cannot be silent upon a point which is 
operating much to the disadvantage of exhibitions, which 
we are convinced, altlmugh yet, as it were, in their infancy, 
have done, and are doing, much good ; the more especially 
when ive Iniow the opinions of many of the owners of 
the best stock, and that gentlemen of the highest cha¬ 
racter and honour, and who are as good judges of 
poultry as England can produce, have repeatedly refused 
to act in the capacity of judges at our show.s, on the 
ground alone, that they will not, by becoming their col¬ 
leagues, countenance tlie engagement of dealers as judges. 
Hence it is clear that more is lost than can be gained by 
employing the latter. We are by no means sure that the 
Birmingham committee themselves have not met with such 
refusals this very year; but we know that in the recent case 
of the Hitchin show, Birmingham itself, York, Leeds, and 
Hull, were ransacked up to the very day before the show 
took place for a judge, and that there was no other difficulty 
ill the way. For these reasons, we very sincerely trust that 
this manifest evil will be remedied another year, before its 
consequences are move severely felt; that confidence, lost in 
some, and waning in many amateurs, may he restored; and 
that, all cause of suspicion being thus removed, the decisions 
of the judges will be ac(iuiesced in with that respect which 
confidence can alone inspire. 
We now tiu’n, with pleasure, from the ungracious office of 
fault-finding, to the details of what has been altogether—in 
spite of the drawbacks arising from the causes to which we 
have just referred—one of the best shows of poulti’y (if not 
the very best) upon record. 
We need scarcely say that the classes, where there were 
so many, were unequal in point of merit. Following the i 
orders of the catalogue, we commence our obser\'ations with ! 
the Spanish. Until the Cochins became, within the last | 
year or two, dispersed throughout the country, no race of i 
fowl were greater favourites than the Spaniards. The | 
brilliant lustre of their sable plumes, contrasted with the 1 
white face and red comb—their size, their stately and up- , 
right carriage, combine to make the male bird one of the I 
most beautiful of our domestic fowl; while the glossy and ' 
uniform appeai'ance of the hens render a nice flock of ! 
Spanish most agreeable to the eye. So much so, indeed, i 
that tliey are often styled “ the gentleman’s fowl.” 
In point of quality, the birds exhibited appeared to us to 
be much superior to those of last year. 
In our recent account of a visit to his poultry-yards at 
Knowslej', we took occasion to say, that he who shoidd beat 
Captain Hornby in the Spanish classes, at Birmingham, 
must show good birds in their best form. AVe were not far 
wrong, for the Captain has certainly made a tolerably clean 
sweep of it in these classes, having c.arried off the first and 
second prizes (the latter, in our opinion, being the better 
pen). In the Spanish chicken class, the first prize was 
awarded to Mr. J. 0. Smith, of Skelton Grange, near York; 
and we think his birds well deserved the honom-. 
The next classes comprise the different varieties of the j 
Dorking famihj ; and we think the committee have taken a 
mistaken step in offering separate prizes for Dorkings with j 
double or rose combs. Such, in our opinion, and in that of 
most of the best judges, so far as we have been able to \ 
collect them, are of questionable purity as Dorking fowls, 
and, at all events, are quite unworthy of separate premiums 
at such a show as that of Birmingham. The grey and 
sober plumage of the Dorkings presents an agreeable con¬ 
trast to the more gay feathering of some of their com¬ 
petitors ; and their pecuharly neat and “ squat ’’ binld points 
them out, as in truth they are, as the very fowl for the table. 
The advantage of the Dorkings is, that their meat is packed 
into a small compass, and, for the puiqioses of the cook 
alone, we are not sure that the Dorking does not bear away 
the palm from all competitors. But, taking all points 
together (and we may as well repeat that, in giving an 
opinion of the relative merits of different varieties, we have 
always in view the question—which of them combines the 
most good qualities with the fewest defects), we are of 
opinion that the Shanghaes and Spanish are superior to the 
Dorkings. In these, as in the Spanish classes, the number 
of pens was greater this year than last, and we think their 
contents at least equal in quality. The first prize in the 
principal class was awarded to T. 'T. I’arker, Esq., of Sutton 
Grange, fur a sjilendid pen of birds ; the second falling to 
the lot of Captain Hornby, for one scarcely inferior to it. 
AVe have already said that the general verdict of the 
poultry-keeping world has, in our opinion, in spite of the 
hue raised against them by the dealers, indisputably been 
jironounced in favour of the Shanghaes ; and we think, taking 
all points into consideration, correctly so. In point of 
beauty, opinions may differ; hut their great bulk, added to 
neat and compact appearance, their fecundity, and the ease 
with which they may he kept within any enclosure, however 
slight, renders them, without regard to other considerations, 
a most desirable fowl. Their very singularities—the stumpj' 
tail and feathered leg—are not unpleasing by way of variety, 
and they are, moreover, quiet and gentle in habits and 
disposition to a degree. But, -whether -we be right or 
wrong in awarding to them, as we are at present dispiosed 
to do, the palm over all other varieties known in this 
country', certain it is that—for the present, at all events— 
they are the reigning favourites. The prices for which they 
have been, and are, sold; the length of time during 
which those enormous prices have been kept up; the 
interest concentrated upon them at every show we go to ; 
prove, beyond cavil, that the fact is as we have stated. To 
this observation, their position at the Birmingham show i 
■a’us no exception. From day to day, and from horn' to hour, i 
the thickest of the crowd surrounded the pens containing ! 
the different sub-varieties of these beautiful birds. Siiice the j 
last exhibition the Shanghaes have been divided into three 
classes—the whites, the cinnamons and buffs, and the ' 
browns and piartridge-feathered. AA'hy the greys and blacks j 
have been excluded we are not aware. Taking the sub¬ 
divisions in the order we have given, the white first claim - 
our notice. Inferior in size to some of their relatives, yet - 
upon a lawn, or in a clean country place, what can look - 
j)rettier than a neat uniform lot of these beautiful birdsi 
They have alreadj" become prime favourites, especially j 
among the ladies, and, we think, are lik(dy to continue so. ' 
In this sub-division, which was superior, both in number 
and quality, to those shown in the same classes in IS.Al, the ■, 
first prizes, both for old fowl and for chickens, were awarded 
to Mrs. Herbert, of I’owick. The second jirize for the old 
birds was given to Mr. G. C. I’eters, of Moseley; and the ^ 
third to Mr. George Graham, of Yardlcy, whoso pen appeared ! 
to us, and to many others, to be at least equal to the other j 
two. I 
Of the numerous shades of colour prevailing among Iho i 
Shanghac fowl, none has become so popular as the neat and | 
pretty buff; and certainly there is something peculiarly : 
pleasing in its (juiet uniformity. AVhether from this or 
othei' causes we know not, but the huffs have certainly i 
commanded higher prices than those of any other colour. 
It is, therefore, not surprising that in this class the greatest 
