02 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 23. 
plcte; cocks with forward spurs, and pullets with coiiihs so j 
red and developed, and with such appearance of maturity 
that tliey look like little girls in their grandmother’s night¬ 
caps ; hut these will Only show successfully as early birds. 
They hecomo set before their time, and all growth ceases: 
they make small hens and cocks. In these, as in others, 
never send a faulty bird, with the idea the judges will not 
discover the defect. 
Spanish chicken should be long in body and legs. The 
face should he long, skinny, and care-worn in appearance. 
There is little hope of those that are dark, swarthy, or 
bright-red in the face, when four months old. If a cock at ■ 
six months has a well-defined, dark-red mark over the eye, j 
uuinixed with white, ho will never be a perfect bird. If the I 
red is intermixed with white spots, he is worth a few i 
months’ trial. The cock becomes Avhite much sooner than i 
the hens. Pullets should, however, become 'white at the 
lower part of the face at six months old, and the paleness - 
should extend every week, gradually pervading the whole, 
the red becoming paler. Wliere the breed is umjuestionably 
good, there is uncertainty enough in the period of their 
perfection to justify any one in keeping Spanish chicken 
twelve months before they are discarded.—X. 
EXIIIBITION OF rOULTRY AT THE CITY OF 
CHESTER. 
On Wednesday, the 10th inst., the Association recently 
fonned to improve the breeds of domestic poultry in this 
comity (which had hitherto been much neglected), held 
their first Annual Meeting on the Race Course, immediately 
adjacent to the city. The entries were somewhat above a 
hundred pens, and the competition in the generality of 
the classes very creditable, and, in some, extraordinarily 
severe. The avowed object of its spirited projectors was to 
add to the ulility of poultry for domestic purposes, rather 
than encourage those varieties that are most approved as 
fancy fowls. Their efforts 'were successful; tho Dorkimj 
classes, and those for Turkeys, Geese, and Aylesbury Ducks, 
being replete with specimens that would have held good 
place at any of our most notorious poultry shows. Before 
we allude more particularly to the fowls themselves, wo 
cannot forbear making a few observations on the general 
arrangements. They were of the most simple yet eflective j 
character, and ivhat in these matters is all-important to the 
interests of the society, the outlay was only a fraction of the 
expense commonly incurred by poultry committees on 
similar occasions. 
The general effect was unique in the extreme, and the 
congratulations of many of the most experienced of our 
exhibitors (who witnessed it) bore concurrent testimony to 
the marked improvement thus instituted. First, as to the ' 
tent itself. This was erected at very trifling cost, being | 
composed entirely of the lowest-priced unprinted calico, | 
strained tightly on a temporary framework. As a matter of 
course, the roof sloped very considerably, to cause the rain 
(had it fallen) to pass off'with rapidity; luckily, however, 
on this occasion it was not tested on the day of public ad¬ 
mission, though it resisted a heavy rain of six or seven | 
hours duration the preceding evening, without a solitary 
drip anywhere. 
The extreme length of the tent thus erected was up¬ 
wards of one hundred and twenty yards ! It afforded ample 
room for the visitors assembled to walk on either side of tho 
poultry pens, which were ranged in a single line, on tressels 
raised about three feet from tlie ground. The tressels and 
also the empty baskets were alike altogether hidden from 
public view, by a width of the same calico as that used for i 
the covering of tlio tent itself, being so tacked as to hide | 
the woodwork and reach to the floor. | 
AVe will now proceed to make a very few observations on 
tho coops themselves, as wo are desirous of drawing public 
attention to their construction particularly. They are manu- 
factured by Mr. Hawkins, wire-worker, of Dale End, Bir¬ 
mingham, from a design of Mr. Edward Hewitt, of the same 
town. It appears, tho attention of the latter gentleman has 
been long directed to the most efficient “ exhibition coop” 
that could be devised,—not only, first, for the comforts of 
the poultry themselves, diuing their confinement, and as 
offering the least possible obstruction in viewing tho collec¬ 
tion,—but, also, to the not less im 2 ')ortant considerations of 
limited outlay in manufacture, and the most inexpensive 
fonnation, for the jnirposes of extended transit from place to I 
jilace. The coops will, on these grounds, be found very de- j 
sirablo, "When erected, they each form an oblong square, | 
three feet by two feet six, and two feet six inches high. On 
the side is a door, about a foot square, that fastens similarly 
to the door of a Barrot’s cage; by means of this, access is 
readily obtained, when wanted, to the poultry within, with¬ 
out incurring the slightest danger from the escape of any of 
the other inmates than the one desired to handle. This 
ju’ovision, the necessity of which all parties connected with 
poultry shows will at once acknowledge, has again and again 
been made distressingly obvious to ourselves, when viewing 
the difficulties ever consequent on the escape of jioultry 
during the public admission; or, indeed, when either coop¬ 
ing, or re packing them for their return homewards. On 
such occasions, the clamour raised by the juirsuers not un- 
frequently materially injures other specimens, from the 
flurry and consternation that everywhere ju'evuils. The 
door does not interfere with the apjrearance of the wire- 
work, and, to many of the visitors of Chester, remained en¬ 
tirely unknown. The coops, when not being used, fold into 
a s^race of scarcely one inch in thickness. Four small wire 
staples, driven into the tressels, fasten them very securely at 
either corner; and the general impression at first sight 1 
would be, they were merely placed rvliei’e they then stood I 
for the reception of the poultry. The water is sui)plied 
from any convenient vessel jilaced outside the coop, which 
jirevents the ill-eff’ects always attendant on poultry dabbling 
in their water-troughs when endeavouring to obtain their 
freedom. The obvious advantage of thus folding into so 
exceedingly limited a space for travelling is this,—the rail- 
w'ay companies transmit them “ per ton, as common nier- 
ciiandize;” the weight is very trifling, and the expense, 
therefore, proportionably insignificant. When i^eus still oc- 
j portiouably increased. All the coops are galvanised to pre¬ 
vent rusting, and a single w'orkman can erect upwarxls of 300 
of them per day. At Chester, it was purposely arranged to 
allow a foot between the pens, to prevent the fowls fighting. 
If answered well; tliough from the open character of the 
w'irework the fowls could see each other as distinctly as 
though no restraint to their pugnacity intervened. Where 
space is important, and limited, the coops will be sent out, 
each of them with an end replaced by one of galvanized 
sheet-iron, to prevent the possibility of collision between 
infuriate neighbours. The size of the pen prevents injury 
to the plumage of the jioultry, whilst the square shape 
affords protection, so far as possible, in case of any sudden 
intestine outbreak among the birds to which it is allotted. 
No imjDediment is offeied to free observation on all sides, 
and the quietude with which the poultry at Chester regarded 
the visitors w’as really remarkable. We have been informed, 
it is the intention of Mr. Hawkins to hire out these pens to 
Committees of Poultry Exhibitions, at one shilling each. 
The expenses hitherto incuiTed (should such be correct), 
will be greatly lessened in carrying out a I'oultry exhibition. 
The annoyance of finding store-room, from year to year, for 
the coops, will be avoided altogether; and upon the final 
close of “ the entries,” the managers will be able to engage 
exactly the number of pens wanted, upon the terms of con¬ 
tract, without those additional extras that have, of late, 
formed so heavy and serious an item in such matters, espe¬ 
cially with the inex 2 )oricnced; The day, as before hinted, 
was perfectly fine; a band of music enlivened the in’oceed- 
ings; and the numbers who attended the E.xhibition were far 
more than the Committee had anticipated. 
The classes for Grey Dorkinys were, undoubtedly, the best 
throughout the whole collection. In these classes, the highly 
celebrated bii'ds belonging to AVilliam Wright, Esq., of 
West Bank, near Runcorn, Cheshire, secured the la incipal 
premiums,—they were of tlie same excellent character that 
gentleman usually exhibits. 
In the chicken class, however, an “ extra first jtrize ” was 
given, at the request of the Committee, of the value of two 
pounds, to a pen of three Dorking chicken, the property of 
