THE COTTAGE GAllDENER. 
Jaxuat.y 22 . 
:^no 
Spiiler. I began with Cucnmbovs this last November, bnt 
they are doing nothing; tlicy have, now, both mildew and 
insects 1121011 them. There is always a had scent in the 
house from the air chamhers, I shall he glad if you can 
direct me to a remedy without troubling my eniydoyer, for 
he takes no jiride in garden ex 2 ienscs.—T. W. B." 
[See an article on Cucumbers in iwts, A'C., lately. You 
do not state the length nor yet the width of your idt. “We 
liresume it is divided longitudinally; or, in other words, 
that you atipropriate one end to Cucumbers, and the other 
to different things. We suspect you have not got enough 
of air. Can you open the top sashes ? or have you venti¬ 
lators in the back wall close to the top ? Your high box in 
front deprives you of half the light from the front sashes. 
If, as we suspect, your house is only six or seven feet wide, 
you have no necessity for a bed at back and front for 
Cucumbers. The bad air from your chambers can only 
proceed from a flue not finite the thing. Abundance of 
bottom-heat, and not enough of top, is a mystery to us, as 
j'ou may have what openings from the chamber you please. 
Now, considering your dilliculties—alluding only to Cu¬ 
cumbers—and siiiiposing that you can give air at top as 
well as bottom, the following is what we would do. 
Supposing that your pipe and flue together give plenty of 
bottom-heat, we would provide against all bad smells getting 
from the chamber by closing up all the openings, and growing 
Cucumbers at the back only, though that bed would be too far 
from the light to 7-cnr them. We would, therefore, reduce the 
box fully one-half, as to its height; and at a place at one 
end, having the pipes shut in below it, we would raise the 
Cucumbers until they were a foot or so in lieight, and then 
turn them into the bed at the back. This front platform 
could be apidied to numberless purposes. I3y increasing 
the number of oiienings, bottom and top, of this front 
chamber, you would thus have three piiies for the atmo¬ 
sphere of the house, and one pipe and flue for bottom-heat, 
and disturb nothing.] 
THE POMiTlT CHBOHfiiE. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Great Northern. Jan. 23rd and 2Uh, at Doncaster. Ser, H. Moore, 
Ksq., Doncaster. 
Kendal. At Kendal, February Ist and 2nd. Sec. J.amcs Geldard. 
N.B .—Secretaries v>ill oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
DUBLIN SOCIETY’S PBOBOSED BASIS FOR 
JUDGING POULTRY. 
Much and important occupation has prevented me fi'om 
replying sooner to Mr. Williams, which I still do “incog¬ 
nito," only because tin; subject would not be assisted in any 
way if I signed my name, as well known in the poultry 
world as either of those mentioned. Under these circum¬ 
stances, I do not ask for any answer to this. I will, hoiv- 
ever, state that I do not give “ garbled ” (‘xtracts—no words 
or letters are changed. They were partial, but my remarks 
treated only of such 2 >arts as were quoted. A man is seldom 
a competent judge of his own 2 >ei'Iormances, and if my 
remarks ivere “ ridiculous,” it is a proof of it—I did not 
intend them to be so, less did I wish to stifle inquiry, and 
much less either to cause anger or give pain. During 
much and varied intercourse witli men, and thirty years’ 
intimate acquaintance with poultry, I have learned that 
attention is more frequently called to a subject, and tbe 
truth, consequently, elicited, if it is treated in a light man¬ 
ner, than if it is left to its own merits and its naked 
propositions. Hence my adoption of a style quite misunder¬ 
stood either by myself or JMr. Williams. That gentleman 
states, his “ proimsed basis ” “ was not intended for such as 
mysell." I assure him it was; and I will endeavour, in any 
remarks I may otl'er, to contine myself to a style which 
shall lie free from any imputation of ridicule. 
I will begin by saying, rules are impossible for judging 
roultry Sliows, unless the whole system is changed, and 
several days are given up to the operation. 1 was at Bir- 
mingham, and, in common with many others, pitied the 
Judges who had the labour of making tbe awards. Let us, 
for instance, take the Borkiny classes with their hundreds 
of entries. If the proposed basis v/cre adopted, and birds 
were to he cxaniined so closely as to scan tlie shaft of the 
feathers on the back, and in the hackle, to look at the eye, 
to mark the absence of certain points, and the presence of 
almost imaginary defects, liow long would- the class occupy? 
Jgain, if characteristics, which hitherto have apiiearcd 
unimportant, are to be defined, and declared essential to 
constitute a Dorking fowl, tbe absence of them must cause 
dis(innliJicalion. At present, size, symmetry, live claws, 
white legs, and similarity of combs, are indispensable. 
Lacking either of them, a pen cannot compete, however 
great its merits in other respects. To adopt a standard 
which goes into the minutia; of a shade or a feather, would 
be to disipialify ninety-eight liens out of a hundred, as they 
are exhibited by even our best breeders. Those only who are 
accustomed to almost constant judging are aware how few 
perfect pens are sent, even now, by those in greatest repute 
among the successful. I question if any could be procured 
to satisfy all the requirements of the “proposed basis,” if 
sharp and proper .Judges had to examine them. 
I am not unknown as a Judge, and exercised that office 
many years before shows existed on their present scale, and, 
speaking from experience, I say it would he impossible to 
judge a large show by rules such as those proposed. I 
contend, farther, and appeal to every practised Judge either 
to support or deny what I advance, that the adoption of 
printed rules would double their labour without assisting 
them in their decisions. If the proposed basis were adopted, 
it must be referred to constantly wliile at woi-k, because it 
ivould be in the hands of all who ivero interested, and the 
Judges would be amenable, not to their own opinions, but to 
the printed rules. 
But it is not enough to give the necessaiy characteristics; 
there must be a scale of importance. Let us suppose, that 
after submitting a class to the ordeal of the rules, not one 
pen in it came up to its requirements. It will then be 
necessary to ascertain which is the greatest, which the most 
trifling, defect or shortcoming. As soon as .Judges have 
accepted rules they are hound by them, and their .awards 
must conform to them; they have only to carry out in¬ 
structions, and long experience will only enable them to do 
so rather more speedily than a stranger to the work. 
The knowledge that their birds were to be submitted to 
such an ordeal would discourage all breeders. lYith rules, 
or basis, in hand, they would seek, in vain, among their best 
birds for a pen that might hope for success, and they would 
abstain from entering birds, anticipating nothing but defeat \ 
and disappointment. | 
There would be another cause producing the same effect. 
Judges would be compelled to disiiualify whole classes, 
lacking the discretionary power now always accorded to 
them, and which enables them to give prizes to the best 
birds, even of .an indiflerent ckass. This is not imaginary. 
If certain qualities are declared essential to constitute a pure 
breed, tlie absence of them must prove the reverse, and 
birds in that predicament c.annot take prizes. 
The ditticulties of judging are already great enough. The 
ablest and best among the Judges are withdrawing from 
a laborious, thankless, and unprofitable task; and if the 
exercise of that knowledge, which is their only ple.asure in 
tbe pursuit, is to be trammelled in any way, exhibitors will 
look in vain for men of experience and respectability to ! 
exercise the office.—D. 
TREAT.MENT OF A DISEASED FO\YL. 
I HAVE a very valuable Dorking hen, only twenty months 
old, labouring under a complaint which quite bafilos my I 
skill, and I shall be much obliged to any of your readers if 
they can, from my description, conjecture what her com- | 
plaint is, and suggest some means of treating it. The chief ; 
symptom is a disposition to lie down on .all occasions, and, 
apparently, a pain or difficulty in walking. Some days she 
does not stir out of her sleeping-house, and when she does 
she walks with a slow, laboured movement, frcipiently stop¬ 
ping and lying down. She does not appear cramped; her 
