September 8. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 437 
The Malvern Certificate of Entry is this:— 
j This Certificate must be filled up and returned before 
the 5th of September. 
MALVERN POULTRY EXHIBITION, 
1853. 
CERTIFICATE OF ENTRY. 
CLASS. 
DESCRIPTION. 
AGE. 
PRICE. 
On the 20th of Sept.* 
I hereby certify that the _ entered above, are 
bona fide my property, and of the aye staled. 
Name of Exhibitor, _ 
A ddress ,_ 
All Specimens must be delivered in the Gardens by 7 p.m., on 
Monday, the 19 tli of September. 
To Mr. Thomas Davis, Hon. Sec., 
2, Holyrood Terrace, Malvern. 
* The day they are judged. 
No language is too strong with which condemnation 
could he hurled against those Committees of Poultry 
Exhibitions which are careless as to the immediate 
return of the birds confided to their care. We have 
already spoken warningly and strongly upon this 
subject; and now we have “another and another” 
instance, claiming, as deservedly, that the wrong should 
be proclaimed, and warning again uttered. 
We are as anxious as any of the public to sustain 
Poultry Exhibitions, but, if subjected to such mishaps, 
fall into dissuetude they must; for no owner of valuable 
fowls will run the risk of their being subjected to such 
ill-treatment, for ill-treatment it is to have them penned 
up for so many days, with an entire uncertainty as to 
their feeding and roosting. Upon the reprehensible 
inefficiency of the arrangements at the Surrey Zoolo¬ 
gical Society’s Show to protect the poultry from the in¬ 
clement weather, we have heard most grave statements, 
and we should not be surprised if the fowls complained 
of in the following letter, as missing, really died there, 
from the consequences of such exposure. 
If Committees are not scrupulously careful to avoid 
such cruel errors, we repeat, that Poultry Exhibitions 
will decline into total disuse, for no one will send to 
i them valuable poultry, and no one will go to look at 
I those which are merely second-rate. The only alter- 
j native will be for exhibitors to require a guarantee, with 
* a penalty assigned, from the Committee of each Ex- 
; hibition, that the birds shall be delivered at a certain 
i place for conveyance on a day named. 
The writer of the following letter is the owner and 
exhibitor of birds that have taken more prizes, we 
believe, than the birds of any other exhibitor:— 
“ The signature which I attach to my letter will 
remind any of your readers, who have visited Gosport, 
of the words by which the boatmen there intimate 
their readiness to take a boat-load of passengers across 
to Portsmouth. 
“ It is said (I believe, with truth), that these naval 
worthies no sooner see a soldier approaching (likely to 
prove a passenger), than they assail him with cries of 
‘Now, gallant Serjeant; ’ ‘Here, noble Captain,’ ‘step 
onboard,’ ‘just going across,’ &c. But when once the 
victim is secured, and his penny pocketed, than lie is 
told (if he ventures a remonstrance at not ‘ shoving 
oft”) ‘ to sit duicn anil he - as a lubberly lobster.’ 
(The space not being filled with a blessing.) 
“ Now, I am really beginning to think that we poultry 
exhibitors are very much like the poor innocent recruits; 
while the boatman is well personated by the Secretary 
of ‘ The Great Annual Timbuctoo Poultry Association.’ 
“ To induce us to send our fowls to the show, no per¬ 
suasions are wanting. ‘ Such feeders,’ and ‘ accommo¬ 
dation,’ and ‘ such choice of food,’ are provided, as even 
the poor dear fowls themselves never dreamed of. ‘ Such 
arrangements’ have been made, to restore the fowls to 
their (as in my case, and Dr. Gwynne’s) desponding 
owners, ‘ when the show is over, as must please.’ 
“ The trap is well baited. No difficulty occurs in 
getting the fowls into the Show, but to get them out, 
is quite another thing; and if the unfortunate owner 
ventures to complain, he either gets no answer, or is 
civilly told that he is finding fault most unreasonably. 
“I forget how long Dr. Gwynno was kept waiting, 
but I have a letter to-day (August 28), from a friend, to 
enquire ‘ whether 1 have yet got my birds back from 
the London Poultry Show, as he has not? ’ Luckily, I 
have got mine; but I cannot say the same as regards 
those at the Surrey Zoological Garden Show. 
“This was over on Thursday evening (August 25), 
and there can be no reason why (if there had been any¬ 
thing like common management) every exhibitor in 
England should not have had his poultry safe at home 
on Saturday morning, but up to this time (Sunday 
night), August 28th, I have not got my birds. 
“ Itio not think this is entirely the Secretary’s fault, 
though, of course, everybody blames him. But even 
Mr. Catling, with his imperturbable good temper, and 
untiring energy, has only one head, and one pair of 
eyes. The fault is, in there not being a committee re¬ 
sponsible for the early removal of the different pens. 
If proper arrangements had been made beforehand, 
every pen might have been cleared away by eight 
o’clock on the Friday morning. 
“ But the worst part of the thing is, that the Secretary 
seems the only person to attend to everybody, and he 
thinks that when the soldier is once in the boat (that is, 
the show is well filled with choice poultry), his duty to 
•the exhibitors is to give way to looking after the 
interest of his employers. 
“ That ‘ ten or five per cent. ’ charged on the sales 
must be looked after; and * filthy lucre ’ is much more 
considered, than a speedy restoration to Mr. Snook’s, 
of Snook Cottage, of his prize pen of white Cochin- 
China chickens. 
' “ It is the system I find fault with, not the individual. 
I dare say Mr. Foster did his best, and did it as well as 
any other Secretary; but the proof of the pudding is in 
