387 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 23 1858. 
Few, I think, can call his actions gentlemanly. I dare say 
many remember the falsity of his assertions last year; and, 
probably, the medicine then prescribed did not suit the 
wound. As to the birds I exhibited at Preston, four out of 
the six were the Birmingham Plate birds, so that any amateur, 
who saw them, may judge of their quality. 
Mr. Worrall has, certainly, no right to endeavour to create 
disrepute for my stock, in the public newspapers. 
I can say, positively, that neither of my birds had either 
a black breast, or crooked comb ; the one’s breast is so heavily 
mooned that it looks dark. If I had come the Lancashire 
touch over him, and cut part of the feathers out, perhaps he 
would have pleased Mr. Worrall better. 
Mr. Worrall speaks of breeding hosts of Golden Mooney 
chickens, if so, he cannot but admit that he breeds hosts that 
I are worthless, or he would not have had to purchase the birds 
| he exhibited at the last Birmingham Show. They were bred 
at Hundsworth, and sold to Mr. W. a very short time before 
the Birmingham Exhibition took place. This, I think, does 
not speak very highly of his wonderful stock of Moonies, as 
breeders.— J. B.Chune, Green Bank, Coalbrookdale. 
LIVERPOOL POULTRY SHOW. 
Being- one of four servants at the Liverpool Exhibition of 
Poultry, I can safely say, William Gilliver, Mr. Moss’s poultry 
man, had no more advantage than any other gentleman’s 
servant. Neither Gilliver, nor any other servant, had any 
access to the Exhibition until after five o’clock in the evening, 
and the Judges had both retired. Neither did any servant 
attempt to intrude, although there wa3 an attempt by one of a 
higher grade.— John Douglas, Wolseley Aviaries. 
PURCHASING EGGS. 
Your correspondent “ R. B.” does good service to poultry 
amateurs, by bringing forward the subject of purchased eggs, 
at a seasonable time. I cannot, however, believe that his suc¬ 
cess, or rather failure, represents an average case. I have 
bought and sold eggs, repeatedly, in the last four years ; and, 
with your permission, I will state the result, for the informa¬ 
tion of your readers. I do not write from recollection ; I keep 
a book, in which all such matters are entered, and I copy from 
that. 
My career commenced in 1854, by purchasing a dozen of 
eggs for four guineas, which travelled safe from Lancashire, 
beyond London. I had nine chickens, and reared seven ; one 
proved a first-class bird, two were fair average birds, and four 
were worthless. I remember that I was very indignant; the 
eggs had been represented to me as from Birmingham Silver- 
cup birds ; I thought they could not have been from such 
parents; I now believe that they were ; and, moreover, that 
my success was as good as is usual with Spanish fowls. A 
very successful breeder of this variety once told me, that he 
had reared upwards of 200 chickens, and had, he thought, 
about a dozen up to the mark for first-rate Exhibitions, but 
certainly not more than twelve. 
In 1854 I also purchased, for three guineas each, a pair of 
birds, of another variety; these, like the Spanish, -were from 
the most noted breeders of the day. I set forty-eight eggs 
from the pullet—herself a most beautiful bird; her compa¬ 
nion (the cock) was also pure in pedigree, and good altoge¬ 
ther ; yet, from these forty-eight eggs, I had but eight (out of 
forty) chickens which equalled their parents ; three of these 
eight surpassed the old birds, and were put with a cock 
(bought of another successful breeder, as one of his picked 
birds) for my breeding stock of 1855. 
I reared from these selected parents more than a hundred 
chickens. I exhibited once two pens ; I got a first prize with 
one pen, and the other was commended. But after these eight 
chickens were removed, there were not half-a-dozen more of 
the whole lot fit to breed from; so that twelve, out of a 
hundred, was my proportion of really superior birds. There 
were many other pretty and useful fowls, but no more which 
did me any good, either as a breeder or exhibitor. 
In the next year (1856) I sold several dozen eggs, some of 
which travelled 500 miles, by rail and steamer ; only one box 
was an entire failure. In several cases, all the eggs were pro¬ 
ductive ; in others, different numbers. The average number 
of chickens was about seven to the dozen. As to the quality 
of the produce, I cannot speak so positively; I know that 
some of the purchaser’s names appeared in the prize-lists ; in 
two instances, I was told that single cock birds, which took 
prizes, were from my eggs. I do not think any purchaser 
got an entire pen of prize chickens, from one box of eggs ; I 
should have been astonished if he had. I myself, after four 
years experience, never got a pen of four, fit to take a first 
prize, from one brood. 
In 1857,1 again bought eggs, sold eggs, and reared more than 
a hundred chickens, from my own stock fowls, the best birds 
of the previous season. Again I found much the same report 
from the purchasers of travelled eggs. Taking one with 
another, about seven to the dozen proved prolific. Some 
buyers getting nine or eleven chickens'; others but five or 
seven. No one in 1857 failed altogether ; still I know that, 
with every care on the part of buyers and sellers, some broods 
will fail. I received a box of eggs, all of which proved clear ; 
but I believe the fault lay in the railway treatment, and not in 
the vendor. Again I had much the same fortune with my 
home-reared chickens, some broods giving one, some two, and 
in one case, four first-rate birds. Some other broods were ; 
altogether second-rate, without any cause that I could dis- j 
cover ; in some broods nearly every chicken proved a cockerel ; 
in others the pullets predominated. Altogether, I am sure i 
that no one can yet guarantee, either uniformity of produce, j 
or universally prolific eggs. I believe that every year, that j 
fowls are bred with the care that is bestowed at present, will ; 
increase the proportion of first-rate chickens, out of the number 
which is hatched. But the careless ages of cross-breeding, 
and indiscriminate admixture, are still so near to us, that 
traces of bye-gone taints are continually appearing, even in the 
most esteemed strains. Another thing is equally certain, that 
the more carefully birds are separated and bred to then kind, 
the more liable do they become to lay barren eggs. I have 
already twice this season, and once last, been disappointed 
by finding all the eggs of an unusually perfect pullet, unim¬ 
pregnated. This happened when every circumstance was i 
favourable to the production of a healthy and abundant ; 
offspring. I believe that to buy eggs (which, carefully packed 
in chaff, will travel almost any distance) is the cheapest way of 
obtaining fresh blood ; but purchasers ought to know what 
they have a right to expect, and so, in the hope I may prevent 
disappointment, I have jotted down the above veracious history 
of the chicken experiences of—K. 
PUNISHMENT OF FRAUDULENT 
EXHIBITORS. 
Now Poultry Shows are over, for the present at least, you 
will have room in your columns for much interesting matter. 
I would urge all amateurs to seize the opportunity, and j 
through you, to enlighten each other, by publishing such parts 
of their experience as they may suppose will prove instructive, ! 
especially to beginners. 
But, Sir, do not, I beg, lend your columns to controversy , 
about prizes. Let any dispute about them be laid before the 
Committee at once , and in ivriting. 
My principal intention in writing to you now, however, is | 
with a desire to prevent the disgraceful scenes that have taken ! 
place, at various Exhibitions, during the past season. 
In one place you might have seen Game fowl with painted | 
legs; in another, Hamburghs with painted earlobes ; then j 
Polands with crests beautifully white, owing to the black 
feathers having been extracted ; and many other deceptions 
too numerous to be mentioned. Now, Sir, I know for a fact, 
that some of my friends will not exhibit, until they feel 
assured that none but the best birds can win. Surely it is 
time a remedy was found, and more than that, strictly applied. 
You, Sir, have suggested one, viz., that anyone detected in 
such practices should be denounced to all the principal Shows, 
and thenceforth precluded from exhibiting. 
And a very good rule too, if you could only render it 
effective. 
But if a man (I cannot call him a gentleman) had this rule 
enforced against him, he would certainly no longer show his 
