THE COTTAGE GARDE NEE AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March G, 18G0. 
359 
When my fowls were put, with my own hands, into their basket 
they were in the best condition of any birds I ever sent to a show. 
They were sent by the express train in charge of my own man, 
who tells me “ that when they reached the Crystal Palace and 
were put into their pen, they were in the most perfect condition.” 
They had not been “coddled up” in any way at home,—the 
house in which they sleep is large and well ventilated, and kept 
at about a temperature of 50°. The night before the Judges 
went round the pens to make their awards at the Crystal Palace, 
was one of the most severe we had experienced for some weeks, 
and the roof of the exhibition-room being of glass, these poor 
birds were exposed to a degree of cold no fowls, much less highly- 
bred Spanish ones, could possibly sustain without injury. When 
my man went to the pens on the Friday morning, he found the 
water congealed into thick ice, which had to be thrown out in a 
solid cake that fresh water might be put in; and one of my 
birds, a young cock shown in the class for cock and two pullets, 
with an unusually, delicate, large, and white face, was seriously 
ill,—his face severely frost-bitten ; and, but for the great kindness 
of Mr. Houghton, who allowed my man to at once remove him 
from the pen and keep him in his office, he would have died in 
the pen from the effects of the cold to which he was exposed. I 
had refused ten guineas for this bird; and, though still alive, he 
can never be worth a shilling. As the roof of the exhibition-room 
at the Crystal Palace is of glass, and, consequently, the birds 
must be exposed to a greater degree of cold during the winter 
than at many other Shows, I would most respectfully, yet 
earnestly, suggest to Mr. Houghton that some steps should be 
taken in future, at any rate to keep out the frost. This year, as 
the Exhibition advanced, matters were made a little better, by 
burning the gas and heating the pipes. I hope you will excuse 
the remarks I have made, the more so as they relate to a subject 
of no little importance to the owners of valuable poultry ; and 
very certain am I, that all who know anything about fowls will 
admit, that to exhibit highly-bred Spanish fowls in perfect con¬ 
dition under such circumstances was altogether impossible ; and 
I was told by a friend who was looking upon the scene on the 
Friday morning, through the doors of the tropical department, 
that it was very difficult to say, as the snow fell through the roof 
now and then upon them, which looked the most miserable, Mr. 
Baily, Mr. Hewitt, or the birds. The only expression he could 
mark on the faces of the poor Judges, seemed indicative of a 
wish to be warming themselves with the Parrots rather than to 
be shivering with the Spanish in the icy-regions in which they 
were placed. I would, also, suggest that the time for keeping 
open the Exhibition should be shortened. Birds cannot be kept j 
so long in the pens without injury; to say nothing of the 
cruelty of so doing.—A Ladt. 
EVERLASTING LAYERS. 
There was in this neighbourhood (Worcester), some few 
years since, a kind of fowl which the country folks called ever¬ 
lasting layers. I will give you a short description of them, and, 
perhaps, you will be kind enough to say what they really were. 
The body large, nearly the size of a Dorking ; legs short; comb 
single, small, and erect; plumage a kind of cream or dirty white ; 
the eggs quite as large as the Spanish. I once had a hen that 
laid nearly every day for eleven months, moulted, and began to 
lay again immediately. She never wanted to sit. At last she 
was killed by a dog. I have never been able to get the sort 
since.—J C. II. 
[The “ Every-day layers,” and “ Everlasting layers ” of the 
olden time were Pencilled Hamburglis, or off-shoots from them. 
Many of these cross-breeds grew to great size, and we have seen 
them of a sort of iron grey. If they were plentiful they would 
become well known in a neighbourhood. In many parts the 
Silver Hamburgh was called the “ Every-day layer,” and al¬ 
though it did not quite deserve the appellation, yet its free laying, 
and the fact of its not sitting would gain it such a reputation.] 
EXHIBITING BORROWED FOWLS AS THE 
EXHIBITOR’S OWN. 
“ No man is wise or safe, but he that is honest.” 
There is a most dishonest and unfair practice prevailing, not 
only among some poultry, but also pigeon exhibitors, of borrow¬ 
ing and lending birds to make up good pens for exhibition. 
To say nothing of the dishonesty of the proceeding, it is unfair 
towards those that show their own birds. It is dishonest where 
a rule says that the birds are to be bona fide the property of 
the exhibitor, and where the exhibitor also signs his name on the 
certificate, thereby certifying that they are so, and by so doing 
pledging himself to obey the rules. 
The dishonesty does not end there, for the public is often in¬ 
clined to write to a successful exhibitor for eggs or produce from 
such and such birds. If, therefore, the exhibitor will attach his 
name to one falsehood, it may fairly be presumed he will to 
another, and send the eggs and produce of other birds than those 
required. 
It is a difficult thing to prove; but morally there is no doubt 
the evil exists. What chance has an exhibitor of gaining a prize 
honestly and fairly, who will not descend to such dishonourable 
practices, for he has to compete not with individuals, but with a 
company ? 
If there is no remedy for the evil, let the restriction that “ the 
birds are to be the bond fide property of the exhibitor,” be ex¬ 
punged from the rules and certificates, then we shall all compete 
on equal terms. On equal terms, because it will be permissible 
to honestly produce the best pen in any legitimate way that is 
thought proper, and it will not be, who is the possessor of the 
birds, but the exhibitor only. 
You have done much to cleanse the Augean stable of trim¬ 
ming, &c., can your pen effect this also ? I have heard of a bird 
or birds, being hired for an exhibition season, even that will not 
bring them within the meaning of the words, “ bond fide the 
property of, &c.”— Mahomet’s Owe. 
[We can do no more than continue to publish, as we have pub¬ 
lished, the names of those who are proved to be so dishonour¬ 
able and dishonest as to act in the way mentioned by our corre¬ 
spondent. We have no doubt, that Committees of Poultry Shows 
I would not allow an individual to exhibit who had been proved 
to have so offended. Indeed, we think that a ride to this effect 
should be appended to every Exhibition’s Rules. 
“ No one who has been guilty of a dishonourable breach of any 
Exhibition Rules shall exhibit at this Show.”] 
KEEPING RABBITS PROFITABLY. 
The first point for “ G. W.’s ” consideration is, I think, his 
market. Is it an open one, where he can always depend upon 
disposing of his goods ? This i3 very essential where animals are 
concerned, because if they are kept beyond a certain age—that 
is, after they have improved sufficiently to command the price 
obtainable for them—they very soon eat their heads off. The best 
plan will be for him to make a contract with some poulterer to 
take his stock at a fixed price. 
So much depends upon local circumstances that it is very 
difficult to say whether he could breed them to profit or not; 
but as he is a market-gardener I should think he could do so very 
satisfactorily. However, I think “ G. W.” might very readily, 
and in a very short time, so experimentalise as to be able to 
satisfy himself whether he could or could not breed to profit. 
Let him purchase a book, which would cost him Is., and which 
I fancy he might obtain at your office, to tell how to feed a 
rabbit when in confinement (this is j presuming him to be a 
complete novice), then let him buy say three rabbits as common 
as he pleases at about Is. each, which he may procure from some 
adjoining market, or from some lad in the village; let him feed 
these all differently—I mean as to quantity of food. For instance : 
No. 1 as sparingly as possible; No. 2 must be kept more libe¬ 
rally ; and No. 3 more bountifully still, taking care to feed them 
all so that they exhibit daily almost signs of improvement. At 
the end of a given time let him use liis own judgment and the 
scales, and then calculate what each has cost him, taking into 
consideration the improvement made by each, he will then be 
able to tell which will pay him best at the price he expects to 
obtain from the poulterer. But should he not be satisfied with 
the result, and decide not to supply that worthy, he will still be 
the gainer, as he can pot the rabbits, and so treat himself to a 
very nice and cheap dinner, or three dinners, according to the 
circumference of his appetite; but if he is satisfied he will then 
set to work to purchase his breeding-stock. 
I consider his greenhouse plan the best; and as he could 
admit any quantity of ventilation, he has only to keep his hutches 
clean, and these he might fix all round, and in some portion of 
the building might have two or three tiers in height, and so 
