THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 27, i860. 
Show and its management In the midst of this success, it is 
announced there will be no more Poultry Shows at Highfield. 
But the deficiency is a reality. The four think, seeing there is 
no secret in the fact they cannot afford to pay money, and that 
they do all the work, that they will be let off lightly. Not so, 
they are told what is their share of the loss, and they pay it. In 
both instances the Show is dead. It is impossible any exhibi¬ 
tion can be carried on without these working men. We do not 
for an instant pretend that all working men are poor, or all lazy 
ones rich. We know many exceptions to both; but it is easier 
for a Committee to meet and pass resolutions than to find 
volunteers to carry them out. 
Whatever may be the zeal of those who undertake to manage 
these meetings, they can hardly be expected to do so at their 
own expense. In the cases we have cited, the Committee is 
broken up. In the first, because there was the fear of expense; 
in the second, because the dread had become a certainty. A 
Poultry Show can appeal to, and depend upon, the attendance of 
moi'e amateurs now than at any period since they were esta¬ 
blished ; but seeing the curiosity that brought so many of the 
uninterested formerly has been amply gratified, a large attend¬ 
ance cannot be looked for. If the receipts at the doors are 
reckoned as assets before the Show is open, we are inclined to 
think when money is wanted to defray expenses, the account 
may be given in the expressive language of Robert Maeaire to 
his shareholders—“Received so much;—Expended so much ;— 
Remainder nothing .” 
Poultry Shows must be made self-supporting. When there is 
no possibility of loss, there will be no lack of men who will do 
any amount of labour. An indefatigable Sheffield man of this 
class told us last year, “ He would gladly work all through the 
night for the pleasure of unpacking poultry in the morning.” All 
the expenses of a Show are known to many of our experienced 
Committee men, and can be calculated almost to a fraction. 
This knowledge must be made use of to fix necessary deductions 
from entries, and Shows must be organised on the principle of 
sweepstakes. All the money paid for entries in the different 
classes will be divided among competitors, less a certain per¬ 
centage advertised previously, which will be deducted to meet 
necessary expenses. 
We throw out these hints, believing many thoroughly able to 
deal with the question will do so; and we believe it to be the 
best plan to enable poultry amateurs to compete and meet on 
pleasant terms of self-support and consequent self-respect. 
CRAMP IN CHICKENS. 
Can you tell me why the toes of little chickens at about one 
month old or so are apt to turn crooked ? I mean they turn 
inwards, and look like little hooks. My young birds are under 
sheds on dry gravel and chalk.—E. C. 
[The toes of the chickens become crooked from cramp. 
Cramp arises from cold; and the latter is either in the atmo¬ 
sphere, or caused by insufficient feeding, or by the want of 
shelter. It is against nature for such things to happen. At 
the first appearance give strong beer freely. Let them stand 
on nothing but sand, earth, or gravel. Boards, bricks, stones, 
or asphalte will cause it.] 
EGG-BOUND DORKING PULLETS. 
The hens are to be seen in great apparent discomfort, with 
their tails on the ground. Though eating heartily, there is 
evidently something the matter, as, on examination, an internal 
swelling underneath, and resembling an India-rubber ball to 
the touch is felt. I have given twice a dose of calomel and 
tartar emetic, without effecting a cure. The pullets were 
hatched last 'April, and few of them have laid yet. They have 
two meals a-day, one of oats and the other of boiled Indian meal. 
—An Inquirer. 
[If your fowls had laid, the disease or rather discomfort from 
which they are suffering, would be at end. The two or three 
first eggs laid by a pullet always entail some difficulty, but it is 
greatly aggravated by your feeding on Indian corn, because it 
causes undue fatness which considerably increases jit. Feed 
less nutritiously and give a table-spoonful of castor oil. As an 
immediate remedy is wanted, have the wing-feather of a hen 
well saturated with sweet or salad oil; it must then be passed 
up the egg-passage till it meets the egg. Oil must in this way 
be introduced till the egg is laid. It will be a long operation. 
No force must be used, and the egg must not be squeezed, or 
pushed, with a view to forward the operation, as it may be 
broken in the passage, and that is invariably fatal. Your 
pullets are simply egg-bound; and when that is the case, the 
tail is carried drooping on the ground, as though like some of 
the marine divers, the birds depended partly on that appendage 
for support.] 
HENS EATING THEIR EGGS. 
To prevent this I have found it a good plan to make a little 
hole at each end of an egg, and blow the contents out. Then to 
fill the shell with a mixture of mustard, salt, and Cayenne 
pepper, putting a piece of adhesive plaster, or of the plain part 
[ of a sheet of postage stamps, over each hole, placing the egg 
. thus filled into the nest when the egg-eating hen lays. When 
she gets a taste or two of the mixture she soon leaves off eating 
eggs.— Thojias Cartwright, Croydon. 
ROUP IN THE TURKEY. 
I have a fine hen Turkey, which this last month or two has 
appeared very unwell. She has little appetite, lowers her 
wings, makes a rattling noise when disturbed accompanied with 
a short cough, and is gradually losing flesh.—A Subscriber. 
[Your Turkey has the roup. Purge her with castor oil; dose, 
two table-spoonfuls. Feed freely with stale bread soaked in 
strong beer. Mix salt with all her food, and let her l’oost in a 
dry sheltered place,] 
SMALL YOLKLESS EGGS. 
I have a valuable Cochin hen, which, unfortunately, lays eggs 
not larger than pigeons’, and which, upon being broken, con¬ 
tain nothing but white—no trace of the yolk being visible, the 
egg in other respects quite perfect. Can you advise a remedy 
for the above ? or does it arise through a malformation in the 
hen ? I am inclined to think there is disease in the ovary.— 
Chanticleer. 
[We have often known hens to lay such eggs as you describe, 
but not more than three or four in succession. They then re¬ 
turned to proper eggs, helped somewhat by a copious dose of 
castor oil, which we always administer when anything goes wrong 
among our poultry. We are not disposed to think such eggs 
are the result of chronic disease, as our experience is opposed to 
such a belief. If there were any disease that prevented the 
proper formation of the yolk—if, for instance, instead of being in 
the egg, it pervaded the system, the hen would immediately be¬ 
come a hen-cock. Comb and gills, hackle, saddle, and tail 
would all, more or less, increase in size and similarity to the male 
bird, and she would crow lustily-] 
WHEATEN FLOUR AS A SUBSTITUTE 
FOR POLLEN. 
In pursuance of the suggestion of “ An Old Apiarian,” T. 
this morning. (March 22nd), placed a small heap of wheaten 
flour at the entrance of one of my hives, and in the course of a 
few minutes had the satisfaction of seeing a couple of bees load 
their thighs with it after the manner of pollen, and convey 
their burthens into the hive. May I hope that this fact will en¬ 
courage others with more spare time than now happens to he 
at my disposal, to pursue the experiment to some practical con¬ 
clusion ? Could not “ An Old Apiarian ” furnish us with some 
hints as to a method of supplying bees with this commodity 
from the top of the hive, or in some more convenient manner 
than has yet suggested itself to— A Devonshire Bee-keeper '? 
METHOD OF REPLACING THE QUEEN BEE. 
The bee-keeper at this season of the year who has a number 
of stock-hives, not unfrequently finds one or more of them 
in an unhealthy and indolent state, in consequence of the 
queen having died during the winter. The residt of which is 
known to a certainty. The bees may remain in their hive for a 
few weeks, or it may be months, gradually diminishing in num¬ 
bers ; and, however well stored it may have been with food, it is 
