68 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— October 28, 1856. 
or in sashes as you propose. Of course you mean to train your Peaches 
and Vines about afoot from the glass on the east and west sides. There 
can be no question as to success. You would lately see some plans ot 
similar houses sent by our friend Mr. Ferguson, and we have several 
times seen them in all their beauty hanging with delicious fruits. 
Curing and Keeping Bacon and Hams 'J. S.). —We shall be 
obliged by some of our readers saying how the above can be best 
effected. 'The First Edition of The Cottage Gardeners’ Dictionary 
is out of print. Nine Parts, price sevenpence each, of the Second 
Edition, are now published. It will cost 8s. 6d. when completed. 
Fow ls’ Dung (A. S. W. B.). —It is very nearly as powerful as guano. 
Do not mix it with lime. Sow it over the surface of the soil among 
growing crops in spring, about live hundred w’eight per acre. It is 
worth it?4 a ton. 
Removing Shrubs (A. E. 0.). —Legally you cannot remove a single 
shrub after it is once planted. It matters not that they are “ your own 
planting.” When once planted they belong to the landlord. You must 
not even cut the tops off wantonly. 
Advertising (J. IF.).—Thanks for your obliging note. 
Names of Plants (IF. N.).~ 1. We take to be the Cupressus Lusi- 
tunica from the small bit sent. It is quite impossible to be quite certain 
about the species from indiscriminate bits of this tribe of plants. 2. 
Appears to be one of the Pokes ; probably the Phytolacca dodecandra. 
3. Is one of the winter Cherries, namely, Physalis Peruviana. (C. T. J.). 
—The leaves Nos. 1 and 2 are of the Loquat ( Eriobotrya Japonica), 
and the tree requires greenhouse treatment, as for Acacias and Camellias. 
No. 3 is a leaf of Francoa ramosa, which requires the protection of a 
frame in winter. It is a frame herbaceous plant. 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
Birmingham. December 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Sec., J. Morgan, 
jun., Esq. Entries close November 1st. 
Essex. At Colchester, 8th, 9th, and 10th of January, 185". Secs., 
G. E. Attwood, and W. A. Warwick. 
Gloucestershire. Nov. 26th and 27th. Sec., E. Trinder, Esq., 
Cirencester. Entries close Nov. 1st. 
Nottinghamshire. At Southwell, December 17th and 18th, 1856. 
Sec., Richard Hawksley, jun. Entries close November 19th. 
Nottingham Central Poultry Association. January 13, 14, and 
15. Hon. Sec. Frank Bottom. Secretary to the Canary Department, 
Jno. Hetherington, jun., Sneinton. 
Preston and North Lancashire. January 21st and 22nd, 1857. 
Sec., Ralph Leigh, Esq., 125, Church Street, Preston. Entries close 
December 13th. 
N.B.— Secretaries viill oblige us by sending early copies of their lists. 
JUDGMENTS ON POULTRY. 
(Continued, from page 50.) 
In a preceding paper on this subject some general con¬ 
clusions were drawn from the experience of the last few 
years. Let us now turn to certain particulars in the in¬ 
dividual classes. 
In Spanish no long period has elapsed since the labours 
of the Judges were greatly abridged by the fact that some 
three or four pens, at the utmost, were free from the blemish 
of imperfect faces; and among these alone, consequently, 
was the contest. But exhibitors, in their anxiety to comply 
with this one requirement, have too often forgotten points of 
equal importance; and thus has it happened that weedy, 
under-sized birds, with this single recommendation, have 
been too commonly produced. This stricture, however, 
is no longer applicable at our best Exhibitions, where ex¬ 
clusion from competition cannot be now summarily pro¬ 
nounced, and at least an equal share of time and labour 
is required for decision as in any other department. 
One principal recommendation of our Poultry Societies to 
public support being their declared object of ascertaining 
what breeds are likely to he kept with the greatest profit, 
I the question may be most properly asked as to the position 
that Spanish would occupy in such an estimate. Now, as 
i layers, they are, unquestionably, very good ; but, at the same 
time, the much-despised Red-faced Minorcas are superior, 
j in this respect, to the pure White-faced birds. No fowl, in- 
■ deed, of any kind produces a greater weight of eggs in the 
course of the year than the former; while, in common with 
the last-named, although objection may certainly be taken 
1 to the dark colour of their legs for the table, their very 
j compact shape well qualifies them for culinary operations. 
I have kept at different times, and more or less extensively, 
every variety of fowls, and this mainly with a view to test 
their comparative economy. So strongly, however, am I 
inclined to the Minorca (the term is here used as the 
common designation of the Red-faced Spanish) that I hope 
never again to be without some of these birds ; and this, j 
too, is the conclusion at which many of my friends have 
likewise arrived. They are pre-eminently a hardy race, 
and though it is but just to add that my own is a very 
favourable climate, still the White-faced Spanish are now 
extensively located throughout our island; and, consequently, 
wherever they thrive the Minorca would he equally at home. 
A few pens of White Spanish continue to appear; but 
surely, where the contrast of colour is so marked a cha¬ 
racteristic excellence of the race, and no counter-balancing 
property can be' alleged in their favour, they must continue 
to occupy the insignificant position hitherto so rightly 
assigned to them. 
No fowl has gained more by Poultry Shows than the 
Dorking; in fact, in this instance, it may he reasonably 
asserted that improvement can scarcely go further, and this 
not with respect to a few select pens only, hut to the class 
generally. Judges, indeed, have no sinecure when this 
portion of their work begins; and, probably, nowhere are 
they ever called upon for more careful consideration than 
when they find themselves in front of a good Dorking 
chicken class. Hence loud clamours are often raised where 
the awards have not followed the order predetermined by 
sanguine exhibitors. On one side is heard the complaint, 
“ The Dorking must be judged by weight, and mine I know 
to be the heaviest.” Another expresses his disapprobation : 
“ Look at the figure, the plumage, the manifest high-breeding 
of my birds, and then say whether the prize should not 
have been given here.” Reasoning seldom does much when 
a person is bent on looking at one side of the question only. 
However satisfied, therefore, in our own minds at the justice 
of the decision, the dissentients would still adhere to their 
opinion, whatever might he urged to the contrary. The first 
would in vain he told, “ True,—weight is an essential point 
in the Dorking, but it must be co-existent with other points 
also ; and even supposing your pen matches in colour, is it 
not possible that this feather may not he what it should he, 
not as regards the mere colour, but its condition as indi¬ 
cating the health and constitutional vigour of the birds?” A 
wide scope, indeed, must always he allowed to Dorking 
colour; and, provided tbe occupants of a pen match each 
other, and their condition be' good, it must be an extreme 
case where the verdict is against them on this score only. 
But, however heavy the pen, and whatever their colour, a 
loose, fluffy state of feather will ever most properly tell 
against them; and, besides this, mere weight is too frequently 
accompanied by a gaunt, ill-formed figure, wholly repugnant 
to the proper Dorking features. 
But this, he it remembered, does not advance the claim of 
the second objector. His birds are perfect, we will suppose, 
no less in figure than in feather and condition; but still they 
are deficient in weight. The Judge balances their pros and 
cons, and a decided falling off in the latter particular cannot 
be compensated by excellence elsewhere. Tbe dissentients, > 
however, will rarely admit the general estimate of merits 
and drawbacks on which the decision must be grounded. 
But a word more on this subject when the Hamburgh class 
is before us. 
These notes are certainly somewhat desultory, so that 
allusion may now be allowed to other matters, not, perhaps, 
strictly in connection with the heading of this paper. 
To submit fowls of auy sort to a perfectly fair competition 
before their Judges, all of the same class should be on a 
perfect equality as regards position and light. We should 
not find one row above, another below, compelling us to be 
on tip-toe to inspect the one, or to drag the others from 
their obscurity. It would be difficult, no doubt, to manage 
this, but till it be accomplished there will remain an un¬ 
questionable advantage in the pens that are well in the light, 
and on a good level with the eye. 
So some of the ocellated Turkeys of Honduras have been 
brought over, and the old scheme of their domestication 
among us has been again revived. But, apart from the 
natural habits of the bird, it strikes me that a formidable 
obstacle will be found in our climate and temperature, which, 
when we speak of “ domestication,” is all important. They 
may, undoubtedly, be kept alive, and even their young may 
he reared, as happens with the giraffe and other similar im¬ 
portations ; but this is far, very far, from holding out ex- | 
