THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, December 9, 1856. 
PRESERVING EGGS. 
I should be glad to have your valuable advice respecting 
some eggs which I have tried to preserve for winter con¬ 
sumption. During the autumn I laid up forty dozen in a 
j strong solution of lime and water, with salt; on trying 
! them lately, I find that, although quite fresh, the yolks are 
| hard, and contracted in size. Can you tell me the reason 
I of this, or how to remedy it? Can it be the salt, as I have 
; heard that eggs kept in layers of dry salt become hard ? 
Will you also have the kindness to say if sea sand and 
gravel are good for poultry, or the contrary?—E. F. B. 
[The failure must be in the salt. We have preserved 
eggs for years in lime, and, although we will not say they 
are equal to newly-laid ones, yet we have seen them eaten 
with relish when put on the breakfast-table in January. 
The method we adopt is as follows:—A vessel, say a 
bread-pan, is half filled with lime, which is then mixed with 
w'ater till it makes what we used to call “a pudding” when 
we were children, and could enjoy a quiet half-hour in the 
dirt. In this the eggs are put, and used as required. We 
have known them kept in salt only, and are informed this 
system left nothing to desire, but we have not tried it. 
The method was to put at the bottom of a barrel a layer 
of salt; in this the eggs were put, small end downwards, 
then another layer of salt, then eggs, and so on till the 
barrel was full. Sea sand and gravel will not injure poultry.] 
THE BIRMINGHAM POULTRY EXHIBITION. 
It is now proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, that 
the Exhibition of tbe present year has very far exceeded 
any of its predecessors as to the purity of breeding of the 
fowls competing; and, although we ourselves fully antici¬ 
pated such a result, we confess we were ill-prepared for the 
universal excellence that presented itself throughout all 
classes. 
The astonishment of visitors was particularly excited by 
the entire absence of specimens of indifferent quality; and 
the causes that led to so pleasing a result consisted evi¬ 
dently in the working out of the new arrangement, by which 
competitors were compelled to pay, as entrance-money for 
their respective pens of poultry, one-half more than on any 
previous occasion. 
The necessity of some such drawback to the introduction 
of excessive numbers of pens became annually more and more 
obvious to the Council. The increase of competition has, year 
by year, multiplied to so serious an amount, that it was appa¬ 
rent to the managers of this colossal Exhibition, unless the 
most effective and stringent rules were applied to the division 
allotted to the poultry compartments, the exclusion of all 
other varieties of stock would be the inevitable and conse¬ 
quent result; and that, instead of fat stock forming one of the 
most prominent features at Bingley Hall, the lowing of kine, 
the bleating of sheep, or the stentoric breathings of over- 
plethoric pigs, would certainly be entirely superseded by the 
shrill crowings of chanticleer alone. This was not desirable 
on many accounts, and, therefore, it was found necessary to 
enforce the increased amount of subscription; or, at the 
present hour, the fact is indisputable, extensive as Bingley 
Hall really is (and undoubtedly the very head of its class 
for such purposes throughout the United Kingdom), it 
would not by any means, under the original regulations, have 
nearly found accommodation simply for the poultry alone. The 
absolutely compulsory effort to abridge numbers, however, 
we are most happy to state, has not in the slightest degree 
tended to the depreciation of the value of the poultry ex¬ 
hibited, and its consequent interest, but simply excluded 
masses of pens of birds that evidently were sent to the 
Birmingham Show, in previous years, entirely in the hope 
of effecting sales, without even the vestige of an expectation 
of securing any of the premiums the Society offered for- the 
most excellent ones. 
The tediousness to visitors of wandering along avenues of 
poultry of second-rate quality is thus entirely expunged, 
and the present Birmingham Poultry Exhibition stands 
singly and alone in point of the universal excellence of the 
stock, the Judges themselves frankly admitting it was quite 
“ a relief ” for them to meet with a pen approaching an 
178 
indifferent character during the faithful fulfilment of the 
doubly onerous duties that necessarily devolved upou them. 
But the knowledge possessed by these gentlemen of the 
general traits of character in the different classes was 
not the only requisite indispensable on this occasion; 
their pedestrian powers were taxed in exact proportions, 
and their untiring perseverance to finally arrive at cor¬ 
rect decisions was the theme of general conversation among 
the few individuals who were privileged to watch their 
progress from a distance. Their task was necessarily a 
most unprecedentedly toilsome one, and we ourselves never 
witnessed gentlemen so thankfully embracing the bene¬ 
fits of a “ sit-down ” as all live of them were at the con¬ 
clusion of their duties. It is but common justice to these 
indispensable officials to state, that their decisions were the 
most generally satisfactory of any that we have in remem¬ 
brance as to the Birmingham meetings of prior years. 
To describe any of the many and unequalled advantages 
of Bingley Hall for the purposes of a Poultry Exhibition 
would be quite superfluous; we intend, therefore, simply to 
confine ourselves to a few general remarks on the birds and 
classes exhibited. In Hamburghs the competition ran 
strongly, moie particularly in the Golden-pencilled and 
Golden-spangled classes. That indispensable characteristic 
to success, “ white ear-lobes,” was nearly universal through¬ 
out all these classes; but we must not permitthis opportunity 
to pass by without strongly enforcing on exhibitors the 
equally vital necessity of paying the strictest possible atten¬ 
tion to the unsullied purity of the ground colour of their 
aspirants to distinction, many otherwise extremely excellent 
pens losing all chances of pre-eminence from this single fail¬ 
ing. Stained, or, as it is technically termed, “ mossy,” under¬ 
ground colour will ever prove a fatal objection. The Cochin 
fowls showed that neither time, trouble, nor expense had 
been spared in their production. These classes are now 
fast regaining much of their lost popularity, and we admit 
our satisfaction that it is so ; for, when really well bred, they 
do most undoubtedly stand quite alone as winter layers. 
The general contour of these birds has much improved 
during the last two years ; and that the prevalent excitement 
to procure specimens of this very useful variety, a few 
years back, led to the production of gaunt, large specimens 
of fowls, rejoicing alone in the “name,” without any of the 
peculiarities of the breed, in honest fact, like the renowned 
razors of the well-known pedlar, “ made to sell,” is patent to 
almost every amateur. It was the ridiculous prices of that 
day that thronged any inferior large bird upon the market 
as “ a Cochin." Not so now ; the matter is well understood; 
careful and well-advised breeding is again restoring to us 
the beautiful specimens of former days. In all the Cochin 
classes this year the improvement is equally obvious, even 
on slight inspection. The Spanish were never equalled; 
we will add, most emphatically, that, whether as chickens or 
adults, such fowls, and in such truly overwhelming numbers, 
never competed. Really first-class fowls were compelled to 
pass as “ highly commended ” only; and, at length, the 
Judges found even this distinction, so truly invidious, that 
they appended, as a “ last resource,” the extraordinary and 
unprecedented announcement which stands at the close of 
each of these classes. In Dorkings their perplexities were 
scarcely less urgent. “ Troubles on troubles multiplied ” was 
here the order of the day, and we may safely say that, in 
numerous instances “ condition ” exclusively carried the final 
awards. We have so repeatedly alluded to its vital import¬ 
ance, that we will not recapitulate, but simply direct the 
attention of owners to the absurd impolicy of sending fowls 
from Exhibition to Exhibition, without any intervening time 
for the needful recovery from close confinement. They 
must eventually fail in toto, however excellent they may have 
been at the commencement of their career. The Malay 
classes were quite the best filled we ever saw, and, what is 
most unusual, numerously also. The Polish were equally 
unexceptionable ; but close, compact topknots seem scarcely 
as well attended to as we could desire. Size only in the 
crests, combined with irregularity, are certain to produce 
the loss of premiums. We were glad to see the really 
“ Spangled Polands ” regaining their position over the 
recently-introduced “laced” rivals. Our highest possible 
praise is the just due of all the Game classes. Comments 
would be useless; all were surpassingly excellent; but we 
