328 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, February 10,1857. 
loam, plenty of sun in summer and autumn, housed in a temperature of 
45 °, and in spring forced a little, and, best of all, placed in a sweet, mild 
hotbed until the flowers begin to open. You will find much about 
Begonias. Tell us what you have got, and we will try and meet your case; 
some die down, others require to be cut down. We presume you mean 
the Gesnera zebrina. Let it remain dry and torpid until towards April; 
then turn out the scaly tubers, and start them in light sandy soil in a 
Cucumber bed; but after the shoots show, you must let no condensed 
steam see them, nor yet the full rays of the sun if the plants are at all 
near the glass. There has been a good deal about Torenius lately. 
Keep in 50° to 55° in winter, and what heat you like in summer. If 
these do not suffice, write again, and more particularly, but about fewer 
matters at once. 
Hardy Plants for a Trrllis (G. F. Chadwick). —Among soft- 
wooded plants nothing is more beautiful than the varieties of Tropteolun 
tricolorum, and then Maurandyas, Thunbergias, &c., are very beautiful. 
Among hard-wooded plants we might instance the Kennedy a Marry attar, 
inophylta, prostrata, and oaata, and Zichya coccinea, tricolor, angusti- 
folia, and heterophylla, We shall have more to say on this before long. 
LIVERPOOL POULTRY SHOW. 
We have lately described a Poultry Show held in a Palace, 
and now one is before us held among Princes—the Merchant 
Princes—of the Mersey. As the desperate villain of the 
melo-drama often goes to his fate surrounded by the brightest 
possible flames, and as the great effect of the overture of 
the opera is reserved for the Jinale, so our Poultry Show 
season closes with its greatest efforts and its choicest 
gatherings. Birmingham and Liverpool have heretofore 
been the two great events. This year they have had worthy 
colleagues in the Crystal Palace and Preston. Three have 
been described. The fourth now supplies our subject. It is 
the last great competition of the season, and the stars put 
forth all their effulgence. What a report we should have 
to write, if, after the manner of the poets of old, we de¬ 
scribed the competitors and their achievements in detail— 
classes made up of winners. All the antagonists touch their 
adversary’s shield with the point of the lance, and the un¬ 
successful must brood over their defeat till another season 
begins. How it would sound in rhyme, after the old ballad 
style, but paraphrased— 
“ First came Sir Lancelot du Lac, 
Next Tristram known of old, 
The third was valiant Carodac, 
Who won the cup of gold.” 
How many birds known of old ! How many winners of 
cups ! But as a faulty lance or a slip of the war horse would 
cause the knight to lose the prize, so many accidents may 
interfere with the success of a pen. Though we have it not 
on record, yet we doubt not a gallant knight was sometimes 
unable to run his course, being tormented with a “ horrible 
toothache,’’ or was doubled up with lumbago or rheumatism, 
and as his honour was not scathed thereby, so a first-rate 
pen may, by the indisposition of the cock, or a little touch 
of roup in the hens, miss honour to which they would 
otherwise be well entitled. The unsuccessful must then 
comfort themselves with these crumbs, and they may add 
thereto that they should be unsuccessful sometimes, in 
order to give a gleam of comfort to those who seem fated 
to be ever striving. We suppose one rule will apply to 
many things, although they appear dissimilar; and as even 
our reports should convey poultry knowledge to our readers, 
so we cannot help diverging to remark on the sameness 
there is, in one respect, between getting a first prize and 
climbing a greasy pole for anew hat. We hope no exhibitor 
will be offended at the parallel, as the application is general, 
and belongs to ambition of every class. The nearer you 
get to success, the more difficult she is to grasp. When at 
a distance you could devour space, and it seemed that a few 
steps only were required to enable you to clutch her; now 
you all but touch her, and she eludes you. It is so with 
the pole: the ambitious youth starts, the pole is large, there 
is good purchase, and he mounts apace. He is prepared with 
a pocketful of sand for the top, and already in his mind he 
wears the hat to church ; but the pole gets less and less ; 
it is more slippery at every struggle ; could he but spare one 
hand to get to his pocket—but no, it requires both to keep 
him where be is. He will get the hat, and he does get it; 
but how difficult the last effort! Just so an exhibitor starts 
with the mass, he determines and soon reaahes the high 
commendation, he accomplishes third, and then second 
prize; from second to first seems nothing, a pound or a 
feather will do it; but it is here the pole gets smaller and 
more slippery—it is here that every effort seems required to 
remain even stationary. The exhibitor does get up, but he 
only can tell how hard it was at the last. 
We must now proceed, as briefly as may be, to comment 
on the classes as they occur, and to point to such birds as 
may appear to us to deserve especial mention, merely pre¬ 
mising that all the birds exhibited were of very high merit, 
and that the experiment of charging a large sum, and 
thereby limiting the entries to the number the Committee 
can properly accommodate, has been highly successful. 
With the addition of such a class as we shall have shortly 
to notice, it will not be saying too much, or predicting at 
random, to declare that the path of the Liverpool Poultry 
Show is now in the highest walks of the pursuit, and that 
the exertions of the Committee will, beyond any doubt, meet 
with a rich reward of deserved success. Mr. Davies again 
took the Cup for Spanish. His birds left nothing to desire, 
either in condition or quality. Mr. Brundrit stood first in 
chickens. Messrs. Tate and Fell were second, hard run 
by Captain Hornby in both classes. The Judges declared 
the class “ excellent.” The Rev. S. Donne was first on the 
list for old coloured Dorkings, but he was obliged to yield 
the first prize for chickens, and also the Cup, to Captain 
Hornby, who showed birds which proved he still knows how 
to regain his old post. Many of those shown in these 
classes were of unusual weight, and we have never seen so 
many first-class birds in so small a number. The Cochin- 
Chinas were good, but certainly not equal to those we have 
seen of late. In many instances birds of very unequal 
merit were put in the same pen. Mr. T. Stretch took three 
prizes and the Cup. His birds were good, but everything 
was thrown into the shade by a hen shown as extra stock 
by Captain Snell. We have never in our lives seen her 
equal, and, if her comb were quite straight, it is not saying 
too much to pronounce her beyond doubt or contradiction 
the best hen in England, and her owner will exhibit her 
against any other. A much-respected exhibitor took the 
Cup for Grouse birds—Mr. Adkins, of Birmingham. Mrs. 
Herbert and Mr. Chase sharply contested the White, taking 
alternately first and second, with very good birds. 
We now come to the class of classes, that in which Liver¬ 
pool more than excels—we allude to the Game. It must 
suffice to say that in each class there were birds of sur¬ 
passing merit, and the names of the successful will be a 
guarantee for it. Golden-pencilled Hamburglis were perfect, 
and among the old birds a pen of Mr. W. WorraH’s de¬ 
servedly took the Cup. Mr. Botham’s chickens, and those 
belonging to Mr. Banks, also deserve especial mention. The 
Silver were very good, and the four usual names will be 
found among them, the Rev. T. L. Fellowes and Mr. 
Archer still playing their game of see-saw—the former took 
for old, the latter for young. We have never seen the 
Golden and Silver-spangled better than they were here. 
Mr. W. Worrall again added to his sideboard, but was beaten 
in chickens by Mr. Kershaw. The amateurs of these biids 
deserve every praise, especially the owners of the Silver 
chickens; but, having now accomplished the white ear-lobe, 
we strongly advise them to curtail the combs of the cocks a 
little. We need hardly say that Mr. Dixon appears in the 
prize-lists throughout these classes. 
We fear our readers will find our report a continual pane¬ 
gyric, but it is unavoidable. The Poland classes left nothing 
to desire; all were equally good. Mr. Coleridge took the 
Cup with a pen of Golden. Mr. Tweed’s celebrated hens 
were there, of course, at the head of the list. Mr. Greenall’s 
birds were beautiful, and so were those of Messrs. Teebay, 
Adkins, Fell, and Brundrit. The Golden were better than 
the Silver Bantams. Mr. Wright took the Cup. Mr. W. 
Vernon showed a beautiful pen of Black Bantams. Ayles¬ 
bury Ducks were in small numbers, but Bouens made amends. 
Mr. Tlieed Pearse won the Cup deservedly. Lord Berwick’s 
Brown Call Ducks were perfect, and the same may be said of 
Mr. Neilson’s Turkeys. 
In all the Single Cock classes the competition was exces¬ 
sive, but all were child’s play to Class F, consisting of ninety 
entries of tfie best Game Cocks England could produce. 
