THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, April 27, 1858. 
being admitted into the Show-yard during the time the Judges 
are making their awards; and this rule will equally exclude 
all 1 feeders ’ that may have charge of the birds at other times.” 
11 is scarcely necessary to point out the great influence on 
Poultry Shows, that must be attained by the careful and early 
management of chickens, and the time at which this meeting 
will annually take place will be as anxiously considered in 
future arrangements; the Committee, and a lew others, have 
subscribed a fund for its permanent establishment, and there 
1 is but little doubt entertained in the neighbourhood, that its 
success will equal that of the “ parent Show,” which has 
hitherto held so high a position among our poultry exhibitions. 
The Committee are all well versed in everything essential to 
; success in such adventures, and we are assured that neither 
i time, trouble, nor expense will be spared, both to secure and 
I to deserve a successful issue. 
WORRALL CONTROVERSY^ 
As we said in our last number, this ill-commenced and ill- 
conducted wrangle had better cease ; and it shall do so after 
the following explanations to which Mr. Ilewitt and Mr. 
Chune are entitled, in reply to Mr. Worrall’s assertions. 
Mr. Worrall stated, that Mr. Hewitt’s appointment as 
Judge, at the Preston Exhibition, was “as a last resource,” in 
consequence of Messrs. Baily and Pulleine declining to act as 
Judges at that Exhibition, which declining took place at 
Liverpool, on the 20th of January. This is all totally untrue, 
lor we have before us Mr. Oakey, the Secretary’s letter, offering 
Mr. Hewitt the Judgeship, in accordance with “ the unani- 
! mous wish of the Committee.” That letter is dated December 
\ the 23rd ; nearly one month before the other two gentlemen 
i were requested to act. 
Mr. Chune’s reply to Mr. Worrall is as follows :— 
“ MU. CHUNE’S GOLDEN MOONIES. 
“In The Cottage Gardener, a week ago, I noticed Mr. Worrall’s 
letter, and his remarks upon my Birmingham prize pen of Golden 
Moonies, and which remarks are perfectly false. Mr. Worrall says ‘ that 
; Andrews told him the birds I exhibited at Birmingham, were not 
! pullets, but one an old hen.’ It is very strange, that Andrews could 
tell Mr. Worrall this, when a few days after the Birmingham Show, 
I wrote to Andrews, and asked him how he liked the birds I exhibited 
at Birmingham. He replied thus—‘ Trade in this part is very bad, and 
I did not go to Birmingham, but hope I shall see your birds at Preston.’ 
I never purchased but two hens of Andrew's, and those were very in¬ 
ferior, and were actually sold and sent off during the Show week, to a 
gentleman whose name can be mentioned, if necessary. So that it wws 
an impossibility for me to exhibit a hen purchased from Andrews, at 
! Birmingham. To convince Mr. Worrall that I was not in want of birds 
i from Andrew's, 1 can show forty as good pullets of last year, as any- 
j one, and shall be pleased to show them against forty of Mr. Worrall’s, 
for a £20 cup. The birds must be bond fide his property, and in his 
possession at the date of this communication. If I were Mr. Worrall, 
I would, for my ow r n character’s sake, coniine myself to the truth.”— 
J. B. Chune, Green Bank, Coalbrookdalc, 
Besides this, we have many other letters relative to Prize 
Rouen Ducks, sold and delivered to two different parties, so 
that two pens were miraculously made out of one ; and various 
others, all “merry descants upon each other’s sins; ” but we 
will publish none of them, and earnestly hope that these 
! endeavours to convince us that there are more dishonest 
! poultry exhibitors, than we are willing to believe, may be 
j groundless suspicions. 
I CHARACTERISTICS OF COCHIN-CHINA 
FOWLS. 
Why should a Grouse, or Partridge Cochin cock, have a 
black breast ? I object, decidedly, to the black breast, be¬ 
cause you will find it is produced, in the majority of cases, by 
crossing with the black Cochin hen. 
I had five cocks hatched in June (Bridge’s strain) : four 
were nearly buff-breasted; the other, being the nearest ap- 
: proach to a black breast, I saved, and now have in my posses- 
| sion. lie is a large bird ; his ear-lobe very much stained; 
breast a little mottled; and he shows his relationship by 
answering to the complaint Mr. Baily makes of black Cochins, 
! many of his under feathers (hackle particularly) are white, 
and others barred with white. Of course, he is worthless, and 
must be killed, or sent to Stevens’s. 
Do you not consider Cochins celebrated for attacks of in¬ 
digestion, and deranged egg organs ? Mine (I have now 
five) are nearly always ill, one way or the other, sometimes 
both—I am sure they are not over-fed—and my experience is 
at fault. I have thought that a meal supper caused indi¬ 
gestion. A neighbour of mine gives nothing but soaked 
barley, and with the best results. Unfortunately, my fowl- 
house is built partly over a large cesspool, two feet below, and 
cannot be placed in another position. I can smell nothing; 
but I much fear that the pestilential vapour rises through the 
ground, and causes ill-health to the fowls. This cause has only 
occurred to me lately, though, for a twelvemonth or more, I 
have had quite a hospital, and very few amenable to medical 
treatment. In fact, my best pullet died a short time since, 
and the rest (two new ones) are far from well, and their di¬ 
gestive powers very weakly, but thirst intolerably at times.— 
Henricus. 
[Early experience in Cochins, from their first appearance, 
taught that the black breast was indispensable in the Grouse 
birds. All the first birds were of that colour. Mr. Punchard 
showed this colour at Birmingham, and made the then exor¬ 
bitant price of two guineas each. The breeds afterwards were 
intermixed, because the second importation were Sturgeon’s 
buff'. The first were given to the Queen. This breed is still suf¬ 
fering by the crosses resorted to, when they were ridiculously 
dear, and hence it is that, amongst the Buffs, there will, at 
times, come a mixture of the Grouse feathers. It must be 
borne in mind, the Grouse birds existed years before the 
Black were thought of. The first Blacks were shown at Mr. 
Fairlie’s Show, in Cheveley Park, and were accidentally pro¬ 
duced. They were not then in those days used for making 
black breasts. 
Cochins are prone to make fat, and die in the laying time, 
and they soon wear out; but during their lives we consider 
them very healthy birds. We have for years fed the last 
thing before roosting-time with meal, and have always found 
them do well; but damaged meal, or any other faulty food, 
is, in our opinion, false economy. We have no doubt the 
pullet that died on her nest was fat inside. 
It is hardly comprehensible to us, how there can be no 
place, than the unfortunate one you describe, for so small a 
number of fowls to roost. The real wants in a poultry-house 
are very trifling, and five fowls might, on a pinch, be accom¬ 
modated in a large clog-kennel, or any such thing. You can 
hardly look round your premises without seeing a place, or a 
large box, that, with trifling alteration, will not answer your 
purpose. 
Give all your birds a table-spoonful of castor oil; give them 
a fresh roosting-place, and they will do well.] 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Tobacco Pill (A Three Years Subscriber ).—This remedy for gapes 
recommended recently, is to be given whole. The administration of 
soot and butter is useless. We believe that a moderate quantity of 
nourishing food, plenty of green food, a good range, and clean water, 
are effectual in preventing the gapes. We adopt all these, and never 
had a single instance of gapes. The symptoms you mention, all show 
want of vigour in your fowls. We cannot point out a remedy without 
knowing lirst your system of feeding, lodging, cleaning, &c. 
Spangled and Pencilled IIamburghs ( Ignoramus ). — There are 
Gold and Silver of each of these—four distinct varieties in all. If you 
refer to some of our indexes, you will find full explanations and 
drawings illustrating the difference between Pencilled and Spangled 
feathers. The same are in our “ Poultry Book for the Many.” 
Croup (J. P .).—There )s no such disease in fowls. The “complaint 
in the throat” must be the gapes. See what has been said recently 
about this. 
Points in Fancy Babbits {Lapin ).—You will find these points par¬ 
ticularised, and a drawing of a first-rate Lop-eared Rabbit, in our 
439th number. 
LONDON MARKETS.—Apbil 26 th. 
POULTRY. 
The market is tolerably supplied with poultry, although much is of 
an inferior description. Small chickens would appear to be more 
plentiful than they were last year, a natural consequence of a mild 
winter. The same cause makes large fowls scarce. 
Large Fowls .. 
Each. 
Each. 
G s. 0 d. to 7s. 0 d. 
Guinea Fowls . 
2s. 9 d. to 3s. od. 
Small ditto. 
5 
G „ G 
0 
Turkeys . 
0 0 „ 0 0 
Chickens. 
3 
0 „ 4 
0 
Pigeons . 
0 9 ,,0 10 
Goslings. 
7 
0 „ 7 
G 
Babbits . 
15 „ 1 6 
Ducklings ... 
3 
G „ 4 
3 
Wild ditto . 
0 10 „ 0 11 
