1G3 
THE COTTAG-E GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 15, 1853. 
Names of Plants ( Vale of Belvoir)— 1. The common Cytisus, 
Cytisus sessilifolius. 2. Coronilla JEmerus, com monly called the 
Scorpion senna. (11. D -» Burnham Ovcry). —Your bulbous plant 
is Arthropodiurn cirrhatum, or New Zealand Artliropodium. 
POULTRY SHOWS. ' 
June 28th, 29th, and 30th, and July 1st. Sheffield. Sec., Wm, Henry 
Dawson, Sheffield. 
July 8th. Prescot. Sec., Mr. James Beesley. Entries close June 20. 
July* 1.5th. York. Sec., Mr. It. Smith, cutler, 10, High Ousegate, York. 
August 7th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. ^Crystal Palace (Summer Show). 
Entries close July 10th. See., W. Houghton. 
1 August 18th. Airedale. lion. Sees., J. Wilkinson and T. Booth, 
Shipley. 
I August 28th. Halifax and Calder Vale. Sec., Mr. Wm. Irvine, 
Ilolmfield, Halifax. Entries close August 14. 
! October 7th and 8th. Worcestershire. Sec., Mr. G. Griffiths, 7, 
St. Swithin’s Lane, Worcester. Entries close September 23. 
! November 29th and 30th, December 1st and 2nd. Birmingham. Sec., 
Mr. J. Morgan. Entries close November 1st. 
December 17th and 18th. Halifax Eancy Pigeon Show. Sec., Mr. 
H. Holdsworth, Woolshops, Halifax. 
January 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12tli, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show). Sec., W. Houghton. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige vs by sending early copies of their lists. 
THINNING- OUT. 
have taken to real- him— Why, only yesterday I spent above 
an hour attending to him.” 
“ Rill him at once; your time will be far more profitably 
employed in attending to those that will make a return for 
it.” 
“ Mary, put up all those chickens to fatten, except the 
eighteen we selected yesterday.” 
“ La ! Ma’am, you can’t mean it, I am sure; it will pay 
better to keep them.” 
“Not at all! they ruin me in food, and you know they are 
all faulty, and will never do for exhibition.” 
“ Oh ! Ma’am, they are good fowls, all of them, and they 
grow nicely. Some of them may be a leetle crooked, and 
some four-clawed, but I can’t bear to sweep them off in this j 
w r ay ; let- us try them a little longer.” 
“ I will do nothing of the sort. All faulty birds should be 
cleared off now, while they are good, and valuable as food; and 
they should not be kept till they are too old to eat, while it is 
well known they can never be exhibition birds.” 
The selected birds will have a better range, and more atten¬ 
tion, while the quantity of food, and the time which, allotted 
to a yard-full, is little more than neglect, will, if bestowed on 
a smaller number, bring them to perfection. 
BATII AND WEST OE ENGLAND SOCIETY’S 
EXHIBITION OF DOMESTIC POULTRY' 
AT CARDIFF. 
1 
i 
Everything with us tells of poultry, and we cannot help 
viewing things as they bear on our subject. 
Take, for instance, a scene at the workhouse, on the board- 
day. 
The comfortable room, and the numerous faces around the 
table. The aristocratic members sitting with the ease that 
belongs to their class. The retired tradesmen trying to look 
like them; and the men still in business weighing their words, 
when any of their customers are present, lest they should be 
drawn into opposition. The Vestry Clerk, to whom all appeal, 
and the formidable Janitor who introduces those who have 
business. 
An old lady of the “ Sairey Gamp ” class is ushered in. 
“ An old face,” says one to another. 
“Well, Mrs. Blunt ?” asks the clerk. 
“Ifyou please, Sir, my husband is dead, Sir.” 
“ Then he is done with,” says the clerk, scratching through 
his name with the pen. 
“ I beg your pardon, Sir,” says Mrs. Blunt, “ did I hear 
you aright P Will you have the goodness to say that again ? 
Done with; yes, Sir. A good thing for him, Sir. He was 
a sufferer ; and nobody knows what I have undergone.” 
“ That will do. Call another.” 
“ Asking your pardon, that will not do, Sir. And me; 
what is to become of me ?” 
“ Come into the house.” 
“ Me, come into the house! and break up my home ! And 
my children, gentlemen, if you please,—good children, every 
one of them,—what are they to do ? ” 
“ They are old enough to earn their living.” 
“ And they tries, gentlemen. But they ain’t strong; and 
they gives me all they earns,—save a shilling the girls keep 
for a riband, and the boys for a bit of tobacco. T’aint much 
as I asks, Gentlemen; just the four shillings a week I had in 
my husband’s time.” 
“ Gentlemen,” says the Vestry Clerk, “ they will not work ; 
and, so long as you allow them relief, they will depend on 
that, instead of themselves, and live in a state of misery.” 
Still the widow struggles on; till at last it is admitted by 
her, that all her children depend on her earnings, and that, 
while she and the youngest might live well upon them, the 
whole only starve. 
IIow many poultry yards are like this ! 
“ Thomas, kill that sickly cock.” 
“What, Sir! that nice-coloured bird ? ” 
“ Y es! he is always ill.” 
“ I think he is much better.” 
“ But he is not worth his food.” 
“ It is very little he eats, Sir ; and if you knew the pains I 
The Bath and West of England Society is now one of the 
oldest in the United Kingdom, and, from the untiring energy 
of the Council, never flags in the public estimation. The 
poultry department, complete in all respects, owes its high 
position to the energy of Samuel Pitman, Esq., of Rumwell 
Lodge, Taunton, whose attention to the poultry, and universal 
courtesy to visitors, are alike w T orthy of every praise. The 
situation chosen for the Meeting was exceedingly beautiful 
and rural, the timber, with which the Show-ground was 
studded, having attained perfect maturity; whilst the spring- 
tide of the year added all the beauties for which this season is 
proverbial, and which are so highly valued by casual visitors, 
whose general occupations in pent-up towns render the treat 
of “ an out” fifty-fold more appreciable. Under this happy 
combination of circumstances, the company assembled was not 
only numerically strong, but likewise embraced almost every 
family of distinction for many miles around Cardiff. The 
good folks of the town, too, were nothing loath in their con¬ 
tributions to the general holiday : triumphal arches, of the 
most elaborate and expensive character, were to be met with 
repeatedly in most of the principal streets, whilst banners of 
all kinds floated by the hundreds in every direction. 
To complete the enthusiasm of Cardiff, an illumination 
took place on the evenings of the Show days, and many of the 
devices, in gas, were both appropriate and popular. A very 
good band also added its attractions. 
In reference to the poultry, which necessarily occupies our j 
special mention, the number of pens competing fell some¬ 
what short of those of former years : but, for the excellence of 
the stock shown, the collection quite held position as a whole 
with those of former occasions ; indeed, in many classes, out- * 
vied materially any Poultry Show we ever yet attended. This < 
is easily accounted for, from the fact, that whilst almost all | 
our principal breeders competed, a select few “ new comers ” 
swept away no trifling proportion of the Society’s premiums. 
The silver cups were unusually handsome and good, each 
bearing an engraved particular, declaratory of the success of its 
future owner, besides being handsomely embossed. The con¬ 
dition of many first-rate pens of poultry was indifferent, indeed 
some few had absolutely commenced moulting heavily, and 
thus lost distinctions otherwise their due, still the general 
feature of the poultry was excellence and perfection of plumage. 
The Grey Dorkings were particularly good, and the suc¬ 
cessful owners may well congratulate themselves on their 
superiority. The Game classes were also very.good. The 
Malay class was a marvellous one; for, generally neglected as 
they have been for some time, they here held their own with any j 
class in the Show. Some few exceedingly good pens of Ham¬ 
burgh fowls were present, but the remainder were not par- | 
