855 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 31, 1858. 
L no object, the thing required will not fail to he on the breakfast-table I two vet tliov nrr> 
in due time, and at the right moment. ' * y J u 
^ Names of Plants (Rev. Mr. Higgins, Rose Wood , Pangbourne ).— 
The largest of the two plants sent is the great wild Valerian, 
Valeriana officinalis. The yellow flower is the great yellow Loose¬ 
strife, Lysimachia vulgaris. (An Old Subscriber, Hillingdon). —Your 
plant growing amongst the Indian Pinks is the Rianthus superbus, or 
the Superb Pink, and is perennial, but ripens seed freely. (G. R. F., 
Ribble). —Yours is the Venetian Sumach, Rhus cotinus, a very orna¬ 
mental hardy shrub upon a lawn. 
THE POULTRY CHRONICL 
POULTRY SHOWS. 
j September 8th. Liverpool and Manchester. 
! September 14th and 15th. Sparkenhoe (at Tamwoith). 
j September 21st and 22nd. Bridgnorth. Sec., Mr, Richard Taylor, 
Bridgnorth. Entries close the 15th of September. 
September 21st and 22nd. Lichfield. 
| September 26th. Paisley. Entries close Sept. 18. Sec., Mr. Win. 
Houston, 14, Barr Street. 
October 7th and 8th. Worcestershire. See., Mr. G. Griffiths, 7, 
St. Swithin’s Lane, Worcester. Entries close September 23. 
October 13th and_14th. Crewe. Sec., D. Margetts, Crewe. Entries 
close 30th September. 
November 29th and 30th, December 1st and 2nd. Birmingham. Sec., 
Mr. J. Morgan, Entries close November 1st. 
December 17th and 18th. Halifax Fancy Pigeon Show. Sec., Mr. 
II. Iloldsworth, 57, Woolshops, Halifax. Entries close the 20th of 
; November. 
. January 8tli, 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1859. Crystal Palace (Winter 
Show). Sec., W. Houghton. 
; January 20th and 21st, 1859. Liverpool. 
February 3rd and 4th, 1859. Preston and North Lancashire. 
Secs. R. Teebay, and H. Oakey. 
; February 9th and 10th, 1859. Ulverstone. Sec., Thos. Robinson. 
N.B.— Secretaries will oblige tis by sending early copies ef their lists. 
j THE FUTURE OF POULTRY SHOWS. 
There are intervals between Shows, when, although there 
may be nothing of great interest before our readers, we find 
that there are many subjects on which we have a few words 
! to say. Our first Chicken Show at the Crystal Palace is now 
over, and, in spite of an unfavourable season, bad hatching, 
and many other drawbacks, yet the display of Chickens 
showed the progress that has been made of late years, while 
the number of sold pens proved the unabated anxiety to 
possess good specimens of the different breeds. 
In one class only is there a marked decadence, that is in 
the Polands. These birds are not without their admirers ; 
but unless they will support the classes, by entering them for 
competition, Committees will be obliged either to diminish 
the sums offered for prizes, or to make them contingent on 
the number of entries. Take, for example, these classes 
at the Crystal Palace. The sum offered for competition was 
£21, the entries amounted to twelve, at 6s.—£3 12s. The 
prizes offered for Dorkings amount to £19 10s., while the 
entries were 69. 
We are not in this, nor in anything else connected with 
poultry, partisans of any class or breed; but, when our atten¬ 
tion is called by subscribers to these things, it is our duty to 
point them out. Seeing that in most places Committees 
manage these Exhibitions at their own risk, and that some 
have been reluctantly abandoned, because they were not self- 
supporting, we endeavoured to find out the causes, and we be¬ 
lieve we are near the truth when we say, that one reason is, 
that prize lists are adopted without discrimination. Having 
opportunities of knowing that, in most of those that have 
been given up, the loss incurred has been from £20 to £30, 
we see at once, that three classes such as we have named 
above would account for more than that sum. There appears 
to be two remedies, either to make the prize money depend 
on the entries, or to diminish the number of prizes at once; 
and, where the experience of two or three years has shown 
the class is a loss, to offer but one or two, instead of three 
prizes. Another advantage would result from this, it would 
enable Committees to be still more liberal to those classes that 
from their numbers would seem to have a claim. Such, for 
instance, as the Dorkings and Spanish. These latter have no 
variety of classes. Spanish make but one, and Dorkings but 
everywhere among the most numerous, i 
| The Game rival them in numbers, but, owing to the dis¬ 
tinctions of colour, they have more classes. 
We throw out these hints for Committee-men. They 
should support those which support them, and they should 
not, when forming their prize-list, think it absolutely neces- ! 
sary to give three prizes in every class, because other Shows 
do the same. The non-observance of this has been the down¬ 
fall of many Shows, and has entailed pecuniary loss on men 
whose exertions deserved a better fate. 
The next topic on which we would touch, is the abandon- 
| ment of poultry by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
There has been only one opinion on this point, that it is an 
unwise step ; and most of those who became subscribers when 
poultry first formed part of their schedule, have signified their 
intention to us of resigning their position as members, if the 
present resolution is carried out. They, however, wait, in the 
expectation that it will be rescinded. We hope it will. The 
Exhibition of 1859 will be at Warwick, in the heart of the 
poultry country, and in the neighbourhood of Birmingham. 
Amateurs and members should make their voices heard by the 
Council, and the latter would do well to yield to friendly re¬ 
monstrance, rather than persevere in an unwise determination, 
to their certain pecuniary loss. 
We have then to remind our readers, that the entries for the 
Worcester Show close on the 23rd of September. We know 
no Summer Exhibition that has stronger claims to the support 
of amateurs than this. It stands on the basis of fair and 
open dealing, and at once states in its regulations, that “ unless 
the entries amount to £300, independent of sweepstakes, the 
Show will not be carried out, but, in that case, all entrance 
money will be immediately returned in full.^ Any profit will 
go to the Worcestershire Agricultural Society. We are glad 
to hear that many north-country exhibitors intend to send, and 
we hope there will be large entries. Those who were there 
last year will be likely to go again, for the spacious and lofty 
square hall, with its single rows of comfortable pens, will be 
fresh in their memory. As on the tempting affiches of some 
of our places of entertainment, and on the hand-bills of large 
haberdashers shops, it is stated that “all the novelties of the 
season are to be found within ; ” so we tell amateurs, that Wor¬ 
cester has not remained in the background. There is a silver- 
grey class for Dorkings, and sweepstakes both for Game and 
Dorking Cocks. We would, in speaking of the Worcester 
Show, borrow part of the inscription on the Town Hall, and 
say “ Floreat semper 
CINNAMON CANARIES. 
In looking over some numbers of TnE Cottage Gardener 
of this year, I met with a letter, signed “T. Moore, West 
Street, Fareliam, Hants,” wherein that gentleman states, that 
he had tried for seventeen years to breed a cock Cinnamon 
Canary, but in vain, and that he had never heard of any 
one having bred such a male bird. Now, I have the pleasure 
of stating, that, about four years since, a cock Cinnamon 
Canary was given me by the late Mr. Nutter, of Leamington, , 
and I purchased a hen of the same description. They brought ( 
up two highly coloured and very beautiful young ones, both 
cocks, one of which died, and not knowing the value of the 
other, I parted with it. It was a fine singer; but I have 
never been able to procure another.—E. Chinery, Melton, 
Lymington , Hants. 
ATTEMPT TO DOMESTICATE THE 
WOOD PIGEON. 
A correspondent of The Cottage Gardener wishes to 
know, “ whether it is possible to rear the Wood Pigeon in a 
domestic state, by hatching its eggs under the common 
Pigeon?” In reply to the inquiry of “ A Welshman,” I 
made the attempt for many seasons consecutively during my j 
boyhood, making use of half-bred Pouters, and also of I 
Dragons,—simply as being the best feeders,—for the purpose 
of foster-parents. The result was, that although a fair pro¬ 
portion of the eggs were hatched, the young Wood Pigeons 
never lived (in a single instance) beyond the third day of their 
