130 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



that purpose. Here was a young man, raised among the hills, 

 who had a desire to engage in breeding Jersey cattle. What is 

 a Jersey cow ? He has heard of Jersey cows, but he is not at all 

 familiar with them. He goes to the fair and sees a collection, 

 a dozen herds represented by 50 or 75 animals. He goes about 

 among those animals, he sees the form, he takes his first lesson. 

 Later on he watches for the winners. He finds those that win- 

 the blue ribbon, the red ribbon and the white ribbon and he 

 examines them. He sees that this one is first, that second and 

 the other third. He will say, I see some points in this animal 

 that has won the blue ribbon that are superior, but what is it 

 about this animal that makes it better than the other? I see 

 some points in the other which are better than in this one. Why 

 is this the best? Every year we have at our fairs a lot of boys 

 and men who are not skilled in cattle matters who go to the fairs 

 for the purpose of studying animal forms and learning the points 

 of the different breeds. They are hanging about the stalls ques- 

 tioning the owners, examining the animals, listening to the dis- 

 cussion among cattle breeders and trying to pick up every scrap 

 of information they can. But when the judging is done, the 

 animals are simply sent back as first, second and third, and no 

 man in the fair knows why the awards are so placed unless he 

 has the courage to go to the judge and ask him for his reason 

 for making the decision. 



The score card is simply a close, detailed examination of the 

 animal. We will assume that I am a cattle judge and capable of 

 doing the work. If I were examining a class of animals I would 

 go in and look at the first cow, I would take in her form, I would 

 judge her function, I would estimate her qualities ; I would take 

 the second one and look her over, and the third, and the fourth, 

 then I would come to the fifth and say, this is the best cow. 

 Why do I say that this is the best cow? I have taken into con- 

 sideration all the points of each one of these animals, and have 

 decided that this is the best. You can readily see that a judge 

 must be very well grounded indeed. If he is judging Jersey 

 cows, he must carry in his mind the typical Jersey cow. The 

 score card is a detailed description of the animal that is arrived 

 at by representatives, or by the owners, of all the registered 

 cattle in each breed. For instance, the owners of the Jersey 



