OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AVICULTURE 305 



that some errors are sure to be made by every one and that un- 

 prejudiced exhibitors make allowance for this, will not make 

 a successful judge of poultry and pigeons. Judges as a class 

 are not the men who know the most about standard-bred birds 

 or who are the most skillful in breeding them, although some 

 of the best breeders are among the best judges. Almost all 

 fanciers get opportunities to act as judges. If their work is sat- 

 isfactory, the demand for their services increases until in time 

 their income from this source may be large enough to make 

 it worth while to adjust their other affairs to their engagements 

 at poultry shows. 



Journalism. There were a few books on poultry and pigeons 

 written in the first half of the last century, and a larger number 

 immediately following the " hen-fever" period. These and the 

 articles on poultry and pigeons in agricultural papers constituted 

 the literature of the subject until about 1870. Then there ap- 

 peared a number of poultry journals, most of which gave some 

 attention to other domestic birds. The demand for special jour- 

 nals arose because many people who were interested in poultry 

 were living in cities and were not interested in general agri- 

 culture ; they wanted more information about poultry matters 

 than the agricultural papers could give. Advertisers of poultry 

 and pigeons, and of goods bought by aviculturists, also wished 

 advertising mediums through which they could reach buyers at 

 less cost than they could through the agricultural papers. The 

 rates for advertising are based upon circulation, and if only a 

 small class of the readers of a publication are buyers of a 

 particular class of goods advertised in it, the cost of reaching 

 them may be too great. Whenever any interest becomes of 

 sufficient importance, journals especially devoted to it are issued, 

 for the convenience of buyers and sellers as well as for the in- 

 formation they contain. Until about 1890 nearly all poultry 

 journals were small publications which the owners looked after 

 in their spare time. Then they began to increase in number and 



