112 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc, 



prepared to do the work in and of yourselves very largely. 

 Perhaps if you have a very large field of horses, or an exhi- 

 bition of fine Jerseys, or some other special department, you. 

 will want to call in an expert, but in other cases you will 

 be able to do it yourselves ; and, judging from my experi- 

 ence, nothing you can do will so relieve your agricultural 

 societies from all charge of bias and favoritism as the use of 

 the score-card. 



Question. In case they do not reach 75 points, is it 

 intended that they shall be excluded from the first premium? 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. That is a matter for you to arrange for 

 yourselves. Fix your own limit, and then if they cannot 

 reach that, they should be excluded from the first premium. 

 If they do not score that, I would mark them for second 

 premium. 



Mr. John E. Russell (of Leicester). I would like to ask 

 whether there is no power vested in the judge to exclude an 

 animal upon any one point ? 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. On soundness? 



Mr. John E. Russell. Yes, sir. 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. I should always exclude any animal that 

 was unsound. 



Mr. John E. Russell. Then the scale of points would 

 not be used if there was anywhere a manifest unsoundness? 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. Yes. We commence on the score and 

 run down until we find an unsound part, and then put there 

 a cipher and stop. That score is returned to the owner. 

 If I have made a mistake, he has the evidence on which to 

 present his claim. 



Mr. John E. Russell. For instance, if in judging a horse 

 you noticed that he was subject to ophthalmia, you would 

 stop there ? 



Dr. TwiTCHELL. In case of blindness I would stop there 

 and send the exhibitor notice, and give him the reason in 

 every case. Gentlemen, a gross injustice is done exhibitors 

 when you send them out of the field without any award and 

 give them no reason for not giving them one. I thank you, 

 Mr. Russell, for raising the point, because it is a good one. 



The Chairman. Doctor, I would like to ask one ques- 

 tion. In a trotting horse I prefer a straight hind leg. You 



