140 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



please him in his fowls at home at their true value, and without disregarding his individual 

 tastes and preferences to learn to modify them to harmonize better with popular ideas. If one 

 wishes to sell fine stock, or to gain a reputation for producing and having good stock he must 

 keep his i'deals somewhere near those of the rest of mankind interested in that kind of stock. 



Exhibitions of poultry are now so numerous and so well distributed that there are compara- 

 tively few poultry keepers too far from any show to make an exhibit and look after it in 

 person at least during a part of the time, and I would urge every reader of this lesson who 

 keeps thoroughbred fowls to make it a point to exhibit at the most accessible show. If one 

 begins early to make preparations to exhibit, and gets his birds in good physical condition they 

 will have to be very poor indeed to discredit him. Where most novices "fall down" is in 

 putting off selection and preparation of specimens to be exhibited until within a few days of 

 the show. Then the birds go into the show in poor condition, and attract attention more by 

 poor condition than by lack of merit. 



I have at such length urged readers to exhibit not merely for reasons already given, but 

 because so many breeders of thoroughbred fowls attach undue importance to the matter of 

 winning at a show, and feel that it is a disgrace to lose and therefore poor policy to show unless 

 one has a reasonable expectation of winning. Then assuming that there will certainly be 

 many good birds in their class, shown in good condition, they conclude the wiser course for 

 them is to keep their birds at home. There is pleasure and generally credit in winning, but 

 wherever competition is strong many must lose, and there is no disgrace in losing with a 

 good exhibit to a rival with a better one. And in the show room merit gets the recognition of 

 visiting fanciers, whether decorated with prizes or among the unplaced. I might say much 

 more to urge reluctant breeders to show, but I hope that what has been said will prove enough, 

 and in passing to the matters properly in this lesson will only say further that the reader fol- 

 lowing these lessons who neglects to learn what he can in that way will get much less out of 

 some of the more advanced lessons in the course than those who do. 



Something About the Poultry Shows. 



American poultry shows may be roughly divided into two general classes: 

 The poultry exhibit held in connection with an agricultural fair. 

 The poultry show, proper, held by an association organized solely or primarily for 

 that purpose. 



Though there is a rapidly increasing number of exceptions it is still true in a general way 

 that the exhibits at fairs, where they usually occupy a subordinate position, bring out a decidedly 

 inferior clas.s of fowls, are often judged by incompetent persons, and do not begin to afford 

 the opportunities for instruction and comparison of ideas that are found in even the smallest of 

 the special poultry shows. 



For this reason readers who wish to exhibit for the sake of what they may learn by exhibit- 

 ing are advised to exhibit at, a winter show unless the poultry exhibit at the fair accessible to 

 them is conducted in about the same way as a winter show, and is well patronized by fanciers 

 in the territory from which it draws exhibits. A number of the more important fairs now run 

 their poultry departments on such a basis, and some of them are as good or better than the 

 winter shows in their vicinity. Occasionally there is enough local interest in the poultry 

 exhibit at a small fair to secure suitable classification, the employment of a competent judge, 

 and consideration of standard requirements in the placing of awards. At such a fair it is 

 worth while to exhibit. But the general run of agricultural fairs, with primitive classification, 

 lack of orderly arrangement, poor care of exhibits, and judgment according to no known stand- 

 ards and by men of no qualifications for the work, do not afford the opportunities for acquiring 

 knowledge which I have in mind; and while I would not dissuade anyone from exhibiting at 

 such a fair to help the exhibit, I would not want a reader to limit himself to such experience 

 in exhibiting and think he had followed my advice. 



Fowls Are Judged by the * Standard.' 



At all well managed shows in the United States and Canada, fowls are judged by the "Amer- 

 ican Standard of Perfection." This book is a collection of descriptions of varieties of fowls 

 made to conform to a general model, compiled by the American Poultry Association, and is by 



