282 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



judgment as criminal, etc., but entirely forgets to mention that 

 the champion from long touring had become stale, 'hadn't a leg 

 to stand on' and was generally out of condition. It is an undis- 

 putable fact that many a champion is a 'has been' and of no prac- 

 tical use and consequently valueless outside of what he would 

 bring for meat and tallow, and strange it is that the owners of 

 such rarely consider that, as with man, time works havoc with 

 animals show animals especially and that 'every dog has his 

 day' and that there was never a good man or a good horse but 

 what there has been or will come a better. A pugilist is not often 

 looking for an encounter when out of condition. The horseman 

 that would race his record holder when out of condition would be 

 adjudged a lunatic. Why then should an honest judge of cattle 

 or sheep be scored for turning down an animal that is practically 

 out of the race It should be, not what an animal has been, but 

 what he is today. Let the judge put the ribbons where he would 

 put his money. He that would put either on a broken-down, un- 

 serviceable animal is a novice or a fool. The wise exhibitor retires 

 his show animals by choice, when their stars shine brightest; the 

 unwise retires his by force, after having been vanquished. The 

 latter are they who, as an only hope and subterfuge to recoup the 

 honor of a champion that is irretrievably lost, take occasion to 

 roundly abuse the judge who dares to do right." 



Considerable difference of opinion has been expressed in re- 

 gard to the single, double and three-handed system of judging. 

 The writer's opinion is the same now as it always has been, viz., 

 that to employ two or more men to do the work which one man 

 can as easily, quickly and efficiently perform is, to state the case 

 mildly, not strict economy, and where opportunity offers itself to 

 either of these men to shift blame onto their co-workers' shoulders 

 it is not sound policy. Such is the status quo in regard to two- 

 handed or three-handed judging. A man who places the awards 

 in a class of exhibits is a judge or he is not a judge; or in other 

 words he is either competent or incompetent. It is not an easy 

 matter to find even one really good judge of any given breed of 

 animals who is willing to officiate in a show of importance and 

 as a matter of course it is still more difficult to find two men 

 who are competent and still more so to find three. Then it is not 

 often that three men are likely to be unanimous in their selection 

 of an animal where competition runs close between the three best 

 individuals in a class. Consequently the result means a disagree- 

 ment that means delay in awarding the prizes. It is possible that 

 one of those judges has a friend's entries in the ring and even 

 assuming that all judges are honest, is it not probable that his 

 inclination would unconsciously lean toward his friend's exhibit, 

 and on that account prevent what might have otherwise proved a 

 speedy award of the prize? If we are at all familiar with 



