24 JUDGING FARM ANIMALS 



we scored yesterday may to-morrow come before us in better 

 form, with more action and expression, and therefore 

 measure up to a higher degree of excellence. We do not 

 know how to express in satisfactory figures certain things 

 we term character, expression, quality, etc. For many 

 years past efforts have been made to introduce the score 

 card as a medium for judging live stock at the shows, but 

 without success. In no case, perhaps, has the scale of points 

 been used in practical judging for an extended period of 

 time. Even poultry judges, who have adhered to the score 

 card more than any one else, are now quite generally dis- 

 carding its use. It may not be out of place to state here, 

 that some men who have been judges of acknowledged 

 ability, when required to officiate by score card methods, 

 have not done themselves or the animals they have passed 

 on, justice. One good illustration of this occurred in 1893 

 at the World's Columbian Exposition. A great show of 

 one breed was judged by the score card. Commenting on 

 the work of the judge, who in his time was regarded as well 

 qualified to pass on this breed, the following came from the 

 pen of a noted live stock critic, and is well worth considera- 

 tion in its relation to this much discussed subject. 1 "In 

 this connection the temptation to discuss the score card as 

 a show yard implement is strong. If it had been known 

 that the judge intended to use the card, it is questionable 

 if he would have been asked to do the work, for Chief Bu- 

 chanan has little use for this well-nigh obsolete fad. We 

 say well-nigh obsolete. So far as Western show yards are 

 concerned, it has not made its appearance in the cattle ring 

 for the past ten years. It is occasionally used in the East, 

 and so far as our observation extends, it is the most potent 

 cause of good men going wrong in awarding premiums. 

 Swine breeders caught the score card fever some few years 

 ago. They have recovered thoroughly from the attack. It 

 is a non-recurrent disease. Readers of the Gazette need 

 not have repeated to them the arguments which have driven 



1 Breeders' Gazette, Sept. 6, 1893, p. 163. 



