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FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by Joseph M. 

 Wade, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



jf'ANOIBRS'JjoUENAL AND I^OULTRY (j^XCHANCE, 

 JOSEPH M. WADE, Editor and Proprietor. 



Published Weekly at 39 North Ninth Street, Philadelphia. 



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(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



JUDGING BY A STANDARD. 



Mr. Editor: 



I am very glad if my note to you (which you are aware 

 was not intended for the public eye) has been the means of 

 bringing out a fuller expression of Mr. Wright's views 

 on the subject of a " standard for judging birds," because he 

 has said what ought to have been said, and what ought to 

 be read and very thoughtfully considered by all our poultry 

 fanciers in America, and because he has said it so much 

 better than any one else could have done, and given his 

 words the weight of his own large experience and thorough 

 investigation of the subject. 



I do not think I have misunderstood his meaning, as he 

 is led to suppose, for I have very carefully read all he has 

 written on the subject. In my note to you I only expressed 

 my views in relation to the numeral values as now used in 

 our American standard, and not in relation to the values as 

 applied by him in his plan. I think there is a very great 

 difference between sitting in convention making a standard 

 giving " fixed " or definite values to the scales for the pur- 

 pose of bringing all the judging at our shows to such a 

 standard, and making a standard giving such values for the 

 purpose of bringing the standard to the most accurate and 

 consistent judging. This is what I understand Mr. Wright 

 to have done, and we have his own testimony, as well as 

 the testimony of others, that its workings are in the main 

 satisfactory. I most heartily agree with him in what he 

 says about judging by theoretical standards, because I have 

 seen the workings of such standards, and because his idea 

 tallies exactly with my own. The truth is — and it cannot 

 be too often or too plainly spoken — that while it is easy to 

 make a standard in a convention, it is not easy to find the 

 judges, as you and I very well know, who will be bound by 

 such a standard in their arbitrations. Another thing should 

 be borne in mind: the English judges are gentlemen of 



large experience as poultry breeders, thoroughly trained to 

 the work of judging, and their decisions at the different 

 shows would naturally be consistent, and would constitute 

 a sort of standard by which fowls could safely be bred ; but 

 in America we have as yet no trained judges, and must de- 

 pend upon the best experts we can obtain, which is no easy 

 matter, for most of our experts are large breeders and large 

 exhibitors at most of our principal shows. Nor is it at all 

 probable that the judges who officiate atone show can be 

 obtained for another; consequently we cannot have the 

 same consistency in our awards which they have in Eng- 

 land. I am no hero-worshiper, nor do I intentionally 

 flatter any man, but it is my conviction that there is no per- 

 son living who has given so much time and thought to this 

 subject, or who has given us his views so clearly and attrac- 

 tively, as Mr. Wright, and therefore what he says should 

 carry with it proportionate weight. Having been a careful 

 student of all Mr. Wright has written upon poultry matters 

 for several years, I think he is entitled to a careful reading 

 by all who are interested in the subject and to our gratitude 

 for what he has done as well as for what he has suggested. 



H. Woodward. 



Worcester, Mass., February 26, 1874. 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



CHICKENS IN A CARRIAGE-SHOP. 



As early chickens are, as yet, raised but little in this 

 vicinity, we conceived a great desire for some. Our poul- 

 try-house not being warm enough, we could think of no 

 way to attain our desire. A few are raised near us in shoe- 

 makers' shops, and we wondered whether a carriage-sbop 

 would not do as well. After thinking upon it a week or 

 two, we at length concluded to try it. Fanciers told us it 

 was of no use, as there was so much noise not an egg would 

 hatch ; but, as we had a quiet Partridge Cochin pullet that 

 seemed determined to act upon her maternal instincts, and 

 our eggs did not cost us four or five dollars a dozen, as they 

 did last year, we made her a nest and tried her. Finding 

 she would sit amidst the noise as unconcerned as though she 

 was in the farthest corner of the hay-mow, we placed 

 under her thirteen eggs — three Dark Brahma, three Light 

 Brahma, three Partridge Cochin, and four Brown Leghorn. 

 She continued to sit, coming off nearly every day to eat, 

 drink, and stretch herself, but remaining only a few mo- 

 ments. Last Monday (February 16th) she came off with 

 eight chicks, all bright and strong. She is in the body- 

 making room. Sawing, filing, planing, grinding tools, and 

 hammering are the noises she hears, but they do not disturb 

 her equanimity in the least. She trudges around the floor, 

 calling her chicks, dusts herself in the sawdust under the 

 shavings, lies down upon the floor in the sun, cuddles the " 

 chicks around her, and seems perfectly at home, unless 

 strangers come in to see her, when she makes a sharp 

 "cluck," and hovers her brood immediately. It is a curious 

 sight, to go from the cold, piercing wind that is blowing 

 tremendously out of doors, into the warm shop, and find 

 those tender, peeping bits of chickens-so bright and happy. 

 We can see no reason why they should not live ; neverthe- 

 less, they may not. Our success with them has emboldened 

 us, and we have allowed three more pullets to try their luck 

 at early chickens. S. B. S. 



Essex Co., Mass. 



