242 



FANCIERS' JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 



that the participators in the deliberations would have given 

 us something really new, useful, and acceptable to the fan- 

 ciers of the United States. The chairman claims that the 

 National Association which met then and there was " the 

 strongest, most prosperous, and most dignified body of men 

 ever assembled together for any honorable purpose ;" an asser- 

 tion which seems to be rather steep, but the accuracy of 

 which I do not propose to question, though I must say that 

 this enthusiastic remark of the presiding officer reminds me 

 of what P. T. Barnum, Esq., said at the last fowl exhibition 

 of the old " National Poultry Association " I ever attended, 

 of which Phineas T. was President, which took place at his 

 Museum, in New York, and at which I was awarded twenty- 

 one leading premiums for my Brahmas, Cochins, Shanghais, 

 &c, 1 remember. 



"Gentlemen," observed President Barnum, "we meet 

 here to-day to discuss one of the most important subjects 

 ever yet considered by the American people ! And, what- 

 ever topics we may elsewhere debate, I am confident you 

 will all agree with me that no one affecting the social rural 

 economy of this nation approaches in magnitude the dearest 

 interests of ourselves, our wives, our sweethearts, and our 

 children, in comparison with the pleasing and honorable art 

 of rearing good domestic poultry." 



The stunning plaudits that greeted this sentiment evinced 

 the sympathy and belief of his listeners in its truth. Mr. 

 Barnum was then a fresh convert, and he went into the 

 chicken business with all the zeal and vim that characterized 

 his prior shrewd manipulations of Joice Heth, the Pejee 

 Mermaid, the Woolly Horse, and the famous "What is it?" 

 I have no doubt he was honest in his declaration at the 

 moment he uttered the above expressive sentence, and Mr. 

 President Churchman, I can conceive, was equally honest 

 in his assertion. But, if the gentlemen at Buffalo were 

 really, as we will not dispute, " the strongest and most digni- 

 fied body of men ever assembled together for an honorable pur- 

 pose," and if, as a result of their convention, they force upon 

 State Societies this faulty, imperfect, and unacceptable "re- 

 vision " of the old tunes, with the fearful accompaniment of 

 the arbitrary and senseless rules upon which judges must 

 hereafter decide upon the merits of show fowls, the moun- 

 tain has labored to bring forth a very small mouse; and, in 

 my judgment, these dignified managers of our poultry exhi- 

 hibitions have got American societies, breeders, and fanciers 

 emphatically in the future " where the hair is short !" 



There is a remedy for this evident mistake, however. 

 Mr. Babcock, in his recent article upon the arbitrary and 

 one-sided action of the Buffalo Convention, makes a strong 

 point in his assertion that this standard of 1874 was adopted 

 by a select few, with closed doors, charging three dollars 

 admission fee, which, if unpaid, excluded those who would 

 otherwise have joined in the debates. And a writer in the 

 American Rural Home correctly assumes that " no close cor- 

 poration or secret deliberation on a matter that so affects all 

 classes of American fanciers will be permitted." This ex- 

 clusiveness is all wrong, and the error should, as it may, be 

 promptly set right. 



I am an old breeder, a constant friend to the best interests 

 of the poultry fanciers of this country at large, and at this 

 late day in my experience have "no axe to grind " in this 

 matter. I suggest that a mass meeting of American poultry 

 breeders from all quarters be called at once, at some con- 

 venient central point in New York State, where, with open 

 doors and amidst free speech, this whole subject may be 



fairly and fully discussed and voted upon ; where a standard 

 may be properly revised and corrected by the voice of the 

 masses interested. To this general convention I would 

 especially invite the presence of every member of the so- 

 styled new "American Poultry Association," and I would 

 give every man and woman who breeds poultry in this land, 

 and who can attend, a fair chance to talk and vote upon this 

 important subject of an "American Standard of Excellence." 



Let such a convention, through its openly-chosen com- 

 mittees, report, after full deliberation, upon the details of 

 the standard, and then adopt it in every State Society in 

 the Union. Secure good, fair, impartial, competent exhibi- 

 tion judges subsequently, untrammelled by silly arbitrary 

 "instructions" as to the performance of their rightful duty, 

 and abandon the worse feature of all in this proposed new 

 " American Standard," to wit, its monopoly by copyright. 



Such a convention will undoubtedly be called, if the 

 general dissatisfaction that is now cropping out in this 

 vicinity is any indication of this future disposition of the 

 majority of New England breeders, who already note that 

 the fatal rock upon which the early "National American 

 Society" split is again within sight, namely, its attempted 

 arbitrary exclusiveness and selfish monopoly. 



PoUlj^y Dep^ T |vie^I T . 



(For Fanciers' Journal.) 



THE PROGENY WILL TELL. 



Nothing is more common when you visit your neigh- 

 bor's yard, or your neighbor visits your's, than to have crit- 

 icisms freely given and asked on the fowls. Some make it 

 a point on such occasions, to point out all the beauties they 

 see, while others who are accustomed to judge their own 

 birds, severely point out the defects only ; the absence of 

 faults being the Standard of Excellence. Often it is better 

 to remain quiet altogether, for if you pick faults, it is thought 

 to be from motives of jealousy, especially if you happen to 

 breed the same variety of fowl yourself, and if you speak 

 well of them, your recommendation is given in the most 

 unqualified manner to the first amateur who wishes to pur- 

 chase. I once visited a yard, which, from its show and fla- 

 ming advertisements, one would think to be in the front 

 rank. It was stocked with fowls at a high price, from the 

 most famous yards. No expense was spared in any way to 

 make the establishment a success, and as the owner led his 

 visitor from one elegant run to another, he could scarcely 

 repress the question which the look of pleasure on his face 

 had already asked, — "Did you ever see such runs, and such 

 fowls?" It was the old story. Like Alnaschan counting 

 his wealth in futurum, so our friend bad caught the fever, 

 and invested in first-class stock, determined to step to the 

 front rank with six different varieties at once. He pictured 

 the crowd of admirers around his coops at the great shows, 



