FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
467 
Chicago, and Worcester. In New York the judges in the 
Asiatic class (the only one we think in which it was applied) 
were engaged in their duties between two and three days ; 
at Hartford about two days; in Chicago we do not know* 
how long, and at Worcester two days and a part of the third. 
Again, at Boston in 1873, the application was more thor- 
oughly made, and we have the written statement of two, if 
not three, of the officiating judges, that they were so dissat- 
isfied with the system that they would never again officiate 
where it was required. Now let Mr. Felch, or any one else, 
apply this new scale, as his instructions demand, to our 
large shows, and apply it faithfully to all the classes and 
individual specimens (not to the Asiatics alone), and we 
venture the assertion that a week’s time would hardly be 
sufficient to ascertain the result. 
It is a matter of surprise to us that, among the intelligent 
people who constitute our poultry fraternity, there should 
be so much misconception of the purposes of a standard, 
and yet we see again and again that such is the case. There 
seems to be many who are impressed with the idea that a 
standard is made for the express purpose of dictating to the 
judges what they shall do, and how they shall perform the 
service. This seems to us to be starting at the wrong end 
of the matter, and carries with it the presupposition that the 
judges are ignorant of the fowl which they are called upon 
to judge. We believe, on the contrary, that every breeder 
of fowls should have a definite idea of what his fowls ought 
to be, and any person who has not such an idea should never 
be selected to judge a show, nor should he accept the office 
if appointed. Admitting this idea, that every person who is 
called upon to judge for us is well versed in those varieties 
upon which he is to decide, how ridiculous, not to say im- 
pertinent, does it appear for us to say to them, “ Gentlemen, 
you are not to decide upon these fowls by your own knowl- 
edge or experience, but by certain formulae which are laid 
down in the standard.” How many judges worthy of the 
name, think you, we would be able to obtain under such 
conditions, who would be willing to sacrifice their self- 
respect for the honor of the office. We do not believe we 
should be able to hold our shows even on such terms, for we 
know our best judges do not, and unless we are much mis- 
taken in the gentlemen, we think they will not abide by any 
standard which carries with it such an insult to their honor 
and self-respect. We have by no means lost our faith that 
the poultrymen of America will yet compile a standard 
which will meet all their necessities, but we do not expect 
to see it until they have a more definite conception of what 
their necessities require: 
“ New occasions teach new duties, time makes ancient good uncouth, 
They must upward still, and onward, who could keep abreast of truth ; 
Lo ! before us gleam her camp-fires, we ourselves must pilgrims be, 
Nor attempt the future’s portal with the past’s time-rusted key.” 
Before they make any further attempt to revise the pres- 
ent or past standards, we trust they will make a thorough 
examination of all the different systems and modern ideas 
upon the subject, and if, in their judgment, they are founded 
upon correct principles incorporate them into the new work. 
“Strive! endeavor! it profits more 
To fight and fail, than on time’s dull shore 
To sit an idler ever; 
But to him who bares his arm to the strife, 
Firm at his post in the battle of life, 
The victory faileth never, 
Therefore in faith abide,” 
Spake a low voice at my side, — 
“ Abide thou and endeavor.” W . 
PodL T qy Dep^thie^. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
MORE ABOUT THOSE BLACK RUSSIANS. 
Mr. Editor. 
I made a mistake, and I may as well confess it. Since 
writing an article some time ago on Black Russians, pub- 
lished in your valuable Journal , I have been looking anx- 
1 iously for some fancier of this variety of fowl to buy me 
out. I certainly offered my fowls cheap enough, but I 
never had an inquiry since writing my last article. I have 
secured nine more eggs, and finding that the bill of supplies 
was fast running ahead of the products, I killed two of the 
birds, and made with my family a comfortable, though by 
no means elegant meal of them. A third became infected 
with roup, and I planted her at the foot of a grape vine 
hoping in due season to convert three dollars’ worth of Black 
Russians into dividends in the shape of Hartford Prolifics. 
The fourth I still have ! she is the best of the lot. Don’t 
somebody want her at a dollar ? I would like to feel that 
I have not thrown all my money away. 
I have endured an endless amount of insult on account of 
these birds. One man told me he could buy a cart-load of 
such birds from the farmers in his neighborhood at fifty 
cents a pair. I showed him the beard, the rose comb, the 
yellow feet, in fact all “ the points ” of the bird, but he still 
insisted that he could match them all in every respect, and 
asked me to come along. But the weather even here among 
the mountains was too oppressive for the amount of exercise 
required, and I did not go. A green farmer’s lad said, 
“ Why, Mr. R.,that looks exactly like one of our old muffles.” 
Well, 1 could not deny it. But it makes one feel a little 
sore to be chaffed in this way, and have his fancy fowls put 
down to such low figures. Last and worst of all comes a 
private letter to hand a week ago from the editor of this 
Journal , inquiring after me, and telling me that there is a 
public rumor that I have made money enough out of Black 
Russian eggs to retire from business. Think of that! Don’t 
somebody else want to get rich with that one hen ? She 
is worth a dollar and a quarter now. 
I believe I disclaimed in my last article any intention of 
doing harm to any one’s business, by giving my opinion of 
Black Russians. I asked the question, “Does any one know 
any good of them?” and hoped to have it answered through 
the Journal. A gentleman engaged largely in breeding 
this variety of fowl writes me that my article, and that of 
“ Ancient,” which appeared two weeks later, would lead peo- 
ple to infer that he (not Ancient) was a humbug, and asks 
me to correct this false impression. I cannot see my way 
out of the trouble, except by saying that this gentleman 
lives in Massachusetts, and my fowls were not brought from 
