FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
635 
mas were poor, Dark Brahmas not much better. The first 
premium for chicks was given to a pair of very forward 
chickens for the season. The cockerel was a very fair bird, 
of good size, and will likely make a fine bird. His mate 
was dark, almost black ; with this exception it was a bird 
hard to beat. One pair of Golden- Pencilled Hamburgs only 
were shown, and of course were awarded first premium. 
The pair were not large enough for a pot-pie ; had they been, 
I do not know of any other purpose I would advise them to 
be put to. The principal exhibitors of poultry were H. An- 
tibus, Mansfield, 0. ; — Shyrigh, TJrbana, O. ; Frank 
Ford, Ravenna, O. The weather was all that could be de- 
sired. The buildings at Columbus were quite good. As the 
State Fairs are to be held at Columbus for the next five 
years I suppose the improvements to be made will be of a 
permanent character. Vindex. 
(For Fanciers’ Journal.) 
LET THE BEST WIN! 
“ Let the best win ” is a concession of selfish human 
nature to the law of eternal fitness. We are unquestionably 
living in an age of emulation, though in this respect we do 
not differ from all that have lived before us. Before the 
invention of gunpowder, war was not much more than a 
monarchony. To use a moderate colloquialism, in battle 
every man “ went for ” another man, and the best man won. 
Amid the scenes of rural peace stout villagers wrestled on 
the green, or cracked each other’s thick crowns at single 
stick. Virgins made Camillas of themselves and ran races 
for prize smocks; while lusty men coursed in sacks, or de- 
fiantly grinned through horse collars. The philosophy of 
the whole is, that whatever is worth doing at all, is worth 
doing well. The Olympic games are eternal elsewhere than 
in the sounding strophes of Pindar, who had his little con- 
test too, in singing, and was compelled to yield the crown 
to the beautiful Sappho. So the world keeps spinning. There 
is not even a haberdasher who will not tell you that com- 
petition is the life of business ; he likes it, and he doesn’t 
like it; he welcomes it, and he makes a wry face at it, be- 
cause the best must win, and he is not sure that he has the 
best. So in the fraternity of fanciers, competition is the 
life of business. Without this it would be stale, flat, and 
unprofitable. There may be, here and there, an amateur 
who refuses to compete with the crowd, but he is continually 
competing with himself, and by no means considers his per- 
formances small beer. 
As emulation in athletic sports gave rise to the Olympic 
games, so competition in breeding culminates in the ex- 
hibition. Do the best always win at our poultry shows ?' 
Hardly. In many cases the methods of selecting judges 
makes the verdict they will render a matter of speculation. 
If all societies could secure the services of competent judges, 
there would be no speculation as to the awards, as only the 
best could win. When it is known that competent judges 
are to make the awards, breeders feel assured that their 
stock will be fairly and impartialy dealt with, and there 
should be no hesitation on their part to bring out their best 
birds, and let them win. 
The Eastern Pennsylvania Poultry Association, having 
perfected their arrangements at home, and secured from 
abroad the consent of several of the best known members of 
the fraternity to do the judging, extend a cordial invitation 
to every fancier to co-operate with them in gathering 
together, at Doylestown, the best collection of poultry, 
pigeons, and other pets ever shown in America. A liberal 
premium list has been prepared, and specials amounting in 
the aggregate to a large sum have been offered by the officers 
and members. The hall is large, well lighted, and every 
way convenient. Communication with Doylestown is easy 
from every direction, and arrangements are made with the 
North Pennsylvania Railroad, to carry stock and visitors 
at reduced rates. Veteran breeders will here have a fine 
field for competition ; beginners, a good opportunity to ob- 
serve ; and visitors will see the finest collection of poultry 
ever made east of the Alleghanies. 
As an inducement to stimulate breeders and amateurs to a 
friendly emulation in competion, the President of the East- 
ern Pennsylvania Poultry Association, Dr. A. M. Dickie, 
will pay in gold coin, a special premium o/f 100, (one hundred 
dollars) for the best three pair of fowls or chicks of any one 
variety, owned by the exhibitor. 
This premium will be awarded by men who are perfectly 
conversant with poultry of all breeds, and men in whom the 
fraternity have every confidence. 
This premium is offered in good faith, and will be paid 
to the owner of the winning birds at the close of the show. 
A. M. Dickie, M.D. 
Doylestown, Pa., October 2d, 1874. 
PiqEO[J DEp^J|VIEfJj. 
MOORE’S WORK ON PIGEONS. 
(Continued from page 519.) 
or thirty miles — nay, I have known them to be carried 
threescore or a hundred, and there turned loose — they will 
immediately hasten to the place where they were bred. 
The Dutch call this pigeon bagadat, I suppose from a cor- 
ruption of the name of the city Bagdad, which was formerly 
old Babylon which Nimrod built, because they judge this 
pigeon in its way from Bazora to be brought through that 
city. 
In Turkey they call them bagatins or couriers, and the 
Turks and Persians make a common practice of breeding 
this sort of pigeons in their seraglios, where there is one 
whose business it is to feed and train these birds for the use 
afterwards designed, which they do in this manner : "When 
a young one flies very hard at home, and is come to its full 
strength, they carry it in a basket, or otherwise, about half 
a mile from home, and there they turn it out; after this 
they will carry it a mile, then two, four, eight, ten, twenty, 
and so on, till at length they will return from the farthest 
parts of the kingdom. This practice is of admirable use, for 
every bashaw has generally a basket full of these pigeons 
sent him from the grand seraglio, and in case of any insur- 
rection or other emergent occasion, he braces a letter under 
the wings of a pigeon, whereby its flight is not in the least 
incommoded, and immediately turns it loose; but for fear 
of their being shot or struck by a hawk, they generally 
