WORCESTER NORTH-WEST. xi 



The exhibition of working-oxen and steers was good. A pair 

 of workers owned by Mr, HaiTe}' Goddard of Orange were particu- 

 larly admired by the cattle men for their man}' fine points ; and 3'et 

 the honorable committee awarded this beautiful pair the third pre- 

 mium ; thus showing how men differ in their judgment. There were 

 also on exhibition man}' fine pairs of fat cattle : one pair, entered 

 b}' A. E. Johnson of Barre, were beauties, weighing four thousand 

 pounds, and many others were worthy of mention. But I will not 

 particularize ; suffice it to say there were enough to show conclu- 

 sively that the admii'ation for the ox had not entirelj^ disappeared. 

 I was astonished when I saw the thu't3'-five 3'oke of splendid-looking 

 cattle of the Shorthorn and Devon breeds, from the town of Phil- 

 lipston, and also the sixty-five 3'oke of equally' good cattle from 

 Petersham, constituting the two entries of town teams. It was a 

 most beautiful sight ; and I said to mj'self, " If this is degenerac}', 

 what must have been the original idea of a cattle show ? ' ' And 

 j^et we hear the crj' from all parts of the State, through the press, 

 that cattle shows have become "first-class humbugs." Now, let us 

 see how much of a farce this cattle show was. There were in all 

 three hundred and forty-seven head of cattle upon exhibition, con- 

 sisting of bulls, milch-cows, heifers, calves, working-oxen, steers, 

 and fat cattle. The show of sheep was small in point of numbers, 

 but of an excellent quaUt}'. 



The show of swine was unpleasant to behold, not on account of 

 the inferiority of the animals exhibited, but rather from the mannei 

 in which they were exhibited. We noticed some very fine specimens 

 of the Essex bred, exhibited by Mr. Joseph S. Hinkly of Barre ; 

 also of the Poland China, bred b}' Mr. Heur}' S. Minor of PhiUipston. 

 Messrs. William A. Childs and Luther Crawford of New Braiutree 

 exhibited some ver}- fine Berkshires. Mr. George W. Drurj' of Athol 

 had two ver}' fat hogs upon exhibition, of the Chester White breed ; 

 and Mr. E. A. Marsh completed the show of swine with a beautiful 

 litter of pigs. AU these fine animals were confined in wagons, with 

 but a slight (if am') protection from the raj's of the sun, when the 

 thermometer stood at about seventy degrees above zero in the shade. 

 This is one of the things connected with the show which I would 

 criticise. The officers of the societj* should provide suitable pens 

 in their grove, erected and constructed with a view to make the 

 animals on exhibition as comfortable as possible, and then require 

 all exhibitors to place their animals in such pens. 



The show of poultr}' was the best I ever saw at a show not devoted 

 entirely to the exhibition of poultry and pet stock. It would take too 

 much time for me to give the names of the different varieties and 

 breeds. I will make the broad statement, however, that nearly all of 



