14 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



trial, against that now in the hands of Prentice. The 

 crop was considered a very trying one, of " black and 

 white," or in other words sainfoin and rye-grass, and 

 the work of the winning mower was very efficient. To 

 the terror of Mr. Palmer, the judges brought him a 

 , medal for Clayton and Shuttleworth's straw elevator, 

 that "under the circumstances" he respectfully begged 

 to decline. The firm was not there in competition for 

 prizes, and so the return list puts another in place of 

 them. Holmes, Burrell, Clayton and Shuttlewortli, 

 Garretts, Ransomes, Turner, Howard and Riches, had 

 their engines at work and some thrashing machines in 

 operation ; while the more handy houses made 

 up a goodly show of Collections, amongst 

 which Holmes of Norwich was pronounced to 

 have the best assortment. Gardner's new chaff-cutter, 

 never seen here before, deservedly took a medal for the 

 ease with which it does a deal of work ; and Coleman's 

 clod-crusher, also with some recent improvements and 

 adjustments, had the commendation of the judges. Of 

 course Boby's admirable corn screen gets a nota Icne 

 whenever it is asked for, and Ransome's portable en- 

 gines have their worth yet further confirmed. Old Mr. 

 Garrett was himself upon the ground, but a Badham 

 Junior, on behalf of the Orwell Works, put the manifold 

 advantages attendant on the purchase of "one of our 

 engines." Mr. Burrell was conspicuous for the traction- 

 engine, still more of " a novelty " than anything else; 

 and Smyth with a y, and of Peasenhall, entered drills, 

 with a high reputation to fall back on. 



If the noblemen of Norfolk supported the show of 

 the Society with their entries, they were not, this year, 

 so ready to countenance the concomitant dinner with 

 their presence. The Duke of Wellington, the president 

 for the occasion, could not preside in consequence of 

 his coming duties with the Volunteers in Hyde Park. 

 Lord Leicester, the Lord-Lieutenant of the county, is 

 salmon fishing in Norway ; Lord Walsingham, the 

 president of the Royal Agricultural Society, sent his 

 agent and his excuses; Lord Sondes did not make even 

 this sign, and Lord Albemarle, alas ! will be heard no 

 more. The farmers of the county, the Everitts, the Eng- 

 knds, the Aylmers, the Overmans, the Cobons, the E wings, 

 the Freemans, with S. Gooch, R. Leeds, Fulcher, Reeve, 

 Sewell Reade, and others, mustered in considerable force, 

 while the only man of title amongst, them was Lord Suffield, 

 who kindly consented to take the chair. He was backedby 

 a few other country squires, and more especially by Mr. 

 Antony Hamond, of Westacre. Mr. Hamond, indeed, 

 was the great feature of the entertainment. It was last 

 year, if we recollect aright, that this gentleman signalized 

 himself by making a fair, sensible speech, and he 

 now would seem to have taken to this kind of thing as 

 his peculiar " mission." Whenever anyone else sat 

 down, Mr. Antony Hamond got up. Whatever else was 

 advanced Mr. Antony Hamond had to confirm or con- 

 tradict. It was his duty to put the Chairman himself 

 right, or to put somebody else wrong. He was to the 

 well-served dinner at the Royal Hotel, Norwich, some- 

 thing what the gallant Colonel Sibthorpe or the late 

 lamented Mr. Drummond was to the Commons 

 House of Parliament. People cheered him and 

 laughed at him. He was thoroughly original, 

 too, in his manner, and delivered stale truisms 

 and obsolete clap-traps with an emphasis that was 

 truly charming, either for its artifice or simplicity. 

 He had long-dwelling imposing pauses — ere he came 

 to his "points." There were curious intonations and 

 droppings of the voice, seasoned with such spontaneous 

 expletives as "by Jove!" "deuced well," and 

 "devilish strange." And then, whenever the fun 

 flagged there was a word or two about fox-hunting, and 

 and as of coarse everybody bad a cheer for this, a halloa 



for'ard set him going again. And yet, notwithstanding 

 the " By Joves !" " the preservation of foxes," and the 

 assumption of a certain heartiness of expression, Mr. 

 Antony Hamond's several addresses were as little like 

 the few straightforward sentences of an English country 

 squire as it is possible to imagine. Let us cull a little 

 of the best of what he did say. In the first place, in pro- 

 posing the health of the Chairman : " Mr. Hamond was 

 very glad that noble dukes thought it right to pay to the 

 yeomanry and gentry of this country the compliment of 

 presiding at meetings of this sort — a proper tribute to 

 those men by whom their graces got their bread — 

 (laughter and " Hear, hear") — and secondly, because 

 the success of this society was not only proved by the 

 meeting of this day, but its future success was gua- 

 ranteed by that meeting, which, in his opinion, exceeded 

 in excellence the early shows of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society (cheers). He thought it was a great advance- 

 ment when a single county could produce a show which, 

 12 and Id years ago, a society embracing the whole of 

 England was extremely proud to have an opportunity 

 of showing to its uneducated friends (laughter)". Then, 

 in responding for the Royal Agricultural Society, " Mr. 

 Hamond thought it was only reasonable that such an 

 acknowledgment should be made of the great services 

 rendered to agriculture by the Royal Agricultural So- 

 ciety. Its council was composed of men of little know- 

 ledge of agricultural matters — (laughter) — but of great 

 zeal, and great zeal went a long way towards producing 

 great knowledge. The agriculturists of this country 

 were greatly indebted to one class of men than whom 

 none had had to contend with greater prejudices — he 

 meant the implement makers. No men had more suc- 

 cessfully combated those prejudices than these imple- 

 ment makers, who, as they all knew, had raised 

 themselves from mere blacksmiths to a class not 

 to be surpassed by any class of manufacturers in the 

 world (Hear, hear). But, (pause) — what society had 

 produced these men ? — (long pause) — The Royal 

 Agricultural Society." Next, in reference to 

 Mr. Mechi and the proposed Agricultural Bene- 

 volent Association, " Mr. Hamond did not think 

 that these meetings were exactly the occasion for raising 

 the cry of ' Recollect the unfortunate widows and or- 

 phans of distressed agriculturists I ' He was not fond 

 of these benevolent societies, more especially of a be- 

 nevolent society originated, as this was, by their good 

 friend old Mechi (laughter), to whom the agriculturists 

 of Norfolk were so very much indebted. (Great laugh- 

 ter.) (Long pause.) Well, they were indebted to him. 

 Why ? (Pause.) Because he set them thinking, and that 

 was one of the greatest benefits that could be conferred 

 on a farmer, or any other reasoning man. It struck 

 him — (pause) — that this ' benevolent association' was so 

 monstrously like an advertisement of the Leadenhall- 

 street establishment, that (dropping his voice) he would 

 rather not have anything to do with it. (Laughter.)" 

 Again, when the chairman gave the health of Lord 

 Walsingham as the most successful exhibitor of short- 

 woolled sheep, and Mr. Woods was about to respond, 

 Mr. Anthony Hamond insisted on being heard ; for 

 " though the noble lord did not take any personal inter- 

 est in the charming amusement of fox-hunting, he had 

 honourably fulfilled his promise to preserve foxes ; and— 

 (long pause) — his covers were never drawn without a fox 

 being found !" 



Subsequently the proceedings promised to become 

 really useful and interesting. Mr. Atkins, in respond- 

 ing for the Implement Judges, spoke strongly in favour 

 of Burgess and Key's mower and its performance the 

 previous day. Whereupon Lord Suffield, in pro- 

 posing the next toast, very modestly and becomingly 

 gave bis last year's experience of this mower. His 



