THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



S3 



society to claim more than a fragmtnt of bis wide reputation, 

 but who in the lessona of his vast experience and consummate 

 judgment, etilJ, happily, prolongs from year to year the echo 



of the proud recollections that we rely for our chief strength 

 on our esteemed President, who is one of the first breeders in 

 the world (loud and prolonged applause). 



THE BATH AND WEST OF ENGLAND SOCIETY. 



MEETING AT DORCHESTER. 



Seldom has the celebration of a festival hart to 

 contend with such difficulties as that just held 

 in Dorsetshire. But never were obstacles more 

 manfully encountered or perseveringly overcome. To 

 be sure, they rose again and again hydra-headed as 

 certainly as they were supposed to be subdued. For 

 the last fortnl;^ht the Directors of the Show have been 

 engaged in one anxious struggle with the elements. 

 Twice in that time has their encampment been utterly 

 uprooted. All the ills of wind and rain have been as- 

 sociated with a site that, under the circumstances, 

 turned out to be the worst possible that could have 

 been selected. This was nothing more nor less than 

 a low-lying undrained marsh, which two or three 

 hours' rain reduced to a swamp, and that with the 

 weather we have had of late, promised soon to become 

 impassable. In fact, with the inevitable traffic conse- 

 quent on the preliminary arrangements, it was con- 

 tinually coming to that caution a West of England 

 man knows so well, as " Ware bog, there !" Waggons 

 sank over their axle-trees, and wei'e soon hopelessly 

 ''fast,'' !Men were up to their knees at every other 

 step ; while unhappy Jonathan Gray saw the fixing 

 poles and posts of his much-beloved shedding imbedded 

 in a soil of the tenacity of moist-brown sugar, and 

 where of course his holdings "gave " at every gust 

 that swept the unprofitable plain. By the Saturday 

 previous to the opening, matters had reached such a 

 crisis that the office of a " mud-steward" was deter- 

 mined on, and Mr. Gabriel Poole complimented with 

 the appointment. Dikes were dug, testing holes 

 fathomed, hundreds on hundreds of flake hurdles 

 buried in the slush, and portions even of the place 

 fairly boarded over. A council meeting was held on 

 the ground after church on Sunday, and everything 

 that well-directed energy and days and nights of hard 

 labour could do employed to put things to rights. 

 Indeed, that admirable management the Society is so 

 famous for alone saved the meeting. It is the con- 

 ventional fashion to close any account of almost any 

 public proceedings with an expression of thanks to the 

 officials, and of how much the occasion owed to their 

 exerlions. Justice demands a far earlier acknowledg- 

 ment here. The Dorchester meeting owed everything 

 to the indomitable endeavours of such men as Mr. 

 Acland, Mr. Jonathan Gray, Mr. Pitman, Mr. Widdi- 

 comb, and others. Of Mr. Widdicomb's worth espe- 

 cially we heard on all sides. Never was there a more 

 able Director — that is, il indefatigable industry, ready 

 ourtesy, and excellent discretion go at all to make up 



the character ; and Mv. Brandreth Gibbs must look to 

 his laurels. 



The great question, however, as with Mrs. Sld- 

 dons when she heard of the Prime Minister locked 

 up for the night by mistake in his buvtuu, " Poor 

 gentleman, how gat he there ?" is one that everybody 

 echoed at Dorchester. When there was a grass- 

 covered ample hill-side quite as handy, and that was 

 hard and dry again in an hour after the rain had 

 ceased, it certainly seemed something of an enigma 

 how the poor gentlemen ever (jat themselves where 

 they did. It was said, though, that the Council bowed 

 even in their experience to the Local Committee, who 

 wished the visitors to parade in procession, as it were, 

 down their high street to the show- ground. If so, 

 they had something more of a sight than was perhaps 

 bargained on ; for, let an ankle be ever so neat, it 

 hardly tells as well with a draggleel petticoat and a 

 dandy boot despoiled of its splendour. After all, the 

 officers of the Society are of course responsible, and it 

 is scarcely necessary to say how good a lesson this will 

 be for their future conduct. They alone can judge 

 properly of their requirements, and no false feeling of 

 gooel-natured compliance should interfere with their 

 demands and their decision, 



" Under the circumstances," and our report must 

 be taken altogether with this proviso, the Show was 

 one of quite average excellence. The strong and weak 

 classes of stock were well balanced one against the 

 other, while the increased entry of implements went to 

 make up for an}' deficit of iutei'est in that department. 

 The Society still preserves the happy art of drawing 

 directly on the strength of the district it visits ; and 

 whether we regard tlie stands of the local manufac- 

 turers, or the prize animals of the County exhibitors, 

 there was ever a ready key to tell where we were. 

 Nevertheless, though even nearer home, as it were, 

 than either at Cardiff or Barnstaple, there was one de- 

 scription of now famous stock that made no great mark 

 at Dorchester. If not positively weak, the Shorthorns, 

 either in numbers or excellence, were by no means re- 

 markable for creating any extraordinary impression. 

 And yet Colonel Towneley led off the lists with a Master 

 Butterfly— the 5th, as he is distinguished— an upstand- 

 ing, narrow, unhandsome-looking animal, that neither 

 the judges nor the public could be induced to take to. 

 Clearly the pick of the sort was the pr'ze bull of this 

 class, Mr. Hewer's Borrowby Lad, a big, useful, well- 

 bred beast, of very good quality, but not quite so even 

 over the quarter as "should be." Lady Pigott did 



