THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



137 



Royal Agricultural Society atood in relation to this particular 

 district of England, but be knew that it was worthy to repre- 

 sent the Royal Agricultural Society (cheers). 



Mr. Baunbtt, iu replying to the toast, said the Council 

 of the Royal Society deeply regretted that anything shouid 

 have arisen to interrupt the good feeling' which had existed so 

 long between them and the leading implement-makers of the 

 country ; and for his own part lie could not but feel this 

 regret all the more deeply after what had fallen from his es- 

 teemed foreign friend iu regard to the implement manufac- 

 turers. He had been a steward of implements at the Society's 

 meetiugs for the last four years, and from the extreme cour- 

 tesy, good feeling, and kindness which had been shown him 

 by the implement-makers at large, he was all the more as- 

 tonished that the dissension should have arisen which had 

 caused them to withdraw from the show at Canterbury. He 

 had tried, by reading and asking questions, to find out what 

 had induced them to take this step, but he had not been able 

 to make the discovery. The word " definition" had been 

 made use of, and he had been told that the Society's defini- 

 tions were cot sufficiently explicit, and that consequently the 

 implement-makers could not send their implements to Can- 

 terbury. The word " definition" was an extensive one ; for 

 Plato'sdefinitionof a man was.that he was a two-legged animal 

 without feathers. Diogenes, a very jocose individual in his 

 day, threw a cock stripped of his feathers into Plato's school, 

 to show the vagueness of such a general definition. He (Mr. 

 Barnett) was not going to say that by stripping the imple- 

 ments of their feathers some of their imperfections might be 

 shown, but really he thought that if some implements were 

 Btripped of their feathers they would not exhibit quite so large 

 a body as Diogenes' cock (laughter and cheers). Should any 

 implement-makers see the words he had uttered, he trusted 

 they would take them in good part, and that the kindly feel- 

 ing which had always existed between them and the Society 

 would return. He only hoped it would not be prevented re- 

 turning by one small circumstance, viz., that those for whom 

 certain makers made room this year would not trip up their 

 heels, and exhibit implements which would be considered by 



the farmers of England equal if not superior to those shown 

 on former occasions. 



Mr. Webb begged to propose the healths of the other fo- 

 reign gentlemen who had honoured him with their company, 

 and to associate with the toast the name of Herr Zoeffritz, 

 who had distinguished himself very much in every part of the 

 world iu which he had travelled (cheers.) 



Herr Zoei'fritz, in responding, said he believed the Conti- 

 nent, and his own country especially, would be more and 

 more adapted to English farming. He had been in England 

 for the last six months : he had seen many things which would 

 be most useful to his countrymen; and he was quite sure that 

 every one who came to England would be as much pleased as 

 himself, and would take away with hira the conviction that no 

 i farming in Europe was more prominent than that of Great Bri- 

 tain. He especially admired the English stock, which was 

 ! much superior to any lie had ever seen on the Continent. He 

 ! had seen nearly all continental farming, but he had never 

 ; met with any stock which for fattening and milking qualities 

 I could be compared with the English. " And besides this," 

 j added the speaker, " I never found such a noble race of 

 men as the English farmers. I therefore beg to give you 

 the health of Old England and Old England's farmers" (loud 

 cheers). 



The Chairman gave, as a concluding sentiment, "The 

 health of the wife of our host;" and "May every man pre- 

 sent be in the enjoyment of health, good spirits, and every- 

 thing that constitutes happiness in this life, to enable him to 

 assist Mr. Webb on a future occasion." The toast having 

 been received with rapturous cheers, the Noble Lord quitted 

 the chair. 



The party was a very jolly one. The " three times threes" 

 which followed almost every toast were given with a power of 

 lungs such as one might anticipate from men living for the most 

 part in a breezy champaign country like Cambridgeshire. The 

 foreigners must have been astonished at what they heard and 

 saw, and furthermore bewildered with the " fraternization" 

 experienced, and that towards the close of the proceedings 

 assumed more than one ludicrous phase. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 



MEETING AT CANTERBURY. 



The Royal Agricultural Society has now completed 

 its first cycle. And yet, strangely enough, the round- 

 ing point in its career has been regarded more as an 

 anxious experiment than perhaps any of the preceding 

 anniversaries. The best friends of the Society were 

 more than curious to see how the Canterbury Meeting 

 would pass off. It was an out-of-the-way, one-sided 

 .site. The railway accommodation was neither liberal 

 nor complete. The very county of Kent was some- 

 what divided as to the welcome it should offer ; while 

 the leading implement manufacturers foredoomed the 

 gathering, by announcing their intention to have 

 nothing to do with it. Even further than this, the 

 weather cleared up, and hay-making came on just 

 about the same time as the show week. Never before 

 has a fine day done so little to help out a public occa- 

 sion. If anything, the effect was more damaging 

 than otherwise. 



The result then of all these concomitant causes was 

 a short meeting. There was a short entry of stock. 

 There was a short show of implements, and there was a 

 short attendance of visitors. The chief of these rea- 

 sons were the situation and the inconveniences attend- 

 ing the transition of animals— the long-looked-for 



"seasonable" weather— and the apathy of the Kentish 

 people themselves. The presence or absence of certain 

 machinists had little or nothing to do with it, and the 

 full proof of this will be afforded us next year. Whether 

 they go or whether they do not go, we expect to see 

 the Leeds Meeting as successful a one as that at Can- 

 terbury was the reverse. But the Canterbury "failure,'' 

 if such it must be called, can in no way be attributable 

 to the conduct of the Society. There was no spot left 

 on the map which hangs in the Council room in Han- 

 over-square, that so directly called for a visit. W'ell- 

 to-do as Kent may be, there is no county that has 

 shared so little in the agricultural progression of the 

 last few years. It is the very biding-place of prejudice, 

 and Romney Marsh .sheep, Kentish ploughs, and Sussex 

 cattle here still constitute the ideal standard of excel- 

 lence. Even the offer of a lesson was not very gratefully 

 received. Maidstone has never forgiven the slight, when 

 the Society passed over her claims and went to Lewes. 

 The more Eastern Division did not appear to care much 

 about it ; and it was said there were better sheep and 

 cattle in the county than were exhibited under the aus- 

 pices of the iRoyal Agricultural Society. In fact, to 

 the City, the Mayor, and Corporation, with a few of 



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