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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE YORKSHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MEETING AT PONTEFRACT, 



This little borough of liquorice and " voter-bottling" 

 renown has reaped fresh honours by the very hearty re- 

 ception which it has given to its county show. The 

 streets were perfectly radiant with union -jacks and bits 

 of bunting, fir trees were tied to the lamp posts, laurels 

 became a drug, leading inhabitants gave handsome 

 " spreads," and compelled friends and friends' friends 

 to come in and make merry. The scene in front of The 

 Dragon, when Mr. Lane Fox left on the Wednesday in 

 his four-in-hand, and the hounds were filing off to their 

 quarters, was one of the most animated and unique that 

 Yorkshire has ever known. This new feature of the 

 show was remarkably successful, and £60 was given 

 away in prizes between the two classes. Nothing could 

 have been more complete than the arrangements, both 

 in this and every other department of the meeting. As 

 regards the hounds, a shed with eighteen compartments 

 was erected on one side of a large railed space, in the 

 middle of which a dozen flag stones were neatly laid 

 down so as to form a little platform, on which the three 

 judges, Messrs. Parry, Wickstead, and Percy Williams, 

 took their stand, and tested the straightness of legs and 

 feet as each huntsman and his couple were called on to 

 parade. Out of the nine entries for the aged hounds the 

 Holderness did not show ; and after an interesting con- 

 test between the Duke of Beaufort, Earl Fitzwilliam, 

 Earl of Yarborough, Lord Middleton, Lord Hawke, Sir 

 Watkin Wynne, Hon. F. Villiers, and Mr. Lane Fox, 

 victory declared in favour of the time-honoured 

 Brocklesby kennel, while Yorkshire gained second 

 honours with Lord Middleton, and the veteran John 

 Walker finished third for Wynnstay. In general esti- 

 mation the Yarborough bitch carried the day, although 

 " Gambler" has always been a very great favourite with 

 huntsmen. Lord Middleton's couple were very nearly 

 balanced in merit; and of the Wynnstay the rare 

 " Royal" had decidedly the pull. The Pytchley dog 

 hound was very grand, but his great height spoilt his 

 chance. The same kennels, with the exception of 

 Lord Yarborough's and Earl Fitzwilliam 's, and the 

 addition of the Southwold, tried conclusions for the 

 puppy prizes, where Mr. Lane Fox came to the fore. 

 We thought thebitch puppies the best, but the plan of put- 

 ting one of each sex together made the judging so diffi- 

 cult, that it is proposed another year to have each class 

 subdivided into sexes. Upwards of thirty masters of 

 hounds, past and present, came to look on ; and al- 

 though Tom Sebright, Jem Hills, and Harry Ayris were 

 among the absentees, there was a very large congress 

 of huntsmen, headed by the veteran Will Long and Joe 

 Maiden. Will Butler, who was the only "pink" 

 among them, was in high feather on his new appoint- 

 ment to Earl Fitzwiiliam's pack, and contributed by his 

 speeches and sentiments not a little to the hilarity of 

 the party ,^ who adjourned, under Mr. Brady Nichol- 

 son's presidency, to a dinner marquee on the ground, 

 where their festal proceedings were watched by hundreds 

 with the greatest curiosity. The six pieces of plate 

 arranged on little shelves behind each lot of winning 

 hounds, consisted of cups, teapots, and inkstands. 



Such was the interest of the hound judging, that the 

 Shorthorn ring was in a great measure deserted on Wed- 

 nesday morning, except by a few anxious owners, who 

 scrutinized every movement of the judges, and watched 

 for the handing over of the white or green rosettes with 



the most eager and critical eyes. The group included 

 Mr. Thomas Barnes, Sen., Mr. Torr, Mr. W. Smith, 

 Mr. Sanday, Mr. Grundy, Mr. Wetherell, the Messrs. 

 T. and J. Booth — Mr. Richard Booth could only hear 

 of his triumphs by telegraph — Mr. Culshaw, Mr. 

 Dodds, and others of the most ardent members of that 

 great Shorthorn parliament. 



For the third year in succession, Master Butterfly won 

 the head prize in his class, and if anything, the Canter- 

 bury pilgrimage seemed to have improved him. Would 

 that we could see a cross between him and Queen Mab ! 

 It is worthy of notice that on the very morning he com- 

 pleted his Yorkshire triplet of victories, another son of 

 old Frederick's (an own brother to Diadem) was com- 

 mencing his winning career as a bull calf at " the High- 

 land." Prince Talleyrand was amazingly liked by the 

 Yorkshiremen, but the bad colour and strong shoulder 

 points of Earl Derby 2nd (the winner of the challenge 

 cup at "the Durham County''), went far to spoil a 

 good-looking outline. The Canterbury "Queen's Bench" 

 yearling bull decisions, which had been so rigorously 

 "corrected" at the Durham "Court of Common 

 Pleas," underwent a still stronger revision in "the 

 Exchequer" court at Pontefract. Malachite, who had 

 lost much of his hair, was not even commended ; and 

 although Reformer kept his second place, Prince Fre- 

 derick was put over his head. Great Eastern, Gardoni, 

 and Election were also in the class ; and the eccentric 

 relative positions which these six bulls have held at the 

 three places form quite a study. For our own parts, 

 we side entirely with Reformer throughout. In the 

 bull calf class, Harkaway held on his unbeaten way with 

 Royal Butterfly Fourth next to him, and a half-brother, 

 Tallyho, commended. There were only four in the cow 

 class ; and here the star of Warlaby began once more to 

 rise in earnest with Queen Mab. Rosette was entered, 

 but she had but too recently returned from her Cork 

 journey, and hence Pearl came to do battle for Towneley. 

 Rosebud calved a little roan stranger in the show, and 

 it was no small feather in her cap to receive a high com- 

 mendation in such company and at such a trying hour. 

 The three-year-old class suffered from the absence of 

 Mr. Atherton's Moss Rose, which was away at Dum- 

 fries, and the contest lay between Frederick's Fidelity, 

 the Warwick winner, and Duchess of Gloster, but For- 

 tune smiled on Lady Pigot's pet, albeit she shows 

 strong symptoms of "fool's fat" behind. The scene 

 in the ring when the two-year-old heifers entered 

 was peculiarly exciting ; but the word soon 

 passed among the watchers that the judges could 

 not "get away from Duchess 77th," and that 

 they were becoming "very hot upon Queen of the 

 Vale," in preference to the Canterbury victrix. In 

 fact. Faith and Woodrose seemed to be put out of it 

 very early, and Bates (1) and Booth (2) was the judicial 

 fiat. Queen of the Vale is a very improving heifer, 

 and remarkably good in the forequarter, but she has 

 the fault of all the Red Rose tribe behind. Woodrose 

 is only six weeks off calving to Prince Talleyrand, which 

 rather spoils her for a judge's eye ; but still we think 

 that she has hardly had her due of late. That fine, 

 level, thick-fleshed top must eventually be more thought 

 of than it has been since Canterbury ; but her immense 

 growth has destroyed Faith's chance in heifer classes 

 for this year. 



