THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



17 



THE JUDGES OF OUR AGRICULTURAL S CI ET IE S -THEI R 

 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES. 



I have for many years derived great pleasure from 

 reading the various accounts given of the proceedings of 

 our agricultural societies, and the reports of their nu- 

 merous meetings held in every part of our highly- 

 favoured country. They are often highly interesting to 

 the general reader; but to the agriculturist, who de- 

 lights in noticing the progress of agricultural science, 

 and who lays himself out to forward the great modern 

 improvements in its practice, they are intensely so. Be- 

 sides, they are, and have long been, amongst the greatest 

 blessings and benefits enjoyed by this kingdom j for it 

 is no fiction to say that, under the stimulating and en- 

 couraging influences of such societies, the supply of 

 human food, the value and amount of the landed produc- 

 tions of the country, have been astonishingly increased ; 

 and that these are still undergoing vast accessions, 

 both in weight and quality, for the sustenance and com- 

 fort of man and beast, is manifest to all. It must have 

 struck the most casual observer that we are indebted in 

 a great measure, for the fullest, for the true success of 

 these meetings, to the gentlemen who are called upon to 

 act as judges on these occasions ; and as the period is 

 near at hand when the meetings of our leading societies 

 take place, it is my intention to express a few thoughts 

 on their duties and responsibilities as a class. The 

 first thing I would advert to is this — the choice of 

 judges. I have . frequently cast my eye over the list of 

 judges who have officiated at our principal meetings, 

 and have wondered why the same names should ap- 

 pear over and over again. " Surely, I have thought, 

 " this cannot be right. Why, these men are not the 

 only ones entitled or qualified to set the taste, the sliape, 

 or fashion of the different animals, or affirm their value as 

 abreed ; nor are they the only qualified men to decide as 

 to the usefulness and economy of the various implements, 

 roots, or other produce, &c., &c., coming under their 

 inspection in the yards and trial-fields." And I have 

 expressed my surprise that more fresh men were not 

 sought out and engaged ; but I have been invariably 

 met with this rejoinder : " That really the duties and 

 responsibilities of judges were so onerous, and the diffi- 

 culties they experienced in arriving at correct and just 

 decisions so great, that it has almost become a matter of 

 course to invite men who have gained, and who enjoy 

 the confidence of the public, and of the exhibitors 

 in the various departments of these shows — 

 men of great experience, sound judgment, comprehensive 

 views, and free from prejudice." This is all right 

 enough, and these are the very men the officers of all 

 societies should endeavour to find — men of independent 

 minds, well versed in general knowledge of the particular 

 classes upon which they are called upon to adjudicate, 

 and the especial claims they put forth for public 

 patronage. I say general knowledge, because their 



judgment must embrace the widest scope possible. 

 Judges at the Royal Agricultural Society of England's 

 Meetings, or similar meetings, do not adjudicate for 

 particular districts : they take the wide scope of British 

 agriculture. It is only at small local shows where such 

 adjudications can be at all permissible, and then a 

 hundred to one but they are wrong. J udges who possess 

 the highest requisite qualifications, even at these local 

 meetings, will ignore every animal or every implement 

 which does not manifest and combine in a great degree 

 those modern improvements or adaptations which the 

 present age has established as absolutely necessary. In 

 the implement classes this is a very important feature ; 

 for, notwithstandbg all that has been done or achieved 

 in agricultural mechanics, there are yet many districts 

 in the kingdom, where the rudest implements are still in 

 constant use, and effective economical labour in cultiva- 

 tion almost unknown. The awards of competent judges, 

 even at the local shows, connected with, or being near 

 such districts, should and will tend much to guide the 

 farming public in their choice of implements and ma- 

 chinery best qualified for the most extensive usefulness 

 therein, and thus by their decisions promote and en- 

 courage the introduction of a better order of both im- 

 plements and machinery. I am well aware of the great 

 difficulties thatexistinovercominglocal prejudices ; hence 

 the great value of the migratory character of our great 

 societies, carrying, as they do, their knowledge and their 

 influence into every district of the United Kingdom. 

 It is at these and similar large meetings that competent 

 judges exert such a powerful influence ; and therefore is 

 it the more imperative that they should be right men — 

 " right men in right places." No man ought to under- 

 take the important duty of a judge at these shows, unless 

 he is "well up to the mark." If a judge of stock, he 

 ought to possess a minute acquaintance with the lesser 

 things which cause to differ, as well as a correct general 

 knowledge of the precise classes of stock he is called 

 upon to examine and adjudge. The same remark will 

 apply to an implement judge : his knowledge of agricul- 

 tural mechanics should be very comprehensive and sound, 

 descending to every minutite of manufacture in detail ; 

 he ought also to be a thorough practical man of 

 business as a farmer, competent to decide upon 

 the real utility of every implement brought 

 under his inspection in actual trial for farm service, 

 carefully discriminating between the workmen's skill 

 in applying the implement, and the capabilities of 

 it in general use. I have frequently officiated in both 

 capacities, and have no hesitation in declaring the 

 duties of an implement-judge to be far more onerous 

 and difficult than those of a stock -judge ; certainly re- 

 quiring much greater attention to minute particulars, 

 and a comprehension of a far wider character — from the 







