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lliii i'AKMKK'S MAGAZINE. 



fine temper. And there was to be a class of sucli at 

 Cardiff. At any rate there was a series of premiums, 

 although loo often ere now these have not com- 

 manded an entry. They did, however, at Cardiff. 

 Again the neighbourhood acted up to its chai-acter. 

 It was in every way, either for numbers or 

 excellence, the best exhibition of the sort we 

 ever saw ; and alone well worth the run down. Such 

 miniature pictures of perfection ! Not merely 

 curiosities, like Tom Tliumbs or tadpoles, with small 

 bodies and big heads ; but finely-bred little creatures, 

 with heads like race-horses, the necks and crests of 

 chargers, and the high courage of Arabs. If a man 

 wanted a mount for his son, what would he not give 

 for such a pony as Mr. Blakemore's ? Or, to see how 

 proportioned a small animal may be, let him look at 

 Mr. Williams's bay mare — the realization of what a 

 well-bred hack should be of any size. Such a head 

 here, again, one rarely finds. And yet it is an old 

 story, that ironies are never good in this wise. Some 

 of our friends say they will bring even better from 

 Exmoor to Barnstaple next year. We doubt it. But, 

 if they do, the West of England Society has a capital 

 card to play with them. These concomitant attractions 

 go a great way ; and many people will come to look at 

 a game cock, a smart hack, or a steam-plough, that 

 don't care much about the biggest «f bulls, or the 

 squarest of sheep. 



But the denizens in these pai-ts have always had a 

 liking for a good horse, be he little or big; and great 

 the sport, in days gone by, over Cardiff Course. The 

 proof comes in upon us here in more ways than one. 

 There were not good ponies only ; but a capital class of 

 hunting mares, and some very good two and three- 

 year old colts and fillies. The latter, for a wonder, went 

 almost too much for blood, and looked, as a class, rather 

 light and weedy. They go for a speed hero, with Gaper 

 and St, George, the favourite stallions of the country. 

 Many of the mares were themselves thorough-bred, 

 and the Judges rather unaccountably passed over 

 a great hue Melbourne mare of Mr. Cartwright's, 

 that shotUd have been better appreciated. This section 

 of the Show was quite up to the standard; and thanks, 

 once more, to ocal >upport. This, again, will be 

 grateful to the Council of the Society. We can see 

 Shorthorns and Devoni. in most places ; but it is not 

 always wc can couimand an entry of Hereford cattle, 

 of good ponies, or well-bred horses. 



The draft-hor>€.v did not rank so highly; the young 

 stock were alto;.ethei but inferior. The season of the 

 year will not allow oi a show of Stallions, and the pick 

 of the fair was accord. ngly with the mares. Mr. Lowrie's 

 first prize is realh a bplendid animal, with two good 

 ends and somethmg between them ; for she was nearly 

 as fat as Lord Baieinan's bull. But one yet more distin- 

 guished before now, the old Suffolk " Darby," a winner 

 of almost endless premiums, was altogether overlooked. 

 The judges, iu fact, i>;nored the Suffolks, of which sort 

 Mr, Heever, of Cowbiidge, sent three or four very 

 well-bred ones. But then, as they were judges of pigs 

 as well as horses, one or the other might have been out 



of their lino. The pigs could not have given them 

 much trouble. There was but a short entry, although a 

 very good one. In the large lireed the Berkshii'es 

 carried all before them ; and in the small sorts — a very 

 nice distinction — the reverend Mr. Hodgson maintained 

 the superiority of another black pig, which he calls the 

 Leicester. 



" If we compare" — wi-ites Professor, or V. S. Brown, 

 in the new number of the West of England Journal— 

 " If we compare the present cultivated breeds with the 

 original hardy mountain- sheep, it requires no argu- 

 ment to prove that domestication has impaired their 

 original strength of constitution, and their power of 

 resisting causes of disease. In fact " — hear this, Mr, 

 Marshall, of lliseholme — "the tendenci/ to consump- 

 tion amongst highly-bred sheep is very general." Mr. 

 Brown then dwells on " this remarkable debility of the 

 genei'al system among sheep;" while he adds that 

 *' the remedy is, fortunately, not remote — our moun- 

 tain breeds will afford new materials for invigorating 

 the organism, weakened by a too exclusive system of 

 cultivating certain recognized excellencies." Now 

 the feature of the Cardiff sheep-show was this 

 mountaineer — the Exmoor sheep that is — of 

 which Mr, 3Ierson exhibited some extraordinary 

 specimens. They are very active, small only in height, 

 large in breadth, wide in the chest, and with a very 

 capital clip of wool. They really look healthy, and 

 promise to achieve much of what the Professor has 

 just said for them. Although shown iu no great num- 

 bers, they had quite the call over the other varieties ; but 

 beyond them, the sheep were anything but generally 

 good. Mr. Beale Browne, Mr, Handy, Mr, Smith, of 

 Bibury, and Mr. Tombs had the best of it with the 

 Cotswolds, though the entry of this rising breed was not 

 what it has been ere now. The only good Southdowns, 

 those of Sir Robert Throckmorton, were very properly 

 disqualified, for being unfairly shorn. They had over 

 an inch of wool on them. Clipping a bad- shaped 

 sheep into a good one is an old story, but Sir Rol)ert's 

 did not require it ; and it is said the shepherd offended 

 in entire ignorance of tlie rules. However, he will know 

 better next time ; and some people, seiwants especially, 

 take a deal of teaching. The Shropshii-e and Hamp- 

 shire Downs — saving only Mr. Harbin's ewes — were 

 few and inferior ; and the Dorsets almost as far below 

 high water mark. The home flocks, from the ex- 

 perience of this meeting, will have to look chiefly to 

 their brother-mountaineers, on the other side of the 

 water. 



"The Welsh breeds" and other local classes were au 

 utter failure. A native cow, with a back like a razor, 

 and with notliing bat skin and bone beneath it, was 

 one of the curiosities of the show. Her entry 

 only further proved how much with some peo- 

 ple the lesson was required. liunning to the 

 length our lists and reports already do, we can only 

 add that apet child of the Society— the Poultry Show- 

 was a most successful addition to the attractions of the 

 week. In some varieties it was more than usually 

 strong. The Malays, for instance, made up au extra- 



