THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



31 



Boby'd screen, viz., djlbs. from IJ cwt. — and this thrashing 

 machine is supposed to be perfect. I must say af;;ain, I was 

 sorry at having so small a number of competitors ; but having 

 had my rubs with the makers on the subject, I will say uo more 

 than that I am happy we still meet as friends. I can also 

 answer for the goodness of many chaff-cutters, and nothing but 

 the greatest pams-taking and the working of many figures 

 from the dynamometer could decide on the superiority of one 

 over the other. The pulse-bruisers were not equally matched 

 as to size.so I will say nothingon that subject. With the ploughs 

 and field implements I had nothing to do, as they were not in 

 my department. On the trials of 3^ horse-power thrashing- 

 machines I will say nothing : they ace a bad class ; and where 

 farmers wish for such small pow-er, they Imd better adhere to 

 the simple thrashing machine. As a judge, I well know there 

 must be disappointed exhibitors, but we act for the benefit of 

 the farmer ; and if leading firms are beaten, we must rejoice 

 that the agricultural societies have stirred up a good and 

 wholesome rivalry, and thus brought better implements into 

 use I hope I have now said enough for my department, and 

 having made thus a small report of our proceediugs during 

 this pleasant meeting, I must congratulate the Society also on 

 the benefit that is entailed on the labouring community ; for 

 where steam is employed, there you sse more labour employed, 

 and much more intelligence growing up amongst our humbler 

 brethren. This is caused by the march from place to place 

 of the Agricultural Societies ; securing at the same time good 

 employmeat for the artiK^u and mechanic, as well as for the 

 farm labourer. While the country thus improves in intelli- 

 gence, and consequently in morality, so will blessings be 

 added to the many so long bestowed on dear old England. 

 In the name of the judges of implements, I return you our 

 best thanks.'— [Mr. Caldwell's address was received with 

 marked attention, and he sat down amidst general cheering.] 



Mr. Smith, of Exmoor, also replied, as one of the Judges of 

 stock. He said : My Lord and Gentlemen, — I feel that an im- 

 portant duty has fallen to my lot. I am called upon to answer 

 for the opinions of the twelve learned judges who have acted on 

 this occasion to award the many premiums offered in the stock 

 classes. If I had the talent of a Sillivaat, this would indeed be 

 an easy task. But, !uy Lord, T am thrown on my own resources ; 

 and happily do I reflect that while Dame Agriculture g.-ive us 

 birth, we have had practice at our fingers' end, and I hesitate not 

 to tell you that we have fearlessly done our duty. The practical 

 duties of a judge are best illustrated by the fact that, at such 

 gatherings as the present, it is their duty to keep in view the 

 great object of the Society, viz., to unite with elegance and 

 quality of flesh the great essential of constitution which can 

 alone be produced by the cylindrical form. Again, it should 

 be remembered that they are required to point out a class of 

 animals that shall be best suited to the produciion of male 

 animals, leaving the local societies to award their prizes for 

 geldings, steers, and general stock. lu so doing they are 

 bound to adhere to symmetry end quality as the only founda- 

 tion of this important object, leaving the larger or irregular 

 forms to the chances I have named. Allow me, my Lord, to 

 claim for myself and colleagues the advantages we had in 

 being enabled to see the animals unloosed and paraded before 

 us to assist our judgment, whde the spectator during his 

 scrutiny has alone the chance of seeing the animals as they 

 may happen to appear bafore him, attitude having much to do 

 with the decisions they con-e to, and thus frequently to con- 

 demn the judges. Having said thus much for my colleagues, 

 allow me as a west countryman to express my delight in 

 common with previous speakers at the warm reception we 

 have met on this our sister soil. Although our Society boasts 

 its ancient date, and coai<equent usefulness, I may fairly say 

 that, in accepting the invitation of the Principality, we do not 

 bring with us the spirit of dictation, but we do bring with us 

 a spirit of fellowship, which we hope will ripen into maturity 

 on both sides the Bristol Channel. We briijg not with us our 

 camp for warfare, but rather for peace, and this we have 

 pitched upon the green sward of this ^beautiful park. To 

 cement this union, we invite you to pay us a return visit 

 in the year 1859. I say come to that picturesque and 

 beautiful locality. North Devon — our next lanniveraary at 

 Barnstaple — and we will give you a hearty welcome. To re- 

 turn to ray charge, it may be rightly expected that I should 

 give some account of the exhibition. This is told in a some- 

 what brief summary ; it is a fair and bold average gathering j 



upon the whole. There are, as in former years, the strong 

 entries and weak entries. It has been truly said that the 

 Society comes not here to teach ; but I would humbly suggest 

 that it would be well for the Welshman to engraft upon his 

 miud by observalion the merits of the several prize animals in 

 their respective classes, for these arc happy types of their order. 

 For the best displays we may refer to the cattle classes. It ia 

 unfortunately true that the exhibition of Devons is not what 

 we in North Devon could have wished ; but when you come 

 to our classic lauds, we will show you them in greater 

 numbers and of better quality. Your Welsh ponies are worthy 

 of attention, and we here exchange with you a few ideas as to 

 the merits of this most beautiful and useful animal, the pony. 

 I cannot, unfortunately, say as much for your mountain sheep, 

 they are so much excelled by my friends the Exmoor^. I have 

 mentioned the home of the Devons on our side the water; 

 let me add to this that we have also our mountain lauds, and 

 we will exhibit to you on our own soil the Exmoor mountain 

 sheep and ponies in goodly numbers, and then leave you to 

 draw your own inference as to the respective merits of the sister 

 mountain products. We meet hetc cu mutual ground for the 

 interchange of ideas. I see no reason why we should not meet 

 agaiu to exchange our produce. The Exmoor pony is a popu- 

 lar beast, but I feel that he does not excel his companion on 

 the hills, the Exmoor sheep. These require to be better 

 known. As an illustration I will give you figures from my 

 private book. The council having entrusted to my care the 

 collection of information for their report of the show, I have 

 called to my aid the assistance of " the tape," whereby to 

 make a comparison of their girths against the other sheep. Ia 

 doing this I selected the prize ram in each of the old classes, 

 taking as my basis the fact that these would be fully developed 

 in their form, and thus best suit my experiment. I will now 

 read to you the result : — 



Girth of First Pkhe Old Sheep. 



Southdown. . . . ■. 49 inches. 



Hampshire Down 49 „ 



Exmoor Mountain 48 „ 



Dorset Horn 46 „ 



In the long-wooBed classes the old Leicester girthed 61| inches, 

 the Cotswold 60 inches. The Welsh mouutain rams from 33 

 inches to 39 inches. By these figures we get comparative 

 data ; and, I may add, that if any one will visit and inspect 

 the forms of these respective animals, they will find that it is 

 the cylindrical form and depth of flesh that have governed this 

 result, and clearly point to the Exmoor sheep as a hardy class 

 of animal, and why they can so well contest the storms of their 

 mouutain district. I may mention another fact — that, in mea- 

 suring the prize animals in the cattle classes, we found 

 those animals which were the deepest in their fore-quarters 

 were also longer in their form — a circumstance rather contrary 

 to the general views of the spectator (much cheering). 



Mr. Thomas gave "The Stewards," in a speech of much 

 humour, in which he related how turnip culture was introduced 

 into Wales, through the agency of a Lincolnshire farmer, who 

 married a Welsh widow with eight hundred a year as some re- 

 ward for his patriotism. 



Mr. Pitman, as steward of the Poultry Show, responded, 

 and bore testimony to the advantage of poultry shows, in in- 

 creasing the quantity produced, and the quality also. Dork- 

 ings had increased one-third during the last nine years. Eng- 

 land used to spend £1,500,000 annually in the purchase of 

 poultry in France and Spain ; but this had now been con- 

 siderably lessened, 



Mr. BRUCfi proposed " The Labourer," in a speech of much 

 eloquence, and Mr. Moysey " The Royal Agricultural Society 

 of England." 



Mr. AcLAND, as a member of the Council of the Society, 

 repUed. It was the maxim of his relative, the well-known 

 Philip Pusey, that they should not attempt to teach farmers, 

 but collect their experience, and put it before them in a prac- 

 tical form. That was what the Royal Society still desired to 

 do. Mr. Acland dwelt at some length on the advantage of 

 water meadows, and instanced those of Mr. Pusey, and the 

 later triumphs of Mr. Smith on Exmoor, as worthy of the at- 

 tention of the Welsh farmer. He proceeded to show the ad- 

 vantage of " mind" applied to the pursuits of agriculture, and 

 trusted the time would come when the Royal Society would 

 not refuse to pay becomingly for its application to such a pur 



