212 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



catching. " Miss Clarke" was a gieatfine lengthy mare, 

 with very strong joints, and but for the judges considering 

 her too much of a coacher, she would liave taken the 

 prize. " Potichomanie" had rather flat feet, and was 

 blind of an eye, but her quarters were pretty. The four- 

 year-old, " Vanity," by" Maroon," had a great deal of 

 style about her, and, like " Miss Clarke," was com- 

 mended ; but the judges seemed to think that, 

 at four years old, she could hardly be a brood-mare. 

 " Hannah" was merely a coaching-mare. The winner, 

 " Golden Locks," won more on the demerits of the 

 others than her own hook. Still she is a fair style of 

 mare, but lacks those fine hips which ought to be a sine 

 qua 710)1 for a mother of jumpers. 



Class TV., for " Mares for breeding Hackneys," was 

 an equally weak class. The winning grey was certainly 

 neat-headed; but " Beauty" was a mare with a plain 

 croup, bent fore-legs, and coarse hocks ; while " Miss 

 Fussell" was rather like a camelopard as regarded 

 the height of her front legs, and a light-boned mare 

 altogether. 



Three other blood-sires competed for the special 

 piize, but they were hardly worth sending. 

 Of the " special prize" blood horses which showed 

 only in that class, we may simply remark that 

 "His Grace" had a very sweet head; "Young 

 Windsor" was of the coacher school ; and " Gorgerat" 

 was light behind the saddle. From so much that was 

 bad and unworthy of England's hunting fame, it was 

 pleasant to turn to Class II., the " Mountain-pony 

 Stallions," which was a capital one. " Turpin" went 

 well; " Llwytmov" was as handsome as paint ; "Dick" 

 was perfection, but small, and didn'tgo well ; "Dandy" 

 was also too small; "Tommy" was nice, but didn't 

 go; and the second-prizeman, "Toby," a blue roan, 

 with a flap crest, had more size than the rest, but 

 lacked action : in fact, there were looks enough in 

 this class, but action and size were wanted in too 

 many instances. " Highland Laddie" was an easy 

 winner, in size, shape, and every thing ; ut he did not 

 bend his knee in the true orthodox fashion. Still the 

 crowd fairly "rose at him" as he stepped out of the 

 yard at last. Four months ago Mr. Moffat bought him 

 for £25, to act as teazer to British Yeoman on his 

 rounds; and one of the judges offered Mr. Pain £20 for 

 his bargain a minute or two after he had bought him. 

 We wonder that " Cannie Cumberland" consented to let 

 him go so cheap. The price Mr. Pain wanted was £120, 

 and though Mr. Starky felt pretty sure that Fisherman 

 was at that identical moment winning the Queen's Plate 

 at Nottingham, he did not care to lay down more 

 than the hundred ; so the twain split the difference. As 

 fancy shooting ponies, and geldings too, have gone, he is 

 not so dear after all. The Mountain Mare Ponies, Class 

 in., were feeble as a lot; but there were three com- 

 mendations amongst them. " Paget" was good ; Mr. 

 Roberts's was small, but went well ; " Jenny" was 

 pretty, but did not go. The second-prize, " Jenny" was 

 a good average ; and so was the commended " Bess;" 

 but we thought them far below the first prize, " Old 

 Bessy," upwards of twenty years old, who just saved the 

 class by an inch, and was a complete miniature of a 

 lengthy little bay hunter. In fact, she, " Spencer," and 

 " Highland Laddie" were the objects we curied away 

 ia our eye. Classes IV. and V., for Welsh Ponies, had 

 nothing good, except perhaps ''Ruby." Class VL, 

 "Two-year-old (Jcldingsor Filliesforhuntingpurposes," 

 did not come up to the mark. " Pretty Boy," the win- 

 ner, had nice hocks, rather far behind him ; and Mr. 

 Denton's chesnut had good bone, but was slightly cross- 

 ankled. Class VII. , for " Yearling Fillies, Colts, or 

 Geldings for hunting purposes," was much better. The 

 winner was a Grosvenor, with nice length and style ; 



and his half-brother had much the same character, but 

 was rather taller, and narrow and light in his back-ribs. 

 " Sandy'' was a good improving colt, useful and plain, 

 but " Hector" had a malformation of the off hock. 

 The veterinaries were very hard at work all day, and 

 disqualified, within our knowledge, two horses for cata- 

 ract, one for chronic cough, and one for being thin- 

 soled. What they did with the rojrers we know not, 

 but one at least of these unfortunates prophesied pretty 

 loudly of himself. 



The great treat of the Show was to see the stallions 

 file out at last ; and it is often not till then that the real 

 strength of the .Show can be judged of. The great 

 " Glengarry," especially, made us think that, despite 

 his imposing size, he looked better " framed" in his 

 stall. There was a perfect roar at " Black Ball." 

 Some recommended bran, and some pudding, for the 

 improvement of his remarkable frame. The populace 

 would make the ponies show their paces, sadly to the 

 annoyance of some of their conductors, who were so 

 weary with the long day that they could hardly shuffle 

 over the ground, and got told, to their woe, that they had 

 eaten too much. 



SHEEP. 



LEICE STERS. 



The classes of sheep were exceedingly good, but not 

 equal to some former years in quality, or excellence in 

 hand or proportions. The numbers in some of the 

 classes manifested a considerable falling off. The South- 

 down class this year had only 53 entries, several of which 

 were not filled up. The Cotswolds shewed in consider- 

 able numbers, and partook as largely as ever of their 

 usual gigantic proportions, and, in some instances, ex- 

 celled in firmness of hand and quantity of wool. The 

 Leicesters certainly are below the average of some 

 former years, whilst the Shropshire and other short- 

 wools manifest again a decided superiority; ofthe" other 

 breed" classes we cannot say much. Some useful Che- 

 viots and mountain sheep were exhibited. 



We give another tabular form of the entiles for 

 a few past years. The number of pens of sheep entered 

 at different meetings is as fi^Uows; — 



The Chester Meeting, therefore, shows a falling off of 

 nearly one-fifth, compared with last year, being chiefly 

 in the two classes of Southdowns and long-wools. 



It is not our intention, this year, to go through each 

 class consecutively, or to attempt a short critique upon 

 each meritorious animal. It may be pleasant to each 

 exhibitor of a fir.st-class animal to see him favourably 

 noticed, but to the general reader it is a matter of more 

 indifference; and whilst 500 may read us, 5,000 pass 

 us over unnoticed. We now commence more generally 

 with Leicesters. 



Class 1. — Shearling rams; in this class, Mr. T. E. 

 Pawlett, of Becston, l?eds, is the most successful com- 

 petitor, winning the first prize of ^'20 with No. 391, a 

 sheep of unusual beauty and line frame, his hand and 

 quality equal to those shown by Mr. Pawlett in former 

 years, and possessing all the valuable characteristics of his 

 far-famed breed. The whole of the animals exhibited by 



