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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE OXFORDSHIRE AND BANBURY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



MEETING AT BANBURY. 



The union between the Oxford and Banbury district 

 associations is somewhat peculiar in its character. It 

 is by no means the merging of one body into another. 

 On the contrary, eitlier carefully preserves the distinc- 

 tive features of its own idiosyncracy. Mr. Henley is 

 still the President of the Oxford Society, as Colonel 

 North is of that originating at Banbury. The show of 

 the one is held early in the summei', and of the other, ac- 

 cording to long practice, in the autumn. We believe, 

 too, that each has its own working staff, committee, se- 

 cretary, and so on. In fact, the only ostensible union 

 is that the meeting is taken alternate years at Oxford 

 and Banbury. It is a question whether such a cen- 

 tralization of forces is so complete as it should be. In- 

 deed, a proposition was made at the dinner on Tuesday 

 last to re-christen the association as " The Midland." 

 We have, however, one well-known Midland Counties 

 Society already, while there can be no possible reason 

 ■why this should not be known as "The Oxfordshire." 



Still, by any other name it would seem to do as well. 

 For the numerical strength of the entries, we seldom 

 remember having seen so much good stock as wo did at 

 this meeting at Banbury. The county itself is well pro- 

 vided, and the adjoining districts gave some strong 

 support to the show. The Shorthorn classes, for exam- 

 ple, were wonderfully good. Two Oxfordshire land- 

 lords, Mr. Langstone and Mr. Hall, have — the former 

 more especially — long enjoyed a repute for this breed. 

 Then they were ably backed by such spirited tenants as 

 Messrs. Hutt and Middleton, while Mr. Stratton and 

 Mr. Hewer, from Wiltshire, afforded the opportunity 

 of testing what the home-bred animals were really 

 equal to. Mr. Stratton of course had the best of it — 

 the best bull, the best cow, the best young bull, and the 

 best heifer. His first prize bull " Victory" has 

 long since proved himself worthy of his name 

 — at Cardiff this summer, and as a yearling 

 at Gloucester, Newport, Devizes, and, in short, 

 throughout Mr. Stratton's territory. For his age — only 

 two years and a-half — he is a remarkably well-grown 

 animal, with a particularly neat head and fine touch. 

 But, perhaps. Victory was never so severely tried as 

 on this occasion ; his chief opponent in an altogether 

 excellent entry was no less than the second prize bull 

 at the Royal Agricultural Society's meeting at Salis- 

 bury — Mr. Langstone's Gloucester's Grand Duke, a 

 well-bred, fine-framed, good-coloured bull, that, 

 strange to say, has never yet reached anything better 

 than second honours. Double the age of Mr. Stratton's 

 beast, he rather overpowered him at the first glance of 

 comparison between the two; but with this point duly 

 debated, there could be no question as to the justice 

 of the award — although wo did fancy Mr. Langstone 

 seemed a little sore over it. But he had some recom- 



pense for any such disappointment in a special premium 

 for a younger bull, said to be best bred beast on the 

 ground. " The best horned animal in the yard," 

 and for which Mr. Langstone gave a prize of ^''10, 

 turned up in a beautiful heifer from the Hinton 

 herd. With a lovely head to begin with, she was al- 

 most perfect " forward," and with not much to cavil 

 at elsewhere. Sultana the Second, as she is called, 

 is by Hickory, the sire of the prize bull, and, like 

 him, a great winner on the Western Circuit. The 

 prize cow at Banbury was Mr. Stratton's white, 

 Matchless the Third, and both cow and heifer were 

 the first of their entry at the Cardiff Meeting. This 

 will show the quality of that the Oxfordshire farmers 

 had to contend against. Mr. Hutt need by no 

 means be ashamed of his great useful cows ; while in 

 perhaps the best lot of all the yard, the pairs of two- 

 j ear-old heifers, he fairly beat Mr. Stratton, as well as 

 Mr. Langstone. The winning pair were both good- 

 looking and good handlers ; and their owner would 

 appear to have gone to the best blood for what he 

 wanted. Colonel North sent a hollow-backed, in- 

 different-looking Alderney, and some one else a Here- 

 ford ; but the Shorthorns had it all their own way, both 

 in numbers and excellence. 



The sheep show was worthy of the cattle. In one 

 small circular tent there were grouped some most 

 admirable specimens of long-wools, with two or 

 three good Shropshire Downs, and some less " likely" 

 Southdowns. But, naturally enough, the Oxfordshire 

 Downs and the Cotswolds had the call ; and the former, 

 quite as much as a matter of course, a majority in the 

 entry. Indeed the Oxfordshire Down was the especial 

 feature of the occasion ; and Mr. Bryan, Mr. Hewer, 

 Mr. Miller, Mr. Walker, his Grace the Duke of Marl- 

 borough, and others, appeared amongst the exhibitors 

 of this newly-known variety. It is, however, only 

 new in name. There are flocks such as Mr. Bryan's, 

 which have been cultivated for more than twenty years; 

 and, strange as it may sound, the purity of a " cross- 

 bred" is regarded with great attention and some 

 jealousy. Mr. Bryan's aged ram was commended at 

 Chester ; and, after his sheep, the Duke of Marl- 

 borough's pen of ewes were pronounced to be amongst 

 the most legitimate samples of the sort. But Mr. 

 IMiller, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Gaskell exhibited some 

 grand sheep, and in the opinion of the Judges ranked 

 before his Grace, at least in apparent merit. Mr. King 

 Tombs and Mr. Beale Browne divided the honours of 

 the Cotswolds ; Mr. Browne taking the premiums for 

 rams, and Mr. Tombs the first for ewes with the 

 picked sheep of the meeting. Mr. Browne's pen of 

 ewes were brought all the way back again from Ireland, 

 where they look the first prize at the Londonderry 



