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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



all-England class, with a piece of plate, value £10, 

 from the town fund, to the owner of the winning team. 

 His Grace the Duke of Bedford took the latter; his 

 man, George Brown, having been acknowledged to 

 have done the best, in a great deal of excellent 

 work. In nothing was the day's proceedings more 

 creditable to the county than in the prize plough- 

 ing. Then, there were premiums for shepherds and 

 other labourers, for fathers of lamilies, and for 

 domestic servants; while the other division of the cata- 

 logue included breeding and store stock, drauglit and 

 riding horses, sheep, pigs, and a strong show of 

 poultry. The cattle of the county are liere, again, the 

 shorthorns, of whicli there was both a large and good 

 entry. Many of the landlords and their tenantry are 

 evidently going into this branch of tlie business with 

 great spirit. The second prize bull, the property of 

 Mr. Harrison, was bred by Mr. Fawkes, of Farnley ; 

 although he would hardly bear comparison with 

 the grand animal of Mr. Elston's that beat him. One 

 was certainly twice the age of the other, but the first 

 prize beast will be always difficult to catch. The 

 strength of the county was materially assisted by the 

 herd of a neighbour — Mr. Robinson, of Clifton — a very 

 rising man with the shorthorns, and who had it nearly 

 all his own way with the heifers, exhibiting some of 

 really first-rate quality and promise. Mr. Robinson's 

 appearance liere was considerably to the detriment of 

 the stock show of the Bedfordshire Society at Biggles- 

 wade the day following, where, instead of being as last 

 year a prominent exhibitor, he was content to act 

 merely as judge of other people's animals. It was to 

 be regretted tliere was not a little more time between 

 the two meetings, especially as this means of com- 

 paring the sti-ength of the two counties may be both 

 interesting and mutually advantageous. 



A very good show of long-woolled sheep was made 

 up from the flocks of Mr. Shaw, of Hunsbury, Mr. 

 Lovell Cowley, Mr. Brooke, and Mr. Redgrave, who go 

 again and again to such men as Mr. Sanday and Mr. 

 Spencer for what they want in this way. Mr. Thursby 

 and Mr. Marriott have a lead with pigs, for the excel- 

 lence of which Jlessrs. Wiley and Watson stand re- 

 sponbible. It will be gathered from this that all the 

 best breeds of cattle, sheep, and swine are now carefully 

 cultivated in Northamptonshire. In the matter of 

 horses, the county can afford to stand on its own merits. 

 The " shire" draught-horses have a repute of their own, 

 while the farmers made up at this Towcestcr meet- 

 ing a very creditable show of huiiting-mares and 

 foals. In a flying county like this, they go more 

 for blood tlian agriculturists generally take to; and 

 witli some quite thorough-bred dams there was scarcely 

 a foal but was by a horse of some character. 

 Perhaps the lion of the whole exhibition was a 

 two-year-old hunting- colt, the property of Mr. 

 William Shaw, of Coton, which has now taken the first 

 prize at every meeting he has been entered— that is, 

 at (iraiitham, Manchester, and Towcestcr. For liis age, 

 he is really a most extraordinary animal, standing 

 quite sixteen hands high, and looking far more like a 



well-grown three-year-old than what he is. He 

 abounds in the good points of a fashionable hunter, 

 with aneat lean blood-likohead to begin with, a capital 

 shoulder, and great depth of girth. He might have a 

 little more bone below the knee ; but, as it is, has no- 

 thing to do but to fill out and furnish, to make a very 

 long price. This colt is by the Ugly Buck, as is the 

 foal out of Mr. Wiillis' hunting-mare; and clever as 

 is the latter, the young one promises far to excel her. 

 Lord St. John sent a capital cart-mare, and Mr. Man- 

 ning a young chesnut stallion, with a wonderfully good 

 back and quarters, and other points to match, that told 

 at once in his favour. 



As with most of these gatherings, the worst feature 

 of the proceedings was the dinner. And this, be it un- 

 derstood, notwithstanding that the room was crowded, 

 and there being a positive superabundance of good 

 things. For five shillings there was — including a dessert 

 — fish, and soup, audjoints, and poultry, and pastry, and 

 game, and venison, sent ready dressed, and reall> hot in 

 its coating of paste, from Fawsley, by "that fine old Eng- 

 glish gentleman," Sir Charles Kuightley. But alas! as 

 usual, there was no attendance. With half-an-hour or so 

 between the courses, it took nearly two hours to get 

 through the eating part of the entertainment ; while the 

 after-dinner proceedings, so far as we witnessed them, 

 were as slow and as tedious as it is possible to imagine, 

 There seems to be a iDOsitive ingenuity exercised on these 

 occasions to introduce toasts and sentiments that have the 

 very remotest connexion with the business of the occasion. 

 For instance, they drank " The Lord Lieutenant of 

 the County," with " cheers" of course, and we heard 

 one man (bred and born in the county) ask another 

 who the Lord Lieutenant was? As a rule there 

 is a terrible deal of dead weight to be got through, 

 and unfortunately we had to leave befoi-e the excite- 

 ment began. This was nothing more nor less than 

 a row, which thus originated : — Sir Henry Dryden 

 rose to propose the Judges, and in doing so said — 

 " Amongst all the prizes, he was surprised to see they 

 had no cups for twitch, docks, thistles, and nettles. 

 What ! no prize for the staple commodity of South 

 Northamptonshire? (laughter.) Did they not give a 

 medal to the patriotic gentleman who had turned 

 twitch into paper ? (General Cartwright : * And failed.') 

 He had passed the place, and saw a large stack of it. 

 The paper was, he believed, as brittle and as tender as 

 it could be ; but what did that matter if they could sell 

 it? (laughter.) General Cartwright said Mr. Mechi 

 wanted to live to see every farmer pay £3 an acre. He 

 (Sir Henry) had been through England, Ireland, aiid 

 Scotland, and he must say that that district (South 

 Northamptonshire) was the worst farmed and lowest 

 rented of any in her Majesty's dominions (laughter, 

 cheers, and cries of ' No, no.') That was the fact, 

 and any one who had travelled through the same places 

 as he had done would come to the same conclusion 

 (No, no). It was not only the worst farmed district, 

 but was also the lowest rented, and if they would find 

 better land lie should very much like to go and see it 

 (Hear, hear, and mai-ks of disapprobation.)" 



