THE I'AUMEll'S MAGAZINE. 



383 



Then up rose Mr. Beasley tlic younger, for " IIo 

 could uot sit dowu tamely under the slur that had been 

 cast upon them by Sir Henry Dryden's imputation 

 (' Hear, hear,' and cheers). That was a meeting where 

 friendship and good fellowship should prevail, and 

 where nothing that was calculated to disturb the har- 

 mony of it should be allowed. Ho would say, then, 

 that if any one said the farming of South Northamp- 

 tonshire was bad, he said that which was untrue; or if 

 that was too strong a word, which was a mistake 

 (' Hear, hear,' and great contusion). A gentleman 

 who held an estate in the county as Sir Henry Dryden 

 did, ought to be the last to come forward to cast impu- 

 tations on the farmer (A voice : * Give it him !') Let 

 them ask any stranger amongst them if such a discredit- 

 able state of things existed in the county, and he would 

 tell them that it did not (' Hear, hear'). Northamp- 

 tonshire was the last place they would think of going to 

 to look for twitch (' Hear, hear,' and discordant sounds 

 of approbation and dissension). Let a prize for the best 

 farm be given, open not only to the county, but to all 

 England, and he would lay a strong wager with Sir 

 Henry Dryden that the prize was carried off by North- 

 amptonshire (' Hear, hear,' and cheers. A voice : 'That's 

 a silly bet.'). He thought the feeling of the meeting 

 was with him, that by what Sir Henry Dryden had 

 said he meant to bring degradation upon the county in 

 which he lived ; and he did not hesitate to say that his 

 insinuations were utterly false and untrue (cheers, and 

 loud sounds of disapprobation)." 



Next, a stranger, who waved a white hat, " could find 

 plenty of twitch in Northamptonshire;" but significant 

 cries of "Turn him out" ultimately brought the un- 

 known to order. After this Sir Henry obtained leave 

 to explain : — " All he meant to say was, that the land 

 was the loicest rented, and the worst farmed." He 

 accepted Mr. Beasley's bet of course. And then Mr. 

 Reginald Knightly asked to stand in with Mr. Beasley 

 ^and then the Vice- Chairman expressed his anxiety 

 to know " whether they were going to all talk at once, 

 or to hear one another in turn?'' They evidently 

 never (juite settled down again, and so we gather these 

 as the great results of the Towcester Meeting — that the 

 tenants are amongst our best breeders and feeders of 

 stock, and, as their landlords say, about the worst far- 

 mers in the kingdom ! It is, altogether, a matter that 

 will bear a little more investigation. 



It has already been intimated that the success of 

 the Towcester Show was achieved somewhat at the ex- 

 pense of that to be held in the adjoining county on 

 the next day. In fact, in no respect will Biggleswade 

 bear comparison with what the Bedfordshire Society 

 did at Leighton Buzzard last year. The ploughing 

 was generally not so good, the exhibition of stock was as 

 generally not so good, and the dinner with its concomi- 

 tant proceedings was infinitely inferior. The one 

 strong feature of the occasion was the display of shee]) 

 — Mr. Charles Howard showing some extraordinary 



Oxfordshire Downs, by far the best we have seen for 

 some time, and Mr. Pawlett one or two of his famous 

 Leicesters — the Chester prize tup amongst them. Next 

 in excellence was the entry of four-year-old hunters, 

 for which Mr. George Iliggins again stood first with 

 an own brother to the horse that took the premium 

 last year. They are by Minataur, a stallion 

 that has left some very good - looking stock 

 in the county; and Mr. Iliggins' horse is a fine stylish 

 Leicestershire sort of nag, that will do his sire every 

 credit. The Messrs. Fowler had the run on the short- 

 horns, notwithstanding the vicinity of the Squire's 

 herd at Stratton. But somehow the latter did not 

 show to advantage, and even the hounds were scarcely 

 fit for " the flags," having had a very hard morning's 

 work amongst the cubs the day previous. Curiously 

 enough, the best ploughing, as at Towcester, was not 

 in the Champion class ; in fact the latter was never 

 perfected. Only two men finished their half-acre in the 

 three hours and-a-half allotted, and neither of these 

 went sufficiently deep. In plain truth, the ground 

 worked very heavy for the horses, and with no drivers 

 it was rather difficult to keep them going straight and 

 pleasantly. Even all things considered. Smith's Steam 

 Cultivator in action on a piece of rough land of Mr. 

 Barnett's, was the attraction of the field. It appears 

 day by day to be increasing in favour with those whose 

 opinion is so essential to its success — ^the farmers them- 

 selves. 



A custom now almost obsolete is still observed at 

 the meetings of the Bedfordshire Society. The list of 

 prizes is not merely read over at the dinner — which if 

 it be done smartly and audibly, as Mr. Turneley can do 

 it, is a very proper proceeding — but every man who 

 wins a prize of any description is called up in turn to 

 receive it from the chairman. An immense deal of time 

 is cut to waste in this way : no possible good can come 

 of it; and really the only apparent object is to bother 

 the unfortunate President, who is expected to say 

 something "appropriate" to each of the recipients. 

 Beyond this there was certainly nothing "remarkable" 

 in what we heard at the dinner. But we did not stay 

 it out ; and by the numbers we met on the platform of 

 the station there were many more who left after a four 

 hours' sitting. The only business-like address we were 

 in time for was the Secretary's, on the financial con- 

 dition of the Society; while Mr. Barnard, one of the 

 members for the borough of Bedford, made his point 

 of that great " benefactor who had made two blades of 

 grass grow where one grew before"— and Colonel 

 Gilpin, who fills a similar post for the county, de- 

 clared " the less Government legislated for the farmer 

 the better." The county member lias generally had 

 an easy time of it, and according to this reading he 

 has really little or nothing to do. But we hardly agree 

 with the gallant Colonel's estimate of his duties as a 

 representative of the agricultural interest. 



