54. 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



order as heretofore. There could hardly have been a 

 question as to the place of Beauty's Butterfly, and 

 had Mr. Shirley's steer not taken the medal, another 

 Hereford would undoubtedly have done so. It was 

 entirely between the young one and Mr. Heath's ox, 

 while many Hereford breeders preferred the latter. 

 He is clearly a grander beast, but considerably older 

 and fresher. The steer did not show quite so well as 

 he did in Bingley Hall, and no wonder either, con- 

 sidering the number of practical comments and com- 

 pliments he has had within the last few days to submit 

 to. Public opinion, however, still continued to pro- 

 nounce him oi.e of the best and sweetest ani.nals 

 ever seen, and for his age he will long rank as a 

 wonder. 



Naturally enough, after all the crowding and jostling 

 they had to endure, visitors were perpetually asking 

 what the Club intended to do ? Even the ingenuity of 

 Mr. Boulnois can go no further, and another removal 

 is now definitely determined upon. The Committee ap- 

 pointed reported all in favour of Islington and a Build- 

 ing Company. The General Meeting, however, have 

 amended this, and have given their representatives a 

 roving commission for another six months to look about 

 them. The choice just at present appears to rest be- 

 tween the site already recommended and Kensington 

 Gore, the latter finding many friends during the week. 

 Nothing can read more judicious than this extension of 

 time, and nothing less called for than another step the 

 Club has agreed to. In future the dinner of the Smith- 

 field Club is to be on the Tuesday instead of the Wednes- 

 day ; that is to say, it is to come in direct opposition with 

 that of the Central Farmers' Club, which has been long 

 held on the Tuesday. It is scarcely possible to 

 imagine anything jnore inconvenient; as Lord 

 Berners, Mr- Charles Stokes, Mr. Jonas Webb, 

 Mr. Hudson, of Castleacre, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, 

 Mr. Buckley, Mr. Charles Howard, Mr. Mechi, 

 and other leading men are in the haljit of attending 

 both. The alteration, moreover, was determined 

 on without any consultation whatever with the Com- 

 mittee of the other Club, who numbering, as they 

 do, far more members, are by no means likely to give 

 way. The Smithfield dinner of this year, notwithstand- 

 ing the absence of the Duke of Richmond, and the 

 change of quarters, was well supported. The general 

 character of the company was very good, but the after- 

 dinner business comparatively tame and common-place. 

 Amongst other matters associated with the proceed- 

 ings of the Club, Mr. Valentine Barford brought on 

 his motion as to the'unfair trimming of sheep ; but there 

 were too many old sinners in the brown paper, curling 

 irons, and hair oil trade, to admit of his doing much 

 Avith it. As one Member of the Club asked, why should 

 you not show your sheep as you do yourself, in his best 

 coat ? There certainly can be no reason against 

 this ; but the complaint is rather, that with this 

 fine coat Squire Southdown will not be con- 

 tent with less than two or three pair of breeches, 

 some of which he has worn about home all his lifetime ! 

 Then Mr. Torr, going out of office as a Steward, named 

 Mr, Stokes as his successor ; and when Mr. Stokes' 

 turn comes, of course he will be duty bound to name 

 Mr. Torr as his successor. And so the thing will go 

 round in the same little family circle, while everybody 

 is still wondering that the Club does not number more 

 than some two or three hundred members ! 



Fortunately for the interests of agriculture, they 

 are gradually getting beyond these limited views 

 in Hanover-square, where, on the Friday, the fullest 

 report the general members of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society have ever yet been favoured with was read and 

 received. It touches openly and honestly on the 



lamentable difficulties the Council has recently had to 

 contend against, while it promises all due care and 

 precaution for the future. The arrangements for the 

 conduct of the Journal, as well as for the Can- 

 terbury Meeting, are given in detail ; and, in fact, 

 there does not appear to have been a point shirked. 

 If we did protest, it would be against the mere 

 line or two with which the extraordinary ser- 

 vices so liberally and opportunely rendered by Mr. 

 Brandreth Gibbs are passed over; but probably 

 his own modesty may have something to do 

 with this. Mr. Hall Dare now succeeds him in 

 the management of the Society's affairs, on the 

 strength, we believe, of an election as fairly made 

 as possible. Of the ten gentlemen summoned 

 before the meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Dare's 

 only really formidable opponent was Mr. Halifax 

 Wyatt ; and so close did the contest become at last, 

 that, in a council of forty-six, Mr. Dare numbered 

 twenty-three supporters, and Mr. Wyatt twenty-two 

 — the Chairman, of course, not voting. Mr. Hall 

 Dare's experience hitherto has been rather in arts of war 

 than those of peace, as he served through the whole 

 of the Crimean campaigns, but with some useful j^rac- 

 tice as adjutant and paymaster to his regiment. He is 

 of an Essex family, and his father at one time repre- 

 sented the county in Parliament. Of the ten left in, 

 the names of only two of the candidates were at all 

 known in the agricultural world, and these two had 

 in succession to surrender. 



Our different reports include that of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society's half-yearly meeting on the Friday, 

 that of the Council Meeting on the Wednesday ; the 

 Smithfield Club Dinner, the Farmers' Club Dinner, 

 and the Meeting to establish Mr. Mechi's Agricultural 

 College; as well as a very excellent- paper on "The 

 Forces of Agiuculture," read by Mr. Morton, at the 

 Society of Arts, and the monthly discussion of the 

 Farmers' Club. The opening address here scarcely 

 reached what was expected of so good a man as 

 Mr. Ncsbit, who from indisposition was prevented 

 going into the important part of his subject; and 

 the debate, turned simply on the uses of mangel wurzel. 

 This is now the second time in succession that the Club 

 has fallen below its accustomed strength, and to keep up 

 its character the committee must look about them for the 

 new year. The dinner, on the contrary, was one of the 

 best served and best conducted of the week. It seems 

 almost a pity that the magnates of Smithfield should 

 in their omnipotence go to crush so agreeable a ga- 

 thering. 



The Royal Agricultural College — abad title — was just 

 saved from being an amateur performance by the pre- 

 sence of Mr. Jonas Webb, Mr. Crisp, Mr. Skelton, and 

 one or two more. Altogether the opening was quite as 

 good as could have been counted upon, considering 

 how the majority of the more eminent farmers still 

 hold back. Our Staff must tell the story out, and nar- 

 rate how the Shorthorns handled, and the Devons 

 looked; how the sheep were sheared, and the pigs fat- 

 tened. The great opportunity was at the private view 

 on the Monday evening, when the Bazaar was even 

 more desolate than usual. Members would seem not 

 to care about exercising their privilege at so unseason- 

 able an hour. The Prince Consort, however, availed 

 himself of the royal prerogative a few hours earlier, 

 when he was conducted round the yard by Colonel 

 Hood, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, and Mr. Torr, the senior 

 steward — not too soon, it is to be hoped, for the honours 

 awaiting the famous white Windsors. It is only right 

 to add that His Royal Highness expressed his high 

 satisfaction at the courtesy with which he had been re- 

 ceived by the officers of the yard. 



