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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ever hcavfl of — for pigeons, rabbits, and for shepherds 

 dogs ! And then, having glanced through tills division, 

 almost everywhere well supported, we come to a cattle- 

 show complete, in the next field. There are prizes for 

 fat cattle and breeding stock, for milch cows and young 

 animals. There are prizes for sheep — Leicesters, 

 Downs, and cross-bred, fat or for breeding, as you 

 want them. There are prizes for pigs, large and small. 

 There are prizes for horses, hunting colts and fillies, 

 hunting mares, cart mares, colts, and fillies. And 

 there are prizes for implements, of course — in one 

 general collection, where everybody tries to get to- 

 gether every good implement ever known or used. 



Such a catalogue for a disti'ict meeting we never saw 

 before. And yet it was not overdone, either. There 

 was hardly a class without some entries. There were 

 thirteen shepherd's dogs, with a Scotch colley as the 

 winner. There was as good a show of poultry as 

 we have seen this season. Some of the roots were fa- 

 mous ; and Mr. Jcnntn's Berkshire boar as neat a pig 

 as a man would wisli to have. Then the Messrs. Spencer 

 sent some capital Leicester sheep ; while, if the Downs 

 and cross-breds, wore not quite so commendable, the 

 gap was well stopped some other way. Mr. Swinner- 

 ton's fat cows would have shown to advantage any- 

 where ; and Mr. Townshend's shorthorn bull, and 

 Mr. Lovell's milch cows, spoke equally strong for the 

 character of their exhibitors. Nuneaton may be re- 

 garded as the especial home of the longhorns, but their 

 opponents are evidently fast driving them out. For a 

 class of their own, there were only five longhorns en- 

 tered, and these by three breeders — Messrs. Godfi'ey, 

 Chapman, and Twycross. The shorthorns, on the con- 

 trary, abounded, dotted here and there with a Here- 

 ford from the stock of the late Mr. Chamberlain. As a 

 show of breeds, however, it was all one way. Curiously 

 enough, the weakest place was in the entries of hunting 

 stock. Although in the lieart of the Atherstone, and 

 flanked by such quarters as Ashby, Bosworth, and 

 Leicester, there was not a hunting colt or filly really 

 worthy of a prize. The mares were but little better; 

 and the cream of it here all with one or two fairish 

 young draught-horses. We do not quite understand 

 why this should be so. 



Messrs. Matterson and Huxley, of Coventry, carried 

 off " the Newdigate " for the best collection of farm- 

 implements; embracing in their selection the names of 

 such famous artificers as Ransomes, Hill and Smith, 

 Bentall, the Howards, Ball, Crosskili, Parkes, Samuel- 

 son, Richmoml and Chandler, Biddell, Smith and 

 Ashby, Nicholson, Fowler and Fry, Keevil, and others. 

 The three other " collectiuns " of course included very 

 many of the same implements. In addition to these, 

 the ubiquitous Mr. Thorley offered his " food for 

 cattle" ; and the indomitable Mr. Smith the sight oe 

 his steam-plough at work. The latter would *'go'> 

 better by any other name. It does not plough, or at 

 any rate leave ploughman's work. And people seeing 

 this, at once become critical in their tone, and but faint 

 in their approval. 



And now having been jight through the whole show 



— having handled the stock, worked the chaff-cutter, 

 stirred up the pigs, and done everything but taste the 

 fruit and pick the flowers, we will go to dinner. Mr. 

 Newdigate is to preside, and there seems to be 

 every promise of a goodly company to back him. 

 There is my Lord Howe, and his son and heir Lord 

 Curzon ; the venerable Earl of Denbigh, and a con- 

 temporary from the other house in Mr. Spooner. 

 There is the gallant Colonel Kingscote, and, shall we 

 say it ? the gallant Squire Colville, no longer didactic 

 on musical attainments. Here are all the good men, 

 landlords and tenants, the strength of so good a dis- 

 trict. And they are going to dine in that well-furnished 

 pavilion. And the ladies — bless them ! — who are still 

 lingering about the entrance, will have to be off, to sit 

 in back-rooms at " the Bull," or over the chymist's 

 shop, or anywhere, till we can come to them. Not a 

 bit of it ! The stately Countess of Howe takes her seat 

 at the right hand of the cliairman ; his good mother, 

 Mrs. Newdigate, sits witliin two of him. Lord Curzon 

 has a sister, Colonel Kingscote a wife, and Mr. Colville 

 is equally and as honourably provided for. There are 

 some six or seven hundred sit down, and there is a 

 smart bonntt, a laughing lip, and a bright eye to 

 meet your own in every other seat. How could a 

 dinner go but well with such support as this ? And 

 how could Mr. Newdigate help making the capital 

 chairman he did, with such an audience to address, 

 and such cheers to encourage him ? With a good 

 dinner, and good wine, fruit, sweetmeats, and every- 

 thing the best taste could suggest, no wonder each suc- 

 ceeding speaker characterized it as the most successful 

 meeting he had ever been present at. Or, that a towns- 

 man, in the jiride of his heart, declared that if people 

 had never heard of Nuneaton before, they would know 

 it after this. We will not say how other societies 

 might fare ; but the presence of the ladies at the 

 Sparkenhoe Club dinners is a great feature in the pro- 

 ceedings, that every man should see at least for once. 



The prize-lists would be of little import out of the 

 immediate neighbourhood. Neither, beyond those of 

 Mr. Newdigate, would the speeches command much 

 general interest. There are some points, however, in 

 those from the chair, well worthy of attention. Wo 

 here offer them to our readers. 



In proposing success to the club, the Chairman 

 said : " It may be that in other localities it would not 

 be possible to have such a meeting as I see before me. 

 It may be that in this happy district such is the good 

 feeling which prevails between the three great classes 

 which form the agricultural community, that they can 

 afford to revert to the ancient customs which modern 

 civilization has outgrown elsewhere. There is no 

 gTeater mistake than to suppose that the presence of 

 ladies with their families for such an object as this is 

 something novel. What is our meeting but a gigantic 

 harvest-home ? What is it but a reversion to the most 

 ancient gatherings practised in this country in years 

 past? Go to the Mansion-house, and see how the 

 Lord Mayor receives his guests, whether they be the 

 guilds of London or the noblest of this country and 



