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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



for good work or good stock, it was alike remarkable. 

 The attraction, however, is admitted to be the prize 

 ploughing. " Indeed it may be said that no county 

 in England can now boast of better ploughs or of more 

 skilful ploughmen." This, again, was brought to the 

 proof on Friday. There was one special premium 

 Open to all England — five-and-twenty pounds 

 for the owner of the plough, and a watch for 

 the ploughman — which brought eighteen entries. 

 These came from Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, 

 Buckinghamshire, Essex, and elsewhere, to com- 

 pete with the home workmen. They were coupled, 

 according to their several tastes and experience, 

 with ploughs made by Taylor, Bentall, Howard, Ran- 

 some, Fry, Adams, and Ball. The day was beautifully 

 fine, the trial land in the best possible condition^ and 

 some of the ploughing declared never to have been 

 exctlled. It was still settled long before the Judges 

 came on the ground to whom the prize must go ; and 

 in due course it was decreed accordingly. The owner 

 of the prize plough, and who receives the twenty-five 

 pounds for what we may venture to I'ecord as about the 

 best piece of work of the year, is his Grace the Duke of 

 Bedford. The ploughman is George Brown the younger, 

 who was equally successful last year at Woburn ; and 

 the makers of the plough are the Messrs. Howard 

 of Bedford. So that, after all, as perhaps the 

 Committee very well knew, when they magnanimously 

 opened their entry to all the world, the honours 

 are kept at home. In another class for plough- 

 men, within the range of the Society's operations, 

 another of his Grace's men was again successful — 

 and with another of Howard's ploughs ; while in 

 the Champion Class, for men who had previously taken 

 a first prize, Mr. Hensman, whose works are at Leigh- 

 ton, was the manufacturer, Mr. Cooley the owner, and 

 George Thorn the holder of the prize plough. Of 

 those not fortunate enough to reach the fl rst place, 

 about the best work was done with one of Mr. Bentall's 

 ploughs. It commanded a great deal of attention from 

 the members of the Society. Beyond even these, there 

 was much more to be commended, generally of a cha- 

 racter so signally good, that after the comparison ar- 

 I'ived at in a few bouts, a less skilful man on the ad- 

 joining lands would stop his pair of horses, quite 

 " satisfied" with what he had seen. In some instances 

 the evenness with which the furrow was turned, and the 

 mathematical precision with which it was carried out, 

 were in their way a very perfect illustration of the 

 art here so successfully studied. One might al- 

 most have supposed the farmers themselves would 

 take a little more active interest in the business ; but 

 a premium for farmers' sons or pupils resulted in "no 

 competition." There were many on the ground, how- 

 ever, who remember seeing their historian, William 

 Bennett aforesaid, take his prize for ploughing at Bed- 

 ford ; and he had a pupil or two here, who would have 

 done " a tidy piece of work," even with the eyes of All 

 England upon them. 



At this eventful era, when ploughing" by another 

 system is coming or is not coming so rapidly, it would 



have looked a little cowardly not to have afibrded it a 

 trial. Last year, at Woburn, Mr. Smith, of Woolston, 

 sent his, and for this occasion one of Mr. Fowler's 

 steam-ploughs was engaged. With the land, as we 

 have said, in famous condition, it did its work better 

 than ever wo remember to have yet seen. Of course it 

 would hardly bear comparison with the prize- 

 idoughing in the same field. Still the furrow was 

 nicely put, and by the look of the thing, at any rate, 

 Mr. Fowler has so far the best of his opponents. The 

 only mistake was an imposition charge of a shilling to see 

 the implement at work. You saw the prize ploughing 

 for nothing, or say for the shilling you paid to see the 

 stock, and which should have included — as it other- 

 wise did — all there was to see. Many of the farmers 

 would not submit to this, while the laboui'ers had to 

 l^eep through hedges, or sneer at it in the road as some- 

 tliing they knew nothing about. The very object of 

 trying the steam-plough was consequently lost. As 

 we take it, the aim is to familiarize people with its 

 action and usefulness, instead of hawking it about as a 

 raree-show speculation, like Womb well's elephant, or 

 the pig-faced lady. At Salisbury all the ploughing by 

 steam was accessible at no charge whatever. Those 

 who could pay were supposed to have it in- 

 cluded in their admission to the yard, and those 

 who could not had a lesson gratis. Mr. Smith 

 at Woburn made no charge, and we really cannot un- 

 derstand why the committee should have sanctioned one 

 here. We repeat, it was a mistake. 



A stock show held on the farm premises of Mr. Law- 

 ford, one of the vice-presidents and best supporters of 

 the Society, included cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses. 

 The cattle were all short hoi'ns, numbering now, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Bennett, ten to one to any other breed in 

 the county. The entries were unusually good ; in fact, 

 in many cases strong enough for something more than 

 a local meeting. The quality may in some measure be 

 estimated by the names of the exhibiters : such as Mr. 

 Barnett, of Stratton Park, who took the first and second 

 prizes for two-year-old heifers with a very pretty pair ; 

 Mr. Robinson, of Clifton, who did the same in the next 

 class for those not exceeding two years ; and was also first 

 with the yearling heifers, and first again with a very fine 

 milch cow. Then Mr. Lawford, who is gradually getting 

 up a valuable herd, bred the prize bull, now the property 

 of Mr. Hayter, and himself reared and fattened the prize 

 ox. Mr. Crawley of Stockwood, Mr. Crouch of Lidling- 

 ton, Mr. Wy thes of Ravesden, Mr. Brown of Marston , Mr. 

 Underwood, Mr. Atterbury, the Duke of Bedford, and 

 Lord de Grey were amongst the other competitors. As 

 a show of short-horns it was by far the best ever seen 

 in the county. 



The sheep, though by no means so numerous, were 

 nearly all good — the best perhaps some cross-breds 

 shown by Mr. Charles Howard and Mr. Littledale. 

 These cross-breds are, in fact, the newly-christened 

 " Oxfordshire Downs," with plenty of wool, meat, and 

 quality to recommend them. In truth, if such good- 

 looking square sheep as these are to be taken as a fair 

 sample, the sooner the Oxfordshire Downs get a stand- 



