THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



401 



iiig of tiieir own the better. Mr. George lline urn' 

 Mr. Bates were also successful exhibitors of cross- 

 breds, aad Messrs. Newman and Armstrong of Leices- 

 ters. The Down classes brought no entries, Mr. 

 Thomas of Lidlington not being this year an exhibiter. 



In pigs the Duke, tli« Rev. Mr.Thursby, Mr. Liltle- 

 (lale, Mr. Whitwortb, and Mr Liwford had the chief 

 honours. An extra premium for the best lot of six 

 fat pigs resulted in an extraordinary entry, Mr. Law- 

 ford winning with some capital Berkshires — three of 

 whicli Mr. Whitmoro, the member for Bridgnorth, is to 

 further test in Shropshire next week. 



A Lineolnshire cart-horse, now the property of Mr. 

 Mantling, of Elstow, deservedly took the premium for 

 stallions. He is a clever, lively, and very powerful 

 horse, that promises yet more to improve. Mr. George 

 Iliggins had en clearly t!i8 best hunter in a four-year- 

 old Minotaur horse ; and Mr. Paxton, of Potsgrove, a 

 very useful cart-mare, with a still better foal. Indeed 

 the young draught stock were very promising. Mr. 

 Street, of Harrowden, showed a couple of two-year- 

 olds, that were only first and second to each other ; 

 while in a large entry of fillies, Mr. Crawley and Lord 

 St. John had the best of it. Our deduction here is that 

 the agricultural horses of the county are fast improving. 

 With the two-horse plough you want something smart 

 and active. 



This summary must serve as our prize list, and we 

 mast be as brief with our report of the dinner. As it 

 happened, a longer one would scarcely be required. 

 There was, in reality, very little talk about farming. 

 Colonel Gilpin, the president, certainly introduced 

 himself at the outset as — according to a friend of his — 

 "understanding the theory of talking about practical 

 farming better than any man in the county," but some- 

 how or other this did not lead to much. To be sure, 

 it was the most wonderful toast-list that ever was 



arranged — if, as wc rather doubt, it ever had been 

 arranged at all. They toasted everybody and every- 

 thing, some twice over ; — the Lord Lieutenant of the 

 county ; the Duke of the county ; the Members of the 

 county ; the town and trade in every possible shape ; ' 

 the successful exhibitors ; the unsuccessful exhibitors j 

 the donors of the prizes, twice over; the judges; the 

 labourers ; the clergy ; the secretaries, twice over ; the 

 committee ; and a dozen or two more, that we really 

 do not remember. The most direct reference to the 

 cause was a compliment to Mr. Bennett and his Essay, 

 started by Mr. Hastings Russell, and echoed by almost 

 every succeeding speaker. Beyond this, Mr. Brandreth 

 Gibbs, in returning thanks for the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, held out a hope that " the last link" in per- 

 fecting the modern agriculture of Bedfordshire should 

 be riveted by an early visit of that august body to the 

 county town. This was taken up by Mr. Barnett and 

 Colonel Higgins, the latter of whom seemed to think it 

 was high time this call had been made. 



It would be unfair to Colonel Gilpin not to add a 

 word in thanks to liim for the spirit and unflagging 

 cheerfulness with which he disposed of an extraordinary 

 deal of work. With some chairmen we know, prone to 

 dwell a little more on the line, we might have been 

 there till now. No man could have done better than 

 the gallant colonel. The fault was not with him, but 

 his " instriictidns." The toast-list wants a little more 

 attention from the committee; and, eutre nous, all the 

 speaking need not be kept to the cross-table. With our 

 limited knowledge of the county, W3 could have named 

 half-a-dozen men who would have given a good prac- 

 tical speech on practical farming. Otherwise, the dinner 

 went well enough. There was not a seat in the hall un- 

 occupied; town and county, the gentry and their 

 tenantry, all uniting to support a society, the welfare 

 of which is more or less identified with their own. 



RICKMANS WORTH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The members of tliis thriving little society Iield a 

 right pleasant ninth anniversary on Friday, Oct. 2. They 

 could not have been more fortunate in their choice of 

 a day. In fact, it was so bright and warm that Mr. 

 Wilson, who attended on behalf of The Illustrated 

 News to make a sketch of the ploughing- match, was 

 fain in despair to ask some of his agricultural friends 

 to stand at his side, for the sake of throwing him and 

 his sketch-book a little into shadow. The battle-field 

 of the ploughshares was a clover ley, within two miles 

 from Rickmansworth, and formed part of Mr. James 

 White's Apple-tree Farm. Rather more than half an 

 acre was marked off for each competitor, and soon 

 after half-past eight the word was given, and nineteen 

 ploughs were seen cleaving their way, and throwing up 

 a four and-a- half-inch furrow. Mr. John White, of 

 the Parsonage Farm, sent four teams, Mr. James White 

 three, and Messrs. Wilde and Geary each two ; while 

 Mev«srs. Fellows, Batoman, Wilson, Currie, Barnes, 



Mann, Hayes, and Longman were nlso represented in 

 the fray. Only one out of the nineteen had a unicorn 

 team ; and one of Mr. John White's teams, as well asa 

 an elegant six-year-old grey mare in a second, and 

 Mr. Barnes's pair, who bore on their frontlets the 

 brass-embossed names of " Duke," and " Violet" 

 (though the lad confidentially assured us that the 

 mare's real name was Dinah), were especially admired. 

 Nearly all the ploughs were two-wheel ones, and made 

 by Davis, of Hampstead, who would seem to be the 

 Tubal- Cain of the district ; but we also observed one 

 of Howard's. A brace of them only had crushers, or as 

 some phrase them " outriggers" attached, and one of 

 their handlers boldly claimed for himself the invention 

 of it. 



The situation of the field was especially beautiful. 

 To the right lay the seat of Mr. Longman, famed not 

 only for its magnificent cedars, but its gorse covers, 

 amongst which, but a few mornings before, that patri» 



