08 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



he knows a man in the same profession as himself in 

 Birmingham, who, a few years since, fairly ovcilmilt 

 himself, and who couki never have gone on wilhout the 

 assistance of his friends and neighbours. Still lie would 

 like to have at least as good a home as his country- 

 cousin, and as ho wants it for the winter rather than 

 the summer months, there might surely be something 

 found to suit him. It is whispered, indeed, there is a 

 very fine place — quite a Palace in fact — in the nei;j;h- 

 bourhood of Sydenham, that would be just "the thing'' 

 for him. It is almost empty at the time of year he 

 would want it, and has nearly every convenience ready- 

 made that he would require. Partial as he is to m— 

 chanics, he might have all his machinery admirably 

 arranged in the house itself, while his well fed stock 

 and famous pigs would have ample space provided for 

 them in the homestead. The people now here have 

 some little fancy for poultry, and he might well add 

 this to the other inducements for his friends to come 

 down to see him. Then there are capital luncheon and 

 dining-rooms, a railway running right up to the door, 

 and as fine a look-out as anyone could wish to have. 



It really promises to be a very fine look-out for the 

 Smithfield Club, if the place could only be taken upon 

 a fair agreement. At any rate, we would advise Mr. 

 Giblett's Committee not to pass over (oo hastily such a 

 site, merely from its distance from town, which is 

 actually not now further from London Bridge or Fleet- 

 street — from Belgravia or Battersea — than the Bazaar 

 itself. There might not possibly be so large an attend- 

 ance in the evenings; but with all its concomitant at- 

 tractions, the Christmas Show at the Crystal Palace 

 would be sure to draw immensely, especially if the 

 Poultry Show were associated with it. Moreover, it 

 would be the very spot upon which to inaugurate a 

 five-shilling day. 



This was, as we have made it, the chief topic of 

 the wClIv. And no wonder either, for the Bazaar was 

 more crowded and more inconvenient than ever. In 

 fact, as .Air. Jonas Webb said at the Farmers' Club 

 Dinner, if a man wishes to see the Show in anything 

 like comfort he must become a member of the Smith- 

 field Club, and so avail himself of the privilege to 

 spend his two hours at the private view. This oppor- 

 tunity was offered for the second time on Monday last, 

 when we found the entries numerically about as good 

 as ever ; but many of the classes by no means equal to 

 the average excellence of the few past seasons. Neither 

 of the three established breeds — Shorthorns,, Devons, 

 nor Uerefords — were what we have seen them. The 

 Devons especially were palpably below the promise they 

 have shown ; and while there were a few fair Herefords, 

 there was nothing extraordinary amongst them. The 

 best— Mr. Swinnerton's ox, far from a perfect animal — 

 was only a middling second in his class at Birmingham. 

 In the Hereford cows, again, there was often little merit 

 or no competition. The Shorthorns and the Crosses had 

 a long way the best of the meeting. In fact, the two 

 selected, Mr. Stratton's stetr and Mr. Brown's heifer, 

 were the only gold medal animals in the yard. 

 They are both by bulls of Mr. Stratton's, the heifer 



by Waterloo, and the steer by a sou of Booth's Har- 

 binger. People have occasionally said, in times past, 

 Mr. Stratton did not go enough for '* blood ;" but we 

 should think they would be satisfied now. A very model 

 in shape, his steer showed every sign of high breeding, 

 and we rather regret his not being kept on for another 

 year. There was every promise of his developing into a 

 really grand beast. The Birmingham awards over the 

 Durhams were anything btit confirmed in London. 

 For instance, Mr. Swinnerton's Gold-medal cow was 

 beaten here by two that were shown against 

 her the previous week -- Jlr. Fletcher's cow, 

 which stood before her in her own class, and 

 Mr. Brown's heifer, declared to be superior to either. 

 We believe, however, there was not a Shorthorn-man 

 in office at the Midland Coanties' Meeting, and 

 that quality was, accordingly, not sufficiently regarded. 

 We certainly, so far, go with the Smithfield Club dicta. 

 A full report of the merits of the Show will be found in 

 another pai't of our paper, and we need not repeat 

 ourselves here. The sheep and pig entries, however, 

 made up for any falling off amongst the cattle. The 

 Yorkshire Leicesters were declared to be the best ever 

 sent up, and never certainly were there handsomer 

 sheep than the Duke's Downs. Another resolution of 

 the Club, passed during the week, is, that pigs found 

 to be over the age stated shall be disqualified — a rule 

 that should surely have been in practice already. 

 There was one rather remarkable case of this kind in 

 the present exhibition. Tire Yorkshire pigs, selected by 

 the judges for the chief prize, were at first thought to 

 be over the ago stated in the entry — ten months and 

 five days — and the award was not published in 

 the official prize-list. But, as it subsequently ap- 

 peared they were still under the twelve months' limit, 

 the premium was given them, although under the new 

 regulation it could not now be lio settled. They were 

 certainly wonderful for their age. At Birmingham 

 Mr. Simonds decidedly condemned pigs for being "of 

 greater age than that described in the owner's certi- 

 ficate." 



The other resolutions agreed to will be found in the 

 report of what passed at the two meetings of iMembers 

 on Tuesday and Thursday. The Dinner on the inter- 

 vening day was not so well attended as of late, nor weie 

 the proceedings marked by anything very novel or 

 strange. Care must be taken to introduce as much new 

 blood as possible into the executive, and we may then have 

 more fresh faces here. The high table again ran in its 

 well accustomed line of long tried supporters — Lord 

 Berners, Mr. Barnett, Mr. Milward, Mr. Brandreth, 

 and Mr. Hobbs. The Farmers' Club dinner, on th^ 

 Tuesday, went off with more spirit. In fact, this 

 Club is coming to be cited as a bit of an example : 

 and at the General Meeting of the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society on Friday Mr. Sidney, in a speech 

 commendable for its moderation of tone, referred to the 

 Club as an instance of how the farmers themselves 

 might be induced to take an active interest in any pro- 

 ceedings affecting them. The Society's Report has 

 more in it than usual, and may be read with advantage. 



