THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



57 



district; The time was come, however, wheu it 

 became farmers to consider whether the prizes and 

 regulations in relation to stoclc were the most advan- 

 tageous that could be devised for the interests of agriculture 

 (Hear, hear.) It was impossible to go into any agricul- 

 tural society, or amongst tlie breeders of stock, without 

 hearing a great deal about the over-fatness of animals ex- 

 hibited at the show. This evil was increasing, and though 

 it might be ditlicult to carry out the attempts which were 

 commenced at Gloucester, that was no reason why, if the 

 society believed in the existence of the evil, it should not 

 take some steps to arrest it. The fact was, that at present 

 animals, and especially female cattle, were brought forward 

 and fattened to such an extent, that every year a consider- 

 able number of valuable breeding animals were destroyed 

 simply for the purpose of producing a good effect at the 

 agricultural show. He did not say tliit merely on his own 

 authority; they had only to go among the breeders of 

 Shorthorns to hear it constantly asserted that both males 

 and females wore destroyed by this over-fattening. He did 

 not, he confessed, see his way clearly to what they were to 

 do witli respect to male animals ; but he would recommend 

 that care should be taken to ascertain whether the females 

 who carried otf the prizes were prolific, and that the results 

 of the investigation should appear in the Society's Journal. 

 They would then know, from time to time, how many of the 

 animals that gained prizes as breeding animals were only 

 turned into fattening animals. The extent to which this 

 practice had been carried was illusliated by the fact that 

 some of the great prize winners had adopted the plan of 

 giving their stock, previous to their admission into the ex- 

 hibition, an unlimited supply of London porter (laughter.) 

 If animals were fed not only on milk, but London porter, 

 when they were sold for breeding purposes in other coun- 

 tries, they would certainly bring discredit on England 

 (Hear, hear ) The same remark was applicable, to some 

 extent, to sheep. He had lately been engaged in studying 

 the useful, though not very genteel, animal called the pig. 

 The prize-sheet of the society included a prize for sows 

 from three to eight months old, the prize being awarded 

 about June. He had received letters from many leading 

 pig dealers in Yorkshire and Devonshire, pointing out that 

 in order to g^in a prize, those pigs must be farrowed at 

 Christmas, a period of the year when the practical breeder 

 did not wish to see them farrowed (Hear, hear.) Another 

 point to which he wished to call attention was, thnt the 

 society was established not only for the encouragement and 

 extension of what was successful, but also for the improve- 

 ment of agriculture in those parts of the country where it 

 was in a backward condition (Hear, hear.) It must have 

 struck. any one who had been in the habit of attending the 

 society's shows, that while they saw brilliant displays of the 

 standard breeds stock, the others were almost overlooked ; that 

 when they moved out of the favoured circle, when they left 

 the best cultivated districts, and went into the mountainous 

 ones, and especially Wales, they found the land fed over by 

 a very inferior description of stook. Now, he would submit 

 for the consideration of the Council, whether a more 

 effectual step might not be taken than that of off'ering a 

 prize, for calling the attention of the landowners of Wales 

 to this subject, with the view of leading them to introduce 

 on their hills abetter description of cattle and sheep. They 

 were told that the Cheviots had been successfully intto- 

 duced on the Welsh hills ; but they knew that nothing 

 could be more wretched than the general run of 

 Welsh sheep. Of late the excellent qualities of the Ex- 



moor sheep for mountainous districts had been recognised. 

 Valuable as were the qualities of the four standard breeds of 

 sheep, they were not fitted for the bleak hills of Wales nor 

 for any mountainous district. Another important question 

 was that of the housing of the farm labourer. He had 

 imagined that that was not quite within the scope of the 

 Society's operations ; but on turning to the statement of its 

 objects, printed in 1810, he found mention made of the ame- 

 lioration of the condition of the English labourer, He 

 thought that if nothing else could be done, most valu- 

 able statistics might be collected by the Society, with a view 

 to the improvement of the dwellings of labourers. That 

 would form an important part of the agricultural survey, 

 the importance of which he had pressed on the attention of 

 the Council. The Society had now been in existence for 26 

 years, and it was desirable that it should take stock, as it were, 

 of the progress which had been made in agricultural science. 

 With respect to implements, he thought it would be well to 

 increase in many cases the amount of the prizes, to abandon 

 the various systems of treatmg the trials as races, and to 

 adopt effectual means of letting farmers know what imple- 

 ments were most likely to be of service to them (Hear, hear). 

 Wherever fanners congregated, he heard it remarked, in 

 effect, that the Society had placed itself in a false position 

 in relation to steam cultivation. He had no wish to defend 

 Mr, Smith's intemperate language; but he could not 

 help remarking, that his system of steam cultivation, though 

 adopted by 100 practical farmers, was first rejected, and 

 afterwards practically ignored by the Council (Hear, hear). 

 He was happy to hear that the Implement Committee had 

 received an accession of some gentlemen of a highly practi- 

 cal character, and he trusted that one result of that would 

 be the issuing of reports containing full and useful informa- 

 tion with regard to the more important implements. He 

 could not help observing with regard to the reapers, that in 

 consequence of the conditions under which they contended 

 having varied, in consequence of their having been tried at 

 different periods of the year, and sometimes upon wheat, 

 sometimes upon rye, and sometimes upon some other crops, 

 no less than five different reapers had received the prize, 

 and it was almost impossible for any man who was not in 

 the secrets of the Council to tell what particular reaper 

 would suit liim best (Hear, hear). He had made these ob. 

 servations solely from a desire to aid the Society in the 

 promotion of its work, and trusting that they would be re- 

 ceived in the same spirit, he now moved the adoption of the 

 reporf. 



Mr. Laxgstox, M.P,, having seconded the motion ; it was 

 put from the chair, and carried unanimously. 



The Secretary then read the following balance sheet :— 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 



Half-yearly Cash Account, from lax January to 



30th June, 1860. 



Dr. 



To Balance in hand, 1st January, I860: £. f. d. £. s. d. 



Bankers 1339 8 



Secretary 3 4 4 



1342 12 4 



To Income, viz. : 



Dividend on Stock 146 17 6 



Subscriptions : £ e. d. 



Governors' Annual .... 6^0 



Members' Annual 3276 6 



Members' Life- Compo- 

 sitions 170 



4066 6 



Journal : 



Sales 122 9 8 



Advertisements 39 10 9 



162 6 



