436 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



meeting ia the country. There were two meetings every year 

 in London, where the Council had the advantage of always 

 seeiu" Mr. Sidney and other gentlemen, who gave them a 

 great" deal of enlightenment, and whose views they had in 

 many instances been very happy to follow. The general 

 meeting after the couutry show v,'as merely a meeting 

 for the transaction of certain buaiuesa of the Society, which 

 under the charter they were obliged to transact prior to leav- 

 ing the town which they were visiting. The necessity of 

 holding this meeting was shown by the fact that next year, 

 when the annual show would be held in London, it would 

 be absolutely necessary to hold a formal meeting in the 

 country. 



Lord Feversham wished to add a word or two to what 

 had fallen from a gentleman near him (Mr. B. Brown), with 

 regard to the objectionable condition in which cattle were ex- 

 hibited — the state of obesity in which they were seen at the 

 shows. Remembering, as he did, that that society was insti- 

 tuted partly for the purpose of encouraging the improvement 

 iu breeding animals, it had loug appeared to him very 

 objectionable that animals should be spoiled — for as breeding 

 animals undoubtedly they were spoiled — by the state of obesity 

 to which they were brought as a preparation for the shows ; 

 and he thought that if, through the adoption of some different 

 course, either by the stewards or by the judges, this evil could 

 be remedied, great benefit would be conferred on those who 

 had valuable animals which they wished to exhibit (Hear, 

 hear). He knew that that opinion prevailed very extensively 

 out of doors, and was not confined to any particular part of the 

 country. Many gentlemen had remarked to him that the 

 shows were spoiling the breeds of cattle. At the last exhi- 

 bition at Warwick he enquired of a nobleman, who he 

 knew had sometimes exhibited stock, whether he was an ex- 

 hibitor on that occasion. The reply was, " No ; I never spoil 

 my breeding animals by feeding them up for this show." On 

 the following morning he met an exhibitor of shorthorns, who 

 said to bitn, quite spontaneously, " If this system is to go on, 

 all the best herds in the country will be destroyed" (Hear, 

 hear). At the end of the week the Warwick local newspaper, 

 after giving a general account of the exhibition, said, "As for 

 the stock, it was just like what you see at the Smithfield Club 

 Show." He had heard recently of cases in which heifers 

 and cows, worth £400 or £500 a piece, had died of apoplexy, 

 through this over-feeding, and of other instances in which they 

 had become useless to the owner. He had had the honour of 

 being an exhibitor at the shows of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society for some years. When he first commenced exhibiting, 

 his cattle were not fed up to this extraordinary condition ; but 

 he gradually discovered that prize) could not be obtained with- 

 out such feeding, and hence he had been led in self-defence 

 partially, but not altogether, to adopt that system. He hoped 

 that his friend Mr. Torr, who had some of the best cattle of 

 the country, and his friend Mr. Jonas Webb, who was equally 

 distinguished as a breeder of animals, would direct their at- 

 tention to this important subject, and see whether some line 

 of demarcation could not be drawn, though he (Lord Fever- 

 sham) admitted that that was a matter of considerable diffi- 

 culty. He thought the remarks of Mr. Sidney were well 

 worthy of consideration. As regarded the composition of 

 the Council, that gentleman had told them that " what was 

 sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander;" but he had not 

 told them who was the goose, and who the gander (laughter). 

 He had no doubt, however, that what that gentleman had 

 said would receive due attention. 



On theraotionof Mr. ORLEBAR,avote of thanks was passed 

 to the noble Earl in the chair, who thanked the meeting sin- 

 cerely for the compliment which it had been pleaded to pay him. 

 The discussions which took place on occasions of that kind, al- 

 though they elicited differences of opinion on various sub- 

 jects, were, in his judgment, very useful. The observations of 

 Mr. Beale Brown with regard to the clipping of sheep, and 

 the prevention, if possible, of the over-fattening of cattle, 

 would no doubt receive due attention from the Live-stock 

 Committee. These subjects had, in fact, long engaged their 

 attention. But the keenness and cleverness drawn out by 

 competition were often more than a match for any rules 

 which the constituted authorities could lay down (Hear, hear). 

 The Council had always borne in mind that that was a society 

 for promoting the improved breeding of cattle. Hence the list 

 of prizes had al wftys been limited to perfect tmimals for breeding. 



The only exception that had been made was in the case of horses 

 intended for exhibition this year, it being considered that 

 it would be a great draw-back to the Yorkshire show if, in 

 that great district for the breeding of horses, hacks and 

 hunters should be excluded, simply because they were geldings 

 (Hear, hear.) He was extremely happy that they were 

 honoured on that occasion by the president of one of their 

 colonial agricultural societies ; and he was sure that the meet- 

 ing must have been gratified to hear that even at the Antipodes 

 what appeared in the society's Journal possessed great weight 

 and interest. The question of the immediate publication of 

 all the lectures which might be delivered before the society, 

 was one on which there was a good deal to be said on both 

 sides. It WDS also, he could assure them, a question which 

 had been very frequently discussed in the Council, In such a 

 case as that of Professor Smionds' lecture, where the value of 

 the lecture depended very much on its being published at the 

 beginning of the summer, which was the time when the pre- 

 cautions recommended must be taken, the Council thought 

 that, as in the case of the tract oa Horse-shoeing, it was desirable 

 that it should be published in a special pamphlet, and he was 

 sure no pains would be spared by the Journal Committee iu 

 getting it out as soon aa possible. But there were other 

 papers, on the breeding of cattle and other subjects, the in- 

 terest of which was not of so immediate a character, which 

 had, what he might term, a more continuous importance, not 

 relating to any particular time of the year, or to any particular 

 epidemic circumstances of the day, and with respect to which it 

 was not so certain that an immediate value would take place 

 if they were printed iu a separate form, although they would 

 fuim valuable additions to the Journal. As regarded the 

 accumulation of funds, Mr. Torr had rightly drawn attention 

 to the fact that the Leeds prize list exhibited a great increase, 

 the Council being desirous to do everything in their power to 

 render the Yorkshire Meeting worthy of the large attendance 

 which might justly be expected in that populous district. 

 Special pains had also been taken to ensure good accommoda- 

 tion for the very large entry of horses which was anticipated. 

 That was a point to which Mr. Torr and Mr. Hobbs had de- 

 voted great attention, and he hoped the result would be that 

 no one would have any just cause of complaint. As regarded 

 literary prizes, he did not think the Journal Committee were 

 at all disposed to draw the line harshly, or to be over-critical 

 even with respect to essays which might not be so well put 

 together or so good in substance as they could desire, because 

 the certainty of a prize being always adjudged would naturally 

 attract a considerable number of competitors among those who 

 had turned their attention to the particular departments of 

 agriculture which the prize essays were designed to benefit. 

 Divers revolutions in the proceedings of the Society had been 

 suggested that morning. A revolution in the Finance Com- 

 mittee, which took place some time ago, had been applauded ; 

 and 8s the finances were now in & prosperous state, although 

 ia the present day revolutions in finance and dashing budgets 

 were fashionable, yet he thought they would do well to con- 

 tinue their confidence in their Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 Col. Hood, as long as the balance-sheet compared satisfac- 

 torily with the preceding one. With respect to the suggestion, 

 that the Council should^do something to increase the number 

 of members, he was reminded by the Secretary that in the re- 

 port mention was made of one step which they hoped would 

 prove of considerable importance — namely, that of giving 

 members a right to admission to the Shows. So that, at all 

 events, they had not been wanting either in attention to the 

 subject, or in courage to make a somewhat bold experiment. 

 (Hear, hear). Notwithstanding what had been said that 

 morning with regard to the increase in the number of Life 

 Governors, he thought he might justly congratulate the 

 meeting upon that increase, believing as he did that it arose 

 from a conviction that the Society was likely to be useful and 

 stable, and not simply, as had been implied, from the fact that 

 the new Life Governors had found out that a ten years' com- 

 mutation was a profitable arrangement for an individual 

 member. In conclusion, the noble earl said the various sug- 

 gestions that had been made would be duly considered, and 

 again congratulated the meeting on the advantages to be ex- 

 pected from the presidency, next year, of hia Royal Highness 

 the Prince Consort, 



The meeting then separated, the proceedings haTiug oc- 

 cupied upwards of two hours, 



