598 Report on the Live Stock exhibited at Bedford. 



the Ven. Archdeacon Emery, B.D. officiated, and in the after- 

 noon the Rev. Cyril R. Greaves, B.C.L. ; both services were, as 

 usual, numerously attended by the grooms, herdsmen, and shep- 

 herds in charge of the stock on the ground. 



With respect to the details of each department of the show, 

 the Stewards and Judges have sent in reports, which are given 

 verbatim. 



When the Society began its labours, the cost of conveyance 

 presented almost insuperable difficulties to comparison and com- 

 petition between the different breeds of meat-producing animals, 

 under different circumstances of soil and climate. At present 

 the spread of information and the facilities of communication 

 place the breeders of every district nearly on a level. The 

 respective merits of all the breeds of cattle and sheep are no longer 

 a matter of theory : each county has discovered what best suits 

 its own class of pastures and cultivation. The pure-bred male 

 animals required are supplied by what may be called professional 

 breeders, who exhibit and compete at nearly all the Societies' 

 shows, and thus keep up the quality of the cross breeds which 

 (especially in sheep) tenant farmers find most profitable. 



Under these influences inferior local breeds have almost dis- 

 appeared. Some, like the Norfolk polled and the Sussex (those 

 large editions of the Devon), have been much improved, while 

 the recent attention of enthusiastic dairymen has brought into 

 notice the merits of carefully bred Jerseys and Guernseys. 



Since the institution of the shows of the Society, the Herefords 

 and Devons have maintained their place, improved their points as 

 meat-makers in their own districts, and have had their respective 

 merits acknowledged in the United States and the colonies of 

 Australia ; while the Shorthorn, which in the early days of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society's Shows was considered a strange 

 interloping beast from the North, has conquered all prejudices 

 and established its value from East to West and from North 

 to South, either as a pure breed or a cross.* 



* The following extract, from a report in ' The Times' on an Agricultural Show in 

 New South Wales, illustrates this point : — " Herds are springing up everywhere 

 along the lines of railway, and a vigorous competition is going on. Breeding is 

 a profitable trade, when men like Mr. Jenkins can average 225?. apiece for 25 

 calves sold last year. Men think nothing of giving or refusing 1500Z. for a pair 

 of horns. The competitive entries number 250, the non-competitive 120. Of the 

 former, 25 are Devons, 40 Herefords, and the rest Duihams. The Durhams are 

 as yet first in popular favom-, although the Herefords have a great number of 

 adherents, and the Devons are rising in estimation. Quite a sensation was pro- 

 duced this year by the selection of a Hereford as the best male animal in the 

 yard. The first prize in the aged bull class was given to Mr. E. K. Cox's ' Earl 

 Eitzwindsor,' a pure-bred animal from Mr. Carr's herd, of Stockhouse. Mi: Jen- 

 kins, as usual, was a large prize-taker in the Shorthorns, Mr. Reynolds in Here- 

 fords and Devons, and Mr. Walter Lamb in all three." 



