300 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



sometimes offered for sale, and the field presents the appearance 

 of a grand military display ; indeed, I have seldom seen a sight 

 more imposing. For a week or more before the tryst, the 

 roads leading to Falkirk will be found crowded with successive 

 droves of cattle and sheep, proceeding to this central point ; and 

 it is extremely curious, on the field, to see with what skill and 

 care the different parties and herds are kept together by them 

 selves. In this matter, the shepherds are greatly assisted by 

 their dogs, who appear endowed with a sagacity almost human, 

 and almost to know every individual belonging to their charge. 

 They are sure, with an inflexible pertinacity, to follow and bring 

 back a deserter to the flock. Purchasers come in great numbers 

 from various parts of the kingdom. Some cattle ar^ bought to 

 be re-sold at other and smaller markets. The larger number 

 are bought in order to be fed or fatted on the arable farms at the 

 south. Cattle which have thus been driven from the extreme 

 north are afterwards to be found even in Cornwall, at the 

 Land s End. 



The sales in these cases are, of course, for cash. Bankers are 

 always present, or near at hand, to facilitate the transactions. 

 Here, at a distance little less than four hundred miles from Lon 

 don, bankers go down from London, carrying their funds with 

 them, and occupying, during the time of the market, (which con 

 tinues at least four days,) a temporary stand or office in the field. 



L. THE BALLINASLOE FAIR. 



At Ballinasloe, in Ireland, a similar fair is held ; though here 

 the fair is usually confined to the sale of sheep, and they some 

 times number as many as eighty thousand sheep. A very large- 

 fair is held in the southern portions of Scotland, for the sale of 

 lambs, where the collection is immense. 



