210 N AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



coats, fairing to within a few inches of the ankle a pictu 

 resque, comfortable, and serviceable habit, making them 

 appear more as n&quot; they were accustomed to walk and to work, 

 and were not ashamed of it, than women generally do. Most 

 incongruously, as a topping off to this sensible costume, a 

 number of women had crowded their heads into that ultima 

 thule of absurd invention, a stiff, narrow-brimmed, high- 

 crowned, cylindrical fur hat. What they did with their hair, 

 and how they managed to keep the thing on their heads, I 

 cannot explain. I assert that they did do it, notwithstanding 

 something of a breeze, as well as the most practised man, 

 and without showing evidence of any particular suffering. 



There were, perhaps, a hundred horses offered for sale ; 

 among them one pair only of fine carriage-horses, one large 

 and fine thorough bred cart-horse, and a few pretty ponies. 

 All the rest were very ordinary stout working-horses, much 

 like our Pennsylvania horses. The average price of them 

 was but a trifle over $100, about what they would bring at 

 New York. 



There were still fewer cattle, and they were all comprised 

 in three breeds and their intermixtures : first, Hereford, which 

 predominated ; second, Welsh, small, low, black beasts, with 

 large heads and white faces, black muzzles and long spread 

 ing horns ; third, Smutty pates, an old Welsh breed hardly to 

 be found in purity now. They are longer and somewhat 

 larger than Devons, a little lighter red in colour, with invari 

 ably black or brindle faces. They were generally in fair 

 condition, tolerable feelers, and would cut up particularly 

 heavy in their hind quarters. A Smithfield man told me that 

 he thought a cross of this breed with the Hereford made the 

 best beef in the world. 



After dining with a number of gentlemen, most of whom 

 had come from a distance to attend the fair, I took a walk 



