CHAPTER XVII 



" Gee-up, Dobbin "Topics of Yesterday and To-day Coke of Norfolk 

 Hands Across the Sea Benjamin Franklin An Historic 

 Letter. 



ONE of my treasured possessions is a massive 

 silver cup, ornamented with various 

 agricultural emblems, and inscribed 

 " Awarded to Mr. Joseph Plowman for his essay 

 which gained the first prize offered by the Oxford 

 Farmers' Club, 1855." The subject of the essay 

 was " The advantages resulting to the public in 

 general and to agriculturists in particular from 

 Farmers' Clubs and other agricultural associa- 

 tions." The adjudicator was Dr. Daubeny, the 

 Professor of Botany and Rural Economy in the 

 University of Oxford. My father had appended 

 to his composition as the name of the competitor 

 was not to be revealed till after the award had 

 been made the characteristic signature of " Gee- 

 up, Dobbin." I very well remember his coming 

 home with the cup after it had been presented to 

 him by the President at the Club dinner and 

 rejoicing with him at its acquisition. Thirty 

 years after this the London Farmers' Club re- 

 quested me to give them a paper on " Agricultural 

 Societies and their Uses " for their meeting in 

 Smithfield Week. Times and methods had altered 



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