98 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Smithfield. The Duke of Bedford to appoint 

 judges. 



ROBERT TENCH. 

 SAMUEL KNOWLES." 



The above trial came off and the Hereford 

 won. 



The editor of the "Annals of Agriculture," 

 writing in 1800 of a great friend of the Here- 

 ford and his sheep shearing show, says: "I 

 might expatiate on the husbandry of the Duke of 

 Bedford and the uncommon improvement he 

 has made even since the last sheep show. 

 The show house for the tups is ad- 

 mirably contrived, but these and various 

 other articles highly interesting I reserve 

 for that register of observations made at Wo- 

 burn which has been drawn up on a former oc- 

 casion, and which yet waits for some drawing 

 not completed. 



"The meeting passed off to the satisfaction 

 of all present, and it was an animating circum- 

 stance to see the lovers of agriculture assem- 

 bled together from countries so remote, from 

 the most distant provinces of Ireland, from 

 Germany, and from Switzerland. Several 

 came expressly for this purpose about five hun- 

 dred miles. It shows the spirit with which ag- 

 riculture is at present prosecuted ; it marks the 



genius of the age; it presages (may the provi- 

 dence of the Almighty permit) the future pros- 

 perity of this flourishing empire. 



"To see a prince of the royal blood arid 

 many great lords sit down to the same table 

 and partake of the conversation of the farmer 

 and the breeder; to see all animated with the 

 spirit of improvement, and listening with de- 

 light to the favored topic of the plough, is a 

 spectacle worthy of Britain, and in her blest 

 isle alone to be beheld: Esto perpetua. 



"The conversation throughout the meeting 

 was entirely agricultural, as it has been on 

 every former occasion, opinions of stock, of cul- 

 tivation, discussed, facts related, ideas sported, 

 questions debated, bets proposed, and emulation 

 active and promoted. 



"He little knows the secret springs that move 

 the public good who does not see the excellent 

 effects that must flow from prejudices being 

 worn away by the attrition of contrary senti- 

 ments, by exhibitions of superior stock being 

 examined and compared, and by the sphere of 

 rural knowledge being thus extended. 



"The Duke announced premiums for the year 

 1801. May the new century open auspiciously 

 to the plough; may the spirit of this sheep 

 shearing improve the flocks of Britain ; may her 



HEREFORDSHIRE PEASANTRY. CHEAP LABOR FOR THE REARING OF LARGE CROPS. 



