202 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



fat cattle were fit for any of our Christmas exhibitions 

 at Birmingham or IsHngton. 



I sold the prize bull and a heifer for 2,000 florins to 

 Count Polanowski from Galicia — 1,400 florins for the 

 bull, and 600 for the heifer. It was very fortunate for 

 me that I did not trust to the auction sale, for the prices 

 obtained were simply absurd ; after several animals had 

 been knocked down at less that butcher's prices, the 

 remainder were withdrawn, and the cattle show of" Welt- 

 Ausstellung " at Wien was brought to an end. Nearly all 

 the sheep, however, from England sold at good prices ; 

 some few were returned to Stettin and disposed of there ; 

 but one conclusion I arrived at was, that it is a mistake 

 to take cattle of highly-distinguished lineage to con- 

 tinental shows — good shapely animals, plenty of flesh, 

 with full pedigrees, but of any mixture of tribes, which 

 in England make but ordinary prices, will prove possibly 

 remunerative at such places ; but woe betide a breeder 

 if he depends on his Duchess, his Oxford, his Knightley, 

 or his Booth blood, as the foreign buyer knows nothing 

 of the way in which fashion rules the price with us. 



I must not forget to add that Mr. Kirbell's watch 

 stuck to its English time m spite of every change of 

 latitude, and on his arrival on British soil proved to 

 be within a minute of Greenwich time. 



In the year 1878 it was proposed by the French 

 Government that an exhibition of Cattle and Poultry 

 should be held during the months of May and June, in 

 connection with the great international gathering in 

 Paris. The Royal Agricultural Society of England was 

 consulted, and the Council undertook to co-operate, and 



