SECRETARY'S REPORT. 206 



of the high estimation in which they were held, it may be 

 stated that a French Merino ram sold, to go to Pomcrania, for 

 100 guineas, or iJoOO, and three Saxons for 600 guineas, or 

 $3,000, to go to Australia. Of these, one, a Saxon ram, 

 brought 82,000. 



The number of " sleeping beauties" in the pig-pens was two 

 hundred and forty-five, sent in by one hundred and ninety- 

 three exhibitors. Many of the breeds showed a wonderful 

 tendency to fatten. The old standard rule of "keeping a pig 

 warm, filling him with food and sending him to sleep," was 

 strictly practiced in these styes. Walking, indeed, was out of 

 the question. I believe there were some which could not open 

 their eyes, from very fatness. I should have liked to see them 

 " trotted out." I do not think the exhibitors entertain an 

 exalted idea of working their swine in the manure-heap. The 

 contrast between these sleek and lazy English porkers and the 

 lank subsoilers we saw tied along the streets of Naples, looking 

 for all the world as if they could outrun most of the horses on 

 a clear track, was worthy of making " a note on. " 



The classification, as with us, was into " large breeds," " small 

 wl#te," " small black," " Berkshires," and " any other breed." 

 Which of these classes most satisfactorily answered the all- 

 important question, " Will a pig pay ? " I am not able to say. 



The large breeds appeared to me among the most profitable. 

 One old "Golden Dream" had a girth of six feet six inches. 

 She had produced one hundred and fifty-three pigs, in thirteen 

 litters. Yorkshire seemed to be partial to white breeds, Suffolk 

 to the black. The Berkshires made a good show. Most if not 

 all the swine were evidently fed and pampered for show. They 

 were not in every day, working order. Indeed, this was pretty 

 universally the case in all the classes of live animals, except the 

 dairy stock, and many animals there had eaten more in the few 

 months previous to the show than they had turned into milk. 



It was universally admitted, I believe, that the exhibition of 

 implements and machinery had never been surpassed, never 

 equalled even, by the society. Every house and every manu- 

 facturer seemed to have determined to do its best, and this 

 exhibition was, no doubt, the most complete representation of 

 the agricultural mechanics of Great Britain at the present time. 

 To give some idea of its extent and magnificence, it is suflicieut 



