*5o 



Tagus last summer. This tract of farming land in England 

 reminded me more of the agriculture of Massachusetts 

 than anything else I saw in that country. 



When I reached London, I found that the great exhibi- 

 tion of the Royal Agricultural Society, — a great anniver- 

 sary exhibition, — would take place at Winsor in a few 

 days. Great effort had been made to make this show the 

 most important and impressive ever held in England. 

 And it was. Nearly sixty thouasnd dollars were offered 

 in premiums, the presence of the queen and the royal fam- 

 ily was promised, and the best breeders of horses, cattle, 

 sheep and swine had prepared their prize animals — and a 

 prize animal in England means an animal as near perfec- 

 tion as he can be brought. There were more than four 

 thousand entries — the sheep alone numbering nearly a 

 thousand. The horses were mostly horses bred for 

 draught on the farm, and consisted of Clydesdales, Dien 

 horses, Suffolks, with Cleveland bays for the carriage, and 

 ponies for light driving, but no thoroughbreds or trotters, 

 and no Percherons. The exhibition in the classes of cat- 

 tle can hardly be described, for a prize short horn or 

 Hereford or Devon in English means a perfection of shape, 

 an accumulation of fat, and a softness in handling which it 

 is hard for us in New England to conceive. 



The display of implements of husbandry covered more 

 than fifteen thousand square feet ; and while great ingenu- 

 ity and good mechanical workmanship were displayed, I 

 remembered with great satisfaction the grace and beauty 

 of the American manufacture, especially in ploughs and 

 shovels, rakes and forks, as well as reapers and mowers. 

 I remembered moreover with supreme satisfaction that all 

 these implements are from 25 to 30 per cent, cheaper in 

 the United States than in England. The number of visi- 

 tors at this exhibition was 175,000, and the queen made 

 repeated visits and took many prizes, as she did also at the 

 Smithfield fat-stock show. The interest felt in London at 

 the time of the exhibition was great. 



