THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 171 



bailiiF. It is an ordinary, but excellent plough, which, 

 by the simple alteration of three bolts, can in a few 

 moments be converted successively into a potato-raiser, 

 a digging implement, a subsoil plough, a paring plough 

 and a double mould-board plough. 



Having stumbled upon the mention of the Leicester 

 Show, let me thankfully acknowledge what a wonderful 

 opportunity for successful study both of animals and 

 machinery, that tented field afforded to the young 

 farmer. From the shilling knife-sharpener and linen- 

 wrapped refrigerative dish-cover to Howard's monstrous 

 moorland plough and Owen's cataract-pump. There w^as 

 something at every step to attract and instruct. The 

 Southdown ewes were lovely as ever, with their quiet 

 grey eye and weighted thigh. The snowy Cotswold 

 were a picture, yet suggesting to one the involuntary 

 thought that the loss of one such individual must be 

 heavy, and that, considering the precarious life of a 

 sheep, I should prefer meeting my luck with four 

 small representatives of the ovine species to staking so 

 many sovereigns in a single specimen. There were 

 some grand Herefords, amidst others of vulgar quality. 

 There were delicious-looking Devons and a sweet first- 

 prize Alderney heifer, that capered about in her owner's 

 hand as if triumphantly exhibiting her rosette in grati- 

 tude for the indulgence her early youth received at his 

 hand; but, after all, for numbers at least, the Short- 

 horns had the pull of the show. Of the professional 

 critics there were some who considered this the best 

 show upon the whole of such kind ever exhibited ; 

 there were others who compared it disadvantageously 

 in their mind's-eye with the exhibitions of past years ; 

 but I must say, in accordance with a very general con- 



