233 



Athlone, Oct. 5, 1313, 



AMONG the pleasures of yesterday, I must 

 not overlook that of my being introduced to 

 Mr. Garnett, a very respectable gentleman in 

 his eighty-fourth year. In the course of the 

 last sixty-four years he had attended Ballinasloc 

 fair sixty-three times. The opportunity of re- 

 sorting to such a living chronicle, promised a 

 ricli treat to an agricultural amateur, as, in 

 that period, the changes which he had wit- 

 nessed must have been very striking. Though 

 much of this gentleman's attention had been 

 devoted to stock, yet the alterations had been 

 so gradual and progressive, as not to have 

 made such impression on his mind as I had 

 been led to expect. He admitted that the 

 augmentation in point of value, with other 

 causes, had increased the price of cattle nearly 

 four-fold ; but he was not prepared to allow 

 that so much had been gained in size and sym- 

 metry of the several breeds as 1 had supposed, 

 and indeed it is probable that this improve- 



