772 CATTLE AND DAIRY FAJJMING. 



of that gentleman which stands in the market-place of Cambridge, and bears testimony 

 to the high reputation in which he was held as an agriculturist and a breeder of sheep'. 

 I think we shall all agree that Mr. Webb contributed very much to the improvement of 

 our mutton and wool, and I am quite sure that it will be also your verdict that Mr. 

 Woods has done his duty during his life in contributing to the same satisfactory result. 



Professor Tanner: I have great pleasure in supporting the remarks which have fallen 

 from Lord Walsingham. In reference to the lectures of Mr. Woods, which have been 

 published, I am quite sure that they are looked upon as treasures amongst agricultural 

 literature, embodying, as they have done, great personal experience and great personal 

 judgment; and I have no doubt that those of us who will have the pleasure of hearing 

 him on the 17th of March will find that in reference to another subject which is now 

 taking a prominent position in practical agriculture he will be well to the front. I 

 have, therefore, great pleasure in supporting the vote of thanks to Mr. Woods for his 

 very able lecture on this occasion. 



Mr. Woods, who was received with renewed cheers, said: I am extremely obliged to 

 the noble lord for another of the very many and great kindnesses which he is always show- 

 ing me in speaking so flatteringly and kindly of me as he has done this evening. I am 

 very glad to have had the opportunity of making known to you something of the prac- 

 tice of management of Southdown sheep at Merton, and if it proves of any advantage, 

 as I hope it may do, to the students connected with this institute which from my heart 

 I wish success I shall be greatly gratified. Let me also say, having had the manage- 

 ment of the Merton sheep for such a great number of years, that it would have been a 

 very heavy weight of labor upon my hands if I had not been so thoroughly and practi- 

 cally assisted by the advice of the noble owner of that flock, who, it is a great gratifica- 

 tion to me, has attended here to-night to hear what I have had to say about his own 

 property. 



Mr. Henry Webb proposed a vote of thanks to Lord Walsingham for presiding, and 

 observed that the noble lord thoroughly deserved the success that he had attained with 

 his celebrated flock. 



Mr. Biddell, M. P., seconded the vote of thanks with great pleasure. He said he 

 could not help feeling that agriculturists were greatly indebted to his lordship and to 

 his first-rate agricultural adviser. Where they had great practical talent and scientific 

 attainments, combined with wealth, and the owner of that wealth ever ready to spend 

 it on behalf of agricultural advancement, they could not be too grateful for the advan- 

 tages they derived therefrom. Speaking from a long experience, he advised young 

 farmers to disabuse their minds of the idea that there was nothing like weight for get- 

 ting a large price for their sheep. Small sheep would often bring more profit than large 

 sheep, because they would make mutton in proportion to their food much faster, and 

 when it was made the butcher would tell them that it was much more salable than large 

 mutton. He hoped to live to see the day when Southdown flocks would again be the 

 most fashionable. 



The noble chairman, in reply, said: I thank you very much for your great kindness 

 towards me, and for the very flattering terms in which the proposer and seconder of this 

 vote of thanks have been good enough to speak of me. I always take the greatest pos- 

 sible interest in all questions relating to agriculture. This is very much owing to my 

 friend, Mr. Woods, for I am afraid without him my interest in agriculture would have 

 been very much handicapped. If I had been called upon to begin a course of farming 

 and get up a flock of sheep at a time when, as in late years, agriculture has not been in 

 the most prosperous condition, I might have disheartened, aud said that I would not, 

 take much trouble about it; but coming into the property I did, with a flock already 

 established, with able managers in charge of that flock, aud with everything in my favor, 

 it was impossible for me not to take the liveliest interest not only in the pursuit of agri- 

 culture but also in the flock of sheep which I found upon the Merton estate. With re- 

 gard to the size of sheep, the point alluded to by Mr. Biddell, I quite agree with him 

 that a small sheep often means more profit to the owner than a large one. Small mut- 

 ton is, no doubt, iu great demand in London, and small sheep will fetch higher prices 

 in proportion to large sheep ; but, at the same time, if you can increase size without losing 

 quality, I hold that should Jbe the object which we should have in view. 



