52 THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



under the patronage of the nobles, themselves competitors for 

 the prize, tend to the advancement of the great object the 

 improvement of domestic cattle. Nor must we here overlook 

 the annual exhibition of prize-cattle in London, by the Smith- 

 field Cattle Club, an exhibition interesting not only to those 

 immediately engaged in agricultural pursuits, but to those 

 who appreciate the national importance of improvements in 

 every branch of the res rustica. Here are to be seen the 

 result of exertions, carried on principally during the last 

 eighty or ninety years, with a view to unite and bring to per- 

 fection the most desirable points in the various breeds of our 

 domestic cattle. Nor are agricultural implements and ma- 

 chinery of the latest and most improved construction over- 

 looked. Specimens of artificial manures, soils of various 

 districts differing from each other in geological formation, 

 and the results of analytic chemistry both as respects 

 soil and artificial manures, are there to be examined. Bare, 

 or new roots, plants, or seeds, adapted for our climate, 

 and promising to benefit by their introduction, together with 

 vegetables grown to peculiar perfection by some new mode of 

 culture, are also exhibited. The utility of such an exhibition, 

 independent of the emulation it produces, is very evident. 

 " In spite of the advances which agriculture has made during 

 the present century, how slowly do improvements extend 

 beyond the intelligent circle in which they were first adopted ! 

 And it is one of the great advantages of institutions, such as 

 the Smithfield Club, to spread them more rapidly and widely, 

 by drawing the agriculturist from the secluded scenes in 

 which he carries on his occupations, and bringing them be- 

 fore him in the manner best calculated to demonstrate their 

 practical value." 



With respect to the prize oxen and sheep, it must be ac- 

 knowledged that they are fattened often to a distressing 

 degree ; and many have asserted that the stimulus of prizes for 

 bringing an animal into a state of unnecessary fatness is a 

 work of supererogation ; and if this were all, so it would be ; 

 but breed, contour, age, the nature of the diet, its quantity, 

 and the time of fattening, arc all points to be taken into con- 

 sideration; hence this over-accumulation of fat is regarded 

 simply in the light of a test by which the properties of such 

 and such breeds are tried. A piece of artillery is tried by a 

 charge of powder far greater than is ever required for actual 

 service ; in like manner an ox is fattened for exhibition be- 

 yond a useful marketable condition, simply by way of showing 



