xvlii RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



CHAPTER XIX 



tAC.E. 



History of a railway — Opening of the London and Birmingham, 

 now the London and North-Western — The Buckinghatnshire 

 — George Stephenson and his son Robert — The Aylesbury — • 

 Messrs. Brydone and Rummens — Marquis of Chandos — Mr. 

 Stewart, secretary to London and North-Western — Unfair 

 opposition of landowner — Contracts and theireffect — Directors' 

 advances — The Great Western — The Metropolitan — Pur- 

 chase of the A and B line — Shameful treatment of the original 

 directors — Their just claims ignored — The Manchester, 

 Sheffield, and Lincolnshire (Great Central) . . . .186 



CHAPTER XX 



Altona — Judge in agricultural department at the great Schleswig- 

 Holstein Exhibition — My fellow jurors — The officials' utter 

 ignorance of ' management ' — Chaos — Assisted by the English 

 exhibitors, orderly arrangement effected — Awards — Trials of 

 implements : difficulties that had to be removed — Thrashing- 

 machines : Walter Wood his own driver — He wins the first 

 prize — Horticultural Show at Hamburgh — The success of the 

 English — Liverpool grapes win against all comers — Shabby 

 treatment of the judge — Nonpayment of services and out-of- 

 pocket expenses — Journey home — Borrowing money to get 

 there — Opinion of foreign agriculture — The all-round 

 superiority of English methods ...... 196 



CHAPTER XXI 



Amsterdam — Appointed a judge at the great Exhibition — The 

 journey thither — The Poultry Show — My son Robert wins the 

 gold medals for poultry and waterfowl — Extraordinary weight 

 of prize birds — Paul Potter's bull — 'A wretch' of a beast — 

 Curious facts in heredity — The famous bull as a picture — 

 Description — The Alderney Bull, by James Ward, R.A. 

 ■ — ' Duke of Connaught' — Trotting matches — Dutch cattle — 

 Milk production and bacon — Tranquil beauty of the Low 

 Countries — The Dutch ; their thrift, cleanliness, and industr>' 

 — The bulb-farms at Haarlem 204 



