CHAPTER IV. 

 BRITISH SHOWS AND THEIR INFLUENCE. 



English breeders as a rule are good sportsmen. 

 They love the excitement of the showyard and be- 

 lieve in submitting rival claims to the issue of open 

 competition before a capable committee of experi- 

 enced judges. Many and varied have been the 

 changes in their procedure in the development of 

 their different breeds as a result of this old-estab- 

 lished trial by jury. Apropos of this proposition 

 an experienced Herefordshire breeder and exhib- 

 itor, in a recent letter to the author says : 



"There is nothing like an agricultural show for 

 proving up relative quality. I am a great believer 

 in them, for I think there is no trial like a public 

 trial, whether in the showyard or on the race course. 

 Many a man thinks he has a wonderfully good ani- 

 mal until he brings him out in public. He knows 

 what he is really like after he meets competitors. 

 He usually finds his level or very near it, and the 

 owner generally feels better satisfied after try- 

 ing it. 



"I remember once a gentleman who lived seven 

 or eight miles off me, asking if I would come and 

 see a young bull that he thought was a remarkably 

 good one. He desired to know if I would advise 

 sending him to the Ludlow Show a few miles off. 



"I said, 'Certainly, send him.' He was an indiffer- 

 ent animal, but I could see that his owner thought 

 him a wonderfully good one, so he sent him. It 



147 



