REFUTATION OF MR. RICHARDSON's LETTER. 



173 



crowded and influential assembly ; but Mr. Richardson did not 

 appear, though a circular was directed particularly to him. 

 Reporters, however, for the Norwich, Bury, and Ipswich papers 

 were present, whose detailed accounts, it was thought, aided 

 by the forcible and appropriate remarks of the Editors, could 

 not fail to convince the most sceptical. But the persevering 

 caviller and the inveterate bigot, being in their very nature 

 incurable, remained of course unconvinced. 



To counteract the baneful influence of such folks, the North 

 Walsham Club off'ered, by a challenge through the Norwich 

 and London papers, to test the merits of the compound with 

 oil-cake ; which challenge not being accepted, Mr. Postle de- 

 termined to try the experiment upon his own premises, which he 

 did in the most impartial and correct manner. In the mean 

 time the pubUc were invited to inspect the cattle, and the new 

 mode of grazing, through a letter in the county papers. Nu- 

 merous visitors, some from considerable distances, availed 

 themselves of the opportunity ; and on the 12th of May, in 

 particular, two or three hundred persons examined the cattle. 

 In due time Mr. Postle advertised the day when his bullocks 

 were to be shown and weighed on Norwich Hill. During the 

 whole of this period, namely, from the 19th of May, nothing 

 was heard of Mr. Richardson till after he had written his 

 letter, a document fraught with incongruity. 



For instance, he observes in his letter addressed to the 

 Editor of the Farmer s Journal, "You must, or at least those 

 who sent forth the facts, ought to have recollected, that the 

 six compound beasts had an average of twelve stone in their 

 favour when put to feed. This twelve stone has not been 

 deducted either from the time when weighed fat, nor when 

 slaughtered. So, the real facts are, that the six compound 

 beasts, when fat, did not weigh twenty stone more than the 

 others, but just eight. And when slaughtered, not fifty stone 

 six pounds 1 ! ! but just thirty-eight ! ! ! " He adds further, 

 " I suppose you intend to make the compound cattle a present 

 of these articles [alluding to boilers, &c.], as you did the twelve 

 stone at the beginning." But what a mistake!!! whether 

 wilful or not, an extract from the Report of the experiment in 

 question, contained in the above journal, will best determine. 



