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III. — Report of the Senior Steicard of Live Stock at Bristol. 
By J, ShUTTLEWORTH, of Ilartsholmc, Hall, Lincoln. 
At the termination of a four years' service, the Steward of Live 
Stock, having held the important position of Senior, is expected 
to write a short address as a preface to the more technical 
Report on the animals exhibited which is written by an official 
reporter — this year by Mr. Caird, son of the well-known agricul- 
tural statistician. 
After an almost unbroken succession of Shows extending over 
a period of forty years, there is still sufficient variety in the 
Society's Country Meetings to justify the continuance of the old 
custom. The Bristol Meeting was certainly not wanting in 
this respect ; and whether we consider the position of the Show- 
yard, the state of the weather, the anti([ue city, or the reception 
of the Society, much might be found by a ready writer to " point 
a moral and adorn a tale." 
The Showyard, situated on Durdham Downs, an expanse of 
greensward on the top of the tall cliffs which border the winding 
river Avon, was an admirable Showyard when reached ; and the 
means of getting there were alone sufficient to arrest the atten- 
tion of any thoughtful visitor. Tramway and railway stations 
had both been brought, by circuitous routes it is true, very near 
the Showyard, although it was at an elevation of several hundred 
feet above the heart of the city, about two miles distant. 
Bristol, although much modernised of late years, still retains 
many interesting marks of its medieval importance ; and its 
citizens, although more famous for ploughing the sea than the 
land, gave a most hearty welcome to the tillers of the soil. The 
weather was everything that could be desired, sufficiently dry 
and not too hot, the perfection of comfort for man and beast. 
The great feature of the Meeting was the visit of the Prince 
of Wales, the President Elect of the Society, on that occasion. 
Nine years had elapsed since His Royal Highness last visited 
an Exhibition of the Society, namely, when he was President at the 
Manchester Meeting in 186'J. The citizens of Bristol thoroughly 
appreciated the honour thus conferred upon them, and were ex- 
uberant in the manifestations of their loyalty, which were limited 
only by the comparative shortness of time which His Royal 
Highness could devote to his visit to the city and the Show. 
Although it is tolerably well known, it may not be amiss to 
repeat the often-told fact that the Prince of Wales takes an active 
interest in farming pursuits, and those who saw for the first time 
the critical way in which he examined his own sheep, as well as 
those which had either beaten them or been beaten by them, 
