Report t/pon the Exhibition of Horses at Kilburn. 
569 
terror to the drowsy ears of his quadrupedal companions. In 
Scotland, on the other hand, the rule was an iron plough, and a 
ploughman briskly driving a pair of horses abreast. The Royal 
Agricultural Society's shows very soon brought the Scotch 
system of ploughing across the border, not, however, without 
strenuous resistance on the part of ancient British prejudice, as 
exemplified by the well-known story of the late Sir Robert 
Peel's tenants. The great statesman had presented an iron 
plough to each of the farmers holding land under him, and, 
after a year's experience, he called them together and pressed 
them to give him a candid opinion as to the merits or demerits 
of the innovation. " Well, Sir Robert," said, at last, the spokes- 
man of the party, " we have tried your plough fairly, and we are 
all agreed that it makes the weeds grow." 
After the Show of 1839, the respective merits of the iron 
ploughs from the establishments of several old and of some new 
manufacturers were hotly compared, while the introduction ol 
wheels — a purely English invention — added to the keenness ol 
the discussion. It so happened that the principal plough- 
makers of Ipswich, Bedford, and Grantham were also great 
lovers and experienced judges of horse-flesh ; nor were they 
long in discovering that, in order to do justice to the merits 
of a good plough, it was vitally necessary to have a pair oi 
nimble plough-horses, solid in substance and with first-rate 
action, and also a handy and skilful ploughman. Thus it came 
to pass that every show of the Royal Society afforded oppor- 
tunities for a series of lessons as to the value of well-constructed 
ploughs, and of suitable plough-horses. The demand for supe- 
rior draught-animals was, about forty years ago, stimulated by 
the increased pace at which all farming operations were per- 
formed ; and, moreover, in consequence of the quickened move- 
ment of goods resulting from the wide extension of railways, 
it has been found that heavy vehicles, such as vans and coal- 
carts, which formerly never went out of a walk, are now com- 
pelled to move at a trot, so that mere size and weight in the 
horses, without action attached to them, have become an 
anachronism. 
Draught- animals at the Royal Shows are now divided into 
three tribes — Clydesdales, Suffolks, and "Agricultural horses 
not qualified to compete Clydesdales or Suffolks." It will be 
obvious at a glance that the description of the third or last- 
named tribe is in the highest degree vague, and it is probable 
that it will be further subdivided at an early date into "Shire 
horses, and others not competing as Clydesdales, Suffolks, or 
Shires." This division into tribes, including Scotch horses, is 
of comparatively modern date. When, in the latter half of the 
