646 Report on the Exhibition of British and Foreign Sheep, 
as truly as to fat-stock shows, however different may be the 
degree of condition necessary for the purpose? Value for 
breeding purposes, in stock of these kinds, must depend greatly 
upon what an animal is capable of being made. A good judge, 
of course, knows a good lean sheep ; he can, to a certain extent, 
forecast its possible development, and is not to be deceived by 
the embonpoint of a bad one ; but, granted a lot of good sheep 
in only store condition, surely it is unfair to the best of judges 
to demand of him, ignorant of each animal's power of digestion, 
an accurate guess which particular sheep can turn a given 
quantity of food into the largest and best distributed quantity of 
the finest mutton. This, however, is really demanded by those 
who make a great outcry for exhibition in " natural condition" 
— an ill-chosen term to apply to stock artificially improved. 
Messrs. Dudding had in the older class a really grand two-shear 
ram, shown just as a ram should be shown, in good but not 
excessive condition. This would have made a very creditable 
first winner, for he is a sheep of first-class merit ; but it was 
impossible to pass over Mr. Smith's rams, two of which, named 
" Marechal Bazaine " and " Lord Beaconsfield," were respec- 
tively placed first and second, with the general concurrence of 
competent judges among the bystanders. "Marechal Bazaine" 
has that invaluable index of high breeding — a good head ; is 
broad in the beam, and shows capital wool. None of Mr. 
Smith's older rams were, like his shearlings, home-bred. The 
fine two-shear just described, from the flock of the late Mr. W. F. 
Marshal], is quite of the Branston stamp. The second winner 
was bred by Mr. Thomas Mayfield of Boston. In the remaining 
classes of Lincolns, there was little worthy of note beyond 
Mr. Pears' first-prize ewes, which were very well matched, very 
good in the wool, and altogether very creditable to any exhibitor ; 
all the more so, inasmuch as the exhibitor was also their breeder. 
Messrs. Dudding had the first prize for lambs ; and in both 
ewe and lamb classes, Mr. Charles Sell showed the second, and 
Mr. R. C. Catling the third winners. The lambs were mostly 
of ample size, but looked rather weather-worn. 
The Kentish or Romney Marsh classes had o-l entries, only 
one pen of ewes and one ram being absent. The extending 
colonial reputation of the Romney Marsh sheep, and the excel- 
lence to which they have attained in their own county, give 
them a high place among our improved breeds. It is therefore 
a source of regret that when the International Show was held so 
near their home, greater efforts were not made by the breeders 
lo ensure their large and select representation. The following 
few words give the judicial summary of the classes at Kil- 
burn : — 
