644 Report of the Steward of Dairying and Poultry at Nottingham. 
the palm for excellence must certainly here be awarded to Stilton cheese. 
There was a large entry in this class, and with only one exception all of a 
very high order of merit indeed : in fact, seldom if ever have finer specimens 
of this cheese— a speciality of English make — been submitted for the 
inspection of the British public. Kich, ripe, mellow, clean, are terms that 
accurately describe their merits. A soft silky rich curd that is so often 
alluded to as a matter of memory, but seldom as a reference to recent 
experience, vcas there ; and the question arises — was not this a result of the 
awakening from the lethargy which claimed that a cheese made in the 
shape of a Stilton was a valuable commercial article, without regard to 
quality or its having to do battle with the foreign product ? I think it was, 
and I can say with certainty that if our English farmers will as a rule — not 
as an exception — place the high standard attained at the Royal Agricultural 
Show at Nottingham before them and strive to equal or surpass it, we shall 
see Stilton cheese rehabilitated in public favour, a pride and a glory of the 
dairy interest in England, and a winning competitor with that foreign pro- 
duct that has largely worked its w-ay into public esteem, viz. Gorgonzola 
cheese, simply through the opportunities aflbrded it by the indifterence of 
the producer to the quality of the product he turned out, and which he called 
Stilton cheese — however badly made — so long as it was in the shape of a 
Stilton. 
Due attention must be given to these matters by our friends the farmers, 
aa they have to face formidable rivals who have been allowed to obtain a 
firm footing here ; who in a trade of only a few years' growth send in at 
present forty tons per week ; and who are now, as a sequence of the demand, 
sendiug a somewhat inferior article to that which gained them their laurels. 
Here then is the opportunity for British resource and energy to display 
itself, reassert its ascendency, and recover its market. 
The Cream Cheese exhibits were few in number, their merits as a class 
being also somewhat circumscribed. Jtjbal Webb. 
Poultry. 
The Poultry Show having failed to fulfil the expectations of 
its founders, the propriety of its continuance, at any rate in its 
present form, is now receiving the consideration of the Council. 
As I did not feol competent to offer any suggestions as to the 
future management of this department, I asked the Judges to 
favour the Society in their reports with any suggestions for the 
improvement of the ]5rize list that would tend to make the Show 
more popular with the exhibitors, and more practically useful to 
the breeders of farm poultry. 
Report of the J udge of Heavy Poultry. 
The heavy poultry were a creditable lot, and some of the classes were 
well represented. I'erliaps the quality throughout has not been equalled at 
any previous exhibition of the Society. It is also satisfactory to notice that 
most of the prizes were won by birds belonging to farmers wlio have taken 
up the hobby of rearing and exliibiting poultry. This is as it sliould be, and 
in fact the original idea of the Council. It is quite out of the question to 
ever expect farmers and others who breed commercial poultrj' only, to exhibit 
successfully at any exhibition in the kingdom, in coiupetition with the 
