614 Report on the Exhibition of Live-Stock at Shrewsbury, 1884. 
gress of the Society, and of live-stock breeding under its en- 
couragement, around the centre revisited this summer, after a 
lapse of thirty-nine years. Within that time several other meet- 
ings have been held in various parts of the area which, indicated 
by the letter " F " in the Society's division of England and Wales 
into seven districts, comprises Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, 
Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wor- 
cestershire, and South Wales. In 1853, the Show was held at 
Gloucester ; 1859, Warwick ; 1863, Worcester ; 1871, Wolver- 
hampton ; 1872, Cardiff; 1876, Birmingham; and in 1878 at 
Bristol, a city which, from its connection with the counties of 
Gloucester and Somerset, touches two of the seven districts. As 
this division, however, was controlled by geographical considera- 
tions, without reference to the distribution of the different breeds 
of live-stock (which varies as time moves on), it often happens 
that Shows held in one and the same district are strikingly unlike 
each other in the features of the department now engaging our 
attention- For example, comparing the Birmingham Show in 
1876 with this year's exhibition, we notice that the Welsh Cattle, 
a prominent feature of the Shrewsbury Show, had no classes at 
Birmingham ; while the Longhorns, at Birmingham remarkable 
for the strength and merit of the classes, made an indifferent 
display so far from their homes as they had to come to Shrews- 
bury. It would be useless, therefore, to compare the Show at 
Shrewsbury this year with Shows held at other towns in the 
same district, unless due allowance were made for all the local 
influences, not easily calculable, which affect the entries ; but 
in the following comparison of the entries of 1845 and 1884, we 
have exactly the same centre, and the changes brought into 
notice must be regarded (with due allowance for increased 
facilities of transit) as the result of nearly forty years of work, 
the work of the National and other Agricultural Associations, 
and the work of private individuals, taught and stimulated by 
those Associations : — 
1845. 
1884. 
Entries. 
Number of 
Animals. 
Entries. 
Number of 
Anlmuls. 
Cattle 
Total 
36 
173 
186 
42 
41 
173 
270 
50 
402 
566 
486 
210 
453 
673 
1316 
280 
437 
534 
1G64 
2722 
