376 Report on the Exhibition of Live Stock at Cardiff. 
were in all four varieties of sheep recognized which have now ex- 
panded into Leicesters, Cotswolds, and other Long-wools ; Oxford- 
shire Downs, Southdowns, Shropshires, Hampshires, and other 
Short-wools; Dorset, and Mountain sheep. What a story this 
comparison tells of itself! and one as interesting as it should be 
useful. Mr. Milward said in those times " the new class of 
Shropshire Downs was very successful," and "it is to be hoped 
that the Society will recognize them as a distinct breed ;" but 
how many more distinct breeds have we set up since Gloucester ? 
Even the Cotswolds at that time held no rank of their own on 
the prize list. And, then, the pigs, merely separated as large 
from small, with no Berkshire class even on the confines of their 
county, but with "a dark and white Berkshire" sow winning 
a prize, though this would be regarded as rather a curious 
description of a Berkshire by the connoisseurs of a later era. 
Still the Rev. T. C. James, more recently than Gloucester, 
would bring out his " improved " Berkshires, very gaily marked 
with great patches of white on their sides, backs, and even heads. 
It must be understood that I do not write here altogether from 
hearsay or by book, as I was at the Gloucester Meeting, and have 
still a keen recollection of that miserably wet week and swampy 
show-ground, serving as they may to further point the comparison 
in favour of Cardiff, with its sunny skies and pleasant rambles 
from one ring to another. 
Horses. 
Only within a few days from the time I write, I saw what, 
with the pardonable license of "the hammer," was called "the 
best horse in the world," knocked down for the unprecedented 
price of 12,500 guineas, the purchase being made for a new 
Stud Company. Considering tliat we have Parmesan, the 
sire of the last two winners of the Derby, and King Tom, 
still, as it would seem, in their prime, as well as so rising a 
sire as Lord Clifden, already credited with two St. Leger 
winners, it is not quite so clear that Blair Athol is the best 
horse, or, at any rate, the best stallion in the world, or even 
in the country. I should look, myself, with far more confidence 
to another Stud Company for the best horse, that is, of his breed 
and for his purpose. I, of course, refer here to the Shire cart 
stallion Honest Tom, who has won at every meeting of the 
Society from his youth upwards, and at this show as the property 
of the Fylde Cart-Horse Breeding Improvement Company. I 
remember some years since, when acting as a Judge of horses 
for a local society, telling them at the dinner that it was 
their imperative duty to see that the district was provided 
with one or two really good "warrantable" stallions for the 
