604 
Report on Live-Stock at Carlisle. 
porrion are over-fed. Horses have probably undergone less 
change than other animals. Competition is, however, ex- 
tended ; classes have been opened for hacks, cobs, and ponies, 
which now constitute great attractions. The heavier draught 
horses are arranged under the threefold division of Agricultural, 
Clydesdale, and Suffolk. Four gentlemen sufficed to judge 98 
horses in 1855, and concluded their awards before noon. This 
year twelve gentlemen in four divisions adjudicated on 52 classes, 
comprising 470 animals, and two of the divisions did not finish 
their arduous work until 6 P.M. The Showyard arrangements 
have been modernised and improved. The animals are more 
comfortably sheltered and provided for, and not least important, 
the judging during the last twenty years has been done in 
public, to the great pleasure and profit alike of breeders and 
amateurs. The extended proportions and wider teaching of the 
present exhibition may in some degree be estimated by the rela- 
tive length of the official Report, which, including the opinions 
of the Judges, was in 1855 included in three pages. 
The present Showyard was well chosen, conveniently near 
the city, occupying 65 acres of the meadows on either side 
of the Caldew, a tributary of the Eden. The two portions of 
the Yard were connected by two bridges. The levelling, 
draining, and water-supply left nothing to be desired. Shrubs, 
flowers, and ornamental grass-plots added to the amenity of the 
river banks. The arrangements for the comfort of the stock, 
for the judging, and for the convenience of the public, were 
admirably carried out. Not a hitch nor accident occurred 
throughout the Show. As at Kilburn, the weather alone was 
adverse. On the Monday afternoon, while the Judges were 
still busy, a heavy thunder-shower drove every one under shelter 
of the well-stretched canvas roofs, and all work was suspended 
for half-an-hour. Before midday on Tuesday rain again fell 
abundantly ; more rain on Wednesday ; and still more on 
Thursday, sadly marring the enjoyment of the 50,000 people 
who, undeterred by dripping weather and mud, came on 
Thursday to see the great agricultural fair. Ladies in water- 
proofs and strong boots trudged boldly about. On Tuesday 
and Wednesday fears were entertained lest the Caldew, over- 
flowing its banks, might flood the Show-ground. The resources 
of the executive, as at Kilburn, were called into requisition in 
providing ballast, tan, sawdust, and planks to render the road- 
ways tolerably passable. Owing to the wet state of the ground 
it was impossible to carry out the programme and have the 
daily parade of horses and cattle. Despite rain, low temperature, 
and wet forage, the health of the stock was particularly good. 
A few horses had staring coats and coughed, one or two cattle 
