499 
The Chester Meeting. 
The Show-ground. 
The site selected for the Show, on the Hoole Road, was 
conveniently situated and easy of access, being less than a mile 
from the General Railway Station at Chester. The character 
of the ground and the appearance of its surroundings were 
somewhat prosaic, especially when contrasted with the beautiful 
scenery amid which the Meeting of the previous year had been 
held in Warwick Castle Park. If, also, a comparison in this 
respect be made with the former Show at Chester, it must be 
decided in favour of the Meeting of 1858, which was held on 
the famous Roodee. But, though there were lacking many of 
the natural adjuncts such as have at various times contributed 
to the picturesqueness of the Society’s Shows, it must be ad- 
mitted that the site chosen for this year’s Meeting was one 
eminently suitable from a practical point of view, and this is a 
consideration which cannot be ignored. 
The disposition of the various sections of the Exhibition has 
necessarily to be controlled by the shape and size of the ground ; 
but it will be seen from the plan given on p. 501 that, though 
certain modifications were inevitable in matters of detail, the 
Society’s Surveyor was, nevertheless, able to adhere to the 
general scheme with which visitors to the Country Meetings are 
familiar. The area occupied by this year’s Show was 70 acres; 
at the former Chester Show 25 acres were found sufficient. 
Some Statistics of the Showyards. 
It is quite possible that the casual visitor to the Shows of 
the Royal Agricultural Society may carry away a very in- 
adequate idea of the labour involved, the material consumed, the 
time bestowed, and the money expended in preparing year after 
year the temporary premises for the great national agricultural 
display. The grubbing-up of hedges, the levelling of ground, 
the laying of water-pipes, the making of roads, are usually 
amongst the indispensable preliminaries. Beyond these, how- 
ever, there is a vast amount of work to be done, respecting 
which various details have been kindly furnished by the Society's 
Surveyor. 
Area . — As a general rule the Showyard occupies au area of 
about 70 acres, as was the case this year. At Warwick, in 
1892, although the entries were fewer, an area of 90 acres was 
required, on account of the large number of trees with which 
the ground was so agreeably diversified. On the other hand, 
