EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 57 
most healthy and regular manner, were clothed with the greatest amount 
of wholesome food, but upon mountains of tallow, ungainly to look upon, 
useless for the purposes of subsistence, and valuable only to be manufac- 
tured into candles. The Smithfield Club have in this respect effected a 
decided reform. They have at length, and unmistakeably, surrendered 
their predilections for the melting-tub, and the danger, if any, against 
which they now require to be warned, is to prevent their show running so 
far into the opposite direction that it may become an exhibition to promote 
purity of breed rather thau one which has reference to the supply of our 
metropolitan meat markets. The principle on which the prizes are 
awarded properly recognizes the breeder as well as the feeder of each 
successful animal, and the materials upon which it has been fattened are 
also specified. These precautions do, to a certain extent, keep the show 
true to its original design, and this result is still further secured by the 
arrangement and classification adopted, which place beasts of different 
breeds side by side, and induce a general comparison of merits between 
the different varieties of stock. It is quite true that the best bred ox will 
generally shew himself best adapted for the purpose for which nature has 
destined him ; but, on the other hand, the merits of cross-bred animals 
ought not to be lost sight of, and something is due to the appetites of our 
citizens, more solicitous about a good sirloin of beef or haunch of mutton 
than as to whether the beasts that furnished them were Devons or Here- 
fords, Southdowns or Leicesters. If we were to find a fault with the 
general character of the present exhibition, we would state it thus — that 
the great breeders, and especially those who breed for amusement, as, for 
instance, the Duke of Richmond, or, to quote another name without any 
invidious motive, his Royal Highness Prince Albeit, should, with their 
advantages for maintaining a successful competition, come into the field 
and carry away so large a proportion of the prizes against the men who 
the whole year round supply Smithfield-market, and appease the appetites 
of a population of 2,000,000. The noblemen and gentlemen who keep up 
fine herds of cattle, partly as a matter of amateur farming and partly to 
raise the quality of stock throughout the country, have their legitimate 
sphere of competition at the great annual shows of the Royal Agricultural 
Society. The Smithfield Club ought to encourage a less dignified but 
not less useful class of competitors, — the men who supply the best mutton, 
the best beef, and the best bacon to the inhabitants of London. We are 
far from saying that these last are altogether excluded ; and a glance at 
the list of prizes will shew that many of our best known feeders have met 
with the success which they deserve. Still, practical men, looking at the 
result, would, we suspect, be disposed to think that several great names 
occur therein somewhat too often. The show is particularly strong in 
Leicester sheep and in crosses. It has improved greatly also in the dis- 
play of Devons, in which hitherto it has been deficient.” — Times , 16tft Dec. 
1850 . 
VOL. XXIV. 
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