JULY 7 
THE 
Comfort and happiness do not depend upon 
lavish, but rather upon judicious expenditure. 
The broadest culture and the most intelligent 
economy are possible in the same household 
Economy of time is as important as economy 
of money, if, indeed, they are not one and the 
same. J. h. G. 
BATH AND WEST OE ENGLAND AGRI¬ 
CULTURAL SHOW. 
SECRETARY WOODWARD IN ENGLAND. 
1 he oldest agricultural society in England', 
temporary canvas-covered buildings for 
itinerant agricultural shows; arrange¬ 
ment of live-stock ; enthusiastic welcome; 
“ beastly ” weather; good attendance in spite 
of rain and mud; no swindling allowed; 
Short-horns the chief prize-winners; Jer¬ 
seys next in number; the Herefords, De¬ 
vons, and Sussex; Black Welsh breed; a 
splendid exhibit of Guernseys; a meagre 
horse show; Clydes generally ahead of the 
Shires as prize-winners; a slim show of 
long-wool sheep ; South Downs; Shropshires, 
and Hampshires in large numbers; Ox¬ 
fords not popular; praise for Dor sets; Ex¬ 
moor sheep; Welsh wild sheep; a small 
swine display; the three white breeds; 
fine show of high-priced poultry; Floral 
Hall a beauty; wagons and implements 
too heavy and clumsy; horse-shoeing con¬ 
test; the working dairy the finest feature 
of the show; dairy-maids and their work. 
The one hundred and eleventh aunual 
“Show” of this very important (second only 
to the Royal) Agricultural Society, which 
claims to be the oldest in England, has just 
closed at this very ancient Welsh town, and 
to an American it was very novel and inter¬ 
esting. Being itinerant in its habits, of course 
the structures were very crude and unsub¬ 
stantial. With the exception of Floral Hall, 
Poultry Hall, Arts’ Hall, and the officers’ 
quarters, which have portable frames, and are 
covered with heavy canvas, the show-sheds 
(and everything was under cover) were from 
one hundred to several hundred feet long, 
about 30 feet wide, made by setting posts 
firmly in the ground at suitable distances apart, 
and by placing on these a canvas roof. The 
cattle sheds had a board partition through the 
ce> ter, and the cattle were fastened on each 
side of this with chains and halters. The sheep 
were in two rows of pens running lengthwise 
of these sheds, the pens being made by forcing 
into the ground iron hurdles made in sections 
about nine feet long and 3^ feet high. The 
pigs were in board pens arranged in the same 
manner. The horses were in board stalls ar¬ 
ranged along the fence and open in front from 
about four feet above the ground to the roof, 
which was also of canvas. While this arrange¬ 
ment gave ample facilities for viewing the 
exhibits, it had the appearance of crudeness, 
which was very unsatisfactory. 
A very noticeable and pleasing feature was 
the hearty welcome extended by the town. 
Flags were flying evei’ywhere; the stores and 
houses were covered with bunting; and the 
city had erected poles on opposite sides of the 
street at intervals of about 60 feet, and these 
were decorated from top to bottom with flags 
and shields, and from ropes connecting their 
tops were suspended the colors of all nations, 
conspicuous among which were the Stars and 
Stripes. With this display the people seemed 
in hearty accord and tried to make everybody 
welcome. I have attended many shows, but 
never have I seen the weather so “beastly” 
(this is English you know). It rained some on 
the 7th, but on the 8th and 9th it rained about 
every half hour, and the fine soil (the bottom 
land of the river Usk) worked up through the 
sod and made about one inch of thin mud, 
the “nawstiest” and stickiest I ever saw, and 
yet in spite of the rain and mud, the people 
came in crowds, bound to see the show and 
have a good time. I was glad to notice that 
nothing in the way of cheap shows, tricksters, 
mountebanks or swindlers, was allowed on or 
about the “show yard,” as such places are 
called here, and although liquors were sold 
the officers were very watchful and any per¬ 
son showing the least signs of intoxication 
was at once hustled out of the yard or into 
the lockup. 
The show of cattle was large, and except 
the Jerseys and Guernseys, all were ex¬ 
ceedingly fat; too fat entirely to show the best 
points of the various breeds. As might be 
expected in this land of Johnny Bull and good 
beef, Short-horns won the “champion” 
prizes (sweepstakes) as best bull and cow of 
any breed ; but in the case of the cow I 
could see no reason for this unless by 
“best” was meant the one that would 
make most beef; for, although she had a very 
fine calf four weeks old by her side, I am 
sure that her udder would have given no 
more than a gallon of milk at any time. 
The Short-horns were in great number, and as 
beef animals extremely fine, and the prize¬ 
winners mostly came from the rich lands of 
southern England, near the coast. Closely 
following the above in numbers were the 
Jerseys, with their sleek coats and large ud¬ 
ders. Several were here direct from Jersey, 
but I think not one of these won a prize. 
Of Herefords there were a goodly number, 
and some fine animals, though not better 
than I have seen at our own shows. There 
was also a fair show of Devons of very 
superior quality, but they were rather out¬ 
shone by the Sussex cattle which are very 
similar. Although denied by the owners, I 
could but think there was Devon blood in 
their make-up. Allied perhaps to the 
Short-horns, they have more size than 
the former and much of the shape of 
the latter, especially as regards the heads and 
horns of the bulls. They are solid color and 
of a deep dun red, very much dappled, or 
rather figured singularly with nearly black. 
Although claimed by the owners to be super¬ 
ior milkers, I could not help thinking them 
better for beef than butter. 
There were some 30 head of Black Welsh 
cattle from North Wales. They also greatly 
resemble the Short-horn in form,though much 
more active and perhaps not quite so large in 
body, but with larger horns, and they have 8 
black skin and a fine, soft coat of jet-black 
hair. There was not a single Representative 
of any of the polled breeds either black or red, 
but there was the finest lot of Guernseys I had 
ever seen, and from the attention given them, 
and the popularity they are gaining, I should 
not be surprised if the next cattle boom should 
be made on these beautiful animals. 
The horse show was very meager, the en¬ 
tries were not large, and not half of those 
entered were present, which was explained by 
the fact that London is just now holding a 
special horse show which attracted a great 
number of choice animals which would other¬ 
wise have been here. 
There were, however, some very fine Clydes¬ 
dale and Shire horses, and all competed in the 
same class, which I regard as very proper 
from the fact that they are so nearly alike 
that I saw no one who could say certainly to 
which breed any particular animal belonged, 
unless he had a catalogue to which he could 
refer. The class is called “Agricultural Horses,” 
Great effort was made by the owners of each 
to secure the first place, and I noticed that 
in nearly every section of this class, the Cly¬ 
desdale won the coveted blue ribbon. There 
was a good show of Hunters and some very 
fine Welsh and Exmoor ponies. The winner 
of the first prize was a bay Welsh as handsome 
as a bright guinea and a beautiful stepper. 
The show of long-wooled sheep was very slim; 
but perhaps this is not a long-wool country. 
There were less than a dozen of either Leicester 
or Cotswold, and a few more of Devon long- 
wools, a class very nearly resembling what 
are known as Lincoln, though perhaps a very 
little coarser wooled. There was a little show 
of South Downs, H. R. H., The Prince of 
Wales, being a competitor from his Sandring¬ 
ham place. In this exhibit were some very 
good sheep, but they were overshadowed in 
numbers, size and number of admirers by both 
the Shropshires and Hampshires. There were 
some very good pens of the latter breed, es¬ 
pecially some from the farm of the Agricul¬ 
tural College at Downton, near Salisbury. 
The Oxfords were in small numbers and do 
not appear to be at all popular, the ob¬ 
jection to them being that they are too coarse 
and fatten too much like the coarse-wool side 
of the cross from which they spraug. Dorsets 
were in good force and, of course, I was 
happy, as they were the very things I came to 
see. The lambs were fine, but I was foolish 
enough to think that I had some bred from 
the sheep brought out by me last summer,that 
would have taken the first prize had they been 
in the yard. I find that while there is no doubt 
that these sheep breed twice a year, here they 
are not forced to do so, but are used for the 
production of fall lambs for the early 
London markets. There were a few of the 
Exmoor sheep from the Exmoor mountains 
of Devon, which very nearly resemble the Dor¬ 
set horned, except in size and the fact that they 
have black instead of pink noses. There were 
also a few of a peculiar sheep from the Welsh 
Mountains. They are very deer-like in form 
and especially so in look of head, and were 
fully as “wild as deers.” They have long 
legs and very light fleeces of wool and will not 
weigh over 55 or 60 pounds. They live on the 
rough lands and scanty herbage of the Welsh 
mountains in great numbers, and their saddles 
of mutton have a great reputation in Loydon. 
The pig department was not large, there 
being only a few Berkshires and fewer still of 
the small, black Essex, but those here were 
very good. Large Whites, Middle Whites, and 
Small Whites were in large numbers, but it 
puzzled me to find any line of demarcation 
between the three divisions, there being only 
a gradual incline from the monster Large 
White weighing at least 1,200 pounds, down 
through the three grades to the little Small 
White, weighing less than 200 pounds, when 
full-grown. 
There was a monster show of poultry, the 
tent being as much as 200 feet long and wide 
enough to accommodate four rows of coops, 
with plenty of passage-way between. Of 
course, at this season the poultry was all full- 
grown and showed at its best, and there were 
specimens of all breeds, from the monster 
Cochin to the most pigmy Bantam, and the 
prices at which they are offered for sale (from 
£‘100 down to £20), put to shame the modesty 
of American breeders. 
Floral Hall was a floral hall indeed. There 
was no fruit except two bunches of hot¬ 
house grapes. But the floral display was 
simply magnificent, especially so in orchids, 
azaleas and clematis, and also in the im¬ 
proved begonias, flowers of the latter being as 
large and double as roses. Azaleas were 
of every hue, and the trusses were as much 
as six or eight inches in diameter. I meas¬ 
ured clematis blooms nine inches across and 
some were quite double. It was a grand 
show. 
The show of agricultural and other imple¬ 
ments and machines was enormous ; but to 
me they seemed very clumsy and ill adapted 
to any use. An ordinary farm wagon 
weighed 18 cwt, or 2,016 pounds, and the 
farm carts (which are almost universally 
used) weigh from 900 to 1,1 (aJ pounds. The 
same is true of all the carriages and imple¬ 
ments. 
A contest in horse shoeing attracted much 
interest and an immense crowd, some 30 
smiths competing. Each was furnished with 
a portable forge and anvil, coal, a piece of 
iron and allowed a helper. He then had to 
furnish his own tools to turn, fit and set one 
shoe, the prizes being given for the best work 
done in the quickest time. This is a good fea¬ 
ture and is said to have a very good effect 
upon the smithing of the country. 
The finest feature of the whole show was the 
working dairy. Milk is furnished evey day, 
which is divided and set according to the var¬ 
ious methods, or the cream is separated by 
machines and the results are carefully tested 
and made known. A quantity of cream is 
put into a large tank and very carefully and 
evenly separated into as many portions as 
there are contestants,and each portion is given 
to a dairy-maid. She then manipulates it to 
suit her own fancy, and churns it to any tern 
perature she pleases, and handles the butter as 
she likes, the churns being all alike. The prizes 
are awarded according to the quantity and 
quality of butter produced. Some days there 
were 24 competitors, and on the last day a 
special contest was made between those who 
had won prizes on previous days. On each day 
Prof. Carroll, of the Irish Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, and Prof. Long of the English, delivered 
lectures on butter and cheese making. I have 
asked for a photograph of the scene when 
some 17 girls were churning and also for a 
photo of the maids who won gold medals, for 
illustration, and if I secure them, I will send 
them with notes of the lectures for a future 
article. . J. s. w. 
Newport, Monmouth Co., | 
England, June 6-11, ’88. f 
ROSES AND BERRIES AT THE FARM¬ 
ERS’ CLUB. 
An exhibit specially designed for amateurs 
though some x>rofessionals make displays; 
a fine exhibit of roses at a rather unfavor¬ 
able season for indoor kinds; strawberries 
galore; paper fruit boxes. 
The Farmers’ Club of the American Insti¬ 
tute held its first rose and strawberry show 
in New York on June 21-22. This exhibition 
is meant for the encouragement of amateurs 
who do not employ a regular gardener, and 
it is also intended to bring new and meritor¬ 
ious varieties before the public. Its aims are 
not yet so fully recognized as they deserve 
to be, and consequently the display at this 
show was somewhat meager. 
In roses, which above all should be called 
the amateur’s flower, it was surprising to 
see so few good hybrid remontants. Two 
ladies, Charlotte E. Fowler and Rachel Hicks, 
made creditable displays of the older sorts, 
including some of the old fashioned mosses 
and a few of the hybrid Chinas, such as our 
old friend, Madame Plantier, now rarely seen. 
But the showier hybrid remontants were left 
to be shown by professionals. Why shouldn’t 
these flower-loving women grow great Ney- 
rons, or Christys, or Morrisons, or Rothschilds, 
just as well as the professionals ? The old- 
fashioned sorts are just as lovely, in their 
way, but they do not compare with their 
younger rivals at an exhibition. 
Few professionals entered for competition, 
though several sent displays for exhibition 
only. Among these were J. G. Rebus of New 
York;F. L. Moore of Chatham, N. J.: John 
Henderson of Flushing and James Taplin. 
Among the Teas, the Bride and Papa Goutier 
were noticeable for their keeping qualities, 
and the same may be said of Etoile de Lyon, a 
deep yellow which appears a formidable rival 
to Perle des Jardins. However, this is a very 
unfavorable time of year to criticize indoor 
roses; they are flimsy in texture and defi¬ 
cient in color. 
Among the strawberries were a lot of seed¬ 
lings for comparsion with the known varie¬ 
ties. H. H. Alley, of Hilton, New Jersey, 
made a good display of new sorts; among them 
is the Hilton, an immense, irregular berry, 
sweet and luscious. J. J. Davis, of Washing¬ 
ton, New Jersey, was another exhibitor of 
fine seedlings. 
[Hilton is not sweet at the R. G.—Eds.] 
The Green Nursery Company, of Rochester, 
sent a special exhibit of the berry Jessie, which 
was creditable in every way. But very few 
of the berries deserved higher commendation 
than “good;” in the opinion of the judges the 
flavor was not generally as fine as in previous 
years. There was usually a tendency to acid¬ 
ity and wateriness. W. W. Ward, of Mont¬ 
clair, was the largest prize-taker; his display 
of known varieties was really good. Sharp¬ 
less, Jersey Queen, Chas. Downing and Atlan¬ 
tic were among the best. JepthaA. Wagener, 
of Holtsville, New York, made a display of 
berries fed on chemical fertilizers, which 
spoke well for the fertilizers. Among them 
was Iron-Clad, which is given high rank 
as a market berry. A firm in Illinois grows 
45 acres of it, and regards it as the most 
profitable variety they can raise. E. Williams, 
of Montclair, sent a few good berries for 
exhibition only, and also a sample of the dis¬ 
astrous strawberry rust. 
The Newark Paper Basket Company exhi¬ 
bited their paper fruit baskets, which seem to 
possess a good many advantages over the 
clumsy wooden ones. They are made of pa¬ 
per pulp, and are of the same size and shape 
as ordinary peach baskets. They are fitted 
with convex covers, fastened by metal clasps, 
and are pierced with holes to give air. They 
are very light, strong, and durable, and cost 
about four cents each. We shall hope to see 
a larger exhibit at this show next year ; it is 
specially intended for the aid and encourage¬ 
ment of farmers and amateur gardeners, who 
are neglected in many shows of this kind, and 
it ought to call out some very interesting ex¬ 
hibits. 
EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
DEEP OR SHALLOW SETTING FOR 
CREAM. 
Shallow and deep setting and the use of the 
centrifuge in cream separating; each best 
under certain conditions; care and skill 
make gilt-edged butter with either system; 
partiality for the old shallow-pan method; 
most care, labor, and conveniences needed 
for success by the shallow system; the cream 
gathering slowly, there is danger of its 
becoming too sour; ill effects of excessive 
acidity; loss of cream to avoid it; pure 
air, an even temperature, and a sepa¬ 
rate milk-room needed for shallow set¬ 
ting; Harris Lewis's dairy-house and 
method of shallow setting; care of the 
milk-room; deep setting preferable with a 
cool, running spring or convenient ice; no 
lids to cans with a temperature over 50 Q F .; 
absorption of surrounding odors by the 
fats of cream; submerged setting a great 
economizer of room; convenience of 
“creamerieswith plenty of cows a cen¬ 
trifuge is best; cream rising still a mystery 
in some respects. 
Some weeks ago a subscriber sent us the 
following question: “Which is the better way 
of raising cream—in deep or shallow settings?’’ 
He says this is a question of deep interest to 
farmers. We agree with him as to the im¬ 
portance of the subject. Farmers will find 
much to interest them in the following dis¬ 
cussion : 
FROM HENRY STEWART. 
There is practically very little difference in 
the three ways of separating cream, viz,: set¬ 
ting the milk in shallow pans; setting it in 
deep pails in tanks of cold water, or separating 
it by the use of the centrifuge. Each method 
has its advantages under special circumstances; 
and when the special conveniences prevail 
then each method is the best under those cir¬ 
cumstances. With careful management one 
is as good as another. For six years the shal¬ 
low setting and the deep pail method were 
practiced in my dairy, and in all that time with 
hundreds of very careful experiments anti 
