fieoember  24,  1896, 
6S1 
JOUn2^\iL  OP  HORTlCfJL ft Rh'  ARTR  COffiiOR  OAROmRll 
BUTCHERED  TO  MAKE  AN  ENGLISH 
HOLIDAY. 
And  tUie  is  tba  eod.  The  reason  we  were  bred,  fattened  with 
every  care,  shown  at  Smithfield  !  Well  it  would  be  if  mortals 
fulfilled  their  purpose  in  life  so  truly  as  we  have  done.  If  cattle 
could  think  and  reason  they  might  well  take  this  view  of  life. 
Another  Smithfield  come  and  gone.  Old  competitors  gaining  fresh 
laurels,  and  not  jealous  of  the  young  ones  who  are  just  beginning 
their  career  of  shoring.  What  a  week  it  has  been  in  town  1  Who 
can  estimate  the  number  of  excursionists  who  have  gone  up  for 
their  annual  holiday  ?  Whatever  faults  the  railway  directors  may 
have,  at  any  rate  they  cater  cheaply  for  those  wishing  to  visit  the 
great  City  for  the  show  week — 8s.  return  for  two  days  from  far-off 
Lincolnshire,  and  12s.  for  five  days  will  tempt  many  of  us  to  go 
and  see  the  wonderful  fat  stock — the  pick  of  the  United  Kingdom, 
which  will  be  turned  into  beef  and  mutton  so  shortly. 
That  the  show  has  been  a  great  success  all  agree.  The  attend- 
ance  has  been  enormous,  and  on  one  or  two  days  unprecedented. 
Foreigners  were  found  in  great  numbers,  and  evidently  the  dressed 
table  fowls  made  a  great  impreision  on  them.  Bain,  drizzle,  and 
“8lu«h”were  not  pleasant  accompaniments  to  the  visit,  but  the 
absence  of  fog  proved  a  great  comfort  to  the  animals,  who  looked 
as  fresh  (or  nearly  so)  at  the  week’s  end  as  at  the  beginning. 
On  this  ninety-ninth  anniversary  the  Committee  has  made 
a  change  in  the  cattle  section.  It  is  a  great  change,  a  radical  change, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  very  good  one.*  It  is  the  abolition  of  the 
classes  for  steers  exceeding  three  years  old  of  all  the  early  maturing 
breeds.  When  an  animal  arrives  at  maturity  at  three,  a  month  or 
two  either  way  will  make  a  great  difference.  To  meet  this  difficulty 
one  old  class  has  been  split  up  into  two,  thus  there  is  now  a  class 
for  animals  between  two  years  and  six  months  old  and  for 
animals  above  two  years  and  six  months  old  and  under  three. 
This  rule  must  do  away  with  a  good  deal  of  jealousy  and  heart 
burning,  and  is  a  very  wise  step.  The.se  alterations  are  in  the 
direction  of  early  maturity,  and  tend  to  avoid  wasteful  feeding. 
Now  to  consider  the  prize  list.  The  Earl  of  Strathmore  with 
one  animal,  his  beautiful  Aberdeen  Angus  heifer,  secures  the  three 
great  events— i  e.,  the  Queen’s  challenge  cup  for  best  beast  bred  by 
an  exhibitor,  the  best  beast  in  the  show,  and  the  best  female,  and 
■he  also  takes  a  first  in  her  own  class  of  Aberdeen  Angus.  Is 
not  that  a  triumph  for  Scotland  ?  The  cup  for  the  best  steer 
goes  to  Mr.  Learner’s  “  Faultless,  ”  We  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  animal  was  a  cross-bred  black  polled,  a  Hereford  being 
the  reserve. 
Although  the  Shorthorn  class  was  a  good  one,  yet  none  of  this 
favourite  breed  got  into  the  first  flight.  We  were  glad  to  see  the 
name  Booth,  Warlaby,  again  among  the  list  of  exhibitors.  The 
Shorthorn  heifers  have  not  made  a  better  show  for  years.  Would 
it  not  have  been  better  and  wiser  to  have  reserved  some  of  them 
to  become  “  the  milky  mothers  of  the  herd  ?’'  Is  not  their  death 
a  little  too  premature?  The  Sussex-bred  have  wonderfully 
improved  of  late  years  ;  obey  make  excellent  beef. 
Aberdeen  Angus,  all  powerful.  Need  we  «ay  more?  The 
cross-breds  supply  the  butchers  with  their  choicest  roasts.  Before 
we  pa»8  to  the  sheep  one  word  about  the  carcase  competition.  The 
proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating,  and  a  grand  beast  wants  to 
be  full  of  flesh  without  wasteful  fat.  How  many  of  as  have  fairly 
recoiled  from  the  oily,  greasy  masses  presented  to  us  by  butchers 
as  “  our  best  Christmas  beef,  sir  ?  ”  Mr.  Douglas  Fletcher’s 
Aberdeen  Angus  was  a  model  carcase  of  beef,  and  fetched  9-J^d.  lb.  ; 
Colonel  Piatt’s  Welsh  carcase  topped  the  market,  making  lO^d. 
per  lb. ;  and  a  Galloway  belonging  to  Mr.  H.  C.  Stephens 
fetched  8d.  There  was  only  one  animal  wastefully  fat,  and  it 
made  but  4d.  per  lb.  Now  for  sheep,  Leicesters  come  first,  and 
with  them  the  inseparable  name  of  Mr.  Jordan,  Eastburn,  Doffield. 
Not  only  does  he  take  the  champion  and  breed  cups,  but  three 
firsts  into  the  bargain.  The  Lincoln  prize*  come  to  Mr.  H.  Smith, 
T.  Pears,  Dean,  and  Dudding,  all  first-class  men. 
Southdowns  are  in  high  society,  H.R  H.  of  Wales  and  His 
Grace  of  Richmond .  The  Oxford  down  wethers  were  remarkably 
strong. 
Now  for  mutton  carcase,  Merser’s,  Lawson’*  Cheviot  wether 
made  Is.  fid.  per  lb.,  and  that  of  H  R.H.  fetched  throe-farthingid 
less.  Two  Southdown  lambs  made  respectively  B^d.and  lOd.  per  lb. 
The  mutton  found  a  good  market  throughout,  evidently  being  just 
the  sort  wanted  by  the  batchers  for  their  customers. 
Pigs  were  a  good  show,  the  prize  for  the  best  pen  going  to 
Mr.  Benjsfield  for  his  Berkshires,  and  for  the  best  single  pig  to 
Mr.  Attkins.  The  Hon.  D,  P.  Bouverie  took  a  cup  for  small 
white,  Mr.  Williams  for  middle  and  large,  Mr.  Coate  for  blacks» 
Mr.  Ibbotson  for  Tam  worths,  and  Mr.  Hiscock  for  cross-bi  ids. 
The  newspapers  devote  an  article  to  the  table  poultry. 
No  doubt  the  British  farmer  wanted  an  object  lesson,  and  he 
has  got  it  with  a  vengeance  this  time.  This  time  last  year  the 
judges  expressed  the  opinion  that  never  had  a  finer  show  of  dead 
poultry  been  seen  in  England.  But  this  year  Herod  has  been  out- 
Heroded. 
Not  only  does  Great  Britain  send  up  a  wonderful  show,  but, 
owing  to  the  energy  of  Madame  Loicq  de  Lobel,  who  was  appointed 
by  the  Committee  at  delegate  for  France,  an  entry  of  French 
breeds  has  been  got  together.  We  have  often  been  taunted  about 
allowing  our  brother  J ean  to  supply  us  with  so  much  of  our  poultry 
and  eggs,  and  we  shall  do  well  now  to  try  and  take  a  lesson  from 
his  book — we  ought  not  to  be  too  proud  to  learn.  Grand  as  the 
foreign  poultry  was,  we  were  glad  to  find  that  a  silver  cup  for 
group  of  fowls  in  competition  with  fifteen  others  went  to  the 
Manby  Poultry  Company  in  Lincolnshire  ;  also  they  took  first  for 
couple  of  pullets  in  Old  English  Game,  first  for  cockerels,  first  for 
English  Game  and  Dorking,  second  for  ducks,  third  for  turkeys, 
with  other  commendations.  The  name  of  this  company  will  be 
new  to  many.  The  premises  are  in  the  heart  of  the  Lily  Woods — 
the  dismantled  dower-house  of  the  Ladies  Yarborough — and  the 
moving  spirits  are  R.  N.  Suttou-Nelthorpe,  Esq.,  and  Mr.  W.  P. 
Holmes. 
Learners  could  pick  up  most  valuable  hints  at  the  demonstra¬ 
tion  in  the  best  manner  of  trussing  and  boning  poultry.  If  any¬ 
thing,  the  French  poultry  was  a  trifle  too  fat. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  is  still  extremely  mild,  and  people  are  already 
prophesying  a  repetition  of  the  mildness  of  last  winter,  bnt  the  English 
climate  is  given  to  very  sadden  changes,  and  even  aa  we  write  there  are 
indications  of  a  sharp  frost.  We  may  have  a  severe  winter,  and  at  any 
rate  it  is  well  to  be  prepared  for  it.  We  ourselves  have  taken  np  a  fair 
breadth  of  Swedes  into  small  heaps,  and  can  face  a  proipect  of  frost  and 
snow  with  equanimity.  We  have  to-day  seen  a  neighbour  finish  lifting 
his  Carrots.  They  are  a  fine  crop,  if  anything  too  large  and  coarse  ;  they 
are  now  in  heaps  covered  with  their  tops,  and  waiting  a  covering  of  soil. 
The  number  of  waggons  loaded  with  Potatoes  that  have  been  seen 
making  their  way  to  the  railway  of  late  has  been  enormous,  even  for 
what  may  be  called  a  Potato-growing  district.  The  markets,  however, 
have  been  so  flat,  and  prices  have  so  drooped  that  the  exodus  seems  to 
a  certain  degree  stopped.  This  is  well,  for  there  is  certainly  no  great 
cause  for  a  panic,  and  a  month’s  frost  might  see  a  very  different  state  of 
things. 
Cattle  fed  for  Christmas  markets  have  met  their  fate,  and  on  tuo 
whole  the  trade  has  been  fairly  satisfactory.  Prices  were  a  little  better 
than  last  year,  and  we  must  be  thankfal  for  small  mercies. 
The  sheep  trade  has  been  slow,  and  pork  as  cheap  as  ever.  The 
sausage  makers  must  make  fortunes.  Our  fallows,  which  we  bad 
ploughed  early,  had  been  much  soddened  by  the  heavy  rains,  and 
though  there  was  little  twitch,  what  there  was  had  begun  to  get  its 
head  above  ground  again,  so  we  have  sent  the  ploughs  and  crossed  them. 
The  chilled  ploughs  have  made  very  good  work,  and  left  the  land  very 
light  and  open  to  the  weather. 
Manure  leading  has  been  much  in  vogue  with  neighbours,  but  roads 
were  bad,  and  are  now  mneb  worse  ;  the  land  in  most  instances  too  soft 
to  cart  on.  We  have  manure  which  must  soon  be  got  out,  but  we  are 
waiting  for  the  chance  of  a  frost,  when  we  can  do  little  else,  and  the 
carting  may  be  done  with  so  much  more  ease  to  horse  and  man. 
Each  of  our  men  having  a  certain  weight  of  fresh  pork  as  part 
