The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-09 00:00:00

iTHE SMITHFIELD CATTLE SHOW.

On Monday morning the annual Show of the Smithfield
nb was opened at the Agricultural Hall—being the seventy-
Ath which has been heid under the auspices of the Smith-
..eld Club, and the fourteenth held in Islingten. There was
a total of 456 entries, and as a large number of them re-
presented pens of sheep and pig"; three in each, the live
stock in the show amounted to nearly 900 head. The total
number of entries last year was 395. —The Pall Mall Gazette
in noticing the Show, says
"The show is particularly good, and can less than
ever be regarded as the outcome and result of the work
of the ordtnary farmer during the past twelve months.
The visitor, unlearned in rural matters, who should go
away with the notion that cattle such as are here may
be found under every hedge would be greatly mistaken.
The Show, indeed, pictures forth an ideal state of
things which may come to pats when every acre of
land receives its full development, rather tban the
actual state of things generally at present. It re-
presents in visible and tangible fshape the modern
system of manufacture contrasted with agriculture as
it was understood in the good old (Ilya.

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"The general impression produced upon the mind
on first surveying the long row of anima!s gathered in
the Hall is that of almost a plethora if exsmoles.
Instead of a few only in each class we seem to see a
whole herd, and to the uninitiated eye the acme of ex-
cellence is so nearly approached • -und that t
difficulty of selection appears very
sion is confirmed upon a closer inspection. In mere,
hers the Snow surpasses very many, of its predecessors;
in point of general excellence it may perhaps be 'said
to be unequalled: This applies to the cattle and sheep;
the pigs did not appear to be present in very great
force: It should be noticed by those who are still uncle/
the mistaken belief that the object of the Show is the
production of an animal of ,the largest possible size,
and carrying the heaviest weight of fat, that the red
and blue rosettes inclipative of first and second prizes
are often attached to beasts Which fulfil neither of
these conditiOns, but are, if anything, rather dwarfed
by their, More huge .companions, it is the, union of
blood and points—the nearest approsei to an ideal
animlal—that'obtaiins the judges' favour. • - • -
" The Mass of machinery, the -display of roots, Stc..,
and thelinntitherable acceshoiles of agriculture, which,
wall in the animal i wlth iron, brass, and steel, almost
all owe their existence to the substitution of meat for
wheat as the staple of the modern farmer. The prize
bullock is at once the cause and the -effect of these

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developments, and also of the remarkable specializi-
tion which has of late shown itself in agriculture.
Instead of producing everything upon one farm, pro-
;cluction is divid.d ; ore place proves spedally suitable ,
for the shorthorn, another for sheep, a third for pigs,
,while the demand for the various forms of milk food
.has cAused the multiplication of milk factories.
"Doubtless some comment will .be made 'von the
ontrast presented by the large number of entries, and
tha apparent prosperity of agriculture, with the dismal
ic
statements which have twice this year lgone round of
the remission of rent by great landlords. How is it,
after a winter and spring of flood, doing much damage,
after an unprecedcntly dry summer injurious to roots
after an unprofitable harvest, that we see such wealt4,
as thib ? The answer seems to be that the loss hail!
fallen chiefly upon the saialter holders, the rank and
14. and that high farming with sufficient capital is
. to be frofitable, despite the drawbacks of bail
.)asons. : If it can be established, as it mane .21,ki1.,y,t‘0
be, that under the modern system the farmer May be
comparatively indifferent to the vicissitudes of weather,
the fact will surely be an incentive to the flow of fresh
capital into agriculture, and its cots' (pent develop•
ment in a still more remarkable degree.
The Queen, with twelve entries continues to
manifest that interest in agriculture Which was shown
by the Prince Consort; and the Prince of Wales is
but just behind with eleven entries. Thanks to the
almost excessive cleanliness of the modern stalls, an
enthusiastic breeder can now pilot his friends, even
ladies, safely round the model farm without the

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