The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-10 00:00:00

i;ke(*tourbribg &arta,

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th, 1881.

•THE SMITHFIELD CATTLE SHOW.

TIME out of mind has Smithfield been associated
with Cattle Shows and of the products which
tell of the cultivation of the soil. Of late years,
indeed, it has lost this reputation, and the annual
exhibition of cattle and agricultural implements
which takes place in London, is held in the
Agricultural Hall at Islington. But foe a long
time into the history of the present century,
Smithfield was the great centre of interest to the
fanners of England, and to this day the organ-
ization under which the Show is held is the
Smithfield Club. Not that Smithfield or any of
its surroundings suggest:any connection with the
calm retreats of rural life. In the very heart of
London, it seems to have been originally se-
lected for the holding of cattle markets and
cattle shows because of its convenient situation;
its smoke, its busy :streets, and its enerjetic
people, making the best of the fleeting hours,
having but little in common with the avocations
of the agriculturist. And even now, although
the exhibition is held at a considerable distance
from Smithfield, the associations of olden times
still cling to it, inasmuch as the Show is held
tinder the auspices of the Smithfield Club.
From whatever point of view these shows are
regarded, there can be no question that the
movement which they represent deserves every
encouragement from all classes of the popula-
tion. Every one is interested in the well-being
of the farmer. The dweller in the crowded city
does not sit down to a single meal without being
brought face to face with the results of the
farmer's work. Breakfast, dinner, or tea day by
day account for the consumption of milk and
butter, eggs and poultry, vegetables and animal
food, fruit and cheese, the whole of which have
had their origin in the land. The town could
not exist without the country, and the people
who dwell in "populous city pent" are always
glad to hear of the farmer's prosperity. But of
late years evil times have fal;en upon him. He
has been called upon to face one bad season after
another; the sparse quantity of sunshine has
been insufficient to ripen his crops, deluges of
rain have descended upon his lands, poor har-
vests have deprived him of the results of months
of anxiety and labour, and he has been beaten
down in his prices by foreign competition. Alto
gather, his reward for his labours has not been
what he either expected or deserved.
There has unquestionahly been much sympathy
with the farmer in his protracted period of de-
pression and misfortune. But the tide seems at
length to be turning, and it is hoped that a
4righter day will speedily dawn for the 'Trice!.
tarist. One of the consequences of holding such
shows as that promoted by the Smithfield Club
is that the farmer who spends a week in London
on the occasion of the exhibition returns home
as a rule all the wiser for his visit to the metro-
polis. The week is one which is full of engage-
ments in which he is deeply interested. There
is in the first place the Show itself, with the best
animals which the kingdom can produce; there
is the wonderful collection of implements of
husbandry, embodying the latest improvements
indicative of the utilization of time and the
saving of labour. There are the meetings of the
Farmers' Club, comprising discussions on agri-
cultural topics of the most practical character.
The interchange of ideas adds to the breadth of
his information, widens the basis of his intel-
ligence, and lifts him out of the groove of ex-
clusiveness in which circumstances often compel
him to move. The enunciation of different views
and the descriptions of the results of varied
modes of farming, set him thinking of his own
experiences. He oftentimes mentally resolves
that although he was always ander the firm belief
that his own system was the best, yet there may
after all be something good in auother of which
he has just heard. He takes back with him
many a useful thought which perchance may
bear fruit in months and years to come.
The eternal silence amid which the farmer's
work is carried on—unbroken save by the sighing
of the wind, the pattering of the rain, the lowing
of the cattle on the hills, and the voices of the
waters in the valleys, has often struck the resi-
dent of the town as being in remarkable contrast
with the bustle and the whirl which attend his
own existence. The farmer is surrounded by
nature in all her phases, and the fruits of in-
dustry are at the mercy of nature in her chang-
ing moods. A wet week at a critical period .of
the harvest means a loss of the labours of months
It is possible than in the course of years the
ever-expanding progress of science may enable
the farmer successfully to combat the adverse
working of nature's laws ; meanwhile all in the
community who are interested in the farmer's
efforts are thankful for such steps in the march
of advancement as are afforded in the operation
of such a valuable institution as the Smithfield
Club.