The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-21 00:00:00

.2 JULY 21,

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TER RO'

'AL AGRICULTURAL
po--..-
(fox ma owe axpoassx)

12. V .T.

NEWCASTLE, "IT 20.
As I anticipated, the present meeting of the
Royal Agricultural Society is likely to prove one of
the most succesdel on record as regards the number
of persons who will visit it. This must be attri-
buted, not to the intrinsic merits of the show re-
garded from an agricultural point of view, but to
those manifold influences which work upon
people to congregate together on occasions like the
present, and especially to the weather, which has
been magnificent up to the present time.
On Monday there were 720 visitors at the show-
yard, and the amount of money received was 3601.
Yesterday the number of visitors was 10,224, and the
amount taken was 1,2781. At the Worcester show
last year the number present on the Monday was
811, and the money taken was 4041. On Tuesday
the number present was 7,685, and the money
taken 9601. The total number of visitors at
Worcester on the two first days of the show was
8,496, and the total sum taken was 1,3641. ; the
total number of visitors on the two first days at
Newcastle has been 10,944, and the total sum taken
1,6381. There have been Nana 2,448 more visitors at
the show this year than there were last, and there has
been 2741. more taken this year than there waxiest.
The sum taken yesterday was only 61. short of the
sum taken at Leeds in 1861, which was the best
attended show the society ever held. These
figures are very significant, and the people
of Newcastle are very jubilant at the result ;
but, in justice to Worcester, I must
observe that the show there was held at a later
period of the year, and from my own personal ex-
perience I can affirm that the weather was very wet
and cold. Indeed, considering the state of the
weather during the period for which the show was
held, I consider the results obtained at Worcester
last year to be very satisfactory. To-morrow the
first of the shilling days begins, and if the weather
continues so be as genial as it has been hitherto
there can be no doubt as to the pecuniary success
of the present meeting. Mr. Hedley, the mayor
of Newcastle, has issued a notice calling on the
shopkeepers, cbc., to close their places of business
at 12 o'clock, so that the working class who have
not 'hitherto gone near the show may have an
opportunity of seeing it. The show ground yester-
day presented a very animated and brilliant appear-
ance. The horse ring was the principal point
of attraction. The horses were exercised at 11 and
at 3 o'clock, and although the action of " Laugh-
ing Stock," of " Cavendish," of " Gamester," of
" Oarbineer," of "Motley," the snooessful hunting
stallion, and of the pretty ponies, was greatly ad-
mired, th#more beautiful and effective sight was
the circle of fine ladies, who in ranks three deep
surrounded the exercise ground. Their bright and
variegated summer toilettes gave • brilliancy to the
scene which was very striking. The prominent
animals in the difirent classes attracted much at-
tention, and in some instances the soundness of the
judges' decisions was demurred to. In one instance,
believe, • protest has been entered against their
award. Judges of horseflesh cannot escape the
remarks of that omniscient critic, the public, any
more than judges on the bench, but the public
are always satisfied if the decision be
honest and conscientious. The exercise grounds
for the various classes of cattle short
horns, Herefords, Devon', &c.—were also well
attended. The short-horned class was much ad-
mired, and pronounced to be very superior. As
these ponderous besets moved heavily over the
ground, tottering under their masses of flesh, one
could not but envy the neighbouring pigs that
would not or could not move, and lay in a sort of
comatose, dreamy state of indolent felicity, which
was expressed occasionally by a gurgling grunt.
The machinery department, during the intervals
that the cattle were not on show, was also well
attended, but here there was such smoke and dust
and artificial heat, combined with that of the sun,
that visitors did not prolong their inspection, but
retreated after a cursory glance at its contents.
The town itself presented • very animated appear-
ance. Flags and banuera, of which there was a re-
markable absence previous to Monday, are more
generally exhibited, and the rattle of cabs and
omnibuses along the streets is continuous from
morning till night. Newcastle has one great central
station, and the traffic at this point is enormous—
people passing and repaasing without a moment's
interruption throughout the day and part of the
night. Yesterday men wore at work making ad-
ditional and special entrances to the booking offices.
The amount and variety of the advertisementa
on the walls would of itself form no un-
interesting or unphilosophic study. They are on
paper of every hue and in letters of every size,
but there is one which is more prominent than all
the others put together. If one was to proceed on
the Baconian theory of induction, and draw a gene-
ral conclusion from the multiplicity of posters in
which you are told to "beware of pickpockets,"
there is not a visitor to Newcastle who would have
more than two pockete, mid in these be would keep
his hands everlastingly. "Beware of pickpockets"
meets you as you enter the town, it meets you as
you leave the towo' it meets you in the streets, on
the quays, it meets you on the " pleasure steam-
boats—a dirty and abominable conveyance to Tyne-
mouth, but suited tothe atumephereof lurid smoke
in which they travel ; it meets you at the wharves ;
it meets you, in fact, so often that if only taken
at their word a Diogenes with even a lime-light
lamp would scarcely find an honest man in the
place. The author of the famous phrase "la pro-
pri6ti; c'est le vol " regarded it as a formula which
he prized more than he would the wealth of the
Rotbschilds, and he seems to have a good many
followers "down north." About the show ground
reside numerous " dwellers in tents," each
with the " best " comestible, to be had in New-
castle. Contiguous to the same place there have
been added to the attractions of the It. A. S. show
the competing, or rather the supplemental, attrac-
tions of a dog show and a poultry show. The
dog show is the first of the kind which has
been held in Newcastle. It is not for
a mowed to be compared with these
which have been held in the Agricultural-
hall, but it is worth seeing, and it contains some
very fine specimens of the canine race. In some
respects it is exceedingly full and excellent. The
setter, pointer, and Newfoundland classes are
largely represented ; and the greyhound depart-
ment, if not so numerously filled as it might be,
is occupied by at least a couple of animals good
enough to be placed before any connoisseur. Har-
riers are unrepresented, and beagles only partially ;
but of foxhounds there is a capital collection, but
the bull-dog only appears in a few anything but
first-class specimens. There are three dogs which
are worth going miles to see—Mr. John A.
Cowen's magnificent Druid, • bloodhound that
is just perfect in every particular ; Sir
William G. Armstrong's boar-hound Gari-
baldi ; and the first prize in the Newfoundlands,
Heenan, a picture of a dog. It is the easiest thing
imaginable for the owner of is dog who is not wish-
ful to sell to put a fancy price upon the animal ;
but if some of the dogs in this show are worth
1,0001., the one we have just mentioned is certainly
worth the price put upon him, namely, 1001.
The poultry and pigeon show I have not visited.
It seems very absurd to ask se. for visiting a show
of this kind even on a first day, especially with such
competitive attractions in the neighbourhood.
However there are those who may prefer a crow to
a bark or a neigh, and there must be a place for all
tastes.

The Mayor gave a civic banquet last might in
honour of the Roral Agricultural Society's visit.
The guests inclUded Lord Feversham, Lord
Lovaine, the Hon. Augustus Vernon, Sir William
Armstrong, Richard Hodgson, Esq., M.P. ; and on
the left, the Right Hon. the ERTI, Cathcart, the Rev.
Clement Moody (Vicar of Newcastle), the Hon.
H. G. Liddell, M.P., Mr. Dent, M.P., the Right
Hon. T. E. Headlam, 3L P., J. Dent, M.P., S. A.
Beaumont, 3LP., Chevalier de Pianelli, Consul of
France, Ac.

The following is the award of prizes for steam
ploughs, the competition in which excited so much
interest :

STEAM PLOUGH&
Jobs Fowler, beet application for Bream power far the
cultivation of tho wail, 100/. ; John Fowls?, aecood loot

appliellion of stem Over for the cultivation of thefiA
NIL ; Jobs Fowles, bestappliastioe steam power
for smell occepatioes, DEK ; Amid F. Howard, esetetim=
spoliate= of steam power adapted for small
; Jetts Fowler, best *OO for steam power,rf.r3g.=
P. Howard. sewed best plough for steam power, ; Jan
Hauler, best cultivator for steam power, 171. 10s. ; J. and
F.- Reward, combined steam cultivator and ridging
pleegh, 121. 10e.

War= Stevens, for improvement in the oonatrnetiou of
steam ploughs; Coleman sad Morton, for cultivation of
steam power ; J. and F. Howard, barrows for aims noway,
1101.; John Fowler, best windlass for steam power, 10/. ; J.
sad F. Howard, second best windlass for steam power, 1014
W. Savory and Sou,third brat sneaker for steam power, 51.;
John Fowler, the bast anchor steam power, 201. ;
and Porter, rope porter for steam power, 10/. ; R. and S.
Cabman and Porter, raps porter for steam power, 21.

HIGHLY COKICINDLD.
Richard Garrett said Sous, improvement in double aimless
John Fowler, rope porton ; J. and F. Howard, two•fuzrow
steam plough for extra deep tillage.

COMMIDED.

J. and F. Howard, Norwegian steam harrow ; J. aad F.
Howard, rope porters.