The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-07 00:00:00

Bath and West of England Society's
Meeting.

HEREFORD, Monday.

If wise men " came from" the East, by implica-
tion they migrated to the West ; and this may be
one reason why agriculturists on this side of the
kingdom have been in some respects ahead of their
age. The western counties created our Cirencester
College, started practical rural schools, were first to
organise local committees in connexion with Uni-
versity middle - class instruction, and have intro-
duced genuine scientific study into some of our
most valuable farmers' clubs. But they have also
the honour of having originated the most vene-
rable agricultural association in England. In
1777, half a century before the birth of our
Royal Agricultural Society, was established
the " Bath and West of England Society
for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts,
Manufactures, and Commerce.;" and the earliest
English ploughing match on record is that held by
this society in 1788. Since 1780 the institution has
published a Journal, replete with valuable* prize
essays and papers on rural and kindred topics; and it
has a consulting chemist, consulting engineers, a
veterinary inspector, an honorary secretary of the
fine arts department, and a paid staff, consisting of
a secretary, editor, arts curator, and accountant.
The Prince of Wales is the patron, and the manage-
ment is vested in the president, Lord Taunton, an
influential body of vice-presidents, and a council
of 48 members, most of them practical agricul-
turists. The society is indebted to Mr. T. Dyke
Acland, M.P., for proposing, in 1850, the adop-
tion of migratory annual exhibitions in place of
the Christmas shows in Bath city; for, since amal-
gamation with the Devon Agricultural Society most
successful meetings have been held atTaunton, Ply-
mouth, Bath, Tiverton, Yeovil, Newton Abbot, Car-
diff, Barnstaple, Dorchester, Truro, Wells, Exeter ;
the Bristol meeting last year attaining such dimen-
sions that no fewer than 88,055 persons were ad-
mitted to the showyard, while the receipts at the
doors were within a trifle of £6,000. The finances
appear to be flourishing, as there are about 1,130
members ; the towns visited contribute £9OO to
£l,OOO each for the honour done them, and hand-
some donations also are always forthcoming for
special departments and for local prizes.
The Hereford meeting has opened to-day with a
token of splendid weather. The showyard, about a
mile north-west of the city, incloses within its hoard-
ing some 25 acres of the race-course and additional
fields; the main entrance and offices being near the
grand stand. To the right we find the implements,
ranged in long lines of canvas-roofed shedding, with
loftier booths for machinery in motion, the total
length of covered stands being about three-quarters
of a mile. On the further side of the ground are the
tents for the poultry and for the horticultural exhi-
bition, with the council tent and the great Wimbledon
marquee for a dinner pavilion. More to the left stand
the erections for the art manufactures and the fine
arts departments, and midway between those and the
main entrance is the orchestra for the military bands.
Central, also, on the broad green sward we have the
cattle rings, each with its tasty cupola over the
judge's desk, from which issue from time to time the
smart rosettes to decorate the brows of winning
animals. The live stock sheds occupy the space to
the left of these rings, while beyond them are the
rows of comfortable horse-boxes, with their roofs
of felt and slate, and the great ring where the horses
show off their points at certain prescribed hours.
Though all the departments have been open to-day,
of course the chief interest was evinced around the
judges' rings; open adjudication proving here, as
everywhere else, a most successful improvement
upon the old system of shutting out or else fencing
off the public from each class in succession till the
umpires have made up their minds.
As a whole, the show of cattle has great merit,
and numbers 200 entries. The Devons—incompar-
able in their own district for patient endurance of
team labour, for supplying-rich cream to the churn,
furnishing Midland graziers with store-stock of
quality, and adding their blood with excellent effect
to native breeds in moist climates—have not come up
in numerical force at this show; so that the judges,
Messrs. Tapp and Forester, had only 28 entries to
dispose of. Of the two aged bulls, Mr. Walter Far-
thing's bay, deep-framed, capital animal is placed
second to Mr. Azariah Smith's younger beast, though
many critics consider that the verdict should have
been the reverse. The two-year-old bulls make a
good class, Mr. Farthing's being first, Mr. Bodley's
second, and Mr. Azariah Smith's third. Mr. Farthing
has it all his own way in the admirable cow class.
The ,3 shorthorns form a commendable show,
considering that nearly all are from the South and
West ; for good shorthorns are confined to no dis-
trict of the United Kingdom, and abound in parts
of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, giving, also,
most valuable crosses with the native races wherever
an excessively wet climate may prove too severe a
test for their refined constitution. Little can be
said in praise of the bulls ; neither Mr. Robert
Sharpe's first-prize aged bull, " Lord Chancellor,"
bred by the late Mr. James Webb, Mr. Game's
first-prize three-year-old bull, nor Mr. Logan's two-
year-old-bull, is anything like first-rate. However,
the standard of excellence in the female classes
stands very high indeed. In the class of cows in
calf or in milk, which have had a calf within six
months of the preseent time, the honours go to Mr.
Richard Stratton, whose first-prize cow " Diadem"
is a model in every particular of form, of rare
beauty, of immense size, and a prime handler ; to
Mr. Sharpe, whose second-prize cow stands badly,
and, therefore, shows at a disadvantage, but is ex-
tremely well made and handsome ; and to Mr. John
Lynn, whose third prize cow would have equalled the
second if a little less lumpy, better ribbed up, and
wetter before the shoulder. Mr. Logan's beautiful
first- prize roan heifer was closely run by Mr. Lynn's
" Pamela," the perfection of the former being marred
only by a slight deficiency between the hip and
rump, and a trifling inequality in outline where the
straight line of the back should be prolonged to the
setting on of the tail. The heifers not exceeding
two years old were all commended. Mr. R. Strat-
ton's first-prize roan " Garland" is a beauty, fairly
beating Mr. Sharpe's second-prize red and white ;
and Mr. Holt Beever's third-prize heifer and Mr.
E. Holland's highly-commended heifer are fine spe-
cimens of what young shorthorns should be. The
judges were Messrs. J. R. Singleton and J. E. Jones.

. -
That the Herefords would flock to their own me-
tropolis with an imposing show both for numbers
and quality was to be expected, and the 120 entries
are 10 in excess of the entries at the Royal Agricul-
tural Worcester meeting in 1863. In the class of
aged bulls, the first prize goes to a wonderful bull
of Mr. J. A. Hollings, of immense proportions, 9ft.
girth, and great beauty. The beast was second at
Bristol last year, commended at Newcastle, and first
at Cheltenham and Hereford local show. Mr. W.
Taylor's second-prize bull is compact, well-fleshed,
and handsome, girth Bft. ; but, though without
honours at the Bristol meeting, was first at Wor-
cester in 1863, and beat Mr. Holling's bull at New-
castle. Mr. Buckham's Commodore is the first in
class of bulls not exceeding three years old. This
very handsome animal has won a little fortune in
prizes, having been first at Bn'stol, first at New-
castle, first at Coventry, first at Newport, and first
at Hereford local show.
Th
grand class,Mr. ParamoreeY
winningoung bulls form a
the first prize
Mr. Gibbons the second, and Mr.
Judge the third:
The cows are very numerous, and of great merit.
Mr. W. Perry's first prize cow was first at Truro as
a calf, first in the class at Leeds, and first at Wor-
cester. Mr. Farr's second-prize
Worcester as an in-calf heifer. cow was first at
Mr. George Pitt
takes the first prize in the heifer class with an ani-
mal rather plain in the hind quarter, with a high
loin, and defective behind the shoulder, and we
should here dispute the judgment of the umpires,
Messrs. J. Ford and G. E. Gough, especially as
Mr. Baldwin's second-class heifer, with wonderful
girth and constitution, and only a slight over-
burden of flesh on the hind quarter, was never
beaten before ; in fact, she was first at Bristol, first
at Newcastle, and also at Hereford local show.
There is a very pretty class of heifers not exceed-
ing three years old. Mr. Ridgley's first-prize heifer
is very beautiful ; Mr_ P. 'Turner's second-prize
heifer is scarcely inferior; and both these beat Mr.
Monkhouse's third prize heifer, which was first in