The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-17 00:00:00

THE ROYAL

AGRICULTURAL

SOCIETY'S SIIOW AT EXETER.

EXETER, TUESDAY.—The preliminary proceedings at
the shoe-yard and the trial ground have been satistac-
torily got over, and this evening the implement depart-
ment will be thrown open to the favoured few who have
a prior right of entree. The judges rre now busy drax -
ing up their award upon the array cf rural engines and
implements collection sihich, if the popular
rumour is to be trusted, will display several novelties in
principle, in many cases a considerable degree of im-
provement in detail, and which will, at all events, intro-
duce to the notice of the farmers of the west a vast va-
riety of agricultural machines hitherto unheard of amid
the wooded hills of Devon.

A great feature a this year's exhibition is, how-
ever, the gay end fete-like character which belongs
to it. At no other town which has been the scene
of the scc:ety'et operations have they been accompa-
nied by so many festal tokens and holiday-like de-
corations as those with which Exeter is glittering.
The whole aspect of the place is that of a city tricked
out fn. some joyous national festival. A stranger
who wanders through its crowded streets, beneath
the shade of scores of triumphal arches, and hundreds
of waving banners, and floral wreaths and mottoes, would
hardly believe that such festive rites were lavished upon
the meeting of a practical society, intent upon carrying
the relative merits of long horns and short horns, and
settling the precedence between scores of dibbling-ma-
chines, clecl-crushers, and sub-soil ploughs. Such, how-
ever, is the case. Exeter has always been a holiday-
keeping and anniversary-keeping city. The memory of
Guido Fawkes is greener upon each returning sth of
November upon the banks of the Exo than in any other
town of England, end accordingly it was not to be sup-
posed that the good people of the Faithful City were to
allow such an opportunity for festivity as the present to
pass by unimproved.
Many of your readers may be acquainted with the
general features of Exeter—with its picturesque situa-
tion—climbing to the tops of partially-wooded hills—
diving down and nestling in grecu and orchard-
sprinkled ravines—glorious trees of vast boll and fur-
thest spreading foliage, ever and anon rising over the
white walls of ranges of villa-like crescents and rows,
or amid the quaint, steep roofs, and high-peaked
gavels, which mark the older portion cf the town.
They will remember the brightly painted houses, the
steep, clean, narrow streets, at every half-dozen steps
permitting a bird's-eye glance over patches of purely
rural scenery beyond the city walls—the green slope of
cornfield and meadow—or the swelling and wooden ridges
of the irregular chain of hills which girdle in the town.
In no locality of England, not a marine watering-place
or inland spa, does there exist so great a proportion of
suburban streets, squares, and crescents, inhabited by
the upper classes of society as in Exeter; and the general
appearance of a large portion of the city, composed as it
is of pleasant villa residences, (Alen embowered in trees
and always gay with garden and shrubbery ground, is as
agreeable as it is characteristic. Horticultural establish-
ments and nurseries also abound. Upon every wall in the
suburban portion of the town flowers and creeping shrubs
bloom with all the proverbial luxuriance of Devonshire
vegetation, while the eye is still further refreshed by
plunging into the cool greenery of the luxuriant orchards
and coppice wocds which are every now and then to be
found nestling down in snug ravines, the steepness of the
slopes of which have preserved them from the operations of
the builder. I have said that the display of arches, banners,
mottoes, floral decorations, and so forth, is quite un-
exampled. One wonders where all the gaily hued
bunting and emblazoned calico came from. Throughout
the principal streets—High-street, Fore-street, Queen-
street, St. Sidwell's, and many others—there flutters a
flag from almost every window. Huge slowly waving
banners are stretched from roof to roof; numerous
transparencies rivet crowds of gazers; floral emblems
and devices, with suitable mottoes, abound at every
corner; the ensigns of all manner of trades, guilds, and
benefit societies, stretch forth their quaint blazonries,
amid union jacks, royal standards, tri-colours, and stars
and stripes; while whole forests of evergreens, of laurel,
and of bay, appear to have mysteriously sprouted from
the walls. In Queen-street, near its junction with the
High-street, where the new and handsome post-office
and market-place stand, a double row cf young firs have
been planted by either kerb-stone, and many of the
arches—which, by the way, are tastefully built, in
various and varying fashions—are provide:l with rows
and clusters or coloured lamps, which glimmer gaily
every evening from amid the wreaths of ivy, of laurel,
and of bay. Last night the streets were crowded until
a late hour with promenaders, enjoying what was
by courtesy called the cool of the evening, but which
was only a few degrees less intolerable in its sultry
closeness than the full glare of the mid-day sun.
The spot selected for the show ground lies about
three-quarters of a mile from the cathedral, near the
suburb of Mount Radford, and just elem.: of the strag-
gling lines of rose-clustered villas. In arrangement the
structure is precisely similar to those which have been
year after year, upon similar occasions, described in
these columns. It stands upon the summit of a rising
ground, the long lines of plain woodwork here and
there embowered by shady trees. The place is ap-
proached in several ways from the city, and in every
available nook and corner along these roads—the usual
followers of such exhibitions—the suttlers and showmen,
caravan men, and knock-'em-down men, have pitched
their tents. In a field skirting the great centre of at-
traction quite a town of booths has sprung up. The
weather is certainly procreative of thirst, aad here-
abouts the means of quenching it have been provided
its the most bountiful abundance—goodly casks of malt
of all qualities and flavour—tubs of the native beverage,
hard Devonshire cider, suspicious stuff for a stranger
unless duly qualified—all manner of pleasant potables,
indeed, down to teetotal lemonade, stone-bottled
ginger-pop, and sherbert, "as drunk by the Shaw
of Persia," are heaped in vast profusion be-
neath the canopies of large and small mar-
quees. Caravans, of course, abound in nil their native
yellowness, stored with no end of fat girls, white-baked
ladies, anacondas, learned pigs, and the usual wonders
cf peripatetic museums. Eesides these, there are
sparring-booths, skittle-booths, equestrian booths; and
one handsome tent is occupied by their diminutive ma-
jesties the Beejestnen, who happen to be at present in
this part of the world.
From inquiries which I have made, I have reason to
believe that in no material point will the show fall be-
neath the level of any of its predecessors. The list of
implements to be exhibited is a very long one, although
one or two of the usual contributors to this part of the
exhibition, including Messrs. Ransom, of Ipswich, do
not this year appear in the field. The steam plough
eppears to attract a great deal of local attentien; and
the portable farm railway an invention originally sug-
gested by a Mr. Thomas Grey, long a resident hi Exeter,
is another of the implements most generally talked about.
Of course in most respects the majority of the implements
exhibited will be closely akin to those which we de-
scribed last year at .Norwich, and the year before that at
York; but, as has been already mentioned, it is under-
stood that in very many cases the present show will ex-
hibit various ingenious improvements in detail.
In the live-stock department the exhibition of North
Devon% is looked forward to with great anticipation, it
being confidently expected that the display of those aid-
inals will be by far the finest ever seen—a consummation
which indeed we have a right to expect in the native
place of the breed. The urban reader racy be perhaps
profitably reminded that the North Devon cattle are a
small-sized breed honourably distinguished by smallness
of bone, closeness of grain of the flesh, and a great apti-
tude for quick fattening. Two short-bores will upon the
average weigh three Devots, but then the same extent of
land which will keep one of the former will provide food
for two of the latter. To Mr. Quartly, a name well known
in agricultural annals, belongs the merits of having, by
skilful breeding, elevated the North Devon crass
oonfgaoiliiir-
mals from a mere local variety to a high
national classes of cattle. The Herefords are expected to
muster strongly, acd in line case, but the short-horns will
not be so numerous as at former shows. As to sheep,
the exhibition is expected to be about an average one.
The Leicesters will be in great force, and the Devonshire
farmers are on the qui vice fur the Southdowns, a breed
little known in this part of the world. Iu this de-
partmeet the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Shelly, and Mr
Fisher Hobbs are as usual the high conteedi4pities:
The pigs will not be so numerous as on
occasions, but to make up fur this we learnstobtneet th°ermdi
former
play of horses will be most magnificent. 'These animals
have arrived in great numbers from
parts mtsaonf,es
all the
country, and amongst them, the stout Stifteek
are expectedpeculiarly strong.
The come out pouches
The ureterio takes place this evening, and a goodly
muster is expected. The ball in the great pavilion comes
off to-morrcw night. A Leff and excellent feature in the