land race," "Tall spotted race," "Purest Swiss race," &c., &c. In color they are black and white, red and pale white, brown, light brown, white, pale red, red, and various combinations and variations of those colors. They are large size, and good milkers. Nearly all of these Swiss cows had a bell hanging from her neck, attached to an elaborately decorated strap, generally made round of cast metal, varying in size and tone, ready equipped for ranging over their mountain pastures. While listening to the chiming of these bells, as the "animals were stirred up" by the multitude of curious visitors, I could easily imagine that the cows of Switzerland furnished the idea that led to the founding of the corps of "Swiss Bell Ringers," which have rung their merry chimes to many an American audience. After a careful and patient examination, for several days, of this unequalled collection of animals from all the English islands, and several of the continental countries of Europe, I come to the deliberate opinion that in America we already possess all the elements of the finest and most useful meat and dairy producing stock that exist upon the face of the globe. England unquestionably stands at the head of the list for the production of the most useful, neat cattle on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

And America, with the advantages she is deriving from the choice importations made during the last half century from the best English herds, will soon distance England in the production of fine cattle.

I

In the quality and value of dairy stock I am confident that we have no superiors, and that the American dairy cow stands to-day unrivaled. should not hesitate to show one hundred dairy cows that I could select from the herds of my own county, against a like number from any county in England, or on the continent of Europe. And in conclusion, I will say to our dairymen that they have only to use wisely the means within their reach to keep their herds improving and place themselves beyond the reach of all rivals outside the limits of their own country.

Horses follow the cattle in the catalogue, and claim our attention next. In all classes there were 284 head, and as a whole, made an interesting show. The thoroughbreds head the list, with the following prizes offered: First prize £100; second £25; "For the thoroughbred stud horse, (having served mares during the season 1862), which, in the opinion of the judges, is best calculated to improve and perpetuate the breed of the sound and stout thoroughbred horse, for general stud purposes." There were a dozen horses in this class, and some of them were worthy of the high pretensions of the English thoroughbred horse; but as a whole, were not better than we sometimes meet at our State Fairs. The first prize, £100, was given Henry Richard Philips, of Middlesex, for "Ellington," dark brown, nine years old, sire, the Flying Dutchman; dam, Ellendale by Lauercost. The second prize, of £25 to Chas. Edward Johnstone, of London, for "The Marionette", brown, six years old, sire, Touchstone; dam, Marion by St. Martins.

In commenting on the horses, the Mark Lane Express says: "For a wonder, there was far less grumbling over the awards for horses, which may be registered by three different degrees of comparison. The carthorses were very good, the coach-horses very fair, and the riding-horses very bad."

The hunters followed the thoroughbred, and I must confess that the high notions that I had formed of the English Hunter, was such as to cause disappointment when I saw them. In the first class," stallions thoroughbred or half bred", John Manning, of Northamptonshire, took the first prize, £30, for "British Statesman," very dark bay, five years old, sire, British Yeoman; dam, Madame by Retriever. Second, £15, to Rous John Cooper, of Suffolk, for "Billy Barlow", bay, three years old, sire, Royal Ravenhill; dam, by British Yeoman. There were ten stallions competing for the above prizes.* The second class had four "brood mares, with foals at foot, or in foal," sufficient to win the prizes, but not to elicit much commendation. Class third, "Geldings four or five years old," showed eighteen animals. If there was great excellence here, it required the practiced eye of a huntsman to detect it; I could not. Class fourth: mares four or five years old; there were only two entries. The first prize, £20, was awarded to one of them. The second prize was not awarded.

Carriage horses came next; and here there were only six entries in the first class, and the same in the second class "brood mares with foals at foot or in foal," and the dozen could find their superiors any afternoon on Hyde Park.

In roadsters there were a dozen stallions in the first class, and four mares in the second class; but no great excellence to commend in the animals. Any of our county shows would bring together a better lot of this class of horses.

We have now reached the "Suffolk Agricultural Horses;" and in my judgment, the crowning feature of this department of the show. In this opinion I do not stand alone, as will be seen by the following, which I copy from the leading article on the "Great Meeting at Battersea," in the Agricultural Gazette: "It is acknowledged by that portion of the public who take an interest in horses, that the Suffolks at the Battersea meeting formed the most striking portion of the horse show." The color of the Suffolk is almost uniformly sorrel, or chesnut as it is called in England. They are large, powerful animals, with smaller, more muscular, and better limbs than is found under most horses of their size. Two of them would make a team of sufficient strength for the heaviest farm work in America, and would not be so logy as to be tedious when occasionally put to the road for a trip to mill or market. The Suffolk stallion would give us a useful and valuable cross on the farm mares of our country. There were sixty Suffolks on exhibition, of which eighteen were in the first class-stallions over two years old. The first prize, £30, was adjudged to Herman Biddell, of Ipswich, Suffolk, for his "Colonel," five years old, sire, Major, sire of dam, Briton. Second prize, £15, to Thos. Crisp, of Buttry Abbey, for his

*The Mark Lane Express says of the above awards: "The forty-five pounds for the best Hunter Stallions was completely thrown away upon two half-bred ones. The first prize, a nice horse, is by British Yeoman, a thoroughbred horse; but it does not follow that the British Statesman, a half-bred, is going to reproduce himself, or get stock like his thoroughbred sire. The second prize was awarded to another half-bred, an even, soft, mealy-legged bay, who looked as if his days had been spent in consuming oilcake and perfecting himself in the run of a dealer's yard."

"Marquis," twelve years old, sire, "Royal Duke." In the second class, stallions under two years old, were thirteen entries of very fine colts, and very large for the age. The first prize, £20, was taken by Henry Giles, Jr., Colchester, Essex, for his "Boxer," two years and three months old, sire, Hick's Prince; dam, Brock, by Scragg's Prince. This colt was sold for $1000, before leaving the ground. Second prize, £10, to Thos. Crisp. The third class, "Mares and foals," had fourteen entries; and fourth class, "two year old fillies," had the same number, all good animals. "Agricultural horses, not qualified to compete as Suffolks," occupied the next stalls, and had forty representatives, large stout animals, and some very good; but a want of uniformity, that is to be found in specific breeds. The dray horse came next, filling a dozen stalls with massive, logy creatures, well adapted to the hard patient work of the dray.

The ponies, which are the next in order, and close the English part of the catalogue, were arranged into two divisions; those "above twelve and a-half and under fourteen hands," and those "not exceeding twelve and a-half hands." Of the former there were thirty-two, divided into threeclasses, and twenty-eight of the latter, with like division of classes. This department of the show attracted a large crowd of ladies and children, who greatly admired these beautiful little horses. The Welch mountains, Exmoor, on the borders of Devon, and the islands of the coast of Scotland, are the breeding places of most of this dwarfed stock. On the Exmoor and in Wales, I understand, the practice prevails to some extent, of turning out small-sized thoroughbred stallions with the pony mares, thus improv ing their progeny, and producing some splendid ponies. A yard of Shetland ponies, some dozen in all, and of all ages, shaggy, wild, and lean, brought direct from their native barren isles, ungroomed and uncultivated, gave the crowd of spectators an excellent opportunity to see how the noblest of animals could be dwarfed and degenerated by sterility.

The noble Clydesdale, which competes for the prizes offered by the High land Society, finishes up the show of horses at Battersea. There were twenty-seven head in all, and I regard it difficult to bring together that number of finer animals from all Scotland. But the Clydesdale horse is too ponderous and sluggish for the American temperament, and I think would be less useful to our farmers than the Suffolk. The prizes offered for the Clydesdale horse, £30, £20, and silver medal in first class-stallions three years old and over. The first prize was taken by the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, for "Sir Walter Scott," seven years old; the second by Wm. Kerr, for "Champion," six years old; and the silver medal to Wm, Sterling, M. P., for "Forth," five years old. The Farmers' Gazette expresses the opinion that this first prize Clyde stallion was the best horse on the ground; and here I must leave the horses and take a look among the sheep pens.

Leicesters stand at the head of the sheep show, the first class being "Shearling rams, with an offering of three prizes, £20, £10 and £5, for which there were 37 competitors, the first being awarded to Wm. Sanday, of Holme, Pierrepont, the second, Thomas Edward Pawlitt, of Bedfordshire, and the third to Wm. Sanday. The second class embraced rams of any [AG. TRANS.]

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other age than shearlings," and had 27 head in the pens, all the prizes, £20, £10 and £5, going to Wm. Sanday, for two and three year old rams. Class 3d, had seven lots of five shearling ewes each, and here also Wm. Sanday won the first and second prizes of £20 and £10, leaving the 3d prize of £5, to Wm. Lovel, of Yorkshire. Thus seven of the nine prizes offered for Leicesters, is taken by Mr. Sanday, which is a first rate certificate of his being a capital feeder, for the condition of the sheep was the principal point of difference, and the degrees of comparison would stand thus, fat, fatter, fattest, and Mr. Sanday's rams were in the third degree; many of these animals could scarcely raise to their feet without assistance, they were so very fat.

The Lincolns come next, divided into three classes, and three prizes each class, with the first dropped down from £20 to £15, with 8 rams in the shearling class, and 9 in the other ages. Thomas Bumpstead Marshall, of Lincolnshire, had the awards for the first and second prizes in class one, and the first prize in class two. James Mayfield, of the same county, taking the third prize in the same two classes, and John Clark, of the same county, taking the second prize in the second class. In the third class, shearling ewes, there was only one pen on exhibition, by Wm. Greetham, of Lincolnshire, which took the first prize of £15. The notable feature of these sheep was the length of their wool, the 3d prize ram in the first class was 16 months old, and had never been shorn, his wool was forty inches long, reaching from his spine down his sides to the ground, his legs and hoofs were entirely concealed by his wool; there were two others in the pens that had wool from twelve to fifteen inches in length, of a fine, white and glossy texture.

The Cotswolds, which are next in order, are in large force. In class one we find 60 shearling rams, contending for the prizes, which are the same as the last, and are won by, first Wm. Garue, Gloucestershire. Second, Edward Handy, and third, Wm. Lane, of the same county. In the second class, where there are 23 competitors, Wm. Lane takes the first and second prizes, leaving the third for Edward Handy. Wm. Lane is also first and third in class three, where there are seven pens of five each, of shearling ewes, leaving the second prize to John King Tombs. Thus, Gloucester. shire carries off all the Cotswold prizes, and is to be regarded as the home of that justly celebrated breed of sheep. The Colswolds show the same tendency to take on flesh that the Leicesters do, and may perhaps be fed to a greater weight, their wool, however, is rather coarser, and on the whole not quite so well suited for our country.

Kentish, or Romney Marsh sheep, fill the next pens, to the number of twenty in the three classes, with prize offerings as above. This is purely a local breed, as I understand them, and have no specia! qualities that I can discover suited to our wants. I will therefore pass them without further investigation.

Long wool sheep, not qualified to compete as Leicesters, Lincolns, Cotswolds, or Kentish, or Romney Marsh, come next in order, and are represented by three classes, containing in all thirty-one head of very fine sheep. The first, second and third prizes, in class 1st, went to John Lynn, of Straxton. In the 2d class, the three prizes went to Joseph Simpson, of

Wetherby, York. In class 3d the prizes are divided as follows: First, to Hugh Aylmer, of Norfolk; second, Joseph Simpson, Wetherby, York; and the third, to John King Tombs, of Gloucestershire.

The next on the prize list, is " Irish pure, native long-wool breeds," for which there is a prize of £15 each, in three classes offered. This respectable premium brings out no "pure natives," and each class is marked "no entry."

The South Downs next attract our attention, reaching them in their order on the prize list and in the pens, they stand, however, first in point. of beauty and excellence in my estimation. There are three prizes offered in each of three classes, £20, £10, £5, and the pens are filled with animals of great beauty and well developed proportions. The first class "shearling rams" has fifty-one competitors for the prizes. Among the exhibitors are the names of the Duke of Richmond-Wm. Rigden, John and Alfred Heasman, Thos. Ellman, James Harding, Earl of Radnor, Lord Walsingham, John Waters, Sir Thomas Barret Lennard, the Duke of Bedford, and other well known names in South Down circles. There is one honored name missing, a name recognized by all lovers of good mutton, as the Prince of South Down breeders, Jonas Webb. Mr. Webb had recently sold the last of his justly celebrated flock of South Downs, preparatory to his retiring from the active and responsible field of labor, in which he had acquired both wealth and fame, and by the success of which he has conferred lasting benefits upon England and America, and well earned the title of a public benefactor. This was probably the first exhibition of the Royal Society, in which Mr. Webb's name was not to be found among the exhibitors of South Downs, and the animals in the several pens, though selected with a view of competing for the societies' liberal prizes, were in no respect superior to the entire flock placed on sale by Mr. Webb, a few days prior to the exhibition. In the first class, the first prize was awarded to the Earl of Radnor; and the second and third to Wm. Rigden. In the second class, Mr. Rigden takes the first prize, and Lord Walsingham the second and third. The third class, shearling ewes, Sir Robert George Throckmorton receives the first, Lord Walsingham the second, and the Earl of Radnor the third prize. In the three classes there were a hundred head of as handsome sheep as the flocks of England could turn out.

The Shropshires occupy the next pens, and are encouraged by three prizes in each of three classes, the first prize dropping down to £15, the second £10, and the third £5. This is a larger and coarser sheep than the South Down, with dark face and legs, feeds well, and lays on a large amount of fat. To a casual observer they would appear to be very large South Downs. Being desirous of obtaining the opinion of the men who were in attendance upon these sheep, as to their respective merits, I asked them the question, to which they replied: "Wees like the Shrops best, but the gentlemens likes the South Downs the best." I then enquired, why this difference of preference? They replied: "The Shrops makes more fat and gravy, which we likes on our bread, but the South Downs mixes the fat and lean, which the gentlemens likes for mutton." The exhibitors of Shorpshires have a more democratic cast of names than we found among the South Downs. They are as follows: George Adney, of Harley; Thos.