"Angel" omnibuses are groaning this week under the weight of portly bucolics, "confidence trick" men and other swindlers who fatten on the unsophisticated countryman are reaping a rich harvest in the neighbourhood of Islington, for the Smithfield Cattle show is on.—It is as fine show as ever—better in some respects, for judges are gradually realising the fact that the best beast is not that which has been induced to build up the greatest amount of blubber fat. The carcase seetion of the show is becoming increasingly popular, and strong efforts have been made this year to induce the Smithfield Club to increase the prizes in this section, in which the value of the animals us meat-producers can_be really tested. It looked for a time during the judging of the cattle as if Lord Rosebery vould carry off the great prize of the show—the championship plate a gold medal; but the luck which pursued the ex-Premier on the turf this ear followed him into the Agricultural Il. He just missed the good thing. His Scottish Queen had tw be extent with the Silver Cup for the best heifer or cow, Bir. Wortley of Norwich, cutied off the while the steer General, the property of
Championship. The General's previous successes include a couple of hundred-pound Challenge cups at Bieminghain and a long list of prizes at Norwich, while at Isliny ton he brought some £250 to his owner in hard cash. But neither the General nor Scottish Queen was qualified for the Queen's Challenge Cup, the winner of which must have been bred by its owner, so this went a.cross-bred heifer belonging to Mr. J. 1 D. Fletcher, a well-known Scotch breeder.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.