382 On the Smithfield Prize Cattle.-[Dec+

wiſe, as will be ſeen in the Plate, avas beautifully extended in ‘the hips, and extremely well formed in the back, and indeed, in every part.,

We venture‘to aſſert, that two ſuch beaſts, for general ſym- metry, have not hitherto been exhibited ar this ſhew; nor do we expect again to ſee here their equals in merit, although we hope this exhibition will be iong continued.

Loet*e bo Ubi y Fr e) LT Le

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE SHEW OF FAT CATTLE IN 2 SMITHFIELD. To the Editor of the Commercial and Agricultural Magazine. SIR; OU were kind enough to indulge me laft year with the in- ſertion of a few obſervations on the fat cattle which were exhibited by candidates for the honorary prizes given by the Smithfield Society. I hope you will now favour me with the ſame indulgence. I call theſe prizes honorary, becauſe they are truly and merely ſuch. They are not of ſufficient magnitude to require a leſs liberal epithet, nor can they be ſought after purely from an idea of gain. Indeed the premiums muſt be very conſiderably enlarged bcfore the proſpe& of private emolument can have much weight with the comperitors at this exhibirion; eſpecially with thoſe who are deſirous of obtaining the firſt of theſe prizes.

I am ſorry to have it again to remark, that there fill exiſts a prejudice againſt this evidently well-intended and well-conducted inſtitution, ſo malicious as to prucecd to diret ſlander and vulgar abuſe againſt every one who looks with a favourable eye towards the above Society. In The Times paper, of the 16th inſtant, there appears a venomous letter of this kind, founded entirely on ignorance, prejudice, and falſehood.

The writer<f this Letter, who ſigns bimſelf Agricola, 1in- ſtead of Broker, addreſſes himſelf to the Lord Mayor of Lon- don, in the: following terms:—“ If we may judge by the deciſions which have been made upon the like occaſions at Smith- field, the /atte/ animals are conſidered the bet.” This aſſertion (as this writer either knew at the time when he made it, or ought to have known before he had ventured ro make it), is un- founded in truth, dire&ly contrary to every rule of the Society» and at variance with every deciſion which it has hitherto made. “That peculiar form in the animal which indicates a diſpoſition to fatten, and at the ſame time a delicacy in the meat which it pro- duces, the ſmallneſs of its bones, the ſmall proportion of its offal, and likewiſe the hize of the beaſt, are always taken into conſideration in the determination of theſe prizes, as well as the fatneſs. This, I think, has been frongly exemplified in the late deciſion, in which the preference has been givento Mr, Weſt-