Speaking of them as a body, it will be found that they nearly answer the following description: - The head is short and not ill-formed, with a bold prominent eye, small ears, and rather thick in the jaw; the shoulder flat but slanting-low in the withers; the neck short and inclining to the ewe-neck; barrel round and deep, and well ribbed up; if anything, rather too narrow across the loins; the hind quarter too short, and drooping to the tail. They are all, more or less, cat-ham'd, which gives them an unsteady gait in trotting; bone and sinew good, and legs as clean as a thorough-bred; the thigh very powerful, more so in proportion than the forearm; hoofs very small, but so firm that, if used on the mountain only, they hardly require shoeing. Like the mountain sheep and the hare, they seem to be especially qualified for going up hill; height little above 11 or at most 12 hands; very sure-footed a broken knee seldom to be seen amongst them. They, however, are not of that generally useful class which would always command a market; but not being bred in any very great numbers, they have of late years met with a ready sale, and are bought principally for the purpose of carrying children. With regard to the ponies bred on the lower hills and commons in South Wales-particularly in the line of country touching upon Tregarren, Rhayada, Bailth, Landimdul, Pennebrul, in the counties of Cardiganshire, Brecknockshire, Carmarthenshire, and Radnor, up to Knighton-though they vary much in form, strength, and size-yet, taking them altogether, we can hardly say too much in their praise. With a constitution which-although not capable of bearing the amount of starvation which stunts the growth and attenuates the forms of their poor relations of the mountain-may still be termed hardy, they possess the qualities of speed and endurance in an astonishing degree, and can carry great weights; they run from 12 to 13 hands in height, are clean-legged, with good bone, and very safe. Our Welsh friends will not be offended by our remarking that we think they have somewhat injured their stock in character and appearance by the introduction of Norwegian blood; for though it may have imparted greater endurance and hardiness, it has rendered them slower and more sluggish in spirits, whilst as to colour, the good old-fashioned greys, browns, blacks, and dark chesnuts, are giving way to dun or mouse colour, dingy light chesnuts with white manes and tails, and other mixtures, which much injure their sale. As to the ponies of North Wales, little can be said in this report, as they are situated at least 100 miles from the seat of the South-Wales exhibition, Cardiff. Neither were it well to specify any particular breeders. Each Welshman would be up in arms in defence of his own hills and ponies, and dare us to prove that they could not, if they chose, rear racehorses on the top of Snowdon in Carnarvon, or Plinlimmon in Montgomery. But Dame Nature must here be first consulted, and a little reflection will show that altitude and climate govern the peculiarities of the mountain pony. We noticed one mare pony from the English side of the Channel. This animal had good points, but was by no means a representative of the Exmoor breed. PIGS. Boars of a large breed: 9 entries. In this class were some perfectly-formed animals, exhibited by Mr. Hewer, of Seven Hampton; but they would have been improved by the infusion of a little more quality. In the sow class was a specimen of the Berkshire breed, belonging to Mr. Edward Bowley, of Cirencester, in which both size and quality were combined. Both prizes for the pens of three young sows went to Mr. Hewer. The same remark applies to them as to the boar class. All the prizes for boars and sows of a small breed were carried off by the Rev. G. F. Hodson, of North Petherton. One boar and one sow were very neat, the boar particularly so; but the second-prize animals were evidently cross-bred, and had very inferior bone. In the pens of the breeding sows there was nothing worthy of notice. The small-breed classes were not equal to those of former exhibitions. There were 19 entries in the three classes. WELSH CATTLE. The Principality has been the seat of some of our original breeds of cattle. Howell the Good describes some of the Welsh cattle in the tenth century as being "white with red ears," resembling the wild cattle of Chillingham Castle. These were preserved in the parks of the nobles. The same record mentions also the "dark or brown coloured breed" which now exists, and which is general throughout the Principality. These are of the " middlehorn" class already alluded to. They are stunted in their growth chiefly from the scanty food which their mountain walks produce, but they carry with them many of the characteristics of the Hereford, Devon, and Sussex cattle. Amongst them we have in South Wales the Pembrokes, Glamorgans, Monmouths, &c. The steers of these breeds have long commanded a ready sale in the midland counties, and when fed for the London market are fully appreciated by the butcher. North Wales, considered as a cattle country, is divided into two districts: the first includes Anglesey, Carnarvon, and Merioneth; the second, Denbigh, Flint, and Montgomery: the latter being celebrated for its dairy produce, whilst in the former the rearing of cattle is almost exclusively attended to. It is impossible to give correctly the numbers of cattle annually sent from North and South Wales to the English counties. I find that in 1855 22,000, and in 1857 25,000, passed through the Chester station; and we may safely say that an additional 5000 would go by the road. These oxen or runts are principally grazed in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and Warwickshire. The small (but best) heifers go to the eastern counties, Kent, &c. Nothing but spirited attention is required to make this branch of agriculture an important and profitable pursuit; all that is needed being that farmers should be more careful in the selection of their breeding stock, and keep their best heifers to breed from instead of selling them into the eastern markets. Like the Scots, they thrive where large English beasts would starve. The Smithfield Club has already recognised them as an established breed, worthy of a place in the Club's prize-sheet; and for the display of these breeds we had four open classes, viz. two for bulls and two for cows and heifers; but (owing evidently to some misunderstanding on the part of the breeders) two animals only-one cow and one heifer-were exhibited, and one of these was an inferior animal. Still it went far to show "what an animal ought not to be," and thus illustrated the fact that there is great room for improvement in the Welsh cattle. Mr. Watson, of Keillor, Cupar Angus, Scotland, writes me thus "I have no doubt that either our West or North Highland cattle might be profitably introduced into the mountainous districts of Wales, and on the lower pastures the polled Angus or Galloway breeds. They are both of fine quality, and rent-paying animals on middling pastures; but perhaps the first step should be to improve the pastures by surface-draining when required, and by burning and liming where the herbage is coarse." SPECIAL PRIZES. These prizes were offered by the Mayor of Cardiff (C. E. Williams, Esq.) and confined to the breeders in South Wales and Monmouthshire. The specimens sent consisted of many breeds. In the cow class were the red and white and the brown and white Welsh cow, the Ayrshire, the Hereford, and the Short-horn, together numbering ten entries. Mr. Reese Keene, of Pencraig, carried off the prize with a brown and white faced cow, Beauty. Mr. Logan's red cow, Stately, was commended. The class for steers was not so well filled, there being only three entries, viz. a pair of Welsh steers, a pair of red and whitefaced steers, and a pair (one red and one white) the property of Sir C. Morgan, which received the prize. EXTRA STоск. CATTLE. Amongst these, the judges selected a short-horn cow, the property of Mr. Entwistle; a short-horn cow of Mr. Logan; a pair of twin short-horn heifers of Sir C. Morgan; and a Hereford heifer of the Tredegar Iron Company. All of these received special prizes. The pair of heifers exhibited by Sir C. Morgan would have stood well in the short-horn class open for them. Mr. Logan's cow was the dam of the celebrated fat steer fed by the Duke of Beaufort, that won the gold medal at the Birmingham show in 1856, and the first prize at the French exhibition at Poissy in 1857. SHEEP. There were four lots of Welsh sheep shown in the extra stock, but they were not noticed by the judges. The Leicester ewe exhibited by Mr. Watkins was a good specimen of his Woodfield flock. Amongst the horses in the extra stock a special prize was deservedly awarded to Mr. J. C. Wall, of Bristol, for his black Welsh pony. There were also some good pigs. There is a remarkable fact apparent in the preceding notes upon our Meeting, viz.: That the country is much indebted to the talent of our early breeders, who, in those days of slow enterprise and small encouragement, propagated from animals that appeared to possess peculiar qualities worthy of cultivation. Thus, the short-horn tribes have come from the Messrs. Collings' herd; the best North Devons from the late Mr. Francis Quartly; the Leicesters from the late Mr. Bakewell's flock; the Southdowns from the late Mr. Ellman. While it is interesting to notice these incidents, it is no less a matter of encouragement to reflect upon the continued success of the present breeders who possess the direct lines of blood from these early families; as an illustration, Mr. Booth owns the nearest representatives of the Collings' tribe of short-horns; the Messrs. Quartly, of their uncle Mr. F. Quartly's stock; Mr. Sanday, of the Dishley flock; Mr. Webb, of the Glynde flock; and so on: all indicating the importance of the one grand desideratum, purity of blood. III.-A Report of Personal Experience on a Farm, upwards of 500 acres, situate at Kilmington, in the County of Somerset. By JOSEPH LUSH, of Brewham House, near Bruton. In writing a report of my experience, in accordance with the terms proposed by the Bath and West of England Agricultural Society, I am under the necessity of going back to the year 1837. In the autumn of that year I rented a farm, upwards of 500 acres, of the steward of the Earl of Ilchester, of the following description, viz. : 30 ac. of dry pasture. 66 do. very poor do. 51 do. dry arable. 52 do. exceedingly poor and worked out arable, in culti vation. 60 do. poorer arable, thrown out of cultivation several years. 237 do. common, that had not been cultivated in the memory of the oldest man then living, and some had never been turned. 5 do. coppice. 5 do. waste, by road-sides. 506 The land had been occupied by one family, father and son, for 35 years; and, on the death of the father, the son gave notice to quit it; and at that time it was in the following state of cultivation. Of the 51 acres of best arable |