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L- 'v-. FARMED COLUMN. Suc<'EssJ.1 i l. A^RU^H/rUTlAX EXHIBITIONS AND UNSUCCESSFUL FARMING. T (From the Mark Lane Exp rex*.) In commenting upon thy j^rcat success of the Royal Agricul- ^'}ral Sn-iety's Show at I'.iriuingham last year, following, as it 'll'> -in admirable exhibition of the Bath ami West of England Society at Hereford, and :1 series of county shows as meritorious, n the whole, as those of any previous year, we called attention the apparent anomaly of successful A^r:«-ult;!ral Ex- ojhitions and unsuccessful farming co-exi«tiii!j. Since "lose remarks were made, one of the worst, uarv'ests 01 *Tec;Wle of years has been "Withered, and the produce u>r toe most Pwt sold at unreraunerative prices. A few fortunate holders o± c°rn have, indeed, obtained very satisfactory prices ?auce^ the fXcite:nent in the trade consequent r.ponthe lireal.ing ouo of the ,C, in the East; but these are the few and the few to vhom, from the mere fact of being able to hold a coi.side; a ole Portion of their crops up to the spring, showed themselves ,obe ^6n of s,V)s+,'inc3 who lin<.X 110 vevv uvgciio HO6NI ol the ne«p ^hich hi^h Prices have afforded. The great majority had sold or nearly all their corn before the rise in the markets com- fenced, and the extraordinary number of farms to he let next îlchaelmas shows to what straits a considerable proportion of the farmers of arable land have been brought. Neveitheless, the Eath and West of England Society scored its greatest triumph this i ear j the countv shows have been as creditable as ever they were :-and now at Liverpool, an exhibition of agiicaiciiral stock and InIPleinents never surpassed, is just drawing to its close. In most instances there has been a little fallmg-olt in the cattle sezi, owing; to the recent invasion of cattle plague but this, as the disease has been a source of terror rather than of actual los, may he considered as a mere accident rather than the re- sult of agricultural depression. Indeed, it is not the great stockbreeders and fanciers who have suffered chiefiy from the "ad harvests low prices, and enhanced farming expenses of re- ceut season?', but the farmers of occupations chiefly arable. ^'o\v,the exhibits of agricultural implements and machinery, for ^hich arable farmers are the principal customers, have been his year superior to any that have before been held; s° that we have the anomaly to which we have caUed attention complicated by the consideration Of the fact that the veilv department of our agricultural ?hows which has apparently been most prosperous this year is lritimately connected with the class of farmers who have ^tt'ered most from the •' li ird times." Nor is this all; for the •ade of the country in all its branches has been ma 'very ^pressed condition for the past ten years, and the export trade tnot of all. Most of our great implement nianufactureis supply jjticlcs of various kinds not used in agriculture, and some ot jhem are peculiarly dependent upon t.ie export trade lor a *rXo proportion of their returns and profits. Ihe depression Jf trade-internally and externally-therefore must have been *;lt by them severely, and we hare heard on all sides corn- Points to this effect." Vet they make a brave show and, if they are sufferers thev are at least successful in hiding the resnlts. (Competition, we suppose, keeps them up to the mark, they are not needy men who succumb to the Io.s^e.-j of a y.?;ir or two. Perhaps it is rather a diminution of former mag- m{icent profits than an actual loss, which thev have to put up Wlth, and at nl1 events they hope for a revival of trad:; and a Return, of agricultural prosperity. They, like the farmer, ;ive had their labour difficulties; but these have lately been Settle<i very generally in their favour, and they are, for the time least delivered to a great extent from the fear which a little t"iie back they had serious cause for entertaining that they ^v°uld be unable to compete with foreign manufacturers. As *et, fortunately, our agricultural implement manufacturers "t^nd first in the world, just as British agriculturists stand first, a"d it is earnestly to be hoped that both will be enabled to Maintain that proud position. We have less fear in this respect ;°r the manufacturers than we have for the farmers. The former ?.re not handicapped in their competition with other nations as ''e latter are—in what respects we need not recapitulate to the Rulers of The J[ w'k Lcne EX1)re8.. Perhaps after a time, the increasing disparity between advancing agricultural ^chanisin and stationary, if not receding, farm practice, will too striking to remain unremedied, and then the disabilities I p the British farmer will he removed. The disparity, indeed, T striking enough now, as anyone must see who compares, ftowevcv roughly, the progress" of agricultural machinery ami lat of agricultural production in any recent scries of years, it t lvtl> when the Roval Agricultural Society previously met ?I Liverpool, there were only 012 entries of implements 111 is77 e,'e were, including miscellaneous exhibits, (i,9"0. Only two iu'table steam engines were present at the former Show and Joshing machines were only just beginning to be used. Steam ,tivation was little more than a dream reaping and mowing '?achines had not been uiade successfully and corn elevators, pickers, haymakers, anil almost countless minor machines were ?°t introduced. Much implements as were in common use were {9r tiie must part of what we should now regard as a very primi- p,Ve construction. In the thirty-six years that have since ^laPsed the progress has been wonderful. Has the progress of >pieulture, and especially'of arable farming kept pace with it ? one can hesitate for a'moment to reply in the negative, and 'l,;re are many who will declare that the farmers of to-day farm ij°rse, and not better, than their fathers. Unfortunately, statis- to enable us to compare the yield of crops at the present t £ y with that thirty or forty years ago are not available, but in is "'evtainly a "very common impression that we grow less 1 the country now than we grew then. It is true that we have tn a ^le of bad harvests, and that the losses incurred have, i, Sether with other difficulties, led to worse farming, hut if the hi. tlsh !armer had not been more hampered than other men in business, he, like others, would have declined to knock ^er to a period of temporary depression.

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1'E NOVEL WALKING FEAT AT…

. WINNING MOUNTS IN 1877.

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MYNYDDOG.

PONTRHYDYGROES.

TOWYN.

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