INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1703, 5 August 1879, Page 3

INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION.

An exhibition on a scale hitherto unattempted will (says the “Times”) be held this year at Kilburn, under the auspices of the Royal Agricultural Society, from Juno 30th to July 7th. With the assistance of an mlluential committee of noblemen and gentlemen interested in agriculture, a very convenient and accessible site of 103 acres has been obtained between the Edgeware and Harrow roads, close to the Kensal green

station of the North London Railway, and the new Salusbury station of the London and North-Western main line;- The distance from the Marble Arch is about two miles. It will be evident to all Londoners that in no other suburb could so convenient and extensive a piece of land have been found. The fields, for they are genuine fields, with the wooded uplands of Hampstead and Hendon in view, have been entirely transformed by the preparations far the great show. These preparations have now been in progress for some months, but the weather has retarded them, and much time has necessarily been spent in the work of draining, which has at last been accomplished, and, we may add, thoroughly tested by the recent rains. A very short spell of She weather will suffice to mate the ground all that can be desired. Inside the enclosure one is struck by the unusual extent of the sheds that the carpenters are erecting for the accommodation of the four-legged visitors, whose number, reckoning horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs together, will be 2891, or more than double the average total of tho last seven years. There are 315 entries of horses, 1027 of cattle, 841 of sheep, and 211 of pigs. There is a proportionate increase of shedding in the implement yard, where, of the total of 22,903 ft., 16,000 ft. are for ordinary purposes, 4,GS3ft. for machinery in motion, and 2220 ft. fsr seeds and models. The main entrance is in Salusbury road, from which a steam tramway will be laid through the longest diameter of the enclosure to the Kensal Green Station. On ono side of this equator will be the sheep, tho pigs, the foreign horses and cattle, the dairy, and the members’ club; on the other, the British horses and cattle, the horse ling, the cattle ring, the president’s tent, and the comparative loan collection of implements. Tho other implements and the machinery in motion will be distributed on either side. Pr zes to the amount of £11,500 will bo given for live stock, British and foreign, and nearly £2OOO more for various kinds of produce. Tho offer of' other prizes is in contemplation. In tho show yard- the processes of butter and cheese making will bo exhibited, and there will be also a loan collection of old as well as of new implements. Ono or two waggons at least 200' years old will be found there, and a few venerable ploughs like those with which tho author of tho “ Q-eorgics ” was familiar. These and l similar implements will illustrate tho essential conservatism of agriculture before the introduction of steam machinery. The exhibition l will be open for seven days, the first of which will be chiefly devoted to the work of'judgingand the award of prizes and medals. The programme for the other six days includes parades of British and foreign cattle, of agricultural and cart horses, of thorough--breds, hunters, hackneys, and ponies; displays of butter-making on the English,. French, Danish, and Swedish systems; and of cheese-making on the English, Danish, Holstein, and Limburg systems. On the last three days there will be displays of beedriving and bee manipulation ; . while tho exhibition of implements and of farm produce will be open throughout the whole of each day. The Prince of Wales is President of the Royal Agricultural Society for the year, and Earl Cathcart, Lord Ohesham, Lord Moreton, Lord Reay, Lord R. Grosvenor, M.P., Sir S. H. Maxwell, Colonel Kingscote, M.P., Mr Goddard, M.P., Mr Holms, M.P., Mr Read, M.P., and many other gentlemen form the executive of the Mansion-house committee, of which the Lord Mayor is chairman.