THE ROYAL SHOW (ENGLAND).

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14760, 2 September 1913, Page 3

THE ROYAL SHOW (ENGLAND).

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PBESS. gj r> _The reports to hand of the Royal Show, England, held this year at Bristol, inform us that the champion- ! ship in Southdown rams was won by Mr C. Adeane, with such good breeders as Colman, Caswilet, and Jennings meni tioned, and that the King took first i honours and champion for females. INow ! everybody, even in this far part of his 'Majesty's dominions, will bo interested • and pleased at Royalty's success as a stud breeder of these beautiful sheep, but I would like to point out that, in the minds of those interested, his good , : fortune in the show ring is rather in the , ' nature of a barren honour. . Whoever hears of Adeane taking p« "th Southdown ewes, and he is a breeder j absolutely at the top of the tree for this j many years with rams at all the pnnci- j pal shows in England? The reason is he won't show them. To -quote his own words: ''I consider housing and forcing ewes for exhibition ruins them for breecling." The late Henry Duckling never showed ewes; Mansell not for the last 35 years, and so on. I'write this because many keenly watch and take interest out here in the Royal fehow awards. .... The point is there are many, like myself, who consider the general utility sheep is the Romney ewe mated with a Southdown ram. xuis idea is very strongly held in the North Island, where conditions are sometimes very difficult in sheep farming, and in many countries all over the world the rame trend is noticed. In Canterbury, however, our ewe flocks are principally composed of a lot of thoroughbred mongrels. "Wo simply drift on, mainly on account of the superb fattening qualities of the soil, and anything tending to remedy that deplorable state of affairs should, I think, be welcomed.— Yours, etc., GEORGE . Medbury. '