Prince Christian, who with other members of the Council, was the guest of Lord Lonsdale at Lowther Castle, paid his first Presidential visit to the Show on Monday; but before proceeding to the Show the Prince was the recipient of the Honorary Freedom of the City of Carlisle, and His Royal Highness unveiled a Memorial Statue of the late Queen Victoria, erected in the Riverside Park, just outside the Showyard. His Royal Highness was also present on each subsequent day of the Show, up to and including Thursday, the first shilling day. In view of the Coronation, and the large numbers of distinguished visitors expected from colonial and foreign countries, it was anticipated that the Show of 1902 would be held under exceptionally brilliant auspices. Any anticipations of this kind were, however, destined to be disappointed by the sudden transition from national joy to national grief, which was caused by the illness and critical condition of His Majesty the King immediately before the day fixed for the Coronation. It was inevitable that the national gloom of this event should overspread the Royal Showyard, and that at every meeting of agriculturists there assembled the reading of the latest bulletins of the King's health should precede the transaction of business. On Tuesday, July 8, Prince Christian occupied the Chair at the usual Meeting of Governors and Members in the Large Tent, and as President of the Society, His Royal Highness moved the following resolution on the King's illness, which was adopted and telegraphed to His Majesty at Buckingham Palace: "The Royal Agricultural Society of England in General Meeting assembled humbly desire to express their loyal and heartfelt sympathy with His Majesty the King in his recent severe illness, and with Her Majesty the Queen and the other Members of the Royal Family in their deep anxiety and trouble. They are thankful to the Almighty that the precious life of His Majesty has passed out of danger, and they earnestly pray that His Majesty may speedily be restored to perfect health and strength." The following gracious reply, sent by command of His Majesty, was received by the Council at their meeting on the following day, and was posted up in the Showyard : "To Prince CHRISTIAN, Pavilion, Showyard, Carlisle. I have had the honour of submitting to the King the resolution forwarded by your Royal Highness, and I am commanded by His Majesty to express to the Royal Agricultural Society of England his sincere thanks and those of the Queen for their kind words of sympathy. Events of the Show-Week. 173 Conspicuous on the platform at this meeting were the Maharaja of Kolhapur, G.C.S.I., and the Chief of Gagal, both resplendent in native Oriental costume. Out of compliment to the Maharaja (a Governor of the Society since 1889), the Council on the previous day had conferred upon him the Honorary Membership of the Society, and at the General Meeting the President presented His Highness with his Honorary Member's badge, at the same time making graceful allusion to the presence in the Showyard of other representatives from India and the Colonies. Resolutions expressing the Society's thanks to the Mayor and Corporation of Carlisle for their cordial reception of the Society, and to the Carlisle Local Committee for their exertions to promote the success of the Show, will be found recorded in a report of the proceedings on pages lxi to lxvi of the Appendix. After the General Meeting, H.R.H. the President gave the customary luncheon in the Royal Pavilion in honour of distinguished visitors and local representatives. There were twenty-one guests present to meet His Royal Highness, including the Maharaja of Kolhapur, the Chief of Gagal, the Hon. G. H. Murray (Premier of Nova Scotia), the Hon. L. J. Tweedie (Premier of New Brunswick), the Right Hon. R. W. Hanbury, M.P. (President of the Board of Agriculture), the Earl of Lonsdale, the Bishop of Carlisle, Captain Standish (High Sheriff of Cumberland), and Mr. B. Scott (Mayor of Carlisle). The whole of Monday, July 7, was devoted to the judging of the live stock, the Judges, whose names are printed in the Appendix, having received the usual instructions as to the nature of their duties from the Honorary Director (Mr. Percy Crutchley) in the large tent before commencing their labours at 9 a.m. At the close of the day all the sections had been judged and the awards duly announced. All departments of the Show were opened on Tuesday, July 8, and remained in full operation until its close. Parades of cattle and of the heavy horses were held each morning; in the afternoons were parades of the light horses, followed by jumping competitions. Lectures on bee-keeping and bee-driving demonstrations were given daily, under the auspices of the British Bee-keepers' Association. Miss Darrell gave demonstrations of dairying processes in a fully-equipped dairy, where also butter-making competitions took place on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Competitions of shoeing-smiths were likewise held on these days at the Shoeing Forge, and on the Friday afternoon Mr. John Malcolm, F.R.C.V.S., delivered a lecture on "The Horse's Foot and How to Shoe it." From Tuesday to Thursday, musical attractions were provided by the full band of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines, conducted by the Bandmaster, Lieut. George Miller, M.V.O., Mus. Bac. Cantab, and on Friday by the band of the Border Depôt. 66 On Thursday the Society welcomed in the Showyard the representative of an interesting African race, under British Protection, in the person of Apolo Kagwa, Katikoro" of Uganda. In addition to his office as Prime Minister and Chief Justice, the Katikoro of Uganda is the principal of the three Regents appointed during the minority of the infant king of that country. THE WEATHER. The Society has been unfortunate in the weather at each of its three Carlisle Meetings. Visitors to the Shows of twenty years ago will recall the phenomenal rainfall during the weeks of the Kilburn (1879) and Carlisle (1880) Meetings. In the latter year the rainfall during the first four days of the Show (July 12 to 16) amounted to 2.78 inches, and occasioned so serious a rise in the Caldew that fears were entertained for the safety of the live stock through flood. The embankment of the river since that time removed all cause for similar apprehension on the present occasion; but the atmospheric conditions and the state of the ground were sufficiently depressing during the greater part of the Show-week. On the opening days of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday fine and warm weather were of good augury for a successful Show; but the prospect suddenly changed, and Tuesday, the first half-crown day, witnessed a continuous downpour of rain. Wednesday was little better, the weather being lowering with frequent showers, but the sun appeared for a short time during the afternoon parade. A further heavy downpour at half-past six closed the day. Thursday, the first shilling day, opened with heavy rain, and the ground, trodden by thousands of visitors, soon became converted into a slushy quagmire. On Friday, the last day of the Show, the weather had cleared and no rain fell. Four English and three Scotch railway companies run their passenger trains into the Citadel Station, a fact sufficient to indicate the importance of Carlisle as a railway centre. As the Highland Society's Show for the year had been fixed to take place at Aberdeen, it was expected that large numbers of agriculturists in the South of Scotland would seize the opportunity of visiting the "Royal," either instead of or as well as their own national exhibition. There was, therefore, every ground for anticipating an attendance far in excess of that at the Carlisle Meeting of 1880; only fine weather was needed to ensure this hoped for result. Unfortunately, this essential to complete success was wanting; yet, allowing for the fact that the populations of the mountainous districts around Carlisle are more rain-seasoned than those in drier localities, it is remarkable that so many thousands of persons should have defied the elements in visiting the Royal Show. No better evidence of the local enthusiasm which it aroused need be required. The number of visitors during the week reached 93,187, which, whilst larger than at York in 1900 (87,511), and Maidstone in 1899 (68,576), is yet smaller than any other total since Reading in 1882 (82,943). The Carlisle total in the wet week of 1880 was exceeded by only a small margin, the attendance in that year being 92,011. In the following Table the total attendances are recorded for a series of ten years: Number of Paying Visitors at the last Ten Country Meetings (1893-1902). Day of show Implement day (28. 6d.) 2,3721 1st day (58.) 2nd day (28. 6d.) 3rd day (2s. 6d.) 4th day (18.) 5th day (18.). Total 157 183 256 172 574 260 299 1,801 2,172 1,879 2,397 17,409 12,046 13.152 20,959 21.735 24,942 17,890 19,034 80,602 43,073 63,981 59,555 24,558 17,503 14,496 13,664 93,187 167,423 87,511 68,576 98,277 217,9802 146,277 100,310 111,658 115,908 1 The price of admission was ls. 2 Including 22,621 on the sixth day (18.). An innovation was made this year by the reduction of the charge for admission to the Implement Yard on the Saturday from 2s. 6d. to 1s. As there were 2,372 paying visitors on this day at Carlisle, as against an average previous attendance of about 270, the change was justified by the increase in the proceeds from a larger attendance at the smaller price of admission. Considerable interest is invariably aroused in the Showyard by the tabular placards giving the number of visitors at intervals each day, compared with the corresponding figures of previous years. A comparative statement of the admissions for the years 1892-1901 was given in last year's Report (Vol. 62, page 121), and the following statement of the admissions at Carlisle may be compared with the figures there recorded Statement of Admissions by Payment at Carlisle, 1902. :— The general behaviour of the crowds in the Showyard was all that could be desired, and as an instance of the intelligence with which the exhibits were examined by the public, it may be mentioned that the whole impression of 12,000 copies of the catalogue had been sold at 1s. per copy by midday on the Thursday. DESCRIPTION OF LIVE STOCK AND PRODUCE. The following description of the various sections in the live stock and produce departments is based mainly upon the official reports of the Judges; and illustrations, reproduced from special photographs by Mr. C. Reid, of Wishaw, are given of the winners of the female championships in the breeding classes for horses and cattle, portraits of the male champion prize-winners having been included in the official report on the Cardiff Meeting of 1901. HORSES. In satisfactory contrast to the previous year, there was at Carlisle an excellent exhibition of horses, the total number of |