5 JULY 1935, Page 20

The Royal

The Royal Agricultural Show takes place this year at New- castle. I attended it many years ago in the same place ; and the crowds were the biggest I ever saw at any agricultural event ; and their numbers pointed to one great merit in these shows*: they bring the town into connexion with the country. The rural show is often a failure, economically and perhaps psychologically, though last year the exuberant patriotism of Suffolk men and women—from Mr. Clark downwards— made the show at Ipswich perhaps the best in the annals. Incidentally, it may be ventured that no counties or shires in England are more county-conscious and conscientious than Suffolk and Sussex, Suffolk in agriculture and Sussex in its literature. Even at Newcastle, which is the best possible centre for the characteristic breeds of the North, the Suffolk sheep will exceed all others in number. One of the features of the Show, on the mechanical side, will be the exhibit of rubber tyres, which begin (especially again on the light soils of East Anglia) to drive out the iron rim on farm carts and other machines. Even some of the tractors have pneumatic wheels. It is found in general that the draught is lightened, by a very high proportion, even on heavy land by the use of air and rubber. As for our gardens we shall soon quite surrender iron rims, especially for our water-carrying tubs.