State Agricultural Society. 263 



fourth man, and he gave the premium to Beaut}^. This shows that the 

 competition was strong, and, further, that when the Judges had made 

 up their minds there was no compromise. 



The Fairs at San Francisco, San Jose, and Stockton would have done 

 credit to. any country much older than this, but the grand exhibition 

 culminated at the State Fair. In addition to much of the stock shown 

 at the Fairs mentioned — Mr. Moses Wick, of Butte, with sixteen head; 

 E. M. Sparks, of Lincoln, ten head; Jesse Carr, of Monterey, eight 

 head; Peter Saxe, ten head; E. B. Cameron, of Solano, ten head — all 

 those mentioned above had been recently imported from Ohio, Missouri, 

 Illinois, and Kentucky, by men of experience, for their own use, and, it 

 is said, selected out of the best herds in those States. In addition to 

 these, G. N. # Swczy, of Maiysville, ten head; Werner & Hamil, of Davis- 

 ville, two yearling bulls, also imported; Eobert Ashburner, of San 

 Mateo, sixteen head; Dr. Holden, of Stockton, one aged bull; S. B. 

 Whipple, two young bulls; Smith & Cox, of Sacramento, one three year 

 old bull; W. F. Overhiser, of Stockton, fourteen head; John Brewster, 

 of Gait Station, one fine three year old bull. All of these were thor- 

 oughbred Durham. Then comes J. E. Eose, of Petaluma, with a herd 

 of Devons, as finished in form and color as can be shown by any breeder 

 in the United States of that breed of cattle. It is due to the gentlemen 

 above named to say that each and every one of them made a splendid 

 exhibition; not that each animal shown was faultless, but that each 

 showed some superior cattle, and should all have their full meed of praise 

 for helping to make the Fair such a grand success. I will here mention 

 some that I think could not be excelled by any stock from any country. 

 I will begin with the exhibit of G. 1ST. Swezy (who did good service in 

 traveling with me among the stock men of the State to induce them to 

 bring their stock to the State Fair) — " Kate Dunn " and " Beauty." 

 They may Have equals, but no superiors. His young cattle looked well, 

 and to his credit he had them in a finished condition. Then I will men- 

 tion "Heroine," "Bell Eepublic," and also " Glen wood," belonging to 

 Mr. M. Wick, of Butte. They are splendid specimens of the Durham 

 stock, but not in that high culture they ought to have been. Werner & 

 Hamil's yearling bull "Bolingbroke " is among the finest of his age. I 

 mention these because they filled my notion in form and color — not that 

 they were better than some others that were shown. There were 

 ninetj^-two head of Durham, eleven Devons, a few Ayrshires and nine- 

 teen graded — making about one hundred and thirty. In my opinion 

 these ninety-two head cannot be beaten at any Fairs in the United 

 States., I was awarded six premiums — some of the most important — at 

 the State Fair, for the best bull, the best cow, the best three year old 

 cow, the best one year old heifer, the best bull calf, and the best herd. 

 I claim that I have produced evidence enough to entitle my exhibition of 

 Durham stock to the gold medal, providing you think the cattle was the 

 best on exhibition in that department; but you may incline to think 

 that the horse department made the best exhibition. Well, in numbers 

 they had a little over half. I admit in every class of stock the exhibi- 

 tion was good. In the horse department it was more than good. Some 

 of the horses shown have a national reputation, and deservedly so — 

 though in numbers there were but few of that class. I think that the 

 cattle greatly predominate in the aggregate over all other classes of 

 stock, in their wonderful size and finished form. Now, if you are in 

 doubt as to how you ought to award the gold medal from the successful 

 exhibition in each class of stock, and are forced to give some oonsidera- 



