18 rEOCEEDIXGS AT GENERAL MEETINGS. 



lO.s. ; Wednesday, 2s. 6d, ; Tliursday till one o'clock, 2s. 6d. ; after cue, Is. ; Friday- 

 till noon, Is. ; after twelve, 6d. The charges in future are to be:— Tuesday, 5s. ; 

 Wednesday, 2s. 6d. ; Thursday, Is. ; Friday, 6d. The competition for the £100 prize 

 for a stallion for agi'icultural purposes, to travel this season in the district of the show, 

 •would take ])lace at Glasgow on the 22d of February. The Tweeddale Gold Medal 

 would on this occasion be given for the best shorthorn bull in the yard. 



Ages of Shorthorn Cattle.- -Mr Gillon, after submitting the above report, made- 

 a statement on a question to be raised under a motion by Mr Mollison, Dochgarroch 

 Lodge, as to the date for calculating the ages of cattle. The conclusion of tJiis state- 

 ment was that the Directors, believing that it would be advantageous that this Society 

 and the Ptoyal English should adopt as near as possible the same date, considered that 

 the meeting should be cautious in making the i^roposed alterations, and that the 

 opinion of all the principal breeders of shorthorns should be obtained before the change 

 was made. 



Mr Mollison then moved as follows : — " That the ages of .shorthorn cattle to be 

 exhibited at the Society's shows shall, in like manner as polled Angus or Aberdeen, 

 date from 1st December in place of 1st January, and that this rule shall come into 

 operation at same time as that which now applies to polled Angus or Aberdeen." He 

 stated that the 1st of January, although a well-defined period, being the commence- 

 ment of the year, was not the commencement of the shorthorn breeding season, and 

 marked no special term. Neither would it be said did the 1st December. That he 

 readily granted. Martinmas would be preferred, but the 1st December having been 

 accepted by the breeders of polled Angus, he would readily fall in with it. No breed 

 of cattle came so early to maturity as shorthorns, and he thought this date would best 

 j^uit calving of animals for show. A large number of communications had been 

 received by him since the motion was made, speaking of the importance of early calves. 

 Coupling that with the fact that most local societies in the north of Scotland had 

 departed from the 1st January and adopted the earlier date, showed, he thought, the 

 importance of the motion. It was quite different with regard to Ayrshires and Gal- 

 loways. Their constitution and mode of bringing them up was different. Rather, 

 however, than that there .should be any doubt on the subject, he should mo.st readily 

 propose that a committee be formed to ascertain the wishes of shorthorn breeders- 

 throughout the 'whole members of the Society. 



Mr Andrew Mitchell, Alloa, seconded the motion. 

 In answer to Mr IMollison, 



Mr Menzies, Secretary, stated that seventeen shorthorn breeders had written to him 

 saying that they approved of Mr Mollison's motion, and three that they did not. 



Mr Mollison thought that indicated pretty well what the feeling of the shorthorn 

 breeders was. 



Mr Smith, Wliittinghame, asked the Secretary to read any of the most prominent 

 remarks. 



Mr Menzies said that those making the most prominent remarks were against the 

 change. They were Mr Robert Bruce, Northallerton, well known as a breeder, and 

 Mr Richard Tweedie. The others wrote simply saying that they approved of the 

 change ; they did not give reasons. Mr Bruce in his letter said — " I hope the Direc- 

 tors will consider the matter well before they come to a conclusion on the subject, as 

 I believe the present date is the most definite, and also the date to suit the large pro- 

 portion of exhibitors. I give the following reasons for my belief : — " First, l.ireeding 

 should never be made subservient to showing, and as men are not bound to show all 

 they breed, such only as can fulfil conditions as to age, &c., need be prepared. Second, 

 a large proportion of even north-country .shorthorns are calved in February, March, 

 and April. Third, the Royal English Society have determuied to fix 1st January as 

 the date from which to calculate ages, and a uniform date at the national shows must 

 be desirable." 



Mr Mollison said that these were really English breeders, and he did not think 

 they should be much guided by their opinion. 



Sir Thos. GLAdsTONE of Fasque, Bart., said that, as a breeder of polled cattle, he 

 wished to .state that until very lately he Avas under the same impression as Mr Mollison. 

 At a recent meeting of the Kincardineshire Agricultural Society, he seconded a motion 

 with the object that Mr Mollison proposed of changing the date from 1st January to 

 1st December, and he found such was the imfavourable opinion of the members of the 

 association that the proposer of the motion and himself stood alone. He could not 

 doubt, there fere, there nmst be good reasons to influence in so remarkable a manner 

 the intelligent farmers of a breeding district such as his. Their main objection, as he 

 understood it was, that it was giving encouragement to the earlier breeding of cattle, 

 and in that way tending to increase the destitution of milk before they could turn 

 cattle out on the land. That w^as a very important consideration, it influenced the 

 farmers of that district to a very great extent, and he thought it right therefore to 

 exj)ress his recantation of opinion on the suliject. 



