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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



pillows of fat sewed on to her hind quarters and 

 along her back. I remarked that the calves of 

 8uch an animal must be very valuable. He 

 answered, " I am sorry to say I have been rather 

 unfortunate in that respect ; the calf died." After 

 expressing my regret, I said, " Do you not think 

 she is rather fat?" He said that " Perhaps she 

 was a little." I saw other three cows — Faith, 

 Hope, and Charity, 1 think he called them— raised 

 from this same Necklace, and more magnificent 

 animals no one could wish to see ; but I heard 

 shortly afterwards that he had given up the whole 

 thing, and that he did not again appear as an ex- 

 hibitor. On the other hand, Mr. Bates, instead of 

 feeding to such an enormous extent, kept his cattle 

 in first-rate breeding order. He told me he had got 

 a lot of West Highland heifers, and had put short- 

 horn bulls to them J thus ])roducing the most 

 admirable animals he ever saw, pictures of many of 

 which he had hung on his walls. We must all, I 

 am sure, regret tlie serious loss which has occurred 

 at Keir, in the loss of the celebrated bull John 

 O'Groat. I, for one, however, was not altogether 

 unprepared to hear of such an event. If an animal 

 is fed up to a state quite unlike healthy nature, as 

 the rage is at present, what else can be expected ? 

 The object of what I have attempted to say is, that 

 we should endeavour to get that which best suits 

 our purposes by judicious crossing ; and I think, 

 whether for eating, or show, or breeding, the great 

 point is to keep them in a good- groviing, healthy 

 state, and not force them beyond what is good for 

 themselves and those who are to use them. I have 

 now come, I think, to the end of my tether ; what 

 I have said will, I hope, excite healthy discussion, 

 and he the means of eliciting experience and infor- 

 mation which may benefit us all (cheers). 



Mr. Stobie, of Ballockneck, passed a compli- 

 ment on the abiUty displayed by Mr. Home in his 

 introduction of this subject. He was not so well 

 acquainted with the Ayrshire breed as to express a 

 decided opinion, although he knew a cross between 

 the Ayrshire and the West Highland breed was a 

 great improvement. The Fife breed was a coarse 

 animal, and such as he would not recommend to 

 breeders, although he must say a great improve- 

 ment in this breed had been made by several par- 

 ties. The West Highland was, as stated by the 

 chairman, a most excellent breed, and had all the 

 good qualities which most other breeds were defi- 

 cient in. He recommended strongly a cross 

 between the West Highland cow and the short- 

 horn bull, but was generally of opinion that cross- 

 ing could not be too judiciously gone about. They 

 must begin with two first-class anim.als, and 

 endeavour to get prominent in the one what was 

 deficient in the other, and thought they should try 

 to carry on a good breed, and not cross too often 

 or on every point. He took leave to mention that 

 he exhibited two cross-bred heifers at the recent 

 show of fat cattle at Glasgow, one of which gained 

 the first prize, and was out of a small Ayrshire 

 cow, by a pure short-horn bull; and he must add, 

 it was a very fine animal, and admired by everyone. 

 He had no hesitation in saying the short-horns and 

 first crosses were the easiest fattened breed, and in 

 times like these, when the farmer must get his 



goods quickly to market, they were the best. If 

 they got £12 or £15 for a year-old, and only some 

 £18 for a two-year-old, they were not paid for the 

 year's keep, and it was desirable to have that breed 

 which was ready at the earlist date to go to market. 

 He concluded by expressing his thanks to the 

 Chairman for his remarks. 



Mr. M'Nellan was delighted to see this mode 

 of discussion introduced, and he only hoped that 

 in future a programme would be drawn up, in order 

 that all the members who chose might be prepared 

 to speak if they thought proper. Regarding the 

 subject of the discussion, he had found the short- 

 horn the easiest fed, and a cross between the short- 

 horn and Ayrshire exceedingly useful — in fact, as 

 easily fed as the short horns ; and while he had 

 reared this class to 50 stone, he could not rear an 

 Ayrshire more than 35 stone. 



The Chairman said he was very glad to hear a 

 list of subjects spoken of. It could not have been 

 done on the present occasion ; but after the success 

 which had attended the introduction of the method 

 of discussion they had that night adopted, he was 

 of opinion that the committee of the society should 

 draw up a list of subjects, and allow each member 

 to choose that subject upon which he had most 

 information, or on which he could bring to bear the 

 most personal experience and observation. The 

 speaker then went on to remark upon the milking 

 qualities of the short-horns being fully equal to the 

 Ayrshire. All the dairies in London were filled 

 with short-horns, and the Londoners were pretty 

 well up to the way of getting most value for their 

 money. He had known one short-horn cow that 

 gave 18 Scotch pints (36 quarts imp.) of milk per 

 day, and the amount of butter he did not recollect, 

 but it was something immense; while at Keir he 

 believed there was a short-horn cow which was a 

 most magnificent milker. All this went to show 

 that the short-horn breed contains all the good 

 milking properties, but they had been destroyed by 

 endeavouring too much to get a monstrous fat 

 beast. He went on to say that the first cross of an 

 Ayrshire was good, but the second was easier fed, 

 and the nearer they approached the short-horns the 

 easier would they get the fat put on. He beheved 

 that the first or second cross would turn out the 

 most profitable for feeding and milking. There 

 was one thing he was going to mention with regard 

 to milking, namely, that if they took a quantity 

 of Ayrshire milk, and a much smaller quantity 

 of short-horn milk, there was every probability 

 that the butter of the smaller quantity of short- 

 horn is greater than of the larger quantity of 

 Ayrshire. 



Mr. Kay, of Hillhead, in a humorous speech, 

 advocated the utility and value of the Ayrshire 

 breed, but said that a great deal depended upon the 

 keep and soil. In regard to crossing, he said he 

 had tried it, and found his best plan was to come 

 back to the pure breed again. He said there was 

 no accounting for the differences between the rich- 

 ness of cows' milk. He himself had an Ayrshire 

 cow that gave 18 pints of milk per day (36 quarts 

 imp.), and only three pounds of butter in the week, 

 while he had had a little cow whose milk produced 

 a pound of butter daily. 



