THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



13 



glee;" but Captain Harlow luul lo travel all the way 

 into Yorkshire tor North Stur, ii very clever lior^e, with 

 power, symmetry, and ■■olour lo reconunend him. 

 He should, further, have aetiou ; hut with u ;ihoe loose, 

 there was no opportunity of:>eeing him out. Although 

 the show of this kind of stock was strong-, it had little 

 or none of those distinguishing features the stranger 

 would expect to find in the land of dumplings, turkeys, 

 and trotting horses. 



The cattle come more decisively to the fore. The red- 

 polled Norfolks have long been famous, or infamous, 

 for something or other. They have indisputable ex- 

 cellence for dairy purposes, while they associate with 

 this a far more comely appearance than many good 

 milkers. Take, for example. Lord Sondes' first-prize 

 tvFO-year-old heifer — a very even, shapely, good-fleshed 

 animal, that would go to promise well for the butcher. 

 Mr. Hammond's cow, again, was very commendable, 

 and the prize-bull quite a curiosity. Like the Devons 

 — and some of the polled heasts are getting very like 

 the Devons about the heads — these cattle are uniformly 

 of a red colour, although lighter in the coat, than the 

 more fashionable families of the West. They were 

 led ofi' here, however, by a really fine, but gaudy, 

 parti-coloured bull, so varigated in white and brown 

 • and red as to drive any man who went for uni- 

 formity fiiirly out of his sense?. But the SufFolks, 

 after all, do not depend on the whole colour. Mr. 

 Gayford's bull, indeed, is said to have a pedigree that 

 goes two hundred years back, and that was as orthodox 

 as anything on the show-ground. The shorthorns, 

 perhaps, might be inclined to question this, but short- 

 horn dicta have not much weight with a Norfolk man. 

 Had not Lady Pigot been considerate enough to seud 

 something, this section would have been far below me- 

 diocrily. As it was, one good class of cows was made 

 up, and this her ladyship headed with Lady Sarah, 

 from Mr. Ambler's herd. Then in the succeeding row 

 of them she had the beautiful, if not grand. Empress 

 of Hindo.^tan, that for quality, size, and symmetry was 

 unmistakably the belle of the day. It was almost im- 

 possible to find fault with so fine a heifer. Amongst 

 the local exhibitors Lord VV'alsingham is coming on 

 with a shorthorn herd, which he traces back to 

 Mr. Parkinson's blood, but somehow or other 

 the black noses are creeping out amongst his 

 stock. Otherwise, or alone Pretty is a very cre- 

 ditahle cow. Jlr. Gooch's prize bull was fortunate 

 enough to get third at the Warwick Show last year. 

 He was now far away the best of his lot, while none of 

 the yearlings were worth notice, and Lady Pigot's 

 sample of her own breeding does not say much for 

 what they can do with the Durhams at Chippenham 

 Park. As far as the county was concerned, the best 

 Shorthorns were discovered under the hedge at 

 tlio end of the line, where they made up the dis- 

 play of fat stock. Both Mr. Gooch's and Lord 

 Walsingham's cows were remarkably good. The 

 entrry of Devons was almost entirely confined 

 to Loid Leicester and Mr. Blomfield. Of the five 

 cows my Lord had three and the commoner two : three 

 of the six heifers in calf were from Holkham, and two 

 were sent by Mr. Blomfield, and of the five yearlings 

 they numbered two each. The best lot were Lord 

 Leicester's cows : the yearling heifers, on the contrary, 

 were indiffeient, and altogether, when we remember 

 what the Norfolk Devons have done in London and 

 Birmingham, as well as at the Royal ^hows, we confess 

 to some disappointment at what we saw here. With 

 the run of people the polled have evidently still the 

 preference. Tlie Holkham herd, however, would now 

 appear to be established, as every one of Lord Leices- 

 ter's entries were of his own breedinsf. 



The sheoj) show was rciuarkably good, aud .^hort- 

 wools Hud lougwool.j alike iu favour. Amongst the 

 former the recent iuiprovemeut of Lord Walsinghaui'h 

 flock is very noticeable. His lordship is now fast ap- 

 proaching the lugh standard of what a -Southdown 

 should be. The heads of his sheep are getting _more 

 and more the proper tint and shape, while they run 

 heavy without coarseness, and handle admirably. One 

 of the shearling ewes was very near perfection in form, 

 and with some of the rams will go on to Canterbury. 

 Of course the Merton Flock has all the best of it, but in 

 some cases, for lack of sufficient competition, the second 

 premiums, by the rules of the Society, could not bo 

 awarded. In the longwools, Cotswolds, and Lincoln 

 crosses, the general advancement was yet more 

 satisfactory. The judges commended the whole 

 class of aged rams, sixteen in number, and with 

 every justice. Mr. Sexton with a Cotswold, and Mr. 

 Aylmer, were the especially distinguished. Mr. Sex- 

 ton, indeed, has in a few years done wonders with the 

 Wold sheep ; and his first prize ram, for grandeur of 

 appearance, true symmetry, flesh, and wool, would 

 hold his own anywhere. He was far superior even to 

 the Safl'ron Walden ram that beat the Babraham 

 Downs the other day, but which could reach no higher 

 here than the "general commendation." Mr. H. Aylmer 

 is as well known for his longwools as another Mr. 

 Aylmer for his shortwools, and both have a call in the 

 county. Mr. T. Brown's flock is also making him a 

 position ; but Mr. Beale Browne must have behaved 

 very honourably at his sale, and let all the best of tl>em 

 go. There was certainly nothing at Norwich worth 

 sending so far from homo. 



Suffolk made up a very small show of pigs, but Messrs. 

 Crisp and Sexton's improved blacks commanded a good 

 deal of attention. It is with the winning sow here that 

 Mr. Sexton has accepted the somewhat grandiloquent 

 challenge issued, under the auspices of the Suffolk 

 Society, of some gentleman to show his pig against the 

 world ! He has not had to go out of his own county 

 for a customer, and it will be amusing, as it is quite 

 possible, that he may be beaten. Indeed, this new 

 variety of the Suffolk swine have many things in their 

 favour, these points were well brought out by the 

 larger breed, strangely enough, also exhibited by 

 Mr. Crisp. With long, lean, hungry heads, high 

 arched, sharp backs, with harsh hair, coarse flesh, and 

 unkindly looks, it is difficult to say for what the judges 

 could award them prizes. Award them, though, they 

 did, probably out of respect to sheer size, and what 

 they might measure over that high range of back-bone 

 from the ring in the snout to the tag of the tail. Still 

 Mr. Crisp finds a market for this sort in France, Hun- 

 gary, and Prussia, where a hog pays a tax, be he big 

 or little, and so the heavier he dies, the lighter the 

 impost. 



Neither poultry nor flowers added to the attracttions, 

 and consequently, despite a most favourable day 

 rendered yet more favourable in the way of a contrast, 

 there was scarcely a lady from either town or country 

 who graced the ground with herpresence. The" other" 

 department, however, was declared to be progressing in 

 an equal ratio. The society had never had so good a 

 display of implements, supported as the entry was by 

 such firms as Clayton and Shuttleworth, the Garretts, 

 the Ransomes, Coleman of Chelmsford, Turner of 

 Ipswich, Gardner of Banbury, Woods of Stowmarket, 

 Prentice and Boby of Bury ; while of course Holmes, 

 Barnard and Bishop, Stevens, Burrell, Baker, Smith 

 and Taylor, and Howard, Riches, and Watts were 

 amongst the more local exhibitors. Burgess and Key 

 were also represented by Messrs. Kemp and 

 Riv, and their mower won the only competitive 



