THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



37 



broediiig condition will lose the prize, and it will be f;iven 

 to the lot in high flesh. Fat, like charity, " covereth a 

 multitude tf sins." 



MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING COWS. 

 la Herefordshire it is customary with the farmers to make 

 the cows come-in in the winter months. The calves suckle 

 their dams until May, when grass is ready for them. When 

 the cows are dry, they are driven to the poorer pastures to- 

 ward the hills ; but if they do not come in calf again, they 

 are put upon the richer grazing land to fatten. The larger 

 breeders of course treat their herds as do the owners of the 

 best herds of other breeds. Mr. Heury Tanner, in a prize 

 report on the Agiiculture of Shropshire to the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society, meutious that in the district of Corve Dale, 

 comprising au area of 35,000 acres, the stock-growers have 

 met with serious losses from the premature dropping of their 

 calves by the Hereford cows ; a"nd he attributes it to too close 

 breeding, which he thinks has enfeebled them, and made them 

 susceptible to the malady when the direct producing cause is 

 presented. This cause, he claims, is to be found in the ergot 

 or fungoid growths which attack, cot only rje, but most of the 

 pasture grasses of the district as well. If this theory be true, 

 how can we account for the prevalence of this same trouble in 

 the dairies of Orange County, where the cows are of mongrel 

 extraction, and in no case pure-blooded? If the introduction 

 of fresh blood would be, as he claims, a remedy, surely in our 

 dairy districts we should be exempted from the difficulty. 

 This not being so, we can scarcely charge it to the Herefords 

 as a weakness of constitution on their part ; we must look for 

 some other explanation of the mystery. Perhaps certain con- 

 ditions of atmosphere, an excess of moisture or something else, 

 may favour the growth of fungi on our pasture grasses, and 

 tlflis induce the abortion. Professor Buckman says that rye- 

 grass is especially subject to ergot, and care should be had in 

 feeding it to valuable breeding animals on this account. 



LORD BERWICK'S HERD. 



During the last summer we had an opportunity of visiting 

 the herd of Lord Berwick, at Cronkhill, near Shrewsbury, 

 Shropshire ; and in connection with Herefords, some account 

 of it may be of interest to our readers. His lordship com- 

 menced his herd in 1844, by the purchase of fourteen or fifteen 

 heifers at Mr. Salway's sales at Ashley-Moor, He.-efordshire. 

 The auiaials were of the blood of Mr. T. A Knight, of Down- 

 ton Castle, previously mentioned in this article ; and since, by 

 purchases made from Jeffries', Hewer's, acd other blood, to 

 get points, he has increased the value of his herd. He has 

 now three Royal Society's first-prize bulls, and has the repu- 

 tation of drawing more Royal prizes than any other Hereford 

 man in England. From 1849 to 1857, with a total of thirty- 

 three animals only exhibited, and these bred by himself, he 

 obtained twenty-seven Royal prizes and four " High Commen- 

 dations." Hi< bull Walford bore'off the first prize of 1,000 

 francs and gold raedal at Paris in 1855, as the best bull 

 of any age or breed ; while, at the'same time, his Napoleon 

 III. won the bronze medal and highjcommendation, as no ex- 

 hibitor was allowed to take more than one prize in this class. 

 Walford won the Great Challenge Sweepstakes, open to all 

 England, at Ludlow, in 1850;"and two of his steers won the 

 Challenge Cup, open to all England. It is specially worthy 

 of uote that this breeder, who haa^attained such splendid suc- 

 cess, founded his entireherd^upon"' the surest basis, viz., that 

 of a few animals only, and those of surpassing excellence, un- 

 doubted origin, and the nearest possible^blood consistent with 

 the laws of coasangainity. Tills principle, faithfully carried 



out, has given him a herd of great uniformity, remarkable 

 quality, and beauty of appearance. Lord Berwick claims 

 that Herefords are the best for farmers on moderate pastures, 

 because they will thrive better on such land than the short- 

 horns, and will make good beef animals at two years old. The 

 shorthorns he acknowledges have better frames, and oftentimes 

 a better hind-quarter ; but the Herefords are better in girth, 

 as a general thing, and in shoulder-points. It is quite notice- 

 able that the crops are usually much better filled in the latter 

 than the former breed, and their quality is, to say the least, as 

 good. He had at the time of our visit 175 females, including 

 calves, and about 50 males. The preceding season he had 65 

 calves dropped. 



ADAPTABILITY TO THIS COUNTRY. 

 We must confess to having had but a poor opinion of the 

 breed previously to seeing this splendid herd, for the diatribe 

 of Mr. Sotham, and the sorry animals that we had seen on ex- 

 hibition, gave us DO cause to admire them. Our experience of 

 last summer has convinced us that, for certain districts of our 

 country, it would be much more profitable to raise Herefords 

 than any other breed. As good animals, whether we consider 

 quality, form, or constitution, can be purchased of Lord Ber- 

 wick for £120, as, if Shorthorns, would cost five times 

 ihat sum ; and for all the prairie country of the West, for 

 Texas and California, they would equal, and perhaps excel, 

 their costly rivals. In looking carefully through Lord Ber- 

 wick's herd, we think that we saw as large, as symmetrical, 

 and promising animals as in any other herd of any breed, if 

 we except Samuel Thome's, which probably is without an 

 equal in any country. A short time prior to our visit, a stock, 

 grower from Australia had purchased Herefords of Lord B., 

 to try upon the plains of that country; he giving as his 

 reason for the purchase that the Devons, turned loose on the 

 pampas, became so fleet of foot as to outrun all but their very 

 fleetest horses. The Herefords, he thought, from their great 

 size, and their thrifty growth on coarse herbage, would do 

 better for them than either Devons or Shorthorns, for, while 

 they would not have the objectionable fleetness of the former, 

 they would thrive better without care than the latter. 



IMPORTANCE OF A HERD-BOOK. 



Perhaps one reason why Herefords have given place to 

 Shorthorns to so considerable an extent is, that there had been 

 no herd-book published until the task was undertaken by Mr, 

 T. C. Eyton, near Wellington, Salop. His first volume was 

 issued in 1846, but even then the necessity for such a register 

 was so poorly appreciated that, after another volume was is- 

 sued, in 1853, he gave it up in despair. It then passed into 

 the hands of Mr. Powell, of Hinton Court, near Hereford; 

 but he died after bringing out one number. Breeders now be- 

 gan to see the value of the work, for they found every pur- 

 chaser from beyond the confines of their county demanding of 

 them the pedigree of their animals. A dim conception of the 

 fact that purity of blood on both sides could only be proved by 

 a printed register, entered their minds, and, spurred on by the 

 pecuniary profits of herd-book registry, they have begun to 

 give more patronage to the undertaking. Lord Berwick and 

 other leading breeders have made most strenuous efforts to 

 keep the thing agoiog, and at present it may be expected that 

 success will attend their efforts. The third volume has recently 

 been issued by Mr. Duckham under the auspices of the Here- 

 ford ATicultural Society. The number of bulls recorded in 

 the first two volumes is 901 ; in the third, 1,477. 

 HENRY CLA.Y'S IMPORTATIONS. 



The earliest account we have of importations of Herefords 



