134 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the sand-glass, steadily held forward by Mr. Strafford, 

 was watched by the seven or eight hundred bystanders 

 who surrounded the ring. The breath of the multitude 

 seemed to be suspended, as they gazed upon the tiny 

 rope of sand quickly running from one cell to the other, 

 until another bid, just as the last grain tumbled down 

 the gullet, would 'lause a sudden reversal of the glass, 

 and give a fresh impulse to the excitement of the scene. 

 The highest priced cow was Waterloo 20th, who 

 fell to the lot of Mr. Lamplas. She is a noble ani- 

 mal, well worth the 1 Go guineas she cost her spirited 

 purchaser. Previous to this Waterloo 1 7th (an aged 

 cow), which sold for 98 guineas, and Waterloo 16th, 

 which fetched 120 guineas, had already established the 

 standard value of the ti'ibe, and the prices for the 

 subsequent lots quickly rose to the average we have 

 stated. 



There were only two Waterloo bulls in this sale; one 

 of them (lot 3, " Charger "), a bull calf, of great pro- 

 mise, was purchased by Mr. Bowly, of Siddington 

 House, for 130 guineas. It is to be regretted this ex- 

 cellent breeder did not purchase a female of that 

 Waterloo tribe, which in his experienced hands might 

 have perpetuated itself, with all its qualities and points. 

 Were it not that the other Waterloo bull, lot 2nd, 

 was purchased by Mr. Messenger, who had also been 

 the successful breeder of Waterloo the 26th, not too 

 closely related to that bull, although of identically the 

 same blood, it might be feared that the tribe of the Wa- 

 terloos might have lost its unalloyed quality, by being 

 dispersed in distant districts, and crossed with bulls of 

 different descent. As it is now, Mr. Messenger, so far 

 as we know, is the only breeder who can lay the foun- 

 dation of another Waterloo herd in all its integrity. 



There is another circumstance of this sale 

 which challenges our gratification and sincere 

 satisfaction ; and this is, that all the lots 

 appear destined, for the present at least, to remain in 

 the country. There were no foreigners nor Americans 



j to dispute with English breeders the possession of these 

 valuable animals, and as we rejoice that there is in 

 ! England a Captain Gunter and a Bolden, who still 

 jealously preserve the Duchess and Oxford blood in 

 their herds, so we may consider it as a matter of self- 

 congratulation that the Waterloo tribe, second only to 

 those we have just named, remain amongst us in its 

 entirety. 



This remarkable sale is another stone added to the 

 monument of fame which succeeding generations are 

 slowly but steadfastly erecting to the memory of 

 Bates. The name of that great breeder will be 

 handed down to posterity together with those of 

 Bakewell and the Ceilings. It will be added 

 to that cluster of shrewd and able men, who 

 with no lofty ambition of tiieir own, no extended Bspiration 

 after popular glory or public fame, those powerful incentives 

 of high and memorable deeds, have concentrated their mental 

 energies upon a peaceful, obscure may-be, but eminently useful 

 pursuit, and achieved an improvement in the all-important 

 industry of agriculture, the permanent usefulness of which will 

 remain to the end of time, as a glorious testimony of their 

 skill and of the indomitable perseverance of their efforts. 



Surely the establishment of the renowned Shorthorn herd 

 as a fixed and permanent race ia «3 great an achievement as 

 regards Ecgland's glory and prosperity as the taking of a fleet, 

 the Backing of a town, or the slaughter of whole armies ; and 

 yet the most revered tames in the annals of agriculture re- 

 main'eugraved only in the grateful memory of the agriculturists 

 themselves. Our squares, our cathedrals, our public institu- 

 tions are studded with busts, statues, and monuments erected 

 to the memory of warriors, statesmen, and philanthropists ; but 

 so far as we are aware, let it be said to the shame of tbia 

 country, generally so liberal of testimonials to the living, there 

 is not an inscription, not even a statue, to tell future gene- 

 rations that these great agriculturists were honoured by those 

 who so largely benefited by their labour. And yet nature 

 will be able to show a glorious monument of their successful 

 efforts ; and pointing out the great Shorthorn breed, she will 

 exclaim to grateful and admiring posterity, " In vis monu- 

 menlitm, respice," 



THE BABRAHAM RAM LETTING. 



The Babraham meeting has once more come and gone. 

 Thursday, July 5, was the 34th anniversary of this celebrated 

 gathering, which certainly, to use an appropriate expression of 

 the Earl of Hardwicke, has become an " institution" in the 

 agricultural world. Mr. Jonas Webb is one of the most no- 

 table instances of English soUdarite. Dynasties have fallen 

 abroad; but Mr. Webb has always contrived to hold his own, 

 and to attract round him a goodly court of customers and 

 friends ; and year by year pilgrimages continue to be made to 

 Babraham by devout agriculturists from all quarters of the 

 old and new world. This may seem to savour perhaps of 

 exaggeration, but it is the simple fact. The Emperor Napoleon 

 has more than once envied Mr. Webb's stock ; a year or two 

 since a spirited American expended 200 guineas in securing 

 one of the rams; and on Thursday France, Germany, and 

 the United States were again represented in person and 

 by proxy. The agents of the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of 

 Richmond, Lord Radnor, Lord Walsingham, and Lord Sondes 

 were also in attendance, with a good sprinking of visitors from 

 Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. 

 The weather, which on the previous evening had been 

 signalized by something very hke a frost, was fine and sultry, 

 and the wide plains of Cambridgeshire never looked more 

 peacefully lovely. The ride from the Whittlesford Station to 

 Church Farm, on the very queer old vehicles which seem to 

 start every year out of the ground for the special purpose of 

 meeting the exigencies of the day, was delightful, and the 

 crops, although backward, elicited frequent expressions of 

 approval. 



The morning was whiled away with the usual inspection of 

 the rams ; and some of Mr. Webb's fine shorthorns— several 

 of which are to appear at Canterbury— also came in for a fair 



share of notice. The foreign visitors appeared particularly 

 pleased; and the "weight of wool," which was posted as 

 usual, excited astonishment. The wool clipped ranged from 

 7 lbs. 12 oz. to 11 lbs. in the class of five-year-olds, from 8 lbs. 

 to 10 lbs. in the four-year-olds, from 7 lbs. 8 oz. to 11 lbs. 4 oz. 

 in the three-year-olds, from 7 lbs. 12 oz. to 10 lbs. 4 oz. in the 

 two-year-olds, and from 6 lbs. 12 oz. to 11 lbs. in the yearlings. 

 The number of rams offered for competition in each class 

 was— Five-year-olds, 3 ; four ditto, 7 ; three ditto, 23 ; two 

 ditto, 25; yearlings, 64 — making a total of 122; and of these, 

 as will he seen below, sixty, or nearly one half, were publicly 

 let. Among the foreign gentlemen, who examined the rams 

 with the greatest care, may be mentioned M. G. Mallett, a 

 banker and amateur agriculturist of Paris. M. Mallet was 

 accompanied by his bailiff and also by M. Gustave. M. Heuze, 

 professor at the Imperial School of Grignou. M. Heuze was 

 a veritable Frenchman in appearance, and the bailiff had a 

 kind of vievx moustache ait about him, which seemed to savour 

 of his having known something about the conscription in his 

 youth ; but M. Mallet had the dress, air, and manners of a 

 polished English gentleman. It will be observed in the course 

 of our report that he did not visit Babraham in vain ; but that 

 the animated and vivacious discussions in which he and his 

 satelHtes engaged over the rams resulted in his taking off one 

 at a heavy price. One of the Germans present — Herr 

 Zoeffritz, from Wurtemberg,who was accompanied by another 

 gentleman, named Reiglcn, from the same district — was also a 

 hirer at liberal rates. An intelligent German, from Wiesbaden, 

 who confined himself, however, to the chief task of inspection, 

 and who seemed to consider England by far too expensive a 

 country altogether, stated in conversation that the South* 

 downs do better in Germany than the Leicester when crossed 



