THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



135 



with the Merino. All these Germans had paid Norfolk a 

 visit — that county having no doubt acquired a wide-spread 

 reputation from the almost magic name of " Coke, of Holk- 

 ham ;" and Herr Zoeffritz has taken some sheep from Mr. 

 Fulcber, the agent of Lord Sondes. 



The auctioneer's hammer was again wielded by Mr. J. 

 Carter Jonas, who, in commencing the business of the day, 

 said he did not feel it necessary to trouble the company with 

 any lengthened remarks. The fact that the present was the 

 34th anniversary of the Babraham letting spoke volumes in 

 favour of Mr. Webb and his splendid animals. The marked 

 superiority in the younger animals proved that Mr. Webb 

 continued to improve his justly celebrated flock. The prices 

 fixed as a reserve were remarkably low, and be (Mr. Jonas) 

 trusted that they would be considerably advanced upon. 

 We had heard much lately of combinations for the purpose of 

 keeping down the price of mutton, and although the gather- 

 ing was not a meeting of that description, it was a combina- 

 tion for the production of that most important article of food. 

 One of the great questions to be solved by the agriculturists 

 of the day was an augmented production of beef aud mutton 

 to meet the vastly increased consumption of the country ; and 

 he knew of no means so likely to prove a useful step in that 

 direction, as regards sheep, as the procuring the best-bred 

 sires. The letting was then proceeded with. The 

 first ram for which any competition took place was No. 

 103 (two-years-old), which was put up at 55 gs,, and bid- 

 dings for which advanced rapidly to 70 gs. — a price at which 

 Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard, of Essex, was declared to be the 

 hirer. No. 194 (a yeathng) was taken at 55 gs. by Mr. 

 Gurdon Rebow, of Wivenhoe, near Colchester; and No. 184 

 (also a yearling) was hired for 22 gs. by Mr. H. J. Adeane, 

 M.P., Mr. Webb's landlord. For No. 189 (a yearling) there was 

 8 smart competition. The animal was put up at 35 gs., from 

 which point the biddings advanced to 38, then to 40, then to 

 42, and finally to 51 gs., at which price Lord Radnor's agent 

 was adjudged the hirer. Nos. 179 and 206 (both yearlings) 

 brought respectively 25 gs. and 37 gs. But the great com- 

 petition was for No. 98 (a two-years-old), which took the 

 second prize offered for Southdown rams last year, at the 

 Warwick ^Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society. The 

 biddings commenced at 75 gs., and advanced, guinea by guinea, 

 with considerable rapidity, to 100 gs. Here there was a slight 

 pause, but the auctioneer skilfully playing off the would-be 

 hirers against each other succeeded in forcing up the biddings 

 tollOgs.; at this point there was a second fit of hesitation, 

 broken by an advance to 111 gs., and a ratherlauguid progress 

 tol20g8.; again a pause took place, but2gs. were adroitly 

 added, and, after further delay, 4 gs. more. At 126 gs. it be- 

 came evident that the spirit of competition could no further 

 go, and the hirer was declared to be a gentleman representing 

 Mr. J. C. Taylor, of Holmesdale, New Jersey, U. S. An 

 interesting citeumstance in connection with this lot was that 

 its purchase was directed by written instructions from Mr. 

 Taylor, who probably saw the ram when it was exhibited last year. 

 Be this as it may, Mr. C. Taylor's carle blanche for the hire of 

 the animal left all other competitors astern, and was not ap- 

 proached by any bidding for any of the other lots. No. 201 

 (yearling), however, provoked a respectable competition ; it 

 was offered at 40 gs., and a bid of 41 gs. was followed by a 

 bound to 45 gs., from which point an advance was made at a 

 guinea a bid to 60 gs., M. Mallett, of Paris, being the hirer on 

 those terms. No, 97 (a two-years-old), put up at 35 gs., was 

 taken at 42 gs., by Mr. Clarke, for the Duke of Richmond. 

 No. 133 (yearling), offered at 10 gs., was taken at 15 gs. by 

 Herr Zoepprilz, and No. 210 (yearling), by the same gentleman, 

 at 17 gs., the biddings^^haviog commenced at 13 gs. No. 70 

 (two-years-old); and No. 63 (three-years-old) were hired by 

 Mr. Fulcher for Lord Sondes, the biddings having advanced 

 from 15 gs. to 10 gs. in the former case, and from 16 gs. to 

 21 gs. in the latter. Mr. Woods, on the part of Lord Wal- 

 iingham, hired No. 17 (a four-years-old) for 25 gs., an ad- 

 vance of 7gs. oa the opening price. The remaining lots 

 offered call for no particular observation, and did not excite 

 much competition ; but particulars of each and of the whole 

 number of rams let publicly will be found below. After some 

 50 lots bad been called into the ring, the selections began to 

 flag; and when 60 rams had been hired, it became evident that 

 no more business would be done. The result of the letting 

 was tolerably satisfactory, the 60 lots realizing (as officially 

 stated at the dinner) £1,382, or within a fraction of £23 each. 



The business done at the lettings for the last nine years will 

 be seen by the annexed table : 



Year, Rams publicl"X let. Average Prick. 



1852 69 £22 3 1 



1853 71 22 6 3 



1854 75 25 4 3 



1855 77 25 15 2 



1856 77 33 1 4 



1857 ■ 65 27 17 7 



1858 61 20 19 3 



1859 54 25 9 10 



1860 60 23 8 



The following shows the order in which the rams were 



called into the ring, the weight of wool clipped off each, the 



price at which it was put up, and the price at which it was 



hired. It should be observed that all numbers above 5 



were six-year-olds ; all numbers above 22, three-year-olds ; 



all numbers above 63, two-year-clds ; and all numbers 



above 104, yearlings : Putting-up Letting 



Weight of Wool. Price. Price. 



No. lbs. oz. gs. gs. 



46 .... 9 .... 9 .... 9 



103 .... 8 .... 55 .... 70 



26 .... 9 .... 13 .... 13 



30 .... 7 12 .... 13 .... 13 



191 .... 9 8 .... 18 .... 20 



209 .... 11 .... 17 .... 22 



194 .... 10 .... 55 .... 55 



123 .... 8 .... 11 .... 11 



114 .... 10 .... 15 .... 16 



184 .... 8 4 .... 20 .... 22 

 189 .... 9 4 .... 35 .... 51 

 147 .... 8 .... 12 .... 12 

 179 .... 8 4 .... 17 .... 25 

 206 .... 8 .... 25 .... 37 



85 .... 10 .... 16 .... 17 



101 .... 8 8 .... 23 .... 23 



3 .... 7 12 .... 50 .... 50 



52 .... 11 4 .... 9 .... 11 ^ J 



98 .... 8 8 .... 75 .... 126 Jt:^^ 



43 .... 10 .... 8 .... 12 ' 



172 .... 8 8 .... 15 .... 15 



201 .... 10 .... 40 .... 60 



79 .... 10 4 .... 18 .... 18 



60 .... 9 .... 10 .... 10 



150 .... 8 8 .... 14 .... 14 



45 .... 7 8 13 .... 16 



185 .... 8 .... 20 29 



88 .... 9 8 .... 23 .... 25 



97 .... 9 .... 35 .... 42 



133 .... 8 8 .... 10 .... 15 



115 .... 8 .... 6 .... '6 

 70 .... 8 8 .... 15 .... 19 



195 .... 10 .... 20 .... 26 



17 .... 8 8 .... 18 .... 25 



28 .... 9 12 .... 10 .... 11 



198 9 .... 15 .... 15 



49 ... 8 8 .... 20 .... 22 



188 .... 9 .... 35 .... 40 



65 .... 8 .... 11 .... 11 

 210 .... 9 .... 13 .... 17 



39 ... 8 .... 10 .... 11 



52 .... 11 4 .... 10 .... 15 



63 .... 8 12 .... 16 .... 21 



66 .... 7 12 .... 12 .... 12 

 178 .... 8 4 .... 25 .... 26 

 121 .... 9 .... 11 .... 12 



199 .... 9 .... 23 .... 23 

 135 .... 7 .... 9 .... 9 

 118 .... 8 .... 7 .... 7 

 100 .... 8 8 .... 17 .... 18 

 137 .... 9 .... 7 .... 7 



44 .... 10 13 .... 13 



120 .... 8 .... 8 .... 10 



154 .... 10 .... 9 .... 9 



9 .... 9 4 .... 7 .... 9 



149 .... 9 4 .... 8 .... 8 



49 .... 9 .... 11 .... 11 



94 .... 8 12 .... 15 .... 15 



95 .... 10 ..... 11 .... 11 



96 .... 8 .... 12 ,... 12 



