138 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the more spirited agriculturists of the neighbourhood, 

 the duty of doing the honours of the occasion was calm- 

 ly entrusted by those who should have taken a more ac- 

 tive interest in the proceedings. 



What the locality failed to supply in this wise was 

 certainly not made up for from amongst the general 

 supporters of the meeting ; and many a regular visitor 

 will blot out Canterbury from his list. In the well- 

 arranged and admirably-adapted Show-ground such ab- 

 senteeism was very remarkable. Scant even were the 

 authorities and enthusiasts that hung over Royal But- 

 terfly or the twin Duchesses. Fewer stil] the sworn ad- 

 vocates of the neat little Devons, and ample ever the 

 opportunity for a fair view of the Babraham shearling 

 or the prize pig. Comparatively small though the en- 

 tries might be, the character of much of the stock was 

 • never better; and so, if the Kentish men or the men of 

 Kent wished for a proficable "study," there was 

 nothing to prevent them. It is seldom that such a 

 sight has to be seen at so little inconvenience ; and the 

 Shorthorns alone were a sight in themselves. If any- 

 thing, indeed, will break through the established line 

 and rule of the district, it will be this deservedly fashion- 

 able breed of animals. Men like Mr. Noakes, Mr. 

 Wells, Mr. Hales, Mr. Betts, and a few more, have 

 already their carefully-selected herds, and others will 

 follow. It is evident, too, from the specimens these 

 gentlemen sent, that the Durhams do well here, and 

 thus the splendid array of them was anything but thrown 

 away even at Canterbury. We should say, rather, that 

 it was by far the most impressive chapter of the whole 

 history. 



There was plenty to look at. Amongst the bulls, for 

 instance, it was not merely Royal Butterfly first, and 

 the rest nowhere. Mr. Shepherd sent Cherry 

 Duke, the prize bull of the Highland Society's Show 

 at Edinburgh ; Mr. Dickinson brought on Prince 

 of Prussia, who, of all others, had the credit last 

 season of running Butterfly very close. Mr. Ambler 

 had the handsome Prince Talleyrand ; Mr. Noakes his 

 massive Prince Alfred, and Lard Feversham the useful 

 Prince Imperial. But of all these, as we said by tele- 

 graph last week, Royal Butterfly is still the pride of the 

 entry. Never has so good a looking young bull, to^begin 

 with, continued to improve so much, and he is now very 

 nearly perfection. With really a " line of beauty" run- 

 ning along him, a splendid forehand, great girth, and size, 

 and true symmetry, he unites in the highest degree the 

 yet more innate advantages of quality and pedigree. He 

 has, too, a grand massive head, kindly in expression, but 

 still with all the attributes of a male animal, while his 

 condition was admirable. The Colonel's herd do not 

 live on London porter, and Royal Butterfly for one cer- 

 tainly did not look over-pampered. The very fastidious 

 might say that he did not finish quite even over the 

 quarter, but there has rarely been a bull over which the 

 critic could find less legitimate cause of complaint than 

 with Royal Butterfly. His last year's opponent, the 

 Prince of Prussia, has not gone on so well, but he is 

 said to have been in strong use, and looked a little hurried 

 in his preparation. He, too, is a famous handler, though 

 with rather a ' ' cowy " head , and a little slack over the loin . 

 He has, however, a capital quarter ; and more than one 

 good judge was on the nibble for him. The third- 

 prize bull, rather coarser-looking than his quality itself 

 inferred, was sold outright, during the week, to go to 

 Tasmania. Prince Talleyrand, but for a hollow in the 

 back, might have stood hin;her. Still at Selby on only 

 the Friday before tl.: : i -^ting, the Prince beat fifteen 

 very good bulls of all ages for the Londesborough Cup. 

 Amongst the remainder, Mr. Shepherd's bull, showing 

 ifnuch of the fine character he inherjtg from the Old 



Cherry tribe, should certainly have been up with the 

 other commendations. 



The class of young bulls reached twenty-eight 

 entries, with many promising animals amongst them, 

 but nothing of extraordinary excellence. Mr. Jonathan 

 Peel, the owner of the first prize, is a new name in the 

 catalogue ; and his bull is a handsome, well-grown 

 beast, of a nice colour, fine hair, and good flesh, but 

 not altogether " complete" in his points. Mr. Fawkes 

 had three to show against him — Reformer, Gardoni, 

 and Election. Of these the selected one is so good, 

 in so many ways — hair, flesh, and symmetry— 

 that he is sure to be heard of again. Sir Charles 

 Tempest's third prize, otherwise a lengthy, service- 

 able animal, lacked that important essential — 

 a good head. It was a very bad, sour-looking counte- 

 nance, with the horns thrown quite back. The judges 

 were liberal enough in their commendations, but these 

 were seldom as signally deserved as amongst the older 

 bulls; and Colonel Towneley was here in no great form, 

 while Mr. Stratton was from the first over-paced. By 

 the line of what he had to send, the company at Canter- 

 bury was a little too good for him. 



Striking a still lower note, the bull calves of the short- 

 horn classes would not compare with either of the two 

 divisions that preceded them : and this, notwithstand- 

 ing that the Towneley herd furnished four or five of the 

 twenty exhibited. Two of these were twins — Romulus 

 and Remus, as anybody else might have christened 

 them ; but Romulus and Remus Butterfly, as they call 

 everything at Towneley, whether it be a shorthorn calf, 

 an Oaks filly, or a pointer puppy. It is, indeed, whis- 

 pered that the clergyman of the parish is just now 

 in somewhat of a dilemma as to whether Butterfly 

 be an orthodox name for a baby they have brought 

 before him. The twin Butterflys are not much 

 alike, and the better of the two is somewhat 

 deficient in substance, but of a good quality 

 and fine coat. Even in these recommendations, 

 however, he was far surpassed by the first prize, Mi-. 

 Marjoribank's Harkaway, a young bull, with the best 

 and softest hair we ever handled. He takes this 

 directly from his sire the Great Mogul; while the 

 highly commended heifer-calf Joyful, also by the 

 Mogul, is almost equally commendable in this respect. 

 Harkaway has a magnificent quarter, and many other 

 recommendations in his favour ; so highly, indeed, do 

 they think of him, that he will not come under the 

 hammer at the Bushy sale, on Wednesday, In colour 

 this calf is a rich roan, and that no doubt was another 

 strong point in bis favour ; for with the Canterbury- 

 judges it clearly went a long way. Almost in every 

 case where it was anything like a race between a roan 

 and a white, the latter got the worst of it. So went the 

 decisions with the twin Duchesses, and so more espe- 

 cially the premium for the heifer calves. It was not 

 until Colonel Pennant's heifer was " out," that you 

 came to fancy her at all, when she improved wonder- 

 fully on the eye. She then showed a deal more stylo 

 and fashion, and went away with quite the walk of a 

 race-horse. Still the " roan" must have had much to do 

 with it, and the white well-grown calf from Bushy 

 was cleai'ly the favourite of the two. Neither of the 

 Colonel's commended Butterflys handled quite kindly 

 after Joyful; and the seventeen entries as a whole did 

 not argue much for this new class. It is a question 

 whether, like two-year-old stakes on the turf, the forcing 

 of very young stock for public display will not result 

 in more harm than good. 



The yearling and older heifers, on the contrary, made 

 up two extraordinarily good classes. It is seldom that 

 we remember tbeia so strong. Pre-eminent amongit 



