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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



superior, although six out of ten entries came in for 

 some sort of distinction. In fact, judges were never 

 more liberal in this way than Messrs. Baker, 

 Franklin, and Higgins, and by their return 

 the exhibition of Herefords was a very grand 

 one. But, if anything, they rather over-colour it. The 

 sort, however, is unmistakably coming again into promi- 

 nent repute ; and the Devons almost as palpably going 

 out. The entry was even less than usual ; and never 

 did we hear the pretty little things so terribly abused. 

 " Look at his prime roast beef," argued one of their 

 staunchest admirers, " and reckon how much that is 

 worth a pound." " How much a pound?" sneeredhis 

 opponent in reply; "how much a h'ounce, you 

 means !" They certainly do look delicate, and change 

 of air into Somerset, Dorset, Essex, Norfolk, or any- 

 where to make a little moie of them, should at once be 

 advised. But this, above all things, the Devon men 

 themselves have a dread of, and they go about selecting 

 the smallest and finest animals they can find. It is all 

 hair and quality ; and really many of the awards at 

 Canterbury would seem to have been made by men with 

 their eyes shut, at least, to anything like the merits of 

 size and symmetry. There was one extraordinary illus- 

 tration of this in the two " off" heifers. There were 

 only four shown, of which by far the handsomest, big- 

 gest, and best was his Royal Highness the Prince Con- 

 sort's Lovelia, and so of course she was utterly passed 

 over. They gave a first prize to one pretty little one, 

 the second to another by no means so perfect, and the 

 third to the only other left. But the odd man could 

 stand this no longer, and fairly washed his hands of any- 

 thing more to do with them. It appears that one of the 

 Devon judges— Mr. Trethewy — could not attend, and so 

 Mr. Ladds, who was acting in " the other breeds," was 

 pressed into his place. With his aid the Prince's heifer 

 was, it is said, at one time actually put first, but this 

 award was afterwards reversed, and Mr. Ladds at once 

 withdrew. Mr. Charles Barnstt subsequently joined 

 the two Devon men, who, however, seemed to agree 

 pretty well in what they were doing. The matter made 

 a deal of talk during the week ; and at one time it was 

 rumoured that an official inquiry was to be instituted. 

 Mr. Quartly, Mr. Turner, Mr. Hole, and others, showed 

 some very neat little animals ; and Mr. Pope and Mr. 

 Farthing, with more size, came in for third and fourth- 

 rate honours, a degree they must by this be pretty well 

 accustomed to. Let the Devon breeders only duly per- 

 severe, and they may soon show with very good 

 grace against the Kerrys and Bretonnes; for with 

 the " points " they so curiously uphold as a 

 standard, their herds will really be fit for 

 nothing else. The only plan we can see, to 

 bring about a better system, will be for the Society not 

 to be so submissively content with home judges. 

 Henceforth let one be a Devon, one a Somerset, and one 

 a Dorset or Norfolk breeder, and then all the several 

 varieties will have something like fair play. If a Sussex 

 Down grows into something more when he gets into 

 Cambridgeshire, and yet still retains his legitimate 

 character, why should not a North Devon thicken and 

 spread on the fat lands of Somerset ? 



And never did the Babraham Southdowns evince 

 more purity and usefulness combined than at Can- 

 terbury. Although the two -shear sheep righted 

 themselves at last, and rams never noticed in Warwick- 

 shire took prizes in Kent, it was the class of shear- 

 lings that constituted the strength of the show. With 

 beautiful heads, tinted to a shade, broad backs, and rare 

 quarters, there was joined a roundness and com- 

 pactness of form that spoke directly to the Down's 

 original purposes. To our eye Mr. Jonas Webb has 

 never previously given us so correct an illustration of 



what the Southdown should be. They may have been 

 bigger, but there was now the united excellence of 

 size and style, and neither theDuke, Mr.Bigden, nor Lord 

 Walsiogham could stand before them. The Babraham 

 flock took six prizes and six commendations, the only 

 other special commendation in the two classes going to 

 Lord Walslngham. Mr. Webb knows better than to 

 show ewes, and the President of the Society was thought 

 to stand well for first honours. But his lordship's pen 

 was badly matched, one ewe being vastly superior to 

 the others ; and so the first prize was awarded to a new 

 exhibiter, Mr. Heasman, who, though in Sussex, 

 breeds directly from Babraham. The award, however, 

 was much canvassed, and many "short-wools" de- 

 clared that they could not understand it. Lord Wal- 

 singham's ewes were more substantially appreciated by 

 the public, and sold to go to France for 60 guineas the 

 pen. 



With the Leicesters Mr. Sanday was equally effec- 

 tive, while the best of his competitors were those breed- 

 ing directly from his own flock. His second and third 

 aged rams occupied precisely the same positions as 

 shearlings at Warwick ; and the only comparison against 

 his sort of sheep was that ofi"ered by Mr. Valentine 

 Barford. Each one of the Foscote flock had a legend 

 attached to his number, and a notice to the effect that 

 " the sheep were bare-shorn in order that the pub- 

 lic might have every opportunity of seeing what 

 they really were.'' The public did not seem 

 to be much convinced by such evidence, but were more 

 inclined I o look on it as "proving a negative." As 

 with the local committee, who selected an awkward 

 bit of ground to demonstrate what the Kentish plough 

 cotild do, when the result was only to show what it could 

 not do, Mr. Barford's close shaving came to some- 

 thing of the same indifferent conclusion. 



Two wonderfully good rams, vis-a-vis with each other, 

 were the heroes of the new class of Shropshire Downs, 

 and a very good class too. We honestly admit this grant 

 has worked, even thus early, far better than we expected. 

 It has brought out men who did not care to send fat 

 things to Birmingham and Smithfield, and the world 

 never knew how many good flocks there are of Shrop- 

 shires till now. Mr. Holland, the member for Wor- 

 cestershire, who has some good sheep of his own, gave 

 the stiff" price of ^'126 for Mr. Byrd's first-prize ram, 

 while, by polling all the good ones, Mr. Horton and the ' 

 Cranes had the best of it. There were over forty shear- 

 ling rams, and twenty others ; but the pens of ewes, here, 

 too, do not fill. The mere fact that such established and 

 well-known breeders of Shropshires as Mr. Orme Foster, 

 Mr, Smith, of Sutton Maddock, and Mr. Sheldon, of 

 Brailes, could get no nearer than a commendation, will 

 go to show how excellent was the entry, and how strong 

 the competition. 



The other short-wools — each with time no doubt 

 aspiring to a distinct rank of its own — numbered up 

 Hampshire Downs, Pure Hampshire Downs, Improved 

 Hampshire Downs, Suffolk Downs, Oxford Downs, 

 East Downs, and Merinos. Of all these many mixtures 

 Mr. Humphreys' useful Hampshires were pre-eminent, 

 the Oxfordshires standing well for commendations, and 

 Mr. Sturgeon's Merinos, with their fine fleeces and 

 thin carcases, being the curiosities of the occasion. 

 However they may answer elsewhere, they do not tell 

 much in the way of public exhibition. In contradis- 

 tinction to these, on the score of attraction, were Mr. 

 Canning's well matched pen of Hampshire Down ewes. 

 They showed a deal of breeding, with great length and 

 really beautiful heads and necks. If the Hampshires 

 can run back to such a foundation as this, they are 

 bound to go on. Bat we shall see no more of these five 



