THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



237 



TOE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. 



MEETING AT DUMFRIES. 



It is still to be lamented that the Scotch and York- 

 shire Agricultural Societies cannot " agree to difter" 

 as to the two or three best days in the whole 

 year lor taking their several Meetings. For, after 

 all, their interests are very Identical. The wires 

 were quite busy between Pontefract and Dumfries. 

 Mr. Knowles was hearing and telling the fate of the 

 Duchesses. Mr. Douglas was as duly advised how 

 the Booth blood was faring elsewhere; while implement 

 makers had one representative here and another there, 

 like a House divided against itself. Some even went 

 so far as to think that both might be " done," and 

 hurried off for the South, amply satisfied with the 

 " Scotch Mist," which damped the opening-day of the 

 Highland Society. It only becomes the more and more 

 palpable, from such facts as these, how much either 

 Association continues to lose in the way of substantial 

 attraction and the best of company. Mr. Douglas' 

 famous stock might have been in Yorkshire, and Mr. 

 Booth's in Scotland, could Hall MaxwoU and John 

 Ilannam have made up their minds to " toss for 

 choice," after conference and correspondence had so 

 utterly failed in inducing any adjustment. 



Not but the Agricultural Society of Scotland can 

 stand alone. There is none other, indeed, that relies 

 so much upon its own especial merits. Galloway bulls, 

 and Clydesdale horses, and Cheviot sheep might not 

 produce much sensation over the Border, but they 

 were everything to the Dumfries show. The pretty 

 little town itself may be taken as the very capital of 

 some of these breeds, of the Galloways more particu- 

 larly. And it was a healthy sign to see that, either for 

 numbers or excellence, these the native cattle of the 

 district were unquestionably the class of the occasion. 

 It is long since there has been so good a one ; at the 

 same time that no sort has been so long before the 

 Society. The Galloways, as a distinct race, are by far 

 the oldest breed of stock in the United Kingdom, tra- 

 cing back pure and unalloyed, even so far, it is 

 affirmed, as the commencement of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury. They look, too, just the animals for a rough bleak 

 district ; long, low, and active, with rough black and 

 tan coats, and plenty of thick curly hair. The bulls 

 have somewhat bullet " Nigger" heads, with every sign 

 of vigorous constitution, and thorough capability to 

 cope with the climate. But the Galloways die well for 

 the butcher, and many of those exhibited at Dumfries 

 had fed and furnished as even as could be. The sym- 

 metry of outline was frequently very perfect, and 

 whether they have been improved up to their present 

 form, or only kept to it, there is no kind of beast the 

 Highland Society should be more careful in encourag- 

 ing. Not, however, that the necessity for any such 

 official countenance is very imperative. The farmers of 

 the district have been very true to them, and " the 

 sign" they made on Wednesday showed how much 

 good stock they must have to fall back upon. Mr. 

 Beattie took the lead amongst these with a five-year- 

 old bull, a very fine specimen of his order, that not 

 only held the honours of his own class, but was de- 

 clared to be the best polled bull in the show. He ar- 

 rived at this further distinction through the liberality 

 of Monsieur Dutrone, who continues his gift of a gold 

 medal, on the score of humanity, for the best beast 

 born without horns. It is only to be hoped that a hard- 



headed Galloway may never make a butt of or fit so 

 worthy a gentleman. Ilalf-a-dozen other aged bulls 

 were generally good ; but the cows and heifers were the 

 especially excellent. Some of these were really hand- 

 some ; and Mr. Cunningham's yearling a well-grown, 

 finely-developed, square-quartered heiler, that went to 

 prove " all over" how early they will come even in 

 any country. Climate, indeed, does not appear to have 

 much effect on the well-doing of the black polled cattle ; 

 and the material difference between the Galloways and 

 the Aberdeens is that the latter, though further North, 

 get larger in frame and finer in quality, and at the 

 same time shorter in the coat. It requires a little care, 

 the more particularly with young stock, to always 

 make these material distinctions ; and even as it is, the 

 old sort in Dumfries-shire are bought up regularly to 

 cross with the Angus bulls ; without, as we imagine, 

 any great alteration, one way or the other, in 

 the produce. The Galloways and Aberdeens are 

 clearly very closely allied. There was but a short 

 show of the latter, and amongst the bulls scarcely any 

 competition whatever ; only two old bulls, two in the 

 next section, and but one yearling being sent. The 

 cow classes were scarcely stronger, but the three of any 

 age, and there were but three, were all wonderfully 

 good. Mr. M'Combie's cow, indeed, was the winner 

 last week of the Aberdeen Challenge Cup for the best 

 animal in the show, and he backed her here with four 

 other famous cows that have all worn well, and in their 

 turns stood first at the Highland Society's shows— in 

 1854, '56, '57, and '58. There are not many prize 

 cows that would turn up again in such condition as 

 these did. 



The strength, however, of the Scotch show of cattle 

 stopped here. There were very few Highlanders, and 

 the best of them to be found amongst the extra stock 

 where the Misses Baird sent five handsome oxen. The 

 Duke of Hamilton's cow was about the best of " the 

 regulars "; though she looked so little like breeding that 

 an objection was entered by Mr. Pollok, but it was not 

 sustained. One or two other protests amongst the 

 Ayrshires also fell through, and these again by no 

 means equalled what we have seen of them, as, for in- 

 stance, at Edinburgh last year. Ayrshire bulls rarely 

 show to much advantage, but the cows and heifers were 

 at Dumfries more palpably deficient. They had seldom 

 the sweet head or big bag, two points that of them- 

 selves say so much for their uses. The Duke of Athole 

 entered the first prize cow of last year, but perhaps in 

 charity did not send her. The comparison would 

 have been very striking, and the illustration of what 

 an Ayrshire cow may be, quite as instructive, 



A glance over the Shorthorn bulls at once suggested 

 the query, " Are they much known or used about here ?" 

 There are, it appears, some herds gradually developing, 

 but the sample did not say much for them. The first 

 prize bull, for instance, had little but his good flesh to 

 recommend him, and it is seldom so otherwise faulty 

 a bull has stood in so distinguished a position. But 

 there was nothing extraordmary to oppose him, although 

 Mr. Noakes sent the massive Prince Albert all the way 

 from Lewisham, but this time without achieving even 

 the customary commendation. The next section was 

 led off by a terribly vulgarly marked red and white 

 animal, with a bad head, but quality again to warrant 



