952 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



management, with an eye to the receipts, rather feared 

 the counter attraction, and too many had, consequently, 

 to leave without a sight of what would have been to 

 them the great novelty of the occasion. 



And it is in this section of an Agricultural Meeting — 

 the Implement Department— that the Irish require the 

 more initiation. With the stock, their breeds, points, 

 and qualifications, they are now thoroughly familiar. 

 If, indeed, the entry of animals at Cork was not great, 

 it' was still very suggestive. Never was there so 

 direct a declaration of what the country means to "go 

 for." Even almost in their own territory the Kerry 

 cattle made up but an indifferent class. We have seen 

 far better, prettier, rounder, and bigger, on other 

 show grounds. Two or three pair of heifers, and a neat, 

 ferocious little bull were about all one would care to 

 priee from the whole lot of them. Four classes for 

 Herefords resulted in not one of the breed being even 

 nominated. Four classes for polled cattle produced two 

 good heifers from Malahide Castle. Four classes for 

 Devons brought eight animals, and two of those all the 

 way from " home;" Lord Charlemont backing George 

 Turner, with some a little more sizeable, and bred in 

 the country. Beyond these, there was just one West 

 Highlander, also bred by Lord Charlemont, in Ireland. 

 For the future it would clearly be advisable to throw 

 all these "other breeds" into one general class, 

 and then increase the premiums to something 

 worthy of the auspices of a National Association. 



The one exception should be in favour of the Ayr- 

 shires, which for milking purposes have to some extent 

 established themselves. There were plenty of them at 

 Cork, but scarcely any that could be considered as prime 

 specimens of the sort. The pick of them was the year- 

 ling heifer from the Glasnevin farm — a shapely, hand- 

 some little thing, brought out in capital condition. The 

 mediocrity of the entry may be probably accounted for 

 from the county of Cork itself taking to another kind of 

 milking cow. This is the Dutch breed : a larger and 

 coarser beast, parti- coloured black and white, and with 

 the recommendation of giving a great deal of milk, but 

 not of a very rich quality. The bulls were not sightly 

 in appearance, but some of the cows had very good 

 points, and many of them neat Shorthorn heads, with 

 the horn itself well turned. They are said, indeed, to 

 make a capital cross with the Durhams; and "the 

 stain" seemed to assert itself even in the animals entered 

 here as pure Datch. The Judges spoke very favourably 

 of the class, which, while it was interesting as a new 

 feature, at the same time clearly stood second amongst 

 the several breeds of cattle in point of real merit. 



But " second" must be read loncjo intervallo ; for 

 nowhere does the Shorthorn assert his supremacy more 

 strongly than on an Irish showground. They even seem 

 to forget their first love — the thorough-bred horse, when 

 in his presence, and Soubadar and Rosette had a far 

 longer hold on the crowd than the well-bred Planet or 

 the hunter colt. There have no doubt been better col- 

 lections of Shorthorns in Ireland than were to be seen 

 at Cork, but never has the sample been so much in the 

 hands of the Irish themselves. There were, in fact, only 

 two entries from the other shores — the famous Rosette, 

 with which Mr. Eastwood for a second time won the Pur- 

 cell Cup ; and her half-brother, the almost equally well- 

 known Statesman, through whose agency Mr. Tod be- 

 comes for the third time in succession the owner of the 

 best aged bull. He won this premium at Dundalk and 

 Londonderry with Young Heir-at-law. Of Rosette's 

 right to her place there could be no matter of question, 

 and her Irish friends, like ourselves, fancy her the 

 more, the oftener they see her. This is not always the 

 case with a prize animal, and most assuredly not so with 

 Statesman. If in the scale quality stands for every- 



thing, then perhaps Statesman was entitled to his place ; 

 but if size and symmetry and outline go for anything, 

 he far more certainly was not. With his bad crops and 

 now terribly narrow forehand, it was surprising to see 

 the judges take so much to so faulty a bull. Had they 

 not known his antecedents they could scarcely have 

 ventured to give him the place they did. As it is, 

 there was a rumoured objection to the prize 

 being awarded on the ground that Mr. Tod's beast was 

 of no use in the herd. It is very certain that he went 

 to the hammer at Wetherell's sale with a very " lazy" 

 character, and was sold dog-cheap for this reason. 

 With such cows as Volga and such bulls as Statesman, 

 Mr. Tod would seem to promise a fine argument on the 

 prolific qualities of his prize stock. The other bulls in 

 the aged class included Foundation, a prize animal at 

 Waterford, and purchased by the late Marquis of Mr. 

 Christy for two hundred guineas ; and the Duke of 

 Leinster, placed second here, and a winner on many 

 occasions in the South of Ireland — a good even bull, 

 nice in the handling, but with only a middling head, 

 and very short in the hair. Then, there was Captian 

 M'Cliatock's Comet, a winner more than once in 

 DubUn, and Mr. Barcroft's Sir Colin, who, now that he 

 has got rid of his formidable opponent, Dr. M'Hale, 

 might have been expected to do better. As it was, the 

 judges placed him third" in reserve," although they did 

 not think him worthy of commendation, while the 

 public, almost to a man, pronounced him a long way 

 the best-looking one of his class. For real grandeur of 

 form and goodness of flesh combined, there was nothing 

 like him, and those who searched very closely for his 

 failings declared the chief of them must be a certain 

 dark tint in his coat, which, at the worst, must have 

 told for more than it ought. We will not go 

 so far as to say on our own account, that 

 which very many did not hesitate to do, viz., that Sir 

 Colin was all over the bull of his class ; but we do 

 think, considering what was before and behind him, it 

 was rather hard to pass him altogether over without one 

 word of distinction. Of course by this decree Sir Colin 

 never ranked so badly in a show-yard before — and as 

 probably he never will again. His own brother, 

 Clydesdale, as at Dundalk last year, was the first of the 

 next class to him. He is now growing into a great fine 

 bull, with capital twist and thighs, but running rather 

 narrow to the top of the shoulder. Taken, however, on 

 an average, neither the aged nor the two-year- old bulls 

 were of the highest order ; and by far the best of them 

 all was to be found in the next degree, amongst a very 

 mixed lot of yearlings. There could be no mistake 

 about Soubadar, with his fine quality, soft hair, sym- 

 metrical form, and unexceptionable pedigree — by Prince 

 of Warlaby, dam by Baron of Warlaby, and so on. But 

 for a little " drop" by the loin, this young bull is very 

 near perfection, and shows more and more how well 

 laid out was the two hundred Mr. Coppinger gave for 

 him at Dublin in the spring j where, it will be remem- 

 bered, he finished first in a very large class of yearlings. 

 Mr. Coppinger was able to find him a second at Cork 

 in one of his own breeding, a good square bull, 

 of not quite so high a quality, and with a bad head and 

 horn ; whereas Soubadar is nowhere better than in his 

 well shaped characteristic frontispiece — full of breeding, 

 but with nothing of effeminacy about it. Amongst 

 the commendations in this class were a bull of Mr. Re- 

 gan's, bred by Mr. Welsted, and a bull-calf still in 

 Mr. Welsted's possession. This gentleman has one of, if 

 not the largest herd of shorthorns in Ireland, and to 

 show how they " do" generally in his county — Cork — 

 the following point in the proceedings will demonstrate. 

 The Local Committee, amongst other premiums, offered 

 a challenge cup for the best shorthorn bred in the 



