800 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



culminating point of ^2,568 for 117! From that 

 time, prices began to decline ; and after Mr. Robert 

 Burgess's death in the November of 1846, the Leicester 

 glories of Cctgrave Place were bodily transferred, along 

 with George Newton, a mile across the fields to Holme- 

 pierrepont. 



Mr. Sanday, who was born in 1816, and succeeded to 

 his present farm on the death of his father in 1834, 

 brought a strong hereditary love of Leicesters to his task. 

 His grandfather had been a ram breeder, and his father 

 had ewe dealings with Sir Tatton Sykes and Mr. Tom- 

 lin so far back as '99. It was quite a favourite tale 

 how the then Mr. Tatlon Sykes bought 20 prime ewes 

 at 20 gs. each from him, which went in the waggon to 

 Barton Ferry, and how their new owner met them there, 

 and drove them home himself. In regard to tups, he 

 was faithful year after year to Stubbins, and when the 

 flock was dispersed, he followed the blood and was a 

 regular customer to the Burgesses. Although the pre- 

 sent Mr. Sanday did not become a ram breeder during 

 the Burgesses' day, he kept up the flock to the 200 

 ewes, which he found on the farm at his father's death. 

 His public efforts during the next thirteen years were 

 confined to local and Smithfield shows. A pen of fat 

 wethers at Oakham in 1838 won him his maiden prize, 

 and they confirmed their success the same year, at 

 Nottingham. A commendation in the Smithfield lists 

 was first affixed to his name in 1840, and gathering 

 strength as he went on, he stood second there in 1841, 

 and won the gold medal in 1842. The breaking up of 

 the Cotgrave Place flock determined him to make a 

 bold bid forthe Leicester premiership, and he accordingly 

 offered £3,500 for the whole flock of about 450, which 

 made nearly j;i,00O more by auction after ten months' 

 keep. Hence he did not remodel his flock till the Sep- 

 tember of 1847, when he selected the flower of his own 

 200 ewes, and bought sixty of the best at the Cotgrave 

 Place sale, and twenty more in the spring of 1848, when 

 the young sheep were sold off. '< Old H" had been the 

 especial ram idol of his boyish days, and accordingly he 

 fixed his fancy on N by D R, as the nearest to his type, 

 and determined not to leave him at any price. Sir 

 Tatton, who had hired him the year before, was equally 

 alive to his merits, and the two came away by them- 

 selves, bid for bid, till Mr. Sanday's 105 guineas won 

 the day. Major Bower got the second best ram for 

 50 gs., and Mr. Torr went in for a score of choice ewes. 

 N did not belie his promise, and in fact he has proved 

 to Holmepierrepont very much what Buckingham has 

 done to Warlaby. The flock numbered some 180 

 ewes when its second era began, and earned its royal 

 diploma the very next year at York, with the first and 

 second pens of ewes, the latter of which were bought by 

 Mr, Douglas. The rams were not so good ; and Mr. 

 Borton kept up the honour of his county against all 

 comers. Since then, Mr. Sanday has only been absent 

 from the sheep-classes at two Royal meetings— Chester 

 and Chelmsford; and at present, his winnings at 

 them amount to 23 first and 22 second prizes. At 

 the great Paris show, ia 1856, he made a clean sweep of 

 aU the firsts 5 and at the Yorkshire show, last year, his 



tups won first prizes in Mr. Torr's and Mr. Borton's 

 hands. Mr. Thunder has also shown his tups with no 

 small success in Ireland ; but he never shows on his 

 own account, except at the Royal. 



The flock is by no means confined merely to the 

 Burgess blood. He was not so stedfastly wedded to an 

 admiration of their grander outline, as to forget the 

 sterling qualities of the smaller Buckleys — with their 

 wonderful fleeces, hardy constitutions, light bone, and 

 peculiarly-shaped feet — which Sir Tatton has always 

 sworn by, for their compactness and width, as the most 

 suited to his Wold farmers. It was not, however, until 

 1853 that he bought five ewes and five theaves of the 

 flock. Two blue crosses on the hip mark the lambs of 

 that ilk ; red on the near hip indicates Cotgrave Place 

 descent ; ' ' one blue" is the credential of the descend- 

 ants of fifteen ewes from Mr. Hewitt's ; and two reds, 

 of ten from Mr. Mann, of Spaldwick, whose gig and 

 top-boots, year after year, seemed part and parcel of 

 the Burgess gala-day. 



Mr. Sanday's farm consists of about 500 acres, 170 

 of which are held under Earl Manvers, at Holme- 

 pierrepont, and the rest under the same nobleman, at 

 Stragglethorpe, about a mile and a half distant. Part 

 of it is on nice loam, and the other on much stronger 

 land. Four-fifths are under tillage ; and of this, 50 

 acres are devoted to yellow globe, mangels, swedes, and 

 cabbage, which, with chopped hay, straw, peas, and 

 oats, and oilcake twice a day to the young sheep, and 

 once a day to the old, are the great elements of the 

 training. George Newton, the shepherd, is quite as 

 great a feature of the place as the sheep, and 

 well worthy of the regard which his master and 

 every one of the ram customers feel for him. He is still 

 in the prime of life, and was born at Cotgrave 

 Place, where his father was head shepherd. Ever 

 since his babyhood he has lived in a sort of earthly 

 Valhalla of Leicester rams, and when he does pass away 

 it will be to some happy pastures, to which no Cots- 

 wolds and Shropshires dare approach, and where even 

 the bleat of Southdowns is unheard. No senior wran- 

 gler enters the senate-house, with his Calculus formulm 

 more firmly fixed in his brain, than George does the 

 sale hovel on the letting day, with all his letter genealogies. 

 As each tup comes up to the rostrum, Mr. Strafford in- 

 vokes him to tell its family history. If there is a defeat 

 or a little mishap, he gives it all in the same de- 

 lightful spirit of quiet simple faith. Failing points or 

 good points with their ram or ewe source are indicated 

 alike, without the remotest attempts at a gloss, and 

 thus he unconsciously publishes and dedicates to his 

 master and the public an annual edition of Leicesters 

 Made Easy. Mr. Sanday's principle is to breed close 

 for points ; but, as a general thing, he has not found 

 a cross between a son and dam answer, and very seldom 

 practises it. W. II. and L. X. achieved, like Old D. 

 A., much for the legs of mutton, and D. N., who was 

 descended from the latter, had forequarters which told 

 their infallible tale. Mr. Sanday always considered this 

 sheep the best he ever bred, although the judges at 

 Exeter only placed him second. With that meeting 



