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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE DEVON SALES, &c. 



In consequence of Mr. George Turner's quitting his 

 Barton farm, a very large draught from his stock of 

 Devons, Leicesters, and Essex pigs were brought to the 

 hammer by Mr. Hussey, Tuesday, Sept. 18. Considering 

 the prevalence of the harvest, which kept a great many 

 away, the attendance was exceedingly good. Omni- 

 buses and cabs were labelled, in Exeter, " To the 

 Barton Sale;" and any one might have fancied, when 

 the concourse filed along " the Devon lanes," that some 

 great festival was on foot. The Hon. Col. Hood at- 

 tended, with Mr. Brebner, on behalf of Prince Albert, 

 and added seven more of " the juicy red line" to those 

 which he has already purchased from Turner and 

 Quartly's store. His Royal Highness's herd of De- 

 vons, on the Norfolk farm, at present consists of thirty 

 cows, with bulls and young stock ; while the Flemish 

 farm is devoted to the Herefords ; and the Home farm 

 to the shorthorns, of which there are nearly three hundred. 

 There was a strong muster of the neighbouring gentry, 

 while Lords Falmouth and Emlyn, and Sir Laurence 

 Palk, were represented by their bailiffs, who bought ex- 

 tensively; and Cornwall, Somersetshire, and Devonshire 

 contributed not a few of their leading breeders. After 

 lunch, Mr. Hussey mounted his horse-drawn waggon, 

 in front of the first sheep-pen. A more cheerful prac- 

 titioner, of the good old top-boot school, it is not pos- 

 sible to conceive; and after pronouncing the "God save 

 the Queen" at the end of the conditions, he made them 

 " keep their eye on the Corporal" to some purpose, for 

 nearly four hours. The 200 ewes fetched £1,008 2s. 

 6d, ; and 70 ewe-lambs and 21 rams and ram-lambs, 

 all of which were in mere store condition, brought up 

 the sheep-total to £1,262 19s. 6d. The best price, 35 

 gs., was given by Mr. Davis, of Cornwall, for the royal 

 prize pen of five shearling ewes ; and the pen of local- 

 prize fame went, for £32 10s., to Mr. Corner, of Long 

 Forth, Somerset— a well-known sheep and Devon prize- 

 taker. The best pen of flock-ewes reached £35, which 

 was bid by Mr. Potter, of Thorverton, near Exeter ; 

 and Somersetshire, Cornwall, and Worcestershire took 

 off the three best rams, after some spirited biddings, at 

 eighteen, fifteen, and ten guineas. 



When this part of the sale was over, an adjournment 

 was made to the Devon ring ; and thirty- three females 

 and five bulls, composing about half of Mr. Turner's 

 entire herd, were put up. The well-known Beeswing 

 was bought in for 48 gs., Prince Frederick for 95 gs., 

 and Great Western for 37 gs. The other two-year-old 

 heifers averaged about £24 apiece, the highest price 

 (30 gs.) being given by the Prince Consort for Honey- 

 dew, by Feruk Khan (413). 



Beeswing's dam, Olga (53 gs.), with her calf at her 

 side, was the highest lot among the fifteen dairy-cows. 

 Lord Falmouth secured Cloth of Gold, and Bloomer to 

 bear her company. Bloomer is by Earl of Exeter (38), 

 Mr. John Quartly's prize-bull at Windsor; and so 



are Daphne and Nemophila, the former of which was 

 secured for the Prince, and the latter for Mr. Morton, 

 of Crediton. Considering that several of them were not 

 very young, their juvenile bloom did no small credit to 

 their keep. 



The biddings for the yearling heifers by Napoleon 

 (259) and Clarendon (358) were slack ; but Prince Fre- 

 derick brought up the average very considerably for the 

 heifer-calves, which were all by him ; and three of them 

 made 20 gs. Owing, as in Beeswing's case, to the be- 

 lief that Mr. Turner intended to keep the great and 

 good Prince Frederick, the biddings for him were rather 

 languid. His son -Great Western, from Vaudine, being 

 also bought in, the second-best bull-calf price (16 gs.) 

 was given by tlie Prince Consort for Count Strogonoff, 

 from Bloomer. 



The improved Essex breed held its own gallantly 

 among the pigs, as the seven boars and five sows made 

 £82 9s. The highest price was lOJ gs. for a two-year- 

 and -ten-months boar, and 13j gs. for a sow. 



Mr. Turner intends to remove shortly to his own 

 farm at Bowly, near Exeter, near which his father 

 first laid the foundation of the family name for 

 Devons and Leicesters. 



MR. JOHN QUARTLY'S SALE. 



After a very dull fair at Barnstaple, arising princi- 

 pally from a lack of keep in the country, the cracks of 

 the Devon cattle world drew up to head-quarters at 

 MoUand, on Thursday, Sept. 20. As compared with Mr. 

 Turner's sale, the company was a mere fragment ; but 

 nearly all those who did come meant business in earn- 

 est. The Prince Consort was represented by Mr. 

 Brebner, who purchased four lots ; and Viscount Fal- 

 mouth by Mr. Herriot, of whose trio, after the sale, the 

 Chester and Warwick Royal prize-winner Duke of 

 Chester, very unexpectedly formed one. Among the 

 other buyers from Cornwall, were Anstey, Palmer, and 

 Sobey ; Warren and James Hole did duty for Dorset and 

 Somersetshire ; and George Turner, the Halses, Mer- 

 son, and Risden on behalf of the county. 



After some rounds and -umps of beef — choice enough 

 to melt the heart of any Shorthorn or Hereford man- 

 had been done full justice to, time was called by Mr. 

 Ellis in the field behind the house, and the first lot — 

 " a cow by the name of Brown "—entered the ring. 

 Her remarkably fine and massive stamp soon secured 

 an opening bid at 20 gs. ; Mr. Turner was "in" 

 at 26, and fought her up to 361, when Mr. Sobey 

 bore her off at a guinea more. She was only highly 

 commended at Canterbury, but her great grand- 

 dam Pretty Maid (366) was the Royal Bristol prize 

 cow. Her dam Beauty, whose twelve summers had sat 

 very lightly on her, became Mr. Hole's for 28 gs., and 

 then the Prince's agent showed his hand at 24 gs. for 



