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THE FARMER*S MAGAZINE. 



sprung up, which once gave such zest to the county 

 showyards. It virtually began with Mr. Buston, 

 of Dolphonby, who came to the county about 1829, 

 and brought with him Crofton's Cripple (1887), and 

 Young Rockingham (2549). At last a proposition was 

 mooted to have a five-guinea sweepstakes at Penrith, 

 and shortly before the day, it oozed out that Lord 

 Lonsdale had bought a new bull from Colonel Cradock, 

 at Richmond races, for 100 gs., which was to cut every- 

 thing down. His lordship had not drawn his bow at a 

 venture ; and when the great unknown descended from 

 his van on to the show ground, in the shape of a three- 

 year-old scion of Thorpe and old Cherry, the owners of 

 his opponents too truly foresaw that their chances were 

 out. Mr. Buston had sent Sir William ; and Priam 

 and Wallace represented the Denton and Troutbeck 

 herds ; but the fiat of the judges was fully endorsed by 

 the great majority of the spectators, and Mr. Blamire, 

 the senior tithe commissioner, declared in his speech 

 that evening, that he did not think there was a 

 better bull in England. However, a different opinion 

 obtained next year, at the Carlisle Show, where Priam, 

 nothing loth, confronted him again, and Mr. Stud- 

 holme's Maximus was declared the winner. Gainford 

 was sold back after a few seasons to Mr. Crofton for 

 100 gs. ; and whatever we may be tempted to hope for 

 the future, there has been no high-class bull at Low- 

 ther since. 



Mr. Sober Watkin was generally pretty handy in the 

 show yard, and Cumberland came boldly out, at Mr. John 

 Maynard of Harlsey's sale, by the purchase of the year- 

 ling bull Chorister, by Velocipede, for 95 gs. This 

 bull was let to Mr. Troutbeck, of Blencow, and his 

 calves as well as Wallace's heifers formed a strong 

 item in that gentleman's catalogue when in 1838 he 

 for the first time gave his conventional invitation to his 

 "friends and well-wishers at Blencow, at 12 o'clock, 

 where they may rely upon farmers' fare and a hearty 

 welcome." Old Dorothy Draggletail, by Marmion, 

 dam Old Nell Gw3mne by Layton, a cow with a par- 

 ticularly nice laid shoulder and well sprung rib, at- 

 tracted Mr. Parkinson's notice for 29 gs., and she bred 

 so well in his hands that she was re-named Dorothy 

 Gwynne, and from her the Gwynnes came into fashion. 

 Nothing at this sale made more than 43 gs., except 

 Dairymaid by Wallace, from the old cow; but in 1849, 

 her blood, which had been retained at Blencow through 

 her sister. Old Cripple, and her daughters Poll Gwynne 

 by Wellington, and White Moll Gwynne by Wallace, 

 made Messrs. Senhouse, Wetherell, and Strafford pretty 

 busy, though none of them ventured beyond 45 gs. 

 The nine-year old Strawberry by Chorister from 

 Strawberry by Tom Gwynne, was taken to the West by 

 Mr. Curwen for only 19 gs., but she left the nucleus of 

 a tribe behind her, in Jane Strawberry, Spotted Straw- 

 berry, Strawberry Lass, &c., which madea very formidable 

 array, along with the Gwynnes, when another ten-year 

 cycle was concluded. Old Strawberry only returned 

 to the home of her tribe, as Mr. Troutbeck had origi- 

 nally purchased her great grandam Strawberry by Ossian, 

 at Bishop Goodenough's sale in 1819. The bishop had, 



with good sense, gone for them to the fountain-head at 

 Workington Hall, to which they had come with an un- 

 broken pedigree, through General Simpson's and 

 Charles Ceilings' hands. Old Nell Gwynne had a still 

 more princely descent, as she was from the dam of St. 

 Albans (which came, we believe, to Blencow as barren), 

 and a granddaughter of Princess) which was bred by 

 Mr, Robert Colling. Ketton and Barmpton were thus 

 represented in the two great lines of blood, which 

 formed the third sale, in which, contrary to expectation, 

 the Gwynnes averaged considerably more than the 

 Strawberries. Never had such prices been heard of in 

 Cumberland before. Mr. Douglas made a mystic signal 

 to his commissioner that, however heavily he might be 

 " punished" by Mr. Saunders and the opposition, he 

 was not to leave off till Polly Gwynne (91 gs.), Prim 

 Gwynne (150 gs.}, and Priscilla Gwynne (125 gs.) had 

 all been booked for Athelstaneford ; and Mr. Jefferson 

 kept Phoebe Gwynne (70 gs.) in Cumberland, while 

 White Strawberry (52 gs.) was the highest bid for any 

 of that tribe. 



This last sale ranks with Mr. Saunders's in 1855, 

 as the most important that ever took place in East Cum- 

 berland, and the West is about to take its turn again on 

 Friday next, with Captain Spencer's, of Distington 

 House. His herd, which only dates from 1856, has 

 been got together with no small spirit and judgment, and 

 its Young Ben has spread its fame as a show herd beyond 

 the mere narrow county limits. One of the Captain's 

 first purchases was a cow — at Mr. Chrisp's, in 1856 ; 

 but in the May of the following year, he went in for 

 Lizzy, at Mr. Grenfell's sale, and beat off all opposi- 

 tion at 150 gs. He would have bid for her yearling 

 daughter Leila as well, but Mr. Harvey Combe had set 

 his heart on her as well as Lizzy, and hence it was ar- 

 ranged that they were not to oppose each other. Lizzy's 

 daughter, who was then about 24 hours old, was carried 

 into the ring, and if ever we longed for Leech's pre- 

 sence it was then, to hit off the ponderous and yet en- 

 raptured gravity, with which the magnates of that 

 Shorthorn world gazed at that " infant Sappho," (as it 

 sprawled feebly about in the centre), and gave an ap- 

 proving hum, when Captain Spencer was declared the 

 purchaser at the rate of some two guineas per hour of 

 its precious life. The elegant Leila came into the mar- 

 ket two years after, on the death of Mr. Combe, and 

 she ran up to 170 gs. before she was secured for the Dis- 

 tington pastures. When we next saw her, John, the 

 greyhound trainer, whose fame is at Aintree, Biggar, 

 and Brougham, was busy milking her for a litter of 

 Seagull and Sunbeam puppies, and a widowed Brahmin 

 bull, about the height of a tup, was in close attendance. 

 The extraordinary devotion of the latter induced us to 

 inquire his history, and we learnt that he had paid simi- 

 lar attentions to Lizzy on her arrival, and had then 

 heartlessly deserted her in favour of her daughter. 



Leaving John to his reflections on the forms of Silk 

 and Scarlet, or Skittles, we pursued our road through 

 the nutglade, and so on through Stubs Gill domain 

 to Dyon's Hall, which is the head-quarters of the herd. 

 The old door cornice bears the date of 1712, and the 



