210 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



a cart-horse, that when you staad at his shoulder and 

 glance athwart his beautiful back and loin, you might 

 fancy that, but for the colour, you were looking over the 

 race-horse Nutwith. His legs are short, but not of 

 the class which his top entitles him to, and he is rather 

 in at tlie elbows. Next him stood Mr. Biddell's chesnut 

 Suffolk " Major," who was second in this class at 

 Chelmsford, and highly-commended. Mr. Fairbrother's 

 "Ashburn" was a great heavy dapple dark brown, 

 with not very first-rate fore-legs ; and " Young Cham- 

 pion," though claiming to be a Suffolk, looked more as 

 if he was out of a Cleveland mare. Mr. Nightingale's 

 pair stood side by side — " King William " active and 

 little, and "Grey Gilbert" with immense quarters. 

 "Brockton" was useful, but not good behind, and 

 puffy in the hocks ; " Lord Raglan " was compact, 

 short-legged, and the bearer of 18 prize medals; while 

 " Boxer " was rather drooping in the back, with not a 

 first-rate carcase, and rather too white on the legs to 

 suit his county's critical eye. " Victor," who was 

 highly-commended as a yearling at Chelmsford, sup- 

 ported the honour of Leicestershire as second here, 

 but his shoulder is to our eye rather too loaded. The 

 highly-commended " Champion " was very fine indeed 

 for his age, with a capital loin, and shows a great deal of 

 Catlin's Duke about the eye ; and in spite of the rare 

 back which the highly-commended " Salisbury Duke " 

 (so called from being second in his class there) had to 

 show, he did not stand well with his fore-legs, and his 

 walking- action was said to be not very good. 



In class II, for "Agricultural Stallions foaled in 1850," 

 "Monarch" and a chesnut Suffolk of Mr. Wilson's 

 were commended ; while Mr. Crisp's "Ploughboy" was 

 highly commended. Last year there were ten commen- 

 dations, five of each order. Out of the five whom the 

 judges placed this year, three were SufFolks. Opinion 

 was divided as to Mr. Crisp's two, one of whom, " Suf- 

 folk Emperor," was thei. winner, and struck us as being 

 rather short and pig-eyed. " Ploughboy" had hairless 

 legs, a good deal of quality, and thick through ; but 

 perhaps a little low in the back, and with slight traces 

 of the light-loined mare who bred him. " Young Eng- 

 land's Glory," the second in the class, had very good 

 loins ; and "Monarch" was very upstanding, but with 

 hardly width of chest for his carcase. The iron-grey 

 from Tarporley was rather stylish. " William IVth" 

 had great bone, but was rather too big for his age. 

 " The Colonel" was a melancholy object. "Gloucester" 

 had great power in his hind-quarters, " Young Koh-i- 

 noor" was good through the heart, but his hocks made 

 his gaskins look mean ; and " England's Glory" had 

 a bad colour and quality of leg, but an excellent middle. 

 " Champion" was a nice stamp of horse, and especially 

 80 behind; "Iron Duke" had very long hind legs; 

 and Prince Albert's "Young Glenelg " was rather 

 short in the back ribs, and not one to bear the tape ; 

 behind the shoulders, too, he was by no means first- 

 rate, and his head would remind us of the 640-guinea 

 Cassio whom Mr. Anderson, of Piccadilly, lately bought 

 from Sir Watkin Wynne. 



Class III., " for Mares and Foals for Agricultural Pur- 

 poses," had only four mentions, to show against the ten 

 last year, eight of which were h, c.'s. " Jessie," the 

 winner, was a fine big mare, with rather too long pas- 

 terns, and a young and bad foal. " Mettle'' had a good 

 foal, but was loose-ribbed herself. "Jewel" had good 

 bone, but was slack-loined. In that point we thought 

 " Gipsy," the second prize maie, defective, but still she 

 was nice and level ; while " Gip," the commended, was 

 great and plain. The commended " Topsy" was rare 

 behind, and very showy and strong ; but Mr. Taylor's 

 highly commended mare seemed to have a blemished 

 fetlock. " Brisk" and " Depper" were both com- 



mended ; the first was scarcely big enough, and rather 

 too wide between her front legs ; and the latter had good 

 style and great length, and has had the winning rib- 

 bons, if we mistake not, twice on her head in Suffolk, 

 both as filly and mare. 



In Class IV. for " Two-year-old Fillies for Agricul- 

 tural Purposes," five out of twelve caught the Judges' 

 eye. Nottinghamshire came to the fore with a nicely- 

 turned strong-carcassed grey of Mr. Whatton's, and 

 Colonel Pennant was second with " Flower," a thick 

 and strong dark bay, with rare legs, but rather slack 

 ribs. Mr. Crisp's " Jewel" was nice, rather small in 

 the arms, and not inclined to stand quite true, and hardly 

 deserved to be highly commended. Of the two com- 

 mendations, " Missy" had good legs and ribs, and was 

 little and cleanly ; while the Prince Consort's " Bessie" 

 was long and plain. 



The Dray Horses Class I, came out much stronger 

 than they did last year. It was then a case of " Eclipse 

 first and the rest nowhere" with the white-nosed " Con- 

 queror" (now Mr. Groves's), who won that extraordinary 

 extra stock prize at York, a fortnight after, against some 

 forty animals of every kind. The gigantic grey Glen- 

 garry seems to have filled the Judges' eye at once, and 

 that silver-embossed bridle of his did not a little for 

 him. With the remembrance of the compact Conqueror 

 we could not take to him much, and he kept " favour- 

 ing" the near hind leg in a somewhat suspicious style. 

 " Young Matchless" was highly commended and useful; 

 "Lord Nelson" was on a wonderfully coarse leg; 

 " Young Conqueror" was catching, but his back-ribs 

 were not first-rate ; " George the Second" was thick 

 and useful ; " Young Active" high and short ; and 

 " Napoleon" earned his commendation from his very 

 grand quarters, though we thought him rather low in 

 the back, and rather failing in his ribs. Of Dray 

 Horses Class II. we may simply say that they were 

 three in number — " Hillesden" the best, "Farmer's 

 Glory" out of his class, and " Clydesdale Hero " all 

 legs. 



lo the special prize list, Class I., for Agricultural 

 Stallions, " Matchless," the Salisbury winner of last 

 year, had to bow his head before Nonpareil, the tradi- 

 tional bay, and quite the best known holder of a stall at 

 agricultural meetings. The grey, who was once reported, 

 we know not why, to have followed suit with the prize 

 Shorthorn bull of last year, seems to have rounded 

 somewhat since Salisbury ; and he is an exact model of 

 those beautiful greys over which one was wont to linger 

 with such delight, in one of Abraham Cooper's earlier 

 pictures. To speak of Nonpareil is to repeat a thrice- 

 told tale; but he was a " veiled prophet" when we 

 got up to him, in order that he might " sattle to his 

 meat." His feet seemed to astonish every one, and all 

 Cheshire agreed that they were as big as warming-pans. 

 " Ploughboy" was seventeen-two, with immense limbs, 

 and short for his height ; but " Cleveland," as his name 

 betokened, was quite light, and bordering on a coach- 

 horse. " Suffolk Emperor," and " Young England's 

 Glory," were first and second again. 



In Class II. " Farmer's Friend" was a good com- 

 mendation from Flintshire ; and as for " Black Ball," 

 his owner must have shown him for a practical joke. 



Class III., Agricultural Horses in pairs, we thought 

 very middling ; and Mr. Crisp's two chesnuts, one of 

 which, " Depper," was commended in the other Class 

 III., decidedly the best. 



Class IV., for " One-year-old Fillies or Geldings for 

 Agricultural Purposes," was also weak, and taking the 

 agricultural horses and mares as a whole, they were 

 perhaps up to the average, but decidedly inferior to 

 what they were at Salisbury. 



It is seldom the fate of the judges to please in their 



