THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



311 



bition might bo extended, so thut the outlay would pro- 

 miso in every way to reimburse itself. As it is, there 

 is actually only one day's show, and that does not 

 open until eleven, while it closes by sound oftruui- 

 pot at four. Whatever risks " the trade" may en- 

 counter, the breeders of stock do not care to leave their 

 animals thus unprotected for more than a day — a space 

 of time altogether unequal to the many merits of the 

 meeting. This was a common complaint on Thursday 

 last. Writing at so late a period, and at such a dis- 

 tance off, wo must let the prize lists tell their own 

 story. But we may add that one of Fowler's steam 

 ploughs was at work in the earlier part of the week ; 

 and we must give a word in justice to the manifest im- 

 provement in the manufacture of the home-made ma- 

 chinery : the ploughs especially have been successfully 

 experimented upon ; and good as was Mr. Gray's per- 

 formance last week in Ireland, another Scotchman — 

 Mr. Taylor, of Huntley — surpassed him here. 



The man who did make up his mind to see all that was 

 to be seen for his half-crown, had quite enough to do. 

 To go up and down every line, to examine some thou- 

 sand entries of stock, some hundred of poultry, and we 

 will not say how many of implements, was quite a Capt. 

 Barclay performance for the five hours allowed to do 

 it in. More provoking still, it was really quite neces- 

 sary. There was scarcely a class that could be passed 

 over, while some would well bear dwelling on. Take 

 horses. Shorthorns, or polled cattle, and there was a 

 continual succession of excellence. Luckily, there were 

 many amongst these already known to us and our 

 readers. The first prize Shorthorn bull, for one, was 

 the white bull of Mr. Wetherell's, deservedly com- 

 mended at Chester, the prize bull at Grantham, and so 

 on. He is an animal of extraordinary good symmetry, 

 and with a little more quality, and not quite so sharp 

 in the hair, would be really a first-class beast. As it 

 was, in a remarkably good entry of aged bulls 

 the judges considered him to have at once placed 

 himself. Lord Kinnaird was second with a bigger 

 and better- coloured one of Mr. Douglas's breeding ; 

 and the first prize from Londonderry, the property of 

 Mr. Todd, was third. Of the twenty animals shown in 

 this class, there were many very good ones ; but the 

 two-year-olds were comparatively a poor lot, and the 

 yearlings not a great deal better. In the show of Cows 

 and Heifers, Mr. Douglas went far to make it all it 

 was, and of course with some old and established 

 favourites. Binglet was once again the best cow, and 

 Queen of Trumps and Venus de Medici for the third 

 and fourth time this year the two best heifers. The 

 preference was still for the roan, although it is only 

 right to say one of the judges was all for her com- 

 panion, who, as Venus should have, has a beautiful 

 bosom, and fine turn of the arm and shoulder. The 

 Queen, however, has now taken the three national 

 honours of her year, having been placed first at Chester, 

 Londonderry, and Aberdeen. She is of Mr. Douglas's 

 own breeding ; but Venus was bought, after having been 

 beaten last year, of Mr. Booth, for 300 guineas j and 

 when defeated again at Chester, her former owner offered 



450 gs. to get her back — no bad compliment from such a 

 quarter to Mr. Douglas's judgment and management. 

 In the yearling heifers the Athelstaneford herd was 

 yet more pre-eminent — first, second, and third; the 

 best of these was also the best at Londonderry, and the 

 other two first and second at the Glasgow Show of this 

 summer. Mr. Wetherell's Chester cow was second, 

 and Mr. Todd's Londonderry third in the aged class; 

 but perhaps the "next best" amongst the cows was 

 Mr. Gulland's third prize two-year-old, a beautiful 

 roan heifer with all the fine points of a Shorthorn. It 

 was only the super-excellence of the company that 

 kept her from higher honours. Curiously enough, 

 there is located in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Aberdeen the very largest herd of Shorthorns we know 

 of— that of Mr. Cruikshank, of Sittyton ; but this could 

 get no further than a commendation. There were, 

 however, not many entei'ed from it, and their owner 

 has, it is said, rather a dread of the necessary " prepa- 

 ration " of a prize animal. Another renowned Scotch 

 breeder, Mr. Stirling, so successful with John o'Groat, 

 had nothing in "the Links." But it was a grand show 

 of the sort, nevertheless. 



Co-equal was the display of the black polled cattle. 

 But this might have been expected. Galloway, Angus, 

 or whatever he may be elsewhere, nowhere is this beast 

 so carefully cultivated as in Aberdeenshire. It is here 

 that famous first cross between the Shorthorn and the 

 native breed is generally carried out. In no district, 

 perhaps, are there so many good butchers' beasts 

 reared; and this, we believe, is the manner in which 

 they are obtained. There are, of course, some very 

 famous breeders of polled cattle ; pre-eminent amongst 

 whom stands Mr. M'Combie, of Tillyfour. The recent 

 meeting went only the more to confirm his position. 

 If he did not take all the prizes himself, he bred most 

 of the animals that did. Still the two best bulls he 

 had in the yard were from Mr. Bowie, of Arbroath. 

 One, the first prize beast in Paris and at Inver- 

 ness, could only be shown here in competition for a 

 gold medal, the offer of which was the great joke 

 of the meeting. It seems that when this polled 

 stock was in Paris, their appearance forcibly struck M. 

 Dutrone, the Secretary of the French Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, This gentleman 

 could not sufHciently admire the wisdom of Providence 

 in giving us bulls without horns — sweet, placable crea- 

 tures, that could neither injure us nor one another ! 

 And so, to shew his appreciation of this, and to en- 

 courage the extension of the sort, he gives his medal 

 for the most inoffensive of all this harmless race. Mr, 

 M'Combie wins it with a determined-looking, hard- 

 headed fellow, that would threaten to make a sad 

 " butt " of a man if he did not stand clear. There are 

 few more useful, well-shaped, or, as it is said, better- 

 grained beasts than these Aberdeenshire cattle; but we 

 doubt altogether their especial amiability. On the 

 contrary, the bulls have rather a fighting look, with 

 just the sort of head, horn or no horn, some of our 

 old masters would have copied into their classic tour- 

 neys. However, Monsieur Dutrone, with his further 



