190 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



PLATE II. 

 A HEREFORD STEER. 



THE PROPERTY OF JOHN NAYLOR, ESQ., OF LEIGHTON HALL, WELSHPOOL, MONTGOMERYSHIRE. 



This famous steer, bred by Mr. Naylor at Leigh- 

 ton Hall, was calved on October 8th, 1854. He 

 was by Sylvester [797), out of Ellen, by The 

 Knight (185), her dam Lady Elinor, by Big Ben 

 (248), — Butterfly, by Prince (251), — Nell, by a 

 son of Sir Andrew (183). 



Silvester, bred by Mr. Price of Pembridge on 

 the last day of the year 1851, was by Pembridge 

 (721), dam by Prince Dangerous (362). Silvester 

 was sold to Mr. Kincey, a neighbour of Mr. Nay- 

 lor's, living at Glanmahely, Montgomeryshire. 



Ellen was bred by Mr. Naylor on the 2nd of 

 October, 1851, and this steer was of course her 

 first calf. The Hereford Herd Book credits her 

 with produce every year since. 



At the Birmingham and Midland Counties' Fat 

 Cattle Show in December, 1857, Mr. Naylor's 

 steer took the first prize of 10 sovs. in the Younger 

 Class of Herefords, with the silver medal for the 

 breeder. 



At the Smithfield Club Show the following week 

 he took the third prize of 5 sovs. in the Steer Class 

 of Herefords, a beast the property of Mr. Heath, 

 and another of His Royal Highness the Prince 

 Consort, being preferred to him. 



At the Birmingham and Midland Counties' 

 Show in December, 1858, he took the first prize 

 of 10 sovs. as the best of all the Hereford Oxen 

 or Steers, the extra prize of 20 sovs. as the best 

 Hereford in the show, The President's Cup, value 

 25 sovs., as the best Ox or Steer bred and fed by 

 an exhibitor, the Gold Medal as the best of all the 

 Oxen or Steers, and the Silver Medal for the 

 breeder. 



Having already been exhibited at the Smithfield 



Club, he was not by the rules eligible to make 

 another appearance in London, and his career con- 

 sequently ended with this brilliant performance. 



On his first coming to Birmingham in 1857 we 

 spoke of this beast as "a wonderful animal for his 

 age, of great width and weight." And, again, at 

 the same show of the year following, we wrote — 



" Taking the whole range of these three esta- 

 blished breeds, a really good beast had every op- 

 portunity for distinguishing himself, as one most 

 unquestionably did. This was Mr. Naylor's first 

 prize Hereford ox, the best steer at this meeting 

 last year, and that we then spoke of as promising 

 to still further improve. He has now grown and 

 fed into one of the neatest Herefords ever seen. 

 His symmetry is so perfect, that, as is the case 

 with all well-formed animals, he looks much 

 smaller than he really is. Neither is he so " up- 

 standing" as the sort often are, but more compact 

 and close in his frame. "With this he unites all 

 the best points of his race — has a sweet head, is 

 beautifully marked, and is as fine a handler as a 

 butcher ever touched. Of course he carried oflf a 

 whole accumulation of premiums. He had one as 

 the best of his class, another as the best Hereford, 

 a third as the best of all the oxen, a fourth as the 

 best bred and fed by the same man, and a fifth as 

 an especial compliment to his breeder. There 

 wanted but the culminating honour as the best of 

 all the animals, male or female ; but with all their 

 ingenuity in this way, the council have not yet ar- 

 rived at that insignia. Mr. Naylor's ox cannot go 

 on to Baker-street, having been exhibited there as 

 a steer last Christmas, when he was hardly done 

 justice to." 



THE EARLY ENGLISH AGRICULTURAL AUTHORS. 



[Second Series 1557 to 1626.] 

 BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. 



I have in a former number of this magazine 

 (see p. 7 of the present volume) given a few facts 

 relating to the farming of England, about the year 

 1532, when the first works upon English husbandry 

 — those of Groteherd and Fitzherbert — were 

 printed. The next volume which appeared on 

 husbandry — that of Tusser — was published in 

 verse, in 1557. This poem, "The One Hundred 

 Points of Good Husbandry," has been, from time to 

 time, reprinted, and it is to be met with in most 

 agricultural libraries. 



Tusser's work was followed in 1594 by that of 

 Sir Hugh Platte, " The Jewel House of Art and Na- 

 ture" ; and to this succeeded, about 1613, the 



several works of Gervase Markham on rural affairs. 

 They all seem to have collected together a variety 

 of useful facts — receipts and historical notices ; 

 but they suggested little for the improvement of 

 agriculture, nor did they pretend to any inventions 

 for its benefit. It was not until the time of Walter 

 Blithe, in 1626, that any man appeared who had 

 the sagacity to perceive how the produce of the 

 earth might be considerably increased by new pro- 

 cesses — who had the courage to set the example 

 on his own farm, and had the fully equal hardihood 

 to publish the results of his experiments. 



Of Thomas Tusser, the well-known author of the 

 " One Hundred Points of Good Husbandry," as I 



