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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



had him on parade. His weakest point is a slight light- 

 ness in the flank and " second thigh" ; but he can give 

 these points away, and still find very few in England 

 or Scotland fit to meet him in a show-yard. Some 

 thought his chine and neck vein not very first-rate ; but 

 as the late Bill Cattell observed to a knot of Yorkshire- 

 men, who were crabbing Monarch, " any one of you 

 gentlemen who's not satisfied with this hull, had 

 better mak one for himself." Last season he served 

 60 cows, 26 of them from Mr. Barnes's own herd, 

 and he has already nearly completed his Challenge 

 Cup qualification allowance. He is by Mr. Booth's 

 The Monk, from Mr. Barnes's Sylph, which won in 

 the yearling heifer class some years ago, and has 

 lately returned from a 15-guinea visit to Mr. Bolden's 

 Third Grand Duke. Her old guardian, Tommy Fox 

 . — in the true Connaught costume of fifty years ago, viz., 

 a long blue frieze coat, corduroy breeches, and blue 

 stockings — was there to rejoice over her son's victory ; 

 while " The Doctor's" present guardian, " Gerty," — 

 clad in a fustian suit and apron to match, which re- 

 minded us of a spic-and-span stage blacksmith's — stood 

 gallantly hour after hour at his favourite's head, amid a 

 perfect bouquet of streamers and challenge-cup cards. 

 "The Doctor" is, we believe, to quit Ireland shortly for 

 Aylesby ; British Prince, who has been there some time 

 along with "The Monk," taking his place at Westland ; 

 but it is not yet settled whether he goes to Canterbury. 

 Throughout the whole of the classes, the Warlaby blood 

 (which has lately had a severe loss . by the death of 

 Nectarine Blossom) was most successful; and the aged 

 bull prize was taken to England by Captain Spencer's 

 Young Ben, a son of Booth's Benedict, and bred by Dr. 

 Dickenson, of Ulverstone. He is rather more than four 

 years old, with a nice head and a very good back, and 

 especially fine quarters. Mr. Cruikshank's ancient 

 favourite, Pro-Bono-Publico, who beat Grand Turk in 

 this hall some years since, was second to him; and 

 Donnybrook furnished a third in Mr. Roe's Sambo. 



The females, taking them altogether, were not very 

 first-rate ; and seeing that the chance of selling heifers 

 here is so small, there is no very great encouragement for 

 breeders to send them. Mr. Crosbie's yearling winner 

 by Golden Vein, a son of Lamp of Lothian, was exceed- 

 ingly neat, and had a dangerous second in Mr. Marjori- 

 banks's Diadem by Marmaduke, which was purchased 

 for 40 gs. as a calf at the late Mr. Harvey Combe's sale. 

 Captain Ball's Recherche by The Monk, and Mr. Rey- 

 nell's Miss Molly by Puck, were highly commended, 

 and helped to make up a nice quartet. Nancy Dawson 

 did not come, and we heard that both she and the heifer- 

 calf which she produced when she was only a year and 

 eleven days old are both going on well, and that she 

 gives eight quarts of milk a day. Starlight, the sire of 

 it, stood just opposite her recent stall in the show ; but 

 as this love feat could not be taken into consideration, 

 the tin number on his tail was his only badge of honour- 

 able distinction. This instance of early fecundity stands 

 alone ; but we know of another heifer which had a calf 

 at fifteen mouths. 



Scotland carried the day in the two-year-old heifer 

 class with Lady of Bonhill, a long and low red heifer, of 

 good form, though hardly equal in her handling to Mr. 

 Christy's Limerick Lass the Second ; but still the deci- 

 sion could not be carped at. There was only one high 

 commendation in this class, which was by no means 

 equal to the yearling heifer one. The aged cows showed 

 in very small numbers, and the contest was entirely 

 between Rosette and Sweetheart. The former had her 

 second calf three weeks ago, and has thickened 

 amazingly since Warwick. Her back is more wonder- 

 ful than ever, but the effect of the development is to 

 make her one weak point still more apparent. She has 



always been a great favourite in Ireland, and one Paddy 

 exclaimed enthusiastically, as she was pitted at last 

 against Dr. M'Hale for the Farmers' Gazette Cup — 

 " What a darling ye, are, token I stand afore ycr." 

 Sweetheart, for whom Madame Caswell was a capital 

 foil (and sent, we conclude, for that special purpose) , 

 looked very pretty ; and it was said that she quite stole 

 the aitections of one of the judges, but we think that 

 the universal voice fully ratified the decisions both in 

 this class and every other. In fact, we hardly heard a 

 dissentient voice among disinterested, and even in- 

 terested lookers on. 



The fat cattle were only a middling lot; and the 

 Devons and Herefords had very few entries. There 

 were two nice bulls among the former ; and the dark 

 chesnut Ayrshire bull Robin Adair had a boat of ad- 

 mirers, as had the prize Alderney cow. Kerry 

 made a good display of all ages and sizes, and princi- 

 pally black ; and one of Mr. Cusack's bulls, Ned of the 

 Hills, was one of the thickest and most perfect little moun- 

 tain heroes that " the kingdom" ever sent forth. There 

 were few nicer sights in the show than him and his com- 

 panion Young Rodney as they stood side by side in their 

 gay little sheets. One of the females had an udder which 

 would not have disgraced a cow three times its size ; 

 and another calved in the show just after the judges had 

 gone round. Among the freaks of the breeders was a 

 cross between a Kerry and a Brahmin bull, which stood 

 side by side with two pure Brahmins ; the biggest of 

 them rejoicing in a hump which Punch himself might 

 have envied, but the best " nick" we saw was a minia- 

 ture half-Devon half-Kerry ox bred by Mr. Garnett of 

 Williamstown. 



To the rivalry of Messrs. Owen and Thunder the Lei- 

 cester part of the sheep show was not a little indebted, 

 and they pretty nearly divided all the prizes in this class 

 between them. Messrs. Hamilton and Broughton were 

 pre-em.inent in the Shropshire Down competition, and 

 Mr. Beale Brown won, with his capital Cotswolds, 

 the only four sections of long wools in which there 

 was any competition. His pen of five ewe hoggets 

 were especially admired. The pigs were middling as a 

 whole, and among the best specimens were Mr. Joyce's 

 pure-bred Berkshire boar, and the Hon. Francis 

 Blackburne's white Windsor sow. For those so inclined, 

 there was also a poultry show, in which the Spanish 

 fowl hens — none of them very first-rate — seemed to pre- 

 dominate. The Dorkings were a good class, though 

 we can hardly say the same for the Polish ; and there 

 was only one game cock quite to our mind. Rouen ducks 

 and pigeons were fair, and geese very middling, but the 

 prize pen of American turkeys atoned for all, and if the 

 owner. Colonel Hill, had marked it at £20 instead of 

 £7, no one would have been surprised. For perfection 

 of form and beautifully burnished plumage, the cock 

 could not be excelled, and many considered him quite 

 worthy of being bracketted with Dr. Mc Hale, as the 

 Castor and Pollux of the week. 



A nicer show of implements were never brought to- 

 gether in Ireland, so simple and admirable in their style, 

 and suited so exactly to the wants of the country. There] 

 was an air of lightness about the arrangement of them 

 that contrasted favourably with the bewildering mass 

 which meets the eye at the English Royal. With 

 one exception, the arrangements on the whole were ex- 

 cellent ; but even a wet day does not warrant the intro- 

 duction of a large military band into the cattle depart- 

 ment. We are not insinuating in the slightest that they 

 played " the tune which the old cow died of;" their 

 airs were orthodox enough, but the eflect upon some of 

 the two hundred bulls assembled was far from satis- 

 factory, and if any of them had taken to fighting, and 

 roused the others, there is no foreseeing the result. As 



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