THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



61 



meeting at Newton, the Vice-chancellor and Proc- 

 tors were assembled in Congregation at Oxford, dis- 

 cussing " the new statute." With some opposition 

 to conferring any such degree as that of A. A., the pro- 

 posal was received with an almost unanimous expres- 

 sion of approval. On Wednesday the new statute was 

 again read, and submitted to vote in Congregation, 

 when the main provisions were carried by 81 votes to 

 16, and the title of " Associate in Arts" by 02 votes to 

 38. In short, " the Middle Class Education Scheme" 

 has taken root, and it only now remains with the 

 middle classes themselves to attend to and encourage 

 its growth. 



The country, we must say, appears thoroughly ripe 

 for such a movement. It is only within these few days 

 that v/e have received a pamphlet in announcement of 

 some such a course of education being about to be 

 tried on rather a large scale at Gnoll Castle, near 

 Neath, in South Wales. This beautiful seat is to be 

 enlarged and fitted up as a college, where youths of 

 the middle rank in life may perfect themselves as en- 

 gineers, agriculturists, or for the many other pursuits 

 not exactly recognised at Oxford or Cambridge, and, 

 of course, scarcely anywhere else. The plan is rather 

 a grand one, but has so many good elements about it 

 that we confess we should be very sori'y to see it un- 

 successfully attempted. 



The agriculturist has here, again, to be consulted. 

 It is gratifying to feel that in the west country he has 

 been one of the chief authorities called in : — " In pro- 



posing a system of public examination, not con fined to 

 boys of one class, the promoters aim less at the ad- 

 vancement of any particular art or science than at the 

 improvement of general education. This view is in 

 accordance with the opinion of several most intelligent 

 practical farmers, who take a very warm interest in 

 the question." 



It is, in fact, to the new number of the Journal of the 

 Bath and West of England Society that we must refer 

 our readers for details and particulars it would be im- 

 possible to give here. Or, perhaps, more directly to a 

 pamphlet* — to be had for a shilling, and already at a 

 second edition — embracing much the same material, 

 and written by Mr. Acland. It is with an extract from 

 one of this gentleman's letters that we may conclude a 

 notice that is rather intended to call attention to, than 

 to do full justice to a scheme of so much national im- 

 portance, and, as we trust, of as commensurate advan- 

 tage. The more we educate ourselves, the more readily 

 shall we be to thus advance our fellov/s. Mr. Acland 

 founds an argument on too well known a fact — " It 

 cannot escape observation, that many persons in the 

 middle ranks regard with jealousy and suspicion a 

 Standard of Education for the poor, of which they 

 tliemselves in their younger days had no experience ; 

 and that the fact of their own children deriving no 

 benefit from the large sums expended in providing a 

 supply of trained Masters, is to them a source of dis_ 

 satisfaction." 



GREAT AGRICULTURAL SHOW AT AT VIENNA, 



THE CATTLE DEPARTMENT. 



The show of cattle at Vienna was extremely numer- 

 ous and varied in character. It comprised a great many 

 breeds of oxen, cows, bulls, horses, sheep, and pigs. 

 The oxen were the principal object of attraction. As a 

 general rule, we remarked the following features in the 

 cattle : Colour red, with white heads, backs, and 

 bellies ; long bodies ; large size ; rather short horns ; ge- 

 nerally low in the back, narrow in the loins and hips, 

 high in the rump, and flat-ribbed. Otherwise, they 

 were a good sort of stock for quality of flesh, with thick, 

 soft, elastic hides. There were exceptions to this rule, 

 especially amongst the Hungarian breed and its con- 

 geners, which we shall point out in detail. The weight 

 of these cattle, at a rough average, would be, for 



Bulls, from 100 to 150 stone of 81b. 

 Cows, ,, 80 to 120 „ 



Oxen, ,, 100 to 180 ,, 



The Hungarian race is considered as the stock, or 

 root, of the great body of cattle exhibited, and there- 

 fore attracted more attention than others. The peculiar 

 characteristics of this race are the length of horn, and 

 its singular expansion, some of the latter measuring 

 from three to four feet long, and spreading from five to 

 six feet in width, tip from tip ; long legs ; rather elegant 

 structure of body ; quickness of moTement ; fineness of 



muscular organization ; and thinness and durability of 

 hide. The colour is whitish grey. The old Highland 

 longhorned white breed, now extinct, was strikingly 

 similar to this race ; so also are many of those met with 

 in the Campagna of Rome, especially in the form and 

 expression of their heads. This fact has given rise to 

 the hypothesis that the Hungarian raee of cattle is the 

 parent stock, and not the Bos urus of Linnseus. The 

 flesh of the Hungarian ox has an agreeable taste, and is 

 considered very nutritious in quality. It also easily 

 fattens, without materially deranging its peculiar sym- 

 metry ; and, for labour, its comparatively quick pace 

 renders the animal almost equal to the horse, being 

 much steadier in draught. 



The Hungarian cow yields but little milk ; and it 

 seldom lasts more than three months after the calf is 

 weaned. About three seitel (three pints) per day is the 

 ordinary yield ; but what is wanting in quantity is made 

 up in quality, the milk being very rich. To produce 

 about 800 mesures, or 1,140 pints in the year, without 

 weakening the feeding qualities of the cow, is considered 

 a fair sample of the breed, as a milch cow. There is a 

 slight inconvenience in the length of the horn, for 

 labour-purposes; but this is overlooked, from the su- 



* Middle Class Education. By T. D. Acland, Esq. Ridgway, 

 Piccadilly. 



