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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



force tlian for some time ; though, with the exception 

 of Mr. Quartly, the most famous of our Devon men 

 were not altogether the most distinguished. Jlr. Tur- 

 ner, to be sure, had but few entries. Still the best 

 things went nearly all to the natives; and Captain 

 Davy, as one of the judges, stood up manfully for the 

 awards, at the Farmers' Club dinner, on the day these 

 were made and announced. It struck us still that the 

 Somerset breeders showed hardly equal to what they 

 have done. As one division of the show — for male and 

 female animals almost equally commendable — the 

 Devons were also quite up to the occasion. It is long 

 since there has been such a lot to pick from as was seen 

 at Salisbury. 



" The other established breeds" and the new prizes 

 for Channel Island cattle, lead us up to the only really 

 weak place in the yard. The other established breeds 

 were three or four Polled Scotch, and about as many 

 more Suffolks. The Channel Island cattle were hardly 

 up to one of Mr. Fowler's shipments, and we fancy we 

 have bought better cows from him at Paddington than 

 we saw here. Mr. Davy confessed he knew very little 

 about them, and was in no way conversant with " the 

 scale of points" by which a Jei'sey should be estimated. 

 He advised accordingly that the next time the Society 

 had a Channel Island class there should be at least one 

 Channel Island judge. Their introduction, however, 

 in this wise does not promise to lead to much. 



A Fi-ench gentleman was allowed to present a special 

 prize for the best polled bull — that liarmless-looking 

 race with which our neighbours lell in love at 

 sight. This scarcely brought the sort intended, but it 

 went, though without any competition, to a very good 

 Suffolk of Mr. Badhani's, that has been shown very 

 often, and never as yet, we hear, beaten. The special 

 prizes of the local committee were more successful, 

 bringing a famous show of Hampshire Downs. This was 

 just one of those features which should characterize the 

 locality, and that the Society has for some time 

 very judiciously encouraged. There was a good op- 

 portunity of comparing the Hampshires with the Shrop- 

 shire Downs, wTiich were in great force amongst the 

 other short-wooUed sheep. Both are houily increasing 

 in repute. Indeed, since we have .sanctioned so much 

 additional size in the Southdown, it would be strange if 

 these varieties did not command some success. It is 

 only transplanting after all, with a very nice cross, for 

 making a little moi-e of them. The use they turn these 

 South-country Downs to was well demonstrated, not 

 merely in the visits, but in the journeying to Mr. Sidney 

 Herbert and Mr. Mills. 



With the Downs, par excellence, Mr. Webb has 

 more than re-established himself. After the Chelms- 

 ford discomfiture everybody said he must show again; 

 and he has, with " a vengeance." In the shearling 

 rams there were between sixty and seventy exhibited, 

 and the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Rigden, Lord Wal- 

 singham, i\lr. Overman, Mr. Ellman, Mr. Sainsbury, 

 Mr. Farquharson, and Mr. Harding amongst the 

 competitors. In this class the judges sorted out just 

 half-a-dozen sheep. After great deliberation they gave 

 two of them the prizes, they specially commended two 

 more, and they highly commended the other two. The 

 three couple are the property of Mr. Jonas Wel)b ! In 

 the aged rams he took the first prize with a sheep un- 

 noticed at Chelmsford, and the second with the much- 

 discussed second-prize animal at that meeting. This 

 is the ram which was let the other day at Babrahain for 

 197 guineas, to go to America. But it is now said he 

 has been bought outright for four hundred. To show 

 this is not, after all, an artificial price, we may men- 

 tion what was told us by a Surrey farmer, who has a 

 leaning for the sort. In 1855 Mr. Webb let a sheep 



to the Duke of Richmond.for 170 guineas the season; 

 in 1856, to Lord Chichester, for 130 guineas; and this 

 year, still in strong use, he goes to that good judge 

 Mr. Rigden for 70 guineas. This is something like 

 four hundred guineas in the three years, and there may 

 be something more to credit to him even then. It is 

 only right to add, some other of the Southdown men 

 honestly admitted they had never sent out such good 

 sheep as they did to Salisbury ; and Mr. Rigden, Lord 

 Walsingham, and Mr. Overman had due commenda- 

 tions accordingly. Next to Mr. Webb, however, in- 

 disputably came Mr. Overman, first and second in a 

 very good class of ewes. The Duke showed by no 

 means on fair terms, as his sheep were much injured in 

 the train, from the accidental firing of the straw on 

 which they stood. 



Mr. Sanday is to the Leicester what Mr. Webb is to 

 the Southdown. He had, indeed, yet more his own 

 way, and took every prize that was offered. For the 

 pure Leicester there is no other man like him ; and 

 however fond some of us may be of trying our hand at 

 experiments, it is here you must go again and again tor 

 the cross, just as you would to the thorough-bred 

 horse. There may be bigger sheep than Mr. Sanday's, 

 but there are none safer to deal with. 



We were threatened some time ago with a wonderful 

 show of Cotswolds, and this came up to all that had 

 been said of it. There was not a bad sheep sent ; and 

 the only regret was that more could not be distin- 

 guished. Mr. Lane, it will be found, was the hero of 

 this bi'eed, and deservedly enough. There are many, 

 however, so near him, even as it is, that we do not 

 think the Cotswold business is likely to go to one or 

 two breeders only. Such men as Messrs. Handy, Beale 

 Brown, Fletcher, Hewer and Ruck, will do something 

 more than "look on" with a kind of sheep there is an 

 increasing demand for, and which they have only to 

 continue to cultivate as judiciously as they have done. 



So far our case as to the success of the Salisbury Meet- 

 ing proves itself; while the horse show only still furtlier 

 confirms it. The entry of aged cart stallions was close 

 upon forty in number, with many already prized horses 

 amongst them. These included a great many Suffolks, 

 with Mr. Barthropp's Ipswich horse at their head. 

 They reached, however, no higher than high com- 

 mendation, of which there were plenty, and certainly 

 not without due cause. With a few inferior animals 

 there was a strong majority of vex-y good ; and with 

 the Suffolk, though found amongst these, scarcely as 

 much distinguished as perhaps he might have been. 

 The two prize horses are both greys. The first is a 

 Lincolnshire horse of immense size and power, with a 

 most extraordinary mane. The second, a dark grey — 

 three-year-old, against the other at six — is a cross be- 

 tween the Suffolk and Lincoln, and almost as good to 

 look at as the other, some thought better. We had 

 the fortune, however, to see them both out, and then it 

 was all in favour of Matchless. He has the light, 

 lively action of a pony; while the young one, on the 

 other hand, is but a bad mover. This latter took the 

 premium last year at Chelmsford for dray horses. It 

 seems a niceish point to separate the two classes, espe- 

 cially when you get a dii-ect cross of one of the best 

 cart-horses in the world— the Suffolk — to make the 

 dray horse of one year, and the common draught horse 

 of the next. This horse, however, fully demonstrates 

 the policy of crossing the Suffolk, say with the Lincoln, 

 Clydesdale, or other heavier horses. There is another 

 example of this in a foal from a Suffolk mare by a 

 Shire horse, so superior in most respects to the pure 

 breed as to give additional weight to the necessity of a 

 judicious intermixture of blood. Perhaps the Suffolk 

 men would not lend themselves to this; but from what 



