THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



315 



nothing of the satisfaction he must himself be deprived 

 of, if death stares him in the face. 



A friend of ours, a farmer, had occasion to borrow 

 £2,000 of a banker; for which a brother-in-law, a 

 strong, healtliy man, became securitj'. The latter 

 urged upon the borrower to insure his life; "for," 

 said he, "in case of my death my executors would 

 certainly not renew the security, and the bankers would 

 enter up judgment at once." He took his advice, and 

 insured his brother-in-law's life; grudgiog however, 



the premium. But, mark the result. In one month 

 afterwards his bondsman was killed by a fall fi'om his 

 horse, although one of the best and most fearless riders 

 in the county ; and, with the insurance on his life, our 

 friend paid off the banker, and became a freed man ! 



"With this illustration of the frailty of life and the 

 wisdom of insurance, we shall leave the subject to the 

 serious consideration of those for whose benefit we have 

 written. 



A NEW BREED OF SHEEP— "THE OXFORDSHIRE" DOWNS. 



It is to the credit of such institutions as the Royal 

 Agricultural Society and the Smithtield Club that their 

 proceedings show them by no means bigoted to certain 

 sorts or fashions, however good or popular these may 

 be. On the contrary, they have now both, for years, 

 been gradually striking out, and extending the area of 

 their operations. Season after season we meet with some 

 new class. Shorthorn, Hereford, and Devon are gra- 

 dually flanked with Highlanders from Scotland, Runts 

 from Wales, and even with Alderneys from the Channel 

 Islands. Southdowns and Leicesters are equally well 

 supported with Country Downs and Hampshire Downs, 

 Cotswolds, Lincolns, and so on. It is a significant fact 

 that under the influence of such Societies many old 

 breeds die out, and other new ones come on. At Bir- 

 mingham, for instance, the Longhorn Cattle are be- 

 coming more and more scarce, while the Shropshire 

 Down sheep are as certainly strengthening their claim 

 to a name and a position. How long is it since the 

 Longhorns were well known, and the Shropshire Downs 

 unheard of? 



It is, however, the continual change of scene, so excel- 

 lent a feature in the meetings of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, that tends above all else to foster and put the 

 proper stamp of value on new varieties and breeds. At 

 almost every gathering we have now special prizes 

 arranged for the locality we visit. Many a man so 

 gets an inti-oduction to kinds of stock he may previously 

 scarcely have heard of, and many a breeder the opportu- 

 nity of extending a repute so far confined to friends and 

 neighbours only. At Salisbury, for example, as we 

 had to report, — " the special prizes were most suc- 

 cessful, bringing a famous show of Hampshire Downs. 

 There was a good opportunity of comparing the Hamp- 

 shires with the Shropshire Downs, which were in great 

 force amongst the other short-woolled sheep. Both 

 are hourly inci'easing 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 more of 

 them." 



There is no question but these sorts are commanding 

 some success, and very considerable success too; while, 

 as we have just said, the Royal Agricultural Society, in 

 its recogiiiliou of tiiCiU, aatLcuiicatcs as it were their 



use and merits. Now it so happened that at this same 

 Salisbury Meeting a gentleman from a neighbour- 

 ing county heard, as needs he must, a great deal of these 

 Ilampshires and Shropshires, though he heard nothing 

 whatever of the favourite sheep of his own district. 

 Amongst the others they passed unhonoured and un- 

 known. One good reason for this appeared to be that 

 they had really no name to be known by. They had in 

 their turn been often enough prize sheep : they had 

 long been carefully bred, were much liked, and 

 day by day were increasing in numbers. Still, with all 

 this, they were as a breed anything anybody chose to 

 call them. Let Mr. Middleton, who felt this so keenly 

 at Salisbury, speak for himself: — "At the recent Royal 

 Agricultural meeting at Salisbury they were entered in 

 the catalogue not as Down Cotswolds, but as Downs 

 and Cotswolds, and were thought but little of. It ap- 

 peared to him that a breed of sheep of 20 years' standing 

 ought to have a definite name, like the Shropshire, 

 Hampshire, and other Downs. The very Downs 

 were now cultivated and covered with corn, 

 and the Down sheep were improved as well 

 as the pastures, and he considered the name of ' Oxford- 

 shire Downs,' would best denote the breed peculiar to 

 this county. At the recent exhibition in France, in 

 the present year, the Down Cotswolds were classed with 

 the Cotswold, instead of with the short-woolled sheep ; 

 but the Down Cotswolds were patronised by the gen- 

 tlemen abroad as much as they were at home. He 

 contended that they ought to have a distinctive name 

 ior their breed of sheep, and cited the authority of the 

 late Earl Spencer, who laid down the rule that if they 

 continued a breed for four or five generations it was 

 so fixed that nothing could move it if they stuck 

 to it." 



This was said at a meeting, held in Oxford, on Wed- 

 nesday last, of what so far have been called "the Down 

 Cotswold breeders." A full report of the conference 

 appears in another part of our paper. It may be not 

 amiss, however, to follow out the merits of the case. 

 About twenty years since, then, curiously enough, just 

 about the time when the Royal Agi-icultural So- 

 ciety held its first meeting, as we M'ell remember, 

 in this good city of Oxford, the Oxfordshire 

 farmers began to carefully cultivate this variety of 

 j'.icc]). With V, liat ^ucccT-s it is not left uicrcly 



