THK FARMER'S MAGAZliNK. 



41 



commended a third, and added one general word of ap- 

 proval for tbe entire class. 



Of the famous Shorthorns there was quite as clearly 

 a falling olf. There were not so miany of them, and 

 these were not so good. Tested by the great points 

 quality, symmetry, and pedigree, the best of the entry 

 was Mr. Henry Smith's cow, which took the prize in 

 the Extra Class, and the Otley Medal as the best cow 

 bred and fed by an exhibitor. By Mr. Booth's famous 

 bull Harbinger, a beautiful handler, and a model to 

 look at, there could be only one reason for finding her 

 in such a place. Although now nearly six years old, she 

 has never had a calf, and hence her reduced value as 

 only butcher's meat. Mr. Swinnerton's Gold Medal 

 Cow is also an extraordinary one, the very realization of 

 a fat cow. Iler breadth of back is marvellous, her head 

 a very picture of bovine beauty ; while she is most 

 evenly fed, has rare thighs, and scarcely any defi- 

 ciency to counteract so good a top. Still the fastidious 

 questioned her being very highly bred, and pointed to 

 certain dark hairs in her coat as being anything but 

 orthodox. Another very good one was Mr. Browne's 

 Prize Heifer, which some of the cognoscenti selected for 

 a union of shape and touch, as the medal cow, and as a 

 breeding animal she would most probably have had the 

 best of it. She was well supported by one of Mr. 

 Hunt's and another of Mr. Herbert's entries ; but, 

 taken altogether, the Shorthorns showed in no great 

 force. There were only four heifers entered, and 

 just as many steers. Mr. Stratton led the latter with 

 a red-and-white beast that has some of the Booth 

 blood in him. He will most likely be kept for 

 another year, but is to come on to the Smithfield 

 Club. Mr. Root's First-prize Shorthorn Ox is 

 a big, broad, useful beast, but not closely packed 

 enough, nor sufficiently low on the leg to rank as a very 

 fine sample of the sort. Lord Spencer sends a fair 

 second, but there have been many years when neither of 

 these would have attained the honours now awarded 

 them. By the evidence of this meeting, either good 

 Shorthorns are too good to feed, or they want hunting- 

 up a little. 



Mr. Turner, of Barton, had his usual pre-eminence 

 amongst the Devons. He himself sent the best ox, and 

 had sold to the Prince Consort the best steer, and the 

 pick of all the sort. They are both admirable illus- 

 trations of a most beautiful breed. The heads appear 

 to be getting even finer and prettier than ever, while 

 their extraordinary width of chest, rare backs, evenly- 

 covered bodies, and fineness of bone and quality, all 

 tend to assure us how well they will cut up. There is 

 scarcely any beast with so much prime beef about him. 

 Only ten in number, all the Devon Oxen were good ; 

 and of the females there were only two sent — one cow 

 and one heifer. The judges considered both worthy of 

 a prize, but the heifer, especially, was by no means a first- 

 class animal. 



There were five Long-horns sent to compete for 

 three prizes, and nearly all these bo inferior as to well 

 warrant the Society in discontinuing the class. Surely 

 Messrs . Chapman and Satchwell must see by this how 



much they are out of date. We can only go back to 

 bring such stock again into repute. 



The Scotch breeds brought half-a-dozen very good 

 Highlanders, of which Mr. Corbet, of Sundorne, a new 

 exhibitor, claimed the best. The two prize beasts, a 

 black and a grey, comprised the whole of the Welsh 

 entry. 



Certainly on this occasion one of the most improving, 

 and always one of the most interesting features, is the 

 show of cross-bred stock. In the oxen, there were three 

 very successful experiments — one tried by the Duke of 

 Beaufort between a Shorthorn and a common Gloucester 

 cow ; another, by Mr. Farquharson, of a Devon and 

 Highlander; and the third, that useful north-country 

 cross of the Sliorthorn bull with the polled Aberdeen 

 cow. The Hereford and Shorthorn, although more fre- 

 quently tried together, do not give such good results as 

 either of the three we have named. The Duke, who 

 is apparently fond of seeing how the different strains 

 will "hit," may now boast of the best ever exhibited. 

 So good was his beast thought by the judges, that it was 

 the only one they dwelt over previous to awarding the 

 gold medal. Had " the cross" taken it, the sensation 

 would have been very great. The Devon and Highland 

 union was also very happy ; while that employed by Mr. 

 Stewart has long been appreciated by those who have 

 the opportunity of using it. A first cross, many say, is 

 almost always a good one ; and, if so, why do we not 

 see more of it ? That is, of course, for butcher's meat, 

 and not with the vain hope of perpetuating the strain. 



The meeting a^so excelled in cross-bred sheep. Mr. 

 Wallis' two pens were some of the best ever entered at 

 any meeting, and about the heaviest in the Hall. Mr. 

 Wallis himself is an Oxfordshire man, and the favourite 

 sort sent against him were the Oxfordshire Downs. 

 Some very good breeders could not reach higher than a 

 commendation ; and others, heretofore renowned, not 

 even to that. There was more competition than usual 

 with the Southdowa and other Down sheep, where the 

 West Country and Hampshires tried their fortunes, but 

 with no effect. There were nine pens of Leicesters, and 

 five of other Longwools, the excellence of many of the 

 pens making up for the paucity of the entry ; the Cots- 

 wolds more particularly being nearly all good. But one 

 class each for these varieties is quite sufficient. In fact, 

 the Leicesters could not make up their second. The great 

 attraction of the sheep show, however, was, as it always has 

 been here, with the Shropshire Downs, who are stillgetting 

 better and better. Indeed the breeders of them are coming 

 to think there are few such in the world, and are so very 

 careful as to what they cross with. The Southdown 

 has lately gone rather out of vogue with them. It 

 is forty years since the Shropshires had horns, and by 

 this they should be strong enough to go alone. Cer- 

 tainly in their own districts there are none can show, or 

 yet more, "do" with them. The latter must be far the 

 more important point of the two ; for, really, showing a 

 sheep is fast becoming little more than mere trickery. 

 There were pens here— of short-wools and cross-breds 

 more particularly — that should have been at once con- 

 demned by the judge". The Society, in its published 



