378 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



die?" All we know is, that he saw the happy New 

 Year ia, and that on the last day of January he was 

 rather low in condition, but in full vigour and spirits; 

 and that oat of the eighty-five cows which were put to 

 him in his second season, seventy-nine had already 

 calved. His owner bought several with the B. brand, 

 which, from the immense care Mr. John Bolden — who 

 took over Mussulman, and other choice specimens of the 

 Bates, Booth, Cradock, and Lax blood — bestowed on 

 breeding, has long been synonymous with excellence in 

 the New World. On a muster, two years since, of these 

 B.'s and their progeny, they numbered about nine hun- 

 dred. All the females, with the exception of one hun- 

 dred and sixty, were spayed ; and these were again 

 reduced by culling one hundred, to the five dozen which 

 Mr. Ware reserved for a cross witli his Master But- 

 terfly. The rest of the aforesaid eighty-five were 

 made up by ten from Mr. Ware's brother, and fifteen 

 from Ferry Creek station. 



With such Australian gossip we beguiled our walk past 

 the front of the Hall, which lies in a hollow under Saga 

 Bank, to the head-quarters of the herd — about a good 

 bowshot beyond. A Chester prize sow by " Old Joe" wa^ 

 one of the first objects that caught our eye there ; and if 

 she or any of her present progeny ever appear at Baker- 

 street, with their bill of fare over their heads, we shall 

 enter a pretest with the stewards if coals is not one of 

 the items ; for more inveterate crunchers of that mineral 

 we can never hope to meet. This yard itself has gra- 

 dually risen from being an old timber one into its pre- 

 sent dignity. Twelve new loose boxes have been built, 

 and others are contemplated, so as to completely en- 

 circle it. They are all as comfortable as thought and 

 money can make them. The troughs are let into the 

 wall ; the corners are all levelled, and while the ventila- 

 tion is managed through the door and from above, the 

 draught all comes from below. We began with Butterfly 

 v., out of Butterfly III., who has every appearance of 

 sustaining the family charter, and then Roan Duchess 11, 

 marched forth. She gets a strong touch of the Duchess 

 horn, is still as even as a heifer, and displays to perfec- 

 tion that wonderful back which tells of her descent from 

 Kirkleavington. All the Royal and Yorkshire prizes 

 fell to her in succession ; and such are her milking 

 qualities, that she gave sixteen quarts after her first 

 calving. So far she has had three calves, and she is in 

 calf again to Royal Butterfly. Iler dam. Roan 

 Duchess, out of Red Duchess by Cleveland Lad, was 

 bred by Mr. Wetherell, and was bought at his sale by 

 Mr. Eastwood, in 1850. She was afterwards sold to 

 Kentucky, in calf to Frederick; and the produce, a bull- 

 calf, is named Towneley, and wears a silver ring in 

 his nose as a token of his high lineage. 



From her we passed on to Rose of Towneley, by the 

 Squire (a half-brother to Frederick) out of Roseleaf, 

 who goes back to the Barmpton Rose tribe, and was 

 sold to the French Government. They had only one 

 more by him, which found a purchaser in Mr. Thorne, of 

 New York, for 400 guineas— so that Frederick does not 

 seem to have monopolized all the family virtue. Rose 

 of Towneley herself is so level and straight behind, that 



she forms a complete parallelogram, thick and compact 

 as needs be, and with rare length from the huggins ; but 

 perhaps her handling might be better. Beauty's But- 

 terfly (the Smithfield candidate) stood third, and never 

 did heifer lay it on more level everywhere. She began 

 once as if for calving ; but it was a false alarm. There 

 is no superfluity of bosom ; but it was delightful to get 

 her foreshortened, and catch the fine sweep of 

 the crops and that half-acre of back. Anon we 

 came to the Chester ten, through whom Booth's 

 Queen of the Isles swept so proudly; and out 

 they came in pairs ; beginning with the very gay Fre- 

 derica's Rosa, and the very thick Venillia's Butterfly, 

 the last of ihe pledges that Master Butterfly left to 

 his birthplace. Alice Butterfly and Young Barmpton 

 Rose, by " Dick," made a second couplet ; and, like the 

 two former, each of them has had a calf. " Dick" was 

 doubly represented, in the next box, by Emma and 

 Pearl ; both thick-fleshed and near the ground, and each 

 the dam of a bull-calf. Emma has been put to Royal 

 Butterfly, and she took our fancy more than any up to 

 that point; or even Evadne by Frederick, and Violante 

 by Valiant, out of Roan Duchess, However, we veered 

 round from " Dick" to Frederick, when we caught a 

 sight of his two daughters. Diadem and Fidelity, The 

 latter is very good ; but still we always expect to see 

 Diadem keep her pride of place. This beautiful straw- 

 berry roan has not that wondrous wealth which enchains 

 the eye in Queen of the Isles ; but she wears the exact 

 Towneley type of fine, well-sustained length and substance, 

 with that undeniable back which came in with Frede- 

 rick, Then we looked at the rather small, but neat Brace- 

 let, a three-year-old heifer by him, out of Pearly, sister to 

 Ringlet (who was bought by Mr. Douglas for 500 guineas 

 at two years old) ; and near her stood one of the produce 

 of these ten young mothers, to wit, Rose of Lancaster, 

 out of Young Barmpton Rose, and a grand-daughter 

 of Rosemary, who won the first prize at Paris for 

 yearling heifers. The former is the best of the two, 

 and looks like a " Folio w-me" sort of lady when show- 

 days come round. 



The young bull calf Bowbearer was still being nursed 

 by his dam Frederick's Victoria, who was not three-and- 

 twenty months when he was calved, and the little fellow 

 speaks for himself as to the milking properties of the 

 Frederick blood. He is by Baron Hopewell (by Hope- 

 well out of Baroness, by Baron Warlaby), whom Col. 

 Towneley has bought, as a new cross for the heifers 

 by blaster Butterfly out of Frederick's cows. So far 

 they have used him sparingly ; but Bowbearer, who has a 

 great deal of the Hopewell about him in the sweet coun- 

 tenance, and slightly upright horns, as well as two other 

 bull calves, out of the Barmpton Rose tribe, furnish 

 every encouragement to proceed. 



Anon we adjourned to the Frederick side of the 

 house, and found Field Mate, by him out of Vestris 

 III., full of quality and hair, but rather low in condition. 

 Before her son. Gold Medal by Jasper (half brother to 

 Butterfl\ ), came on to parade, we asked after Victoria, 

 the queen of the dozen wreaths for flesh and figure, and 

 found that she had been slaughtered in November, She 



