416 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



PROPOSED PREMIUMS FOR IRISH=BRED STOCK, 

 THE IRISH SHORT-HORN. 



To Captain Croker, Ballynaujard. 



Dear Si r,— In the report of the last Monthly C ouncil Meeting 

 of the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society, my attention 

 was drawn to your bringing before the Council a letter of Mr. 

 Campion's, containing two of the moat important topics to all 

 interested in the breeding of short-horns in Ireland that can 

 well be discussed. 



Now being well aware of your desire to forward the breed- 

 ing of improved stock in the country, and that your only wish 

 is, fdirly to have every subject connected with it viewed in all 

 its bearings; and having had lately some little experience of 

 the weight of your influence, backed out by the perseverance 

 and energy that always accompany it ; I shall make it my only 

 apology for troubling you with the following remarks, on the 

 subject of Mr. Campion's letter. 



Few indeed but will admit, that special prizes, for Irish-bred 

 stock, would add an additional stimulant to the competition at 

 our shows, and thus be productive of some good ; and as having 

 had something to do with the breeding and exhibiting of stock, 

 I can assure you, nothing would be more encouraging to the 

 young beginner, or more soothing to the over-agitated frame 

 and irritable nervous system of an old warrior on the eve of a 

 fresh contest, than the knowledge of the fact, that in one sec- 

 tion of prizes, at least, he would have a friendly shield inter- 

 posed between him and the overwhelming weight of some of 

 our great dons ; and thus not have to run the risk of appearing 

 before the public shorn of all laurels. But, though this view 

 of the subject may appear very well, take care we do not buy 

 our felicity at too dear a price. How would it appear, going 

 before the world, in the prize sheet of the Royal Society, that 

 the Irish-bred short-horns aie not able to compete with the 

 English and Scotch ? And how would it tell on, and bear out 

 the fact, that has lately been gaining ground, and getting cir- 

 culated even to the far western states of the new world, that 

 better and cheaper short-horns are to be had in Ireland 

 than in any part of the world? And which now has the 

 effect of regularly bri.iging round the buyers for Australia 

 every autumn, to pick up all the young bulls they can. 

 And would it not even do much to rebuEf the fact, that 

 such men as Colonel Towneley, Mr. Stratton, and others, 

 are now glad to come to Ireland to look for their bulls ? 

 And would it not tend to keep us still longer out of 

 the foreign trade in short-horns ? — which, after all, has been 

 the great stimulant to breedmg in England — or, in a word, 

 would it not cast a slur on our breeding? My idea has always 

 been, that anything that tends to draw the least distinction 

 between our stock and the English will tell to our disadvan- 

 tage; how much more injurious would it then be for us, thus 

 to set up and publish our inferiority. I may here also say, 

 this wish to avoid all distinction between the English, Scotch, 

 and Irish stock, is the cause of my great objections to a sepa- 

 rate registry of Irish short-horns. 



But, after all, this is not the mean point of the question ; 

 the question to consider is— do we ia reality require protec- 

 tion ? To which I decidedly answer, no ; if we are only put 

 on a fair footing with the English exhibitions, and protected 

 against those animals that belong to the " little trade," as Mr. 

 Campion calls it ; or, at least, let them be made to fulfil fairly 



the conditions of the Society, and then trade or no trade ani- 

 mals will make but little matter. But as this will at once 

 bring us into the much-vexed question of over-feeding and its 

 results, which affects English as well as Irish breeders, let us 

 first see how, at our own shows, we are not on even terms (so 

 far, at least, as has been shown up, before the public is con- 

 cerned) with our English and Scotch friends. 



What I complain of is, that not only do the English and 

 Scotch breeders get every facility (and very justly) of enterin*, 

 having stock brought free, &c., but they are also always afforded 

 an opportunity of first testing the merits of their animals at 

 home, at the great all-England show ; and not only are our 

 entries fixed for closing the day after the all-England show, 

 but our secretary is sent over specially to invite the one or two 

 champions of (I may say) the world, to let us, as it were, see 

 how much in the back ground we are, and to knock the conceit 

 and spirit out of all our young hands ; but if this was the only 

 effect of this system it would be of little matter, as, in my 

 mind, a sound thrashing does one good, as it fixes firmly in 

 the eye a higher standard of the perfection to which we must 

 work our stock before we can hope for success. It has, how- 

 ever, other and far more serious effects, and tends virtually to 

 benumb the whole short-horn trade at home ; as this constant 

 bringing before the eyes of our agriculturists nothing but the 

 single top animal of all England, exalts their ideas of all Eng- 

 lish-bred stock, and, consequently, when they have eighty or 

 one-hundred pounds to give for a bull, off they go to England; 

 and I could now name more than one instance where parties 

 have paid dear for their trip, by giving their money for a very 

 second or even third-rate animal; the idea of his being English 

 bred being sufficient for them. 



That English-bred short-horns, taken as a whole, possess no 

 such superiority is evident to any real judge who had an op- 

 portunity of seeing the stock exhibited at the last spring show 

 of our Dublin Society, and then paying a visit to Chester, and 

 inspecting the shcrt-horn classes there. And what though 

 Mr. Douglas did walk off with the Dublin Society's cup 

 with his heifers (he won also with his heifers at Chester)» 

 and though he also won with his yearling bull (the first 

 time it was ever won by an English or Scotch exhibition, 

 though they have often tried), none of the Irish breeders 

 envied him ; for he in his turn (quite as often as he has won) 

 has on former occasions lent his aid to grace their triumphs. 

 And if we looked to the two-year-old bull class, we would 

 see some of the Yorkshiremen themselves added to the 

 laurels of the Irish winners ; or could any one doubt, but that 

 the prize bulls at Chester, which by their age wonld have come 

 into this class, would have shared the same fate if they were 

 there ; and if we only look over the prize lists of the Royal 

 Dublin Society for a few years back, we will find many names 

 recording the superiority of the Irish stock, and among others> 

 the uo-less-celebrated ones than " Grand Turk," and " Lady 

 Mary." That it requires as severe a test as the all-England 

 show to make sure of winning in Ireland, the history of the 

 Society itself proves, for at the last meeting, held at Cork, the 

 late Mr. Harvey Combe' sent over his bull, which was second- 

 prize two-year-old bull for the year at the All-England show, 



