440 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



stance, but the principle of insisting on a live calf is 

 itself tlioroughly sound. It goes directly to the cor- 

 rection of the abuse. 



MR. DOUGLAS'S PRIZE HEIFERS. 



The following letter was read at the last Council Meeting 

 of, the Koyal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland : 

 " AlJielslaneford, March 28, 1859. 



"My Dear Sir,— The heifer I showed at Londonderry, 

 which was awarded the first prize in the two-years-old class, 

 also the Purcell challenge cup, was sold by me to a Mr. Bar. 

 ret, of Henderson, Kentucky, at a very long price, and war- 

 ranted in calf. She sailed from Londonderry in November 

 last for New Orleans, but along with a number of others died 

 on the passage, from the severity of the voyage. Mr. Black 



(brother-iu-law to Mr. Barrett) of Lislaas, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, 

 was entrusted with carrying out the arrangements of the ship- 

 ment, &c., and can testify to the fact as I have stated. I can 

 give you my word and honour the Queen of Trumps was in 

 calf to the bull Sir James the Rose, and can afford certificate 

 from the herdsman that such was the case. I believe this in- 

 formation will be satisfactory to you, aud will feel obliged by 

 your forwarding me the premium. Venus de Medici has not 

 qualified herself. 



"Mr. Black will be at the Royal Dublin spring show, and 

 you can see him there. I shall not be present.— Yours, truly, 



" J. M. Boyse, Esq." " James Douglas. 



Resolved— " That the secretary do write to Mr. James 

 Douglas, and express the regret of the council that, as the 

 heifer did not produce a live calf as required by the condition 

 in the premium sheet, the prize cannot be paid to him." 



THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 



SPRING snow. 



The Annual Spring Show of this Society has just 

 passed off, and, on the whole, very successfully. The 

 Irish breeders turned out well ; at the same time they 

 were not allowed to retain all the honours, their English 

 friends having taken a fair place, and given them some- 

 thing to do as well as to think upon. Last year the 

 challenge cup of the Society went to Athelstaneford ; 

 this year it goes to Lancashire, very near Towneley-hall 

 where the former cup found its final destination. Whilst' 

 therefore, the Emerald Isle has done well, it must put 

 on the steam and do something better yet, if there be 

 any desire to retain that trophy which is so peculiarly 

 their own. 



In former times the Spring Show was held in open 

 yards, with ranges of sheds, where the cattle were nei- 

 ther comfortably lodged nor were they seen to advan- 

 tage. Last year a new hall was opened for the pur- 

 poses of the meeting, and although it is still unfinished, 

 it affords a vast accession to the comfort of the animals 

 as well as to the visitors. That it is not entirely 

 finished does not, we regret to say, augur well for the 

 public spirit of our Irish friends ; and we think that, for 

 their own sake, they ought not to lose time in subscrib- 

 ing such an amount as will allow the Society to put the 

 finishing touches to their really commodious and hand- 

 some building. 



The Spring Show of the Dublin Society has, for seve- 

 ral years, been much resorted to by those who were de- 

 sirous of procuring young bulls, especially of the short- 

 horned breed ; and, as a consequence of this demand, 

 the yearling-bull section is always a very prominent 

 feature in the show. It is true that many of the ani- 

 mals brought forward were, like Pindar's razors, got up 

 more for sale than for use, and many brutes found their 

 way into the show catalogue which ought never to 

 have been kept as bulls. Some recent restrictive mea- 

 sures, amounting to a prohibition in the case of low- 

 priced animals, have done good in weeding this depart- 

 ment; and if numbers are fewer, the section presents a 



more select appearance. Those who consider small prices 

 the criterion of cheapness and excellence, may no doubt 

 regret the change ; but all who know wherein their true 

 interests lie, will rejoice in the comparative freedom 

 which now exists from the annoyance of being crowded 

 up by a mass of rubbish. 



The great interest of the show in the cattle classes 

 was, of course, centred in the short-horns. In the 

 section of yearling bulls, Mr. Ambler's " Royal Turk" 

 got the first prize. He is a nice and rather stylish ani- 

 mal, rich colour, nice shoulders, but not very good in 

 his hind quarters. He was awarded also the medal as 

 the second-best of all the prize bulls — the wisdom of 

 both of which decisions was very generally disputed. A 

 capital yearling, purchased by Mr. Allan Pollok, at 

 Lord Dufferin's sale, was placed second ; a position to 

 which his good shape, particularly in his back and loins, 

 and his prime quality, well entitled him. The third 

 bull belonged to Col. Leslie— a little coarse, but having 

 plenty of good hair, and otherwise a sufficient substance 

 to make him very promising. The highly-commended 

 and commended bulls, belonging to Messrs. Pollok, 

 Keating, Wood, and Napier, were all of good quality, 

 the first being a little narrow round the breast, and the 

 latter perhaps not quite equal on the back. But we 

 may say that the judges could have had no difficulty 

 whatever in adding to the honorary list in this section. 



The prizes in the two-year-old section were well con- 

 tested ; but there is not a doubt that the right one was in 

 the right place, when Mr. Barnes' white bull, Dr. 

 McHale, of regular and unmixed Warlaby descent, not- 

 withstanding his Celtic cognomen, was placed first, al- 

 though he did beat on this occasion Sir Colin, the gold- 

 medal bull of the Derry show. Dr. McHale is through- 

 out a prime bull, his back and loin unimpeachable, and 

 we do not hesitate to say that he was the best bull in 

 the show of any age, although he did not get the 

 medal as such. Sir Colin is unquestionably a good 

 bull, but he is a little coarse in the shoulder, and a little 



