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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



honorary commendations in the section were confined 

 to Mr, "Welsh's Maid of Kilbogget and Mr. Christy's 

 Queen of Beauty the second. The Maid was the win- 

 ner for her breeder Mr. Barcroft, in 1857, when a 

 yearling, of the Challenge Cup ; but last year she stood 

 third to Mr. Douglas's two grand heifers. She culved 

 lately, and when shown was " out of sorts." Mr. 

 Christy's Queen is a remarkably fine animal in many 

 respects, particularly in her shoulder, back, and loin. 



The last section in the shorthorn division was allotted 

 to cows of any age, in calf, or having had a live calf 

 within twelve months preceding the date of the show ; 

 and in this section Mr. Ambler stood again the winner 

 of the first prize. His cow Woodbine, bred by Mr. R- 

 Dudding, Panton, Wragby, has proved herself first-rate 

 at Chester, and at many other shows in England. She 

 again takes home the special prize in her class, and the 

 Gold Rledal as the best of all the milch cows in the 

 yard. Mr. Welsh, of Limerick, was second with a very 

 good cow, bred by Mr. Maxwell, of Croom. 



The judges of shorthorns were H. Smith, Drax Ab- 

 bey; George Atkinson, Seaham ; and James Parkinson, 

 Layfields. 



The chief interest of the Show, at least in the cattle 

 section, was of course confined in a great measure to 

 the Shorthorns ; and if it had not been for the Kerries, the 

 back alley of the building, which was occupied with the 

 " miscellaneous breeds" would have been comparatively 

 neglected. The Kerries, however, being such favourites 

 with the Irish ladies, drew around them a constant stream 

 of fair admirers, and certainly some of the animals ex- 

 hibited were unique specimens of the bovine race. This 

 breed is very little known in England ; but we feel sure, 

 that if known, it would be much run upon, especially 

 by the occupants of suburban villas, and others, who have 

 not much ground at their disposal, but who would at the 

 same time feel desirous of enjoying the benefit of their 

 own dairy, with the possession of a pet cow. The milk 

 of the Kerry is very rich, and produces more butter 

 than that of the Ayrshire and some of the other breeds 

 which are considered as being specially dairy cattle. 

 They are of different colours, most of them being black, 

 or black with large patches of white, brown, and brown 

 with a white or strawberry back. Some of the speci- 

 mens of cows in-calf exhibited in Dublin did not much 

 exceed 36 inches in height, and although others were rather 

 larger-sized, the breed is diminutive, and occupies the 

 same place amongst cattle as the Shetland pony does 

 amongst horses. The principal exhibitors at Dublin 

 were, Lord Charlemont, Hon. W. Talbot, Sir Edward 

 M'Donnel, Mr. Ralph Cusack, and Mr. Campion. 



In the other breeds which were included in this 

 division, there were several fair Devons exhibited by 

 Lord Charlemont, and Scotch polled by Lord Talbot de 

 Malahide and Mr. Allan Pollok. At one period the 

 Angus and Galloway breeds appeared likely to occupy a 

 fair position amongst Irish cattle: but the all-conquering 

 Short-horn has tended to prevent this, although occasion- 

 ally some good lots are to be met with, amongst which 

 the herds belonging to the two gentlemen we have 

 uamed, to Lord Lurgnn, and one or twp others, whose 



names we have met with in the catalogue of bygone Irish 

 shows, stand pre-eminent. Those breeds, however, would 

 be found very profitable on some of the middling classes 

 of land in Ireland, and they produce, as our readers 

 well know, a splendid description of cattle, when crossed 

 with the Shorthorn. Lord Talbot's cow was, we were 

 informed, exhibited by his Lordship at Paris in 185G, 

 and was a winner at that Great Exhibition of All Nations. 

 The specimens of the other breeds in the division scarcely 

 deserve special notice. 



Considering the character of the show of fat stock 

 which was held in Dublin in November last, we ex- 

 pected to have seen a better exhibition at this time ; but 

 we were disappointed, and the best animals in the divi- 

 sion were Lord Shannon's Devon ox, Mr. Christy's 

 Shorthorn cow, and Mr. Pollock's Kerry heifer. With 

 these exceptions, the animals brought forward were not 

 above mediocrity. 



The entries in the sheep sections were fully as numer- 

 ous as usual ; but this department of the Spring Show 

 in Dublin is seldom overcrowded. The Leicester Class 

 was generally very good ; and ia the shearling rams, 

 Mr. Owen got first and second prizes with two prime 

 sheep, the first having been bred by himself, and the second 

 by Mr. Torr. Col. C. P. Leslie, INI. P., received a com- 

 mendation for his shearling, bred in Scotland. In aged 

 rams, Mr. Owen was again the winner of the first prize 

 with bis three-shear ram— very good in back and breast ; 

 and Mr. Themder was highly commended — being equiva- 

 lent to second prize — for his three-shear ram. Both of 

 these sheep were bred by their exhibitors. Mr. Them- 

 der's two lots of hogget rams took first and second 

 prizes. These were both very good lots, and descended 

 from the flocks of Messrs. Sanday and Cresswell. A 

 pen of stylish ewes, belonging to Mr. Owen, got the 

 first prize in their section ; and Mr. Riall's pen was 

 highly commended. Mr. Livingston Thompson also 

 exhibited a lot of very nicely-bred Leicesters in this 

 section. In ewe hoggets Mr. Owen and Mr. Themder 

 were again first and second. Some of the other lots in 

 this section were also of a good sort. 



In long-woolled sheep not qualified to compete as 

 Leicesters, Mr. Beale Browne had it nearly all his own 

 way, having got all the first prizes in the class ; Mr. 

 David Kerr, a well-known Irish breeder, of long- 

 established repute, being second to him in the shearling 

 and hogget ram sections, and Mr. Bole in that of ewe 

 hoggets. Still we thought that Mr. Browne's sheep 

 were, in some cases, scarcely as good as we have seen 

 him exhibit at other times. 



In the short-woolled class, nearly every animal shown 

 were Shropshires, a breed which is fast gaining favour in 

 Ireland, and many of the pens were from the flocks of 

 some of our best Midland breeders. The judges, however, 

 were apparently prepossessed in favour of long-wools, 

 and, consequently, a more open fleece, with a longer 

 staple than belongs to the Shropshire, was preferred by 

 them, wherever there was a choice. The successful 

 exhibitors were Mr. Broughton and Mr. Hamilton. 



In the Cheviot class there were soaie good sheep 

 gbown, but the competition was confined to two e.\M- 



