THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



467 



down to Mr. Torr, at the BusheyGrove Sale, in 1853 for 

 40 gs. He was assured that he would never get her home ; 

 but he did notwithstanding, and she has had three calves 

 to Vanguard, one of which, Ringleader, was sold for 

 150 gs., and she has now a very grand one, Royal Hope, 

 by Hopewell, at her side, for which the above sum would 

 be oflFered in vgin. Her shoulders are still very clean 

 and fine, but the back sinews of her off hind fttlock 

 have defied a whole druggist's shop of iodine, cantharides, 

 and liquid blister. Still she breeds very regularly by 

 being kept cool ; and Mr. Torr has always had such a 

 fancy for her, that he bid 145 gs. for her daughter, 

 Rival, by Puritan, at the same sale; but Mr. Harvey 

 Combe was not to be foiled. 



Leaving her on the left, we came ne\t to a number 

 of new fold-yards, with tile-covered sheds, most admi- 

 rably adapted for young stock, and as these are shortly 

 to be faced by a large number of loose boxes, this 

 " Old Garth" will become the head quarters of the 

 Shorthorn colony. In a temporary box near them we 

 espied four Hopewell heifers, two of them twins out of 

 Gilt ; and another a grand-daughter of Water Witch, 

 which well bears out Mr. Torr's experience, that the 

 second cross of Booth on Rates realizes expectations, 

 while the first is often disheartening. The " Hopewell 

 heifer head" began to multiply atself, as we looked into 

 the first fold yard, and met the gaze of eight out of ten by 

 him. The other two were by Vanguard, from the 

 Hopewell cows, Young Bracelet and Lady Hopetoun. 

 Young Bracelet was bought at the Killerby sale for 

 40 gs., and combines the blood of old Bracelet in an 

 eminent degree, on both dam's and sire's side. Among 

 the next eight, is a splendid red heifer, War Medal, 

 from Warrior's Bride, who is a successful instance of a 

 third cross on Bates, and might tempt many a man to 

 " train" forthwith. Five cows stood together in the 

 adjoining yard, and among them Lady Hopetoun, from 

 Gertrude, (who was bought by Mr. Torr for 160 gs., at 

 Mr. Bolden's Springfield sale); thick, low, and neat, 

 but rather big in the hips. There, too, was Gleamy, a 

 fine stylish Vanguard cow, for whom, in 1854, the Ohio 

 Company bid 150 gs., the very day she cast her calf- 

 She beat a large field of cows at Louth three years after' 

 and Gleam, by Baron Warlaby, then a grand trio. 

 Glisten, Glittering Star, and Gloamin, by Vanguard, 

 and Grey Dawn, by Grey Friar, are the best testimony 

 to her private and public worth. 



The highest purchase of the herd was now to come in 

 Britannia by Bolden's First Grand Duke, from Booth's 

 Bridget, by Baron Warlaby. She was knocked down to 

 Mr. Torr for 270 gs. at Mr. Ambler's sale; and he 

 offered Mr, Bolden 300 gs. for her half-sister Bride Cake, 

 in vain. Such was her state of fat when she came, that it 

 was necessary to put her into a regular course of reduc- 

 tion by walks and treacle, and under this regim e she 

 defeated Mr. Wetherell's celebrated Venus at Grantham. 

 After coming to Aylesby she bred a roan bull calf to 

 Hopewell, but it only lived half a day ; and she is due to 

 British Prince in June. She is a very fine model of a 

 shorthorn : lengthy and near the ground, and with a 

 very sweet head, and looks to have constitution enough 



to go on a mountain top. But for her somewhat high 

 hips, many would consider her as pretty nearly sym- 

 metry itself. The great stylish Garland looked as 

 blooming as she did at Fawsley ; although the yellow, 

 red, and white arc somewhat against her, in spite of the 

 Hubback precedent ; but Mr. Torr has no reason to 

 sigh after the 91 gs. which he bid from the ladder on 

 that drenching day. One of Glisten's eyes has closed 

 on this sublunary scene ; and as she has ceased to breed, 

 the critic's eye will rest on her no more except as a 

 Christmas-beef candidate, at more than five-and-twenty 

 stone a quarter. The elegant Flower by Baron War- 

 laby is also on the wane, after having produced twins 

 last year to Hopewell, and a bull calf to him this year ; 

 which has, we trust, without reason, been termed Final 

 Hope. A lot of heifers suckling their calves occupied 

 the last yard ; and among them the clever Gayhope may 

 well inherit the Booth loin and hair, as he has no less 

 than four direct crosses of living Warlaby bulls — Hope- 

 well, Bridesman, Crown Prince, and Vanguard— in 

 his pedigree ; while the handsome roan heifer calf. Village 

 Hope, beside him, out of Village Maid by Crown 

 Prince, goes back to Whitaker's celebrated Wharfdale 

 Lady. 



This inspection over, we harked back to the kennel- 

 yard, and had a look at Guiding Star by Crown Prince, 

 who reminds us more of Nectarine Blossom than any 

 cow in the herd. Here, too, was Bright Gem, with a 

 very beautiful calf, Bemgn Hope, which is perhaps the 

 most sweetly moulded young thing in the herd. Youth 

 and age came into strange juxtaposition when the ancient 

 remains of old Gertrude, who was bought for 100 gs. at 

 Mr. Bolden's sale, emerged from the next box ; but the 

 fine handling and " arched rib springing from a straight 

 back bone" (as that rare judge, the late Mr. William 

 Hargrave, of Caistor, was wont to say) are still there, 

 and she is in calf to British Prince. Her son. Blood 

 Royal, a large, massive bull, with whom she was in calf 

 to the Duke of Bolton at the sale, was tied up near her. 

 He may well bear his name, as his sire was by Grand 

 Duke from Florence, by Second Duke of York, g. d. 

 Booth's Fame — a treble combination seldom achieved. 

 Silver Star was far too ill to think of stirring ; but 

 British Prince, the locum (eiiens of Hopewell, came on 

 to the parade ground. He is by Crown Prince from 

 Bianca, and although not a bull on a large scale, he has 

 remarkable compactness of form and fine loin, and his 

 bosom is only exceeded by that of his half-sister Bride 

 Elect. 



Having thus disposed of the home department, the 

 white " woldsman's pony" took us, at a smart canter, 

 in the wake of a kinswoman to Orestes (on which our 

 host made very strong running), through the hundreds 

 of " white ivories" to the first outlying farmstead at 

 Irby Dales. This celebrated glen contains one of the 

 best echoes and surest fox-finds in the Brocklesby Hunt ; 

 and it is on record that the merits of the grey Peter 

 Simple were first discovered in a run from it, in a very 

 misty day. Mr. Torr's holding is at the very head of 

 the glen, near which is a long sedgy lake, on which 

 scores of black Buenos Ay res ducks, with their burnished 



