THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 



39 



this, further thau that the two will not meet again in 

 Baker-street, as " Tweedside Lass" Mturna at once to 

 Penshurst — with the recommendation, just at present, of 

 not being exactly either a fat or breeding animal ! Curi- 

 ously enough, at thirteen days old, when coming from 

 the Bushey sale, this heifer broke her hind leg ; but it 

 was so well set, and so carefully tended, that without 

 being told, it would be impossible to say whether it were 

 the " near" or " oflF." 



Mr. Richard Stratton has only the credit of breeding 

 the first prize ox, for which we imagine he receives the 

 customary silver medal, though the official prize list is 

 strangely silent as to the fact. This is a big, heavy, up- 

 standing beast, but by no means a handsome one ; in- 

 deed, there was nothing particularly good-looking 

 amongst them. Mr. Manning's second is also a " big- 

 un ;" but there was another or so, over which we could 

 scarcely interpret the general commendation. However, 

 the pride of the Shorthorn " oxen or steers" rested 

 altogether on the Badminton beast, a wonderfully de- 

 veloped and truly-grown animal for his age — only two 

 years and nine months. The very first glance at him, as 

 you catch the deep red and white patches on his coat, tells 

 of Bates' blood, only the further to be confirmed by the 

 way in which he handles. Then he has the same character 

 expressed in his handsome head, while he stands very 

 grand before, and is wide, deep, and even "all over." 

 But his black nose is sure to go against him, and much 

 as the Judges admired this steer, we scarcely fancy an- 

 other court will be found to put quite so high an esti- 

 mate on him. Both Mr. Langston's second and Mr. 

 Stratton's third in this class were whites — the former of 

 the two a superior beast in many points, but nipped in 

 behind from an injury when a calf. The Sarsden herd 

 also sent a sweet shorthorn cow, which took the prize 

 in the extra stock, having unfortunately never bred, 

 notwithstanding her having undergone "the Bowley 

 operation." 



As a lot the one class of Hereford cows was the best 

 of the show. There was Mr. Pitt's deep broad one, 

 and Mr. Tudge's neater and prettier, that the Ludlow 

 and Hereford meetings had severally preferred, while 

 there was now another very handsome one of Mr. Hill's 

 to separate them. For use perhaps the Ludlow and Bir- 

 mingham decree was the more proper one, but still the 

 first prize has not the style of either of the other two, and 

 another set of judges would be very likely to take an- 

 other new reading over these three Graces. Mr. Cother 

 was also deservedly commended for a fine roomy cow, 

 lighter in colour and larger in frame than is just at pre- 

 sent the fashion. The only Hereford heifer of note was 

 the Messrs. Mappowder's, and she is so grand and good, 

 and altogether so full of promise, that one regrets to see 

 her thus early on the condemned list. Mr. Shirley again 

 had the best steer, with another full-fleshed, compact, 

 curly-coated one, but of nothing like the stamp of his 

 famous beast of last year ; and a long way the hand, 

 somest ox was Lord Aylesford's, bred by Mr. Tudge ; 

 he has fed very level, has a capital touch, and really 

 quite a model head, with a beautifully turned horn. 

 The second prize has been a great deal fancied this au- 



tumn by the Ludlow people, in which district he was 

 bred. He has great size, but otherwise did not come 

 up to the promises made in his name. Such good men 

 as Lord Batemen, Mr. Naylor, and Mr. Aid worth, came 

 in, it will be seen, for their commendations ; but either 

 for numbers or excellence the Hereford oxen or steers 

 were not to be compared with the entries of former 

 years. 



There were in all eleven Devons — two oxen, one of 

 which received the first prize and the other the second ; 

 one cow, with the first prize all to herself; four steers, 

 and four heifers. His Royal Highness the Prince 

 Consort was first in both the younger divisions with a 

 couple of Zouaves, and the heifer Lovelia, the pick 

 of the breed — our first favourite of many a meeting, but 

 now, alas ! on her way to the block. She looks as 

 handsome as ever, but her beauties now are only to be 

 reckoned in stones and pounds. Mr. Farquharson's 

 steer was quite a thorough-bred one in appearance, with 

 a clean fine head, a bright eye, and a horn that rambled 

 and twisted after the most picturesque of patterns. 

 Mr. Farthing's cow has had seven calves in ten years — 

 a far more liberal allowance than some of the very 

 "pure" can own to; and Mr. Overman exhibited ample 

 proof from his own herd that the Devons do none the 

 worse for transplanting. Mr. Faulkner, of Bretby, 

 showed the best Longhorn that has been out for years, 

 as we said of her when we first saw her a few months 

 back at beery Burton ; but she was oniy indifferently 

 supported here, and numbers did not go to make up for 

 merit. There is an "indecison" about the present 

 character of the Longhorn, which says how surely he is 

 going out. There was but one Welsh steer in his own 

 proper class, and he would stand no comparison with 

 the one referred to hereafter ; while the eight High- 

 landers were quite out-weighted by Mr. M'Combie's 

 grand Galloways; but two or three young things 

 amongst the Highlanders were more starved than fed, 

 and could so have no rank in a Fat Cattle Show. The 

 " other breeds" were made np of a curious composition 

 of crosses or no crosses. The first prize, for instance, 

 was a mouse-coloured, narrow-loined steer, described 

 as a " cross-bred Shorthorn," that is apparently a 

 common-bred beast of the genus Durham. We cer- 

 tainly preferred one or two in the class to him, more 

 especially his second, Colonel Pennant's finely-grown, 

 evenly-fed Welsh ox, which took the prize last Christ- 

 mas here in his class as Mr. Doig's, but has since been 

 transferred to the Colonel. The commended cross, 

 again, that famous nick between the Shorthorn and 

 Aberdeen, was a capital illustration of what may be done 

 in such a way ; while Mr. Beasley tried the Highlander 

 with the Durham ; Mr. Gibbs, the Longhorn and Short- 

 horn, and so on. But, as we said in our report last year, 

 " in this place, for a wonder, the catalogue is weak. Of 

 course the whole value of a cross rests upon the way in 

 which it is achieved, and the entry of such description 

 of stock cannot be considered perfect without these par- 

 ticulars. As to seeking information from a herdsman, 

 he frequently either does not or will not know. We 

 were calmly assured that one beast entered as ' a cross ' 



