THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



151 



THE AGE OF STOCK; 



WHEN TO BE TAKEN FOR ENTRY AT CATTLE SHOWS. 



At a preliminary meeting recently lield at Kelso to make 

 arrangements for the Highland Society's visit in 1862, 



Mr. Haxl Maxwell, the Secretary of the Society, said 

 what they were to-day called on to consider was, in the 

 first place, whether the 1st of January, as at present, 

 should be the date from which the stock should take their 

 ages, or whether it should be changed to the 1st of Octo- 

 ber. About two years ago the whole system of the Society's 

 Shows had been overhauled by a committee composed of 

 gentlemen from all the different districts in Scotland, and 

 they had framed certain general rules in relation to the 

 Shows which had since then always been acted upon, and 

 were to be so acted upon at this approaching Show at 

 Perth. In reference to the question of age, that committee 

 recommended that the 1st cf January should be given up 

 aa the starting point, and that the 1st of October should be 

 taken in its place. When he (Mr. Maxwell) went to Perth 

 last year, he reported this change, and the doubts which 

 the Directors of the Highland Society had to its propriety. 

 At the meeting in Perth a memorial to the Directors was 

 agreed to, asking the 1st of Januai-y to be again substituted 

 as the starting point for age. The Directors agreed to the 

 recommendation, and fixed the 1st of January as the time 

 from which the age of stock was to be calculated, agreeing 

 at the same time to leave the question open till tho meet- 

 ing at Kelso, there to take the sense of the agriculturists 

 of the South of Scotland on the point; and if they should 

 recommend the 1st of Januaiy, that it should be a rule of 

 the Society. Since then a large committee have again had 

 the matter under consideration in Edinburgh, and they 

 have come to the conclusion that the 1st of January is the 

 proper period from which to calculate the ago. Much 

 discussion arose at that meeting as to the propriety of 

 having the 1st of January as the period in the case of all 

 the breeds save Shorthorns, and it was suggested that for 

 them the time should be the 1st of October. He had taken 

 the trouble to see whether there were many Shorthorns 

 calved in the three months before Januai7, as some ex- 

 hibitors had complained that the stock which was calved 

 in October or November was not put in with that calved 

 after the lat of Januaiy. iVell, it was found that of 233 

 head of cattle only eight had been calved between the 1st 

 of October and the 1st Januai-y, and out of 86 Shorthorns 

 at the Edinburgh Show the numbers calved in the three 

 preceding months had only been five. At the Dumfries 

 Show, of 75 Shorthorns the births had been five in the 

 three months preceding, and out of 223 of all other breeds 

 not one had been calved in these months. The Committee 

 of the Society were of opinion that any alteration now 

 •would increase the number of such complaints as he had 

 alluded to, and would othenvise be veiy inconvenient, and 

 they recommended that the 1st of Januaiy be retained as 

 the period for calculating ages from. He (Mr. MaxwcU) 

 had been desired to bring this subject under the notice of 

 the meeting with a view of aiTiving at a final decision, and 

 he now left the matter in their hands. 



Sir William Scott said the Royal Agricultural Society 

 adopted the 1st of Januaiy as the date, and they had a 



good precedent in the case of the breeding of race-horses. 

 In former days it used to be counted from the Ist of May, 

 but afterwards this date was altered to the 1st of Januar}'. 

 This had continued now for many years, and evei7thing 

 had gone on very smoothly and harmoniously. He could 

 not help thinking that the breeders of race-horses — who 

 were generally a sharp-witted class of people — had not 

 adhered to this date without good reason. The case of 

 prize cattle was quite analogous to race-horses, and liR 

 thought that the same rule in this respect shordd be held 

 to apply in both cases. 



Mr. CuEKY, solicitor, said that the period for calculating 

 ages of stock in connection with the Union Agricultural 

 Society was always the 1st of January, and it had been 

 found to work well on all occasions. 



Mr. Dudgeon, Spylaw, said he only spoke what he be- 

 lieved to be the unanimous feeling of the meeting when 

 he moved that in the opinion of the present meeting the 

 present nale, fixing the date at the 1st of January, should 

 be adhered to, 



Mr. FAmBAiBN seconded the motion, which was earned 

 unanimously. 



OUR FARMERS. 



Their homes are their castlea, their hearthstones a throne- 

 They rule with no sceptre the kingdoms they own ; 

 The stalks, and the vines, and tlie fruit-bearing tree, 

 Are subjects that bend not to tyrants the knee ; 



But bend with the weight of the orchard and field, 

 Ever loyal and faithful, a harvest to yield; 

 No planning and plotting among them is known, 

 No traitor the sovereign would strike from his throne. 



He stands 'midst his acres of grass, wheat, and maize. 

 Like Crusoe, "the monarch of all he surveys," 

 His banks are the earth-banks that stand on his farm — 

 The banks that are safe when the panics alarm; 



The stock is the cattle — not fancy in breed; 



The shares are the plough-s/iaces that score for the seed, 



Not quoted on 'Change in the broker's array. 



But shares on wWch Nature will dividends pay. 



Their banks are not those that the widows condemn—' 



No officers pilfer deposits from them ; 



If small the potatoes that in them are found, 



Yet none are as small as we find out of ground: 



The farmer with appetite ever can eat 



The bread on his table, " as good as the wheat ;" 



And, loving most dearly his wife, he may utter, 



" My bread and my wife ! I'll not have any but her!'\ 



With juice of the apple the wife then may fill 

 The glass in which lingers no tremors or ill ; 

 And she may respond that, whatever betide her. 

 Most happy she'll be witli her husband heside her! 



There's many a hearth where the embers are glowing; 

 There's many a heart with its joys overflowing; 

 The hearths and the hearts, from the world's rude alaims, 

 Are safe in the homes that are reartd on our farms. 



