234 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



The crowning point, however, of all his excellence 

 was his action. As the German Baron said when 

 he saw him out at Hasketon — " Ah ! superbe ! One 

 leetle run more ! Magnijique ! One run more 1" 

 until Mr. Weatherby and his owner began to think 

 the distinguished foreigner would never tire of 

 seeing him go. And we ourselves saw The North 

 Star on parade at both the scenes of his successes 

 in the South, whither he only came in I860. But 

 at the Norwich meeting he had a shoe loose, and 

 the side of Framlingham Castle Hill, however 

 pretty and picturesque, was not just the place 

 to show a horse off. Still, whether walking, 

 trotting, or standing to his number on the 

 ground, there was nothing to compare with the 

 Yorkshireman. The dumpling-eating worthies of 

 Norfolk have been crossing their famous Phe- 

 nomena out of their own strain into something 

 bigger and worse, and in Suffolk the want of a 

 real roadster was as much felt. Captain Barlow 

 then did good service, when on his return from one 

 of his Northern tours he brought the brown horse 

 back with him ; though we have already, as it will 

 have been noticed, had to speak of the young 

 "Wildfire in the past. The German Baron, despite his 

 notes of admiration, was no buyer ; but the agent 

 of another foreign noble came, saw, and took him. 

 The North Star was purchased by Mr. Cavaliero for 

 Prince Esterhazy's stud, and when he had got a 

 lot aboard, Mr. Weatherby, who went to bid them 

 bon voyage, declared the Hasketon horse was 

 worth all the rest. But The North Star has left 

 some good remembrance behind him. Previous to 

 coming into Suffolk he covered for three seasons 

 in Lancashire, and his stock, now rising three 

 years old, are remarkably promising, of good shape, 

 and good goers. Mr. Burch's roan mare, which 



took premiums at the Suffolk and the Canterbury 

 meetings in the hack or roadster class, has also 

 just thrown a filly to him, with the finest action for 

 a foal perhaps ever seen. But then her sire's was 

 not meve]y magnifique ! to look at, but he, too, 

 like his fathers before him, had done his seventeen 

 miles an hour. In a word. The North Star, either 

 for purity of blood, style, and symmetry of appear- 

 ance, or perfect action, was altogether one of the 

 prize-horses of his order. There are but too few 

 of the old sort left in the country, and it must be 

 a source of regret that he ever went out of it. 



But Captain Barlow has generally a good one or 

 two for the use of his friends and neighbours. 

 Years since he brought the rare old Robinson 

 amongst them, and later the handsome Revenge or 

 Recovery, one of Sir Tatton's favourites. Often 

 have we seen them as the cynosure of the show- 

 ground. Robinson, renowned for his hunters, 

 died at Hasketon ; and the little chesnut is just 

 gone into Glamorganshire. In their place they 

 have now at the Shrubbery Farm two young 

 Melbournes— Oultston, a son of" Old Alice," and 

 Middlesex, for the promise of whose young things, 

 both in the East and in the Vale, we ourselves can 

 bear witness to. Oultston has a higher mission, 

 and should surely get race-horses. Russley, in- 

 deed, is still in force for the Two Thousand, 

 while his sire is to have something like a chance 

 now, as some very stately dames have already 

 arrived. Amongst others there areMathilde,thedam 

 of Merryman and Contadina ; Medea, by Pyrrhus 

 the First ; Eva, by Pantaloon ; Atrraction, Eltham 

 Beauty, All's Well, Perfume, Beatrix, Vest, The 

 Lady of Silverkeld Well, and many more. So 

 that, although The North Star has set, we may see 

 some yet greater luminary rising in his stead. 



PLATE II. 

 WEST COUNTRY DOWNS, 



THE PROPERTY OF MR. W. B. CANNING, OF CHISLEDON, SWINDON. 



This pen of ewes, as the customary inscription 

 on the plate declares, stood first in their class at 

 the Royal Agricultural Society's Meeting at Can- 

 terbury. But, even beyond this, for general uni- 

 formity of character, as well as for a certain hand- 

 some and useful appearance, there was no other 

 "lot" equal to them. You turned them round, 

 and took your pick of one as the best ; and the next 

 minute, with another grouping, you found another 

 better still. If anything they were, perhaps, a little 

 too well " got up." Of course, they were quickly 

 picked up, being sold during the week to go to New 

 Zealand, at £l7 a-piece. None of the pen had ever 

 previously been exhibited. Their breeder, however, 

 Mr. Canning, is coming to be rather famous for 

 the sort. At the Salisbury Meeting of the Royal 

 Society in 1857, his pen of five shearhng ewes took 

 the first premium of £20 in the Open Class, and 

 another special prize of £20, given by the Local 

 Committee, for Hampshire Down sheep. Mr. Can- 

 ning has also been a winner at the Smithfield Club 



Show in 1857, 1858, and 1859 for some of the best 

 " Shortwools not Southdowns ;" while he has re- 

 ceived many local awards for the best lots of a 

 hundred ewes, a hundred wether lambs, and a 

 hundred ram lambs — premiums offered at the 

 Marlborough August fair, and which afford a very 

 trying test of the real strength of a man's flock. 



Mr. Canning himself has been a breeder of 

 West Country Downs for the last twelve years ; 

 but many of his ewes were from his father's flock, 

 and others purchased from an established breeder 

 in Wiltshire. More recently he has been using 

 some tups from the stock of the well-known Mr. 

 Humphrey, of Oak Ash, near Wantage. Chisle- 

 don is in a cold country, with the land in winter 

 very wet and dirty ; and for such a district the 

 West Country Downs are admirably adapted — 

 being very hardy, of a naturally strong constitu- 

 tion, and good wool-bearers. The ewes are excel- 

 lent nurses when taken care of, and bring a great 

 average of lambs, which come out early for sale j 



