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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



donor of the silver cup, which he won at Exeter in 1835. 

 Mr. James Quartly purchased him at the sale, when his 

 venerable uncle gave up farming, and sold him after- 

 wards to Mr, Childe of Kinlet. The name of Merson 

 of Brins worth, near North MoltoUj has also been con- 

 nected with Devons for some seventy years ; and the late 

 Mr. R. Merson, who died in 1855, had his full share of 

 winnings. Sultan ( 1 22), of his breeding, was second at the 

 York Royal ; and so were Cambridge (12), and North- 

 ampton (86) (subsequently sold to Mr. Umbers), which 

 both won firsts at thC' towns that lent them their names. 

 His brother's show-yard fame has not suffered in Mr, 

 James Merson's hands, as his Prince of Wales (499), 

 and the first prize Warwick cow, &c., can abundantly 

 testify. Mr, Hole of Hanneford has also a tender recol- 

 lection .of Warwick for his first-prize bull-calf's sake ; 

 and of Rosetta (1026) and Camilla (563) as well, when 

 they came out nearer home. 



Mr. James Davy has gone very much lately upon the 

 blood of James Quartly's Flower {189) , ^ith. which 

 the late Mr. John Tanner Davy won so many prizes 

 at Exeter. The family have bred Devons for nearly 

 one hundred and twenty years ; and when Mr. John 

 Davy died at Rose Ash, in 1790, he divided the 

 herd between his two sons, of whom John Tanner 

 went to Rose Ash, and William to Flitton. In process 

 of time the former herd descended into Captain Davy's 

 hands, the breeder of Mayboy (249), the first prize win- 

 nei- of the New York Agricultural States at Saratoga, 

 Richmond (292), Mayflower (289), and Mayflower 

 (285), dam and granddam of the prize bulls Lopez (64) 

 and Proctor (109). Taunton, a well-known prize cow, 

 and Quartly's Forester (46) also sprung from the Rose- 

 Ash herd, which now contains much of the blood of 

 Flower (190), Gem (201), Buttercup (1197), and 

 Turner's Helena (223), whom Captain Davy pur- 

 chased, and bred from after she won at York. Besides 

 Western King (339), and its countless county winners, 

 Flitton has brought out two first-prize royal bulls, to 

 wit, Oxford (89) at Oxford, and Napoleon 3rd (464) at 

 Salisbury ; while Nelson (83) by Prince of Wales (105) 

 from Flower, of Quartly's blood, was second at Windsor. 



The village of Molland has quito a clan of breeders. 

 It is five years since they lost their chief in Frank 

 Quartly at four score and ten. He had given up busi- 

 ness many years before he died ; and his picture, which 

 was presented to liim by his friends in 1851, has found 

 a place of honour in hundreds of Devon homes. He 

 always considered that Curly (92) was one of the 

 best cows he ever had; and Mr. John Quartly's Pretty 

 Maid (366), the prize cow, and Hundred Guinea, a prize 

 bull, at Bristol, were from her. An important era of 

 cattle shows has set in since the old man first instructed 

 his nephews, the brothers Jaraes and John Quartly, in 

 all the secrets of herd craft, in that quiet valley, and 

 they have spread his name far and wide through the 

 Curly, Picture, Tulip, and Beauty tribes. At the Royal 

 alone they have won about sixty prizes ; and if John 

 has bred Duke of Chester (404), Earl of Exeter (38), 

 and Sultan (318), James has been more than even with 

 him, with Duke of Devonshire (35), Baronet (6), 

 Napoleon (259), Prince of Wales (105), Duke of I'ork 

 (37), and Warrior (548), all first prize bulls. Still 

 there is no show-yard rivalry between them ; they 

 breed from the same stock and use each other's bulls 

 entirely, and thus a prize gained by one of them tells 

 equally for the other. The Halses of Molland, John 

 and Philip, have bred chiefly for years back from the 

 Quartly bulls ; it was with two heifers by Napoleon 

 (259) that Philip won the first and second yearling 

 heifer prizes at Canterbury. The success was all the 

 more pleasant, as some years since he bad been 

 compelled to kill off many of his best cows and heiferfs, 



because the ofliensive smell from the " mundic " of 

 some mines in the neighbourhood of their pasture 

 had caused them, as the veterinarian supposed, season 

 after season, to slink their calves. Mr. John 

 C. Ualse has only been twice to the Royal, where he 

 won seconds with the Earl of Essex (407), (who 

 was subsequently ; sold to the French Govern- 

 ment), and Sultan Junior (530); but his Bingley 

 Hall trips have been rewarded with a first prize 

 and a silver medal for the best young steer, and the 

 same for Fancy (70S), as the best cow in her class. It 

 was also from his Crocus that His Royal Highness 

 Prince Albert bred his first bull-calf, which proved the 

 prize fat steer in 1859 ; and he has placed a 

 winning card in Mr. Turner's hands. Mr. Moggridge 

 has sold many to the Prince, including the first 

 steer at Smithfield in 1854, and the prize brother 

 to the heifer, which was the first in her class and 

 reserved medallist at Smithfield last December. This 

 heifer was the first he ever fed, and he certainly has 

 no master in the art of laying it on level. He was 

 too unwell to accompany her to London; but a line 

 from his friend James Quartly with the intelligence, 

 made him throw physic to the dogs, and gallantly brave 

 the journey. His Abdel-Kader (134) made Mr. Turner 

 consider himself a lucky purchaser when he saw the first 

 ticket over his head at Lincoln Royal, and the Bath and 

 West of England as well ; and his Beauty (24) was the 

 grandam of Turner's Czar (1 72). Such is a mere outline 

 of " the blood red hand " of Devonshire herd heraldry, 

 the details of which we trust in due time to fill quietly in. 

 Mr. Turner commenced as a farmer and an extensive 

 breeder of North Devons and Leicesters in 1818. The 

 taste for them had been transmitted to him by his father, 

 along with a large selection from a herd and flock which 

 had taken some forty years getting together. The late 

 Mr. Turner was the first introducer of Leicesters into 

 Devonshire, and kept crossing them so carefully with 

 rams from Stubbins and other crack men, that his let- 

 ting average at Tiverton fair in 1814 ranged as high as 

 30 gs. In his son's time no expense has been spared to 

 keep up this well-earned prestige, as nothing crosses better 

 with the Exmoors for butcher purposes. The flock was 

 strengthened by an extensive purchase of ewes at 

 Joseph Burgess's sale ; audits liO guinea and 100 guinea 

 rams shortly afterwards passed into his hands, and did 

 good service for many years. Since then he has regularly 

 hired rams from Stone, Hewitt, and Sanday ; and la 

 1846 the 40 guinea prize for the best Leicester shearling 

 (37 entries), fell to his lot at the Newcastle Royal ; Mr. 

 Robert Smith,then of Burley-on- the- Hill, coming second. 

 About 380 ewes and lambs made up his draft sale in Sep- 

 tember, leaving 300 of his best ewes and ewe lambs, be- 

 sides a few of the choice tup lambs principally by Mr. 

 San day's Carlisle sheep. One of his earliest purchases 

 of Devons on his own account was a cow at Barnstaple 

 fair, which he sent to a good bull of Mr. Barker's, and 

 from her, as well as Catalani, of Mr. Acland's blood, 

 he bred several good things, more especially the bull 

 Devonian, who did some execution in the show-yards 

 of Devon and Cornwall. When the late Mr. Francis 

 Quartly sold off his stock, Mr. Turner got a few of 

 his cows, and one of them. Duchess, bred him Derby 

 Joan, the winner of the first heifer prize at Derby. He 

 did notcommence his annual Royal trip with Oxford, 

 but the next year (1840) he drew blood at his first 

 essay, with a brace of heifers at Cambridge, and his 

 Royal prizes (of which fully a third were firsts) have 

 since then averaged as nearly as possible three a year, 

 with Devons of his own breeding, or selected from 

 the herds of Davy, Halse, Moegridge, or Quartly. 

 Derby (23) at Derby, Prince of Wales (106) at South- 

 ampton, Protection (HO) at Newcastle, and Duke of 



