THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



353 



The Flemish farmer, paying a heavy tent for his little plot 

 of from five to twenty — aeldom thirty— acres, on which he in- 

 vests a capital of about £4 an acre, lives better, and cultivates 

 enormously better, than the French peasant-proprietor. But 

 he grows very little corn, and no wheat for sale. The Irish 

 cottier grows little or uo corn. The Swiss, whose frugality 

 rivals that of the Flemings, do not attempt to grow corn ; 

 and their prosperity and comfort depend on dairy manufacture ; 

 on a short, hot summer ; on the natural grasses of their valleys ; 

 on extraordinary self-Jcnial and frugality ; on domestic manu- 

 factures, such as watchmaking ; and on an influx of capital 

 from returned emigrants and the visits of travellers. The 

 peasant-farms of the Channel Islands are dairies and gardens, 

 cultivated in a district where there are no taxes ; an unfailing, 

 cheap supply of manure from the sea ; the advantsge of a 

 great market, with cheap conveyance to England ; aud a large 

 military expenditure, besides that of settlers attracted by the 

 advantages of neither taxes nor Customs' dut'cs. 



From time to time, we hear a story of the wonderful suc- 



cess of some man who, with a spade and an acre or so ot 

 moorland, has raised himself to independence. On investiga- 

 tion, it always turns out that this is a man with great talents 

 for buying aod selling, and great capability of work. Such a 

 man, if near a market, and near a road or other resource for 

 manure, will often turn a bit of barren moor, that would ruin 

 a capitalist, into a garden. Such special men will be best 

 lielped by a reform in our costly system of land laws. Make 

 conveyancing cheap, so that to buy a garden will be nearly as 

 easy as to buy a cow ; and all will have been done in England 

 that can ba done, to assist the land-investments of the la- 

 bourer, la this country, corn is the paying crop ; and in no 

 country of peasant-farmers can a surplus of corn be grown. 



Kitchen-gardens and dairy-farming are open to small pro- 

 prietors; but to feed the people of England, we must have 

 large farms, large fields, well drained, not overfed with game, 

 and tilled by labourers well housed and well paid. Very 

 soon, the law of demand and supply will secure the two last 

 teipiisites of first-class cultivation. 



THE STACKHOUSE HERD OF SHORTHORNS. 



Sir,— Having recently paid a visit to my friend Mr. 

 Carr of Stackliouse, I have thought it might perhaps be 

 intoi-esting to some of your readers wlio don't Like to 

 travul about in search of good Shorthorns themselves, but 

 are always pleased with infonuatioii which tells them 

 where good Shorthorns may be seen, if I were to put 

 down, while the impression is still fresh upon my mind, 

 the opinion I have formed of the Stackliouse Herd. Such 

 notices, from various quarters, have been of considerable 

 use to myself; and I trust that the review which I in my 

 turn am about to contribute, with as much judgment and 

 impartiality as I possess, may be equally fortunate in prov- 

 ing beuelicial. 



JMr. Carr entered upon the pleasing occupation of a 

 Shorthorn breeder in the year 1853, and made a very good 

 start by repairing to Springfield Hall, near Lancaster, and 

 buying, from Sir. S. E. Bolden, the Booth and Bates bull 

 May Duke (13320). This animal was by First Grand 

 Duke, and was out of a Warlaby heifer. Vivacity, by Fitz- 

 Leonard. He made a large fine animal ; and after being 

 used for a few months at Stackliouse, upon many cows of 

 good but mixed and miscellaneous breeding, he went to 

 the Hon. I\[r. Hill's of Berrington, for 150 guineas. There 

 he ilid abundant semce, aud from thence moved to Mr. 

 liobiuson of Clifton Pastures, at winch place, where he 

 still remains, he has established a very high reputation, 

 especially as a getter of heifers, and as a remarkably sure 

 sire. Mr. Carr tried successively the Waterloo blood, the 

 blood of Lord Spencer, the Victoria blood (having owned 

 Victoria 8th, who, with her calf Great Mogul in her, he 

 sold to Mr. Marjoribanks for a comparatively small sum 

 of money, within a week of calving), and purchased 

 largely at various sales animals of pure and safe pedigree 

 without much reference to any particular family or tribe. 

 This plan, however, he quickly abandoned. Having paid 

 a visit to Warlaby, his eyes were at once opened to the ex- 

 traordinary characteristics of that noble herd, and he 

 forthwith resolved to gather together a set of Shorthorns, 

 with as much as possible in them of the Booth blood, and 

 to hii-e regularly from year to year a Warlaby bull. This 

 detei-mination involved great expense and considerable 



anxiety ; but Mr. Carr has already begun to reap, in pe- 

 cuniai-y benefit, the fruit of Ms decision, and has the 

 satisfaction of seeing himself surrounded by an admirable 

 herd of well-bred animals. 



The Warlaby bulls hitherto used upon the Stackhouse 

 herd, are Prince of Warlaby, Majestic, Lord of the 

 Valley, Valasco, Prince Oscar, Windsor, Sfonk, and Elfin 

 King. Windsor, whose reputation for prolilicness has 

 been extensively impugned, got, whilst witli Mr. Carr, 

 upwards of twenty calves. I can speak on this point with 

 the most distinct positiveness, and am glad to have an 

 opportunity of doing so, inasmuch as certain hostile and 

 malignant persons have dared to say that the animals 

 attributed to that distinguished bull wore really the off- 

 spring of some other. Mr. Carr had no bull on his 

 premises, during Windsor's term of service, but Windsor ; 

 and, indeed, if he had had fifty other bulls, he is utterly 

 incapable of being guilty of recording a wrong paternity. 

 Apart from this, the Windsor calves, all the world over, 

 bear unmistakeably the stamp and character of their 

 sire. 



Mr. Carr's herd at present consists of about twenty-two 

 females, and five bulls. The bulls are all " pure Booth;" 

 and of tlie cows and heifers no fewer than twelve or tlur- 

 teen are so, whilst sLx of the others are entirely of the 

 same strain but for half a cross of diilerent blood in some 

 cases, and a whole cross- in others. Practically, these 18 

 females are pure Booth. 



He who expects from favourite blood a set of animals 

 invariably exhibiting the perfection of the highest pro- 

 perties of their kind, will be disappointed. A cow may be 

 a very good cow and a very valuable cow, which has some 

 faults fatal to what is understood by the term " beauty ;" 

 for the object of high breeding in cattle is not, I appre- 

 hend, to secure heauly, which is only one desideratum 

 among others, though a delightful one, but to produce 

 stock that will ensure, with less general cost than inferior 

 animals, a larger amount of advantage, Mr. Carr believes 

 that cows of the Booth sort, not\vithstauding certain points 

 which may be objected to by not imcandid judges, and 

 notwithstanding every now and then tlie appearance of a 



