384 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the Suffolk polled, the Ayrshire, and the Alderney 

 breeds have still their advocates, the short-horns are 

 now the dominant race in every dairy district in the 

 kingdom. They are found not only to yield a large 

 meal of milk, and to hold their milk longer after they 

 are in calf, but the calves make more valuable oxen, 

 and the cows, after five or six years' milking, fatten 

 readily, and make good beef. The milk, it is true, is 

 less rich in cream than the Devon or Hereford, and a 

 cross between either of these and the short-horn has 

 been found to improve the quality of the milk, without 

 deteriorating the cattle in other respects. 



For private families the Alderney has hitherto been 

 a great favourite, both on account of its milking qua- 

 lities, and its quiet and gentle disposition. A new race, 

 however, has recently been introduced from France, that 

 is likely, we think, to obtain some patronage as a family 

 cow: this is the Bretonne breed, of which a considerable 

 number have been brought over and sold for that pur- 

 pose. These little animals — for they are rather smaller 

 than the Kerry cow — give a good meal of milk (say 

 from five to seven quarts a-day), cost very little to 

 keep, and are as quiet and gentle as a lamb, and will 

 follow the person who tends them about like a spaniel, 

 when kindly treated. At present, as novelties, they 

 sell rather high ; but when they become more common 

 and cheap they will be well adapted to the cottager 



who has an allotment of land. . Unlike the Jersey 

 cow, the Bretonne is a hardy animal, " active and 

 strong, though gentle and quiet. Hardy by nature, 

 she thrives under any circumstances, and, when well 

 cared for and stall-fed, fattens rapidly. She has indeed 

 the greatest aptitude for laying on flesh so soon as the 

 secretion of milk is suspended. It will be found that 

 in proportion as they are allowed exercise, when well 

 fed, will they continue to give much milk." 



It is, however, with the dairy question that w'e have 

 to do ; and although some of the London dairymen 

 have purchased the Bretonne cows, we believe they 

 will be found less adapted to their purpose than the 

 larger breeds, either in the metropolis or in the 

 dairy districts of the country. It is to these that we 

 must look for the great supply of butter and cheese; 

 and we hope to find that by the approj^riation of more 

 land to pasture and less to white crops, that supply 

 will be made to keep pace with the growing wants of 

 our teeming population. Certain it is, that while the 

 Importation of corn annually increases, and that in 

 favourable years, when our native crops are good, the 

 farming interest is liable to be swamped by an excess 

 of foreign corn, the imports of animal produce cannot 

 be increased in an equal proportion. The supply is 

 always rather below, than above or equal to, the 

 demand. 



A LORD ON LANDLORDS AND THEIR DUTIES. 



It is by no means an uncommon occurrence to hear 

 of a country clergyman addressing himself especially 

 to an agricultural audience. If he should happen to 

 unite with his clerical offices those of a landed pro- 

 prietor, he is almost certain to have " a gift" in this 

 way. Indeed, the exception is rather the reverse, 

 when you meet with a Rural Dean not too ready to 

 teach farmers their business as well as their more 

 moral duties. Our own experience goes to show that 

 our reverend friends are a little apt to make the 

 most cf such an opportunity, and accordingly toast- 

 lists and the Society's agenda begin to evinoe some 

 care in keeping the rector at arm's length. But when 

 to the more overy-day recommendations of priest of 

 the parish and squire of the parish, a gentleman can 

 add the weight of My Lord to his position and in- 

 fluence, the prospect improves ; while, should he even 

 eclipse the effect of all these three graces can do for 

 him by his own innate abilities and reputation, one 

 gets positively anxious to hear him. What can a clever 

 fellow, who is also a Noble Lord, a well-to-do Vicar, 

 and a smart writer, have to tell us about farming and 

 farmers ? The point, perhaps, would the rather be 

 what could he not tell us ? And acting upon this opi- 

 nion, Mr. Fowler, the Chairman of the Blandford 

 Farmers' Club, approached the Reverend Lord Sidney 

 Godolphin O.-^borne, requesting his Lordship to address 

 the members on " The respective Duties of Land- 

 lords, Tenants, and Labourers," or on any other question 

 that he might prefer. Lord Sidney accepted alike the 

 invitation and the subject. 



There are few of our readers who will require to be 

 told that under the well-known signature of his own 

 initials, " S. G, 0.," the reverend Lord has become 



one of the great authorities of that great authority 

 the Times newspaper. His letters are given in the 

 largest type and in the best places; while his mission 

 has been to show up abuses in the country, just as 

 " Jacob Omnium" may have done in the city. Taking 

 the agricultural labourer under his especial care. 

 Lord Sidney's I'ange of topics has branched very much 

 into those three upon which he cuncentrated his 

 strength last week at blandford — the Landlord, Tenant, 

 and Labourer. Here, however, their order and im- 

 portance are reversed. In the columns of the Times 

 the Labourer has been the text-word, and the oilier 

 two classes only incidentally touched upon. At the little 

 local Farmers' Club, on the contrary, the duty of the 

 Landlord was the chief feature of the addres". It was 

 upon his conduct that the f >rt«ncs of the others were 

 made to depend ; and we shall follow his Lordship's 

 lead in taking it as in every way the first for considera- 

 tion. 



Lord Sidney begins well. " The landlord of the pre- 

 sent day has to take anything but a superficial view of 

 estate management. His tenants are contending with 

 the world's markets ; investing a very large capital in 

 their business, subject to the uncertainties of the sea- 

 sons, and sudden turns of the markets; their taxation 

 is very heavy," and so on. As a consequence we are 

 assured that " it should be a cause of very great thank- 

 fulness to every thinking man that the landowners 

 have very generally become practically acquainted 

 with the exigencies of modern farming. They may 

 not have arrived at a perfect knowledge of all tiio 

 trials of tenant farming ; but they have acquire 1 some 

 knowledge of what it is exposed to." And so his 

 lordship draws on to his first strong point, the letting 



