THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



j;;„NE, 1861, 



THE PRINCE CONSORT AS THE PATRON OF AGRICULTURE. 



Our readers will learn with real satisfaction that his 

 Royal Highness the Prince Consort has consented to act 

 as President of the Royal Agricultural Society for next 

 year, when the Great Siiow will be held in the Regent's 

 Park. This is on either side no empty compliment, 

 but a really auspicious omen for agriculture. The ad- 

 vance of the art well merits such countenance, and the 

 Prince's own tastes point at once to him as the proper 

 patron of such an occasion as the Show of 'sixty-two 

 promises to become. The world already knows of his 

 Royal Highness' success as an exhibitor of stock ; but 

 it is not everyone who has had the delightful privilege of 

 inspecting the Park Homesteads at Windsor, or of seeing 

 and hearing how tliorough an interest both her Ma- 

 jesty and her Consort take in the different phases of 

 the Home, the Norfolk, and the Flemish Farms. With 

 an enlightened and enlarged mind well fitted to his 

 position the Prince gives every tiling in any way worthy 

 of his attention a fair trial. We see this alike in the 

 breeds of stock he cultivates and the different 

 descriptions of machinery he employs. There are 



those first favourites, the little Dovons at one 

 farm, the Herefords at another, and the Shorthorns 

 at a third ; with, moreover, an especial place for the 

 dairy. The day on which we had the pleasure of going 

 round there was a new grass-cutter on trial ; while one 

 of Smith's steam-cultivators has been at work at 

 Osborne, and another of Fowler's at Windsor. Both 

 the Queen and the Prince make it their care to see 

 such inventions well tested, and the Royal pair are 

 equally zealous in marking the improvement of the 

 animals. The Prince is known to be a capital judge, 

 and there is not a beast but that he has the history and 

 value of at his command. With, then, his great abilities 

 and natui'al predilections, we may repeat that his Royal 

 Highness' acceptance of the President's chair should 

 inaugurate a great year for agriculture. It will be the 

 especial duty of the Society to make this worthy of 

 him. There is an eclat already attached to the Meeting, 

 that needs but careful cultivation to grow and thrive 

 as time progresses. 



PLATE I. 

 A DEVON HEIFER, 



THE PROPERTY OF MR. RICHARD MOGRIDGE, OF MOL1.AND, SOUTH MOLTON, DEVON. 



This heifer, "Damsel" by name, and 1276 by 

 number, was bred by Mr. Mogridge at MoUand in 

 April, 1857. She was by Duke of Sussex (406), 

 out of Young Spot, by Abd-el-Medjid (an own 

 brother to Abd-el-Kader), out of Lady (241), by 

 Duke of York. 



Duke of Sussex was by Napoleon (259), and 

 Young Spot was an own sister to the Prince 

 Consort's steer, which took the first prizes at 

 the Birmingham and Smithfield Club Fat Cattle 

 Shows in December, 1858. Mr. Mogridge, how- 

 ever, would seem originally to have had no such 

 ambition with Damsel; or at any rate she had no 

 great "preparation," When about two months 

 OLD SERIES.] 



old she was put out to grass with the older calves, 

 having twice a day three quarts of skim milk, and 

 no further notice being taken of her. But early in 

 the autumn, being thin and poor, she was taken in 

 and kept on hay, turnips, or mangold wurtzel until 

 the May of the following year, when she was again 

 turned out to grass. During the next winter she 

 was fed on coarse hay, and in the spring put to the 

 bull. In January, I860, however, Mr. Mogridge 

 discovered that she was not in calf, and so began 

 to feed her, with the intention of disposing of her 

 to the butcher in May ; but from her putting on 

 fat so fast he was induced to reserve her for the 

 Smithfield Show. Here Damsel not only carried 

 1 1 L [VOL. LIV.— No. 6. 



