On the Exhibition of Live Stock at Chester. 363 



appears to have struck out a line or breed of his own. His 

 remarkable herd has been chiefly bred from one cow, " Old Moss- 

 rose." This cow was bred fi'om a cow purchased in Warwickshire 

 (evidently a true short-horn). From " Old Mossrose " has sprung 

 a considerable herd, no less than forty of which have been prize 

 winners, some of them taking as many as twenty prizes each : 

 some few have been successful at the Royal Society's meetings. 

 Three prizes and two gold medals were awarded to them at 

 the Paris meeting in 1855 ; and eighteen medals — fourteen silver 

 and four gold — have been awarded to them from the Birming- 

 ham and Smithfield Club shows; which clearly testifies that they 

 possess good points, and a good constitution. Up to September, 

 1858, Mr. Stratton had won 491 local and other prizes, amounting 

 in round numbers to 3217/. 4^., besides seven gold and fourteen 

 silver medals. Mr. Stratton has been a breeder of short-horns about 

 twenty years. 



Mr. Douglas, of Athelstaneford, has been the most successful 

 exhibitor of the past season. Mr. Douglas has won the three 

 national prizes with a two-year-old heifer " Queen of Trumps ;" 

 also the three challenge cups of Ireland, valued at 350 guineas, 

 upwards of 200/. in money prizes, and six gold medals. Last 

 year his cow, " Rose of Athelstane," obtained the three national 

 prizes, and in 1854 her dam, the " Rose of Summer," did the 

 same. 



The foreign trade in short-horns is at the present time an im- 

 portant element of success in breeding first-class animals as a 

 remunerative department of agriculture. In America, Australia, 

 France, and indeed over the whole continent, a demand has 

 sprung up which there can be no doubt is only in its infancy ; 

 for independently of cultivating the pure breed in those countries, 

 its use in crossing the native breeds for their improvement is of 

 vast importance. 



I may refer here to the ' Herd-book," originally started in 1822, 

 and edited by Mr. George Coates of Pontefract, but now con- 

 ducted by Mr. Strafford, Euston-square, London, as the authentic 

 register of the short-horned breed of cattle from their earliest 

 existence, or at least from the date of the earliest registers kept 

 by the first improvers of the breed. 



The number of entries contained in the first five volumes 

 issued in the course of twenty years amounted to 6699. 



In 1842 Mr. Henry Strafford succeeded to the editorship, and 

 has conducted the work up to the present time. During the 

 period ending 31st December, 1857, he has published seven 

 additional volumes, which contain the entries of no less than 

 15,537 bulls, together with cows and their produce during the 

 past fifteen years. In future the ' Herd-book ' will be made up 



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