140 



the results obtained in 18G9 throughout the United Kingdom. There is 

 one-fourth increase in the number of head sokl — 1,477 against 1,853, over 

 £2 increase in the average price per head, and nearly £18,000 increase 

 in the total sum realized. Eighty-three animals were sold for 100 

 guineas and above, averaging about £180, against 30 animals in 1868, 

 and 52 in 1809. The highest price, 800 guineas, was given for a heifer, 

 but, as she has since failed to breed, a large portion of this sum has 

 since been returned. The next highest sum paid was 500 guineas for a 

 two-year-old heifer. Only 9 of the 83 were bulls, the highest bringing 

 240 guineas. Most of the trade for bulls, however, is transacted pri- 

 vatel}^, when higher prices i^revail. 



The table to which reference has been made is merely a summary of 

 public sales. Much business is done ]>rivately, at high prices. The 

 sale of 14 animals from the Aylesby herd for 2,000 guineas is quoted ; 

 also the sale of Captain Gunter's 2 Duehess heifers for 2,500 guineas, 

 and of 7 animals from the Warlaby herd for 5,000 guineas, for exporta- 

 tion to America, Australia, and Canada. 



At the Irish draft sales, there has been a great increase in prices. 

 Mr. Welsted's 14 averaged £34 Is. lOd.; Earl Eitzwilliams's 14 averaged 

 £31 4s. 9^/., and Mr. Crosbie's 26 averaged £23 13s. Id. In Scotland 

 prices have been similar to those of last year 5 three lots averaging £32, 

 £32 13s., and £30 7s., respectively. 



An enormous foreign trade has been transacted ; much of which 

 was done privately, Mr. Cochrane, of Canada, alone spending nearly 

 £15,000 in pure-bred aniukals. 



AMERICAN SHORT-HORNS. 



TJje editor gives a detailed account of a visit, during the past winter, 

 to the United States and Canada, during which he saw several of the 

 leading American herds. Some of these are very minutely and iavor- 

 ably described. Complimentary allusion is made to the fact that the 

 re-importation of short-horns from America into England has been suc- 

 cessfully inaugurated within the past few years. He says : " Short- 

 horn breeders^ ere this, have been able to form their own judgment 

 upon the cattle that have, since 1861, been sent back into this country, 

 and their olfspring have, by their own merit, shown that the blood has 

 suffered little if any degeneracy, even under a change of climate, and 

 on different soil and food." 



The following reference is made to the Bates stock of shorthorns : 



Few strains of blood have created of past years more attention than that of the 

 Dncbess tribe ; tbe scarcity and demand for it in this country led to its re-importatiou 

 from America, where, consequently, it has drawn forth as much, or even more, notice. 

 Although Ducliess 34th, generally admitted to bo one of tlio linest of the tribe, was 

 olfered by Mr. Bates, in 1835, (whilst in calf, with Duke of Northumberland 1,940, by 

 Belvedere,) to tlie Ohio Company for 1.50 guineas, she was not purchased ; and the 

 first exportation of Duchesses was made by Mr. Thorne from Earl Ducie's sale in 18.5;{. 

 A period of depression in America ensued afterward, and it is considered that Thorn- 

 dale, Duchess County, New York, situated in a cold, hilly district, near the Hudson 

 Eiver, in its deficiency of limestone, was unfitted for the growth and development of 

 short-horns. Mr. Thorne sold most of his herd to Mr. Sheldon, whose estate at White 

 Springs Farms, Geneva, is in a good grass region, has a tine wheat soil, and is 

 thoroughly adapted for cattle. Here the tribe increased, but domestic circumstances 

 led to the sale of Mr. Sheldon's herd to Messrs. Walcott and Campbell, of New York 

 Mills, Utica, where this branch of the tribe is at ])resent located. Here are (De- 

 cember, 1870) ten cows and heifers, varying from two to ten years old ; two heifer- 

 calves; one three-year-old bull, and "four bull-calves; but all these cows and 

 heifers are not in a breeding state. There is at the present time great demand for 

 thejjwre pedigree; the word pure is her^ used technically, and is intended to con- 



