SHORTHORN HERDS OF ENGLAND. 391 



Travelling from Droitwich to Blackwell, we call at Stoney Lane, 

 to see Mr. Thomas Harris, who has been a breeder for almost half- 

 a-century, and we find him in the yard admiring some of the dozen 

 shorthorns he retains to remind him of the old days. With one 

 exception they are descended from Mr. R. Ceilings' Moss Rose, 

 through Julia, purchased from Sir Charles Knightley, which was one 

 of the only two cows retained at a sale held by Mr. Harris, twenty- 

 nine years ago, and of whose descendants the successful sales held 

 in 1878 and 1884 were largely composed, the average on both 

 occasions being betwixt forty and fifty pounds. The owner is fond of 

 the old sort, and Sorcerer, of this tribe is being used with 

 excellent results, the calves by him being full of hair and of guod 

 colours, their dams are generally very uniform in type, without 

 showing either deterioration or coarseness. 



The following morning finds us at the Home Farm of the 

 Bentley Manor estate, the property of Mr. R. Hemming, which with 

 the two adjoining holdings now in hand, consists of one thousand 

 acres of a very useful arable and grass. The buildings are com- 

 modious and in many wavs suitable for an extensive herd of pedigree 

 cattle. Two excellent sires are in service, the senior, Duke of 

 Charmingland 32nd 51110, is of immense size and substance while 

 not lacking in either style or quality, and we doubt if Mr. Sheldon 

 has bred many of this popular Birmingham name superior in merit 

 to Mr. Hemming's bull. The younger sire, Galliard 54340, from 

 Waterloo Crocus, is an excellent sample of the older bull's piogeny. 

 Mr. Hemming has been a breeder for twenty-three years, having 

 purchased from Mr. Noakes, Ada, descended from Sir George 

 Strickland's stock, and Grand Crocus, at the Sarsden Lodge sale, 

 from these two cows the entire herd is now descended. Grand 

 Crocus 6th, a grand-daughter of the original purchase, in her 

 fourteenth year appears hale and hearty, two of her daughters, 

 Waterloo Crocus and Roan Crocus, are an especially grand pair of 

 cows, while two younger sisters are also good. The Adas are a nice 

 family, but will not bear comparison with their companions the 

 Crocuses yet the Fifty-first and Fifty-ninth are a taking sort, but 



