SHORTHORN HERDS OF ENGLAND. 449 



Duchess Blush by Grand Duke 81st 38374, since her arrival from 

 Underlay in company with the neat Lilydale, and the massive Red 

 Rose of Coniston, whose grand-dam, Red Rose of the Isles, reached 

 l,950gs, at the Dunmore auction of 1875, she also has bred a heifer 

 by one of the Underley Duchess males. The handsome dark roan, 

 Colleen Celia 3rd, bought at Rowfant, is considered the handsomest 

 cow at Lane Foot. Princess Janette 5th and two well bred Duchess 

 Nancies Duchess Nancy 3rd and Dowager Duchess 19th have 

 since our visit been purchased at the dispersion of the Penrhyn 

 Castle herd. 



Crossing to the opposite side of the Valley, we find Skelsmergh 

 Hall has been in the occupation of the Morton family since May 

 12th, 1811. The farm is now in the occupation of Mr. John 

 Morton, a nephew of the Messrs. Morton, whose herd realized such 

 high prices in Australia, before being transferred to Messrs. 

 Robeitson. Chance 7890, calved in 1826, of the Rev. J. Watson's 

 breeding, was the first pedigree bull used at Skelsmergh Hall, and 

 only twelve years later, the then owner carried off the first of a 

 numerous array of silver cups in the present Mr. Morton's 

 possession, and especially worthy of record is the fact that seven 

 of them have been won for the best general stock in the district, 

 and in addition, money prizes have also been gained in this class. 

 The exhibition of females has been discontinued for the past ten 

 years, but previously the herd was well known for its success in 

 the local showyards. Col. Townley's Freeman 17804 a son of 

 Frederick 11489 and Alice Butterfly succeeded Mr. R. W. 

 Saunders' Sovereign 15324, and his daughters, Freedom's Faith 

 and Freedom's Farewell, won a number of prizes. Sires of Bates 

 blood have been in service for the past twenty years, beginning 

 with Atherton's Oxford 21195, a pure Acomb bull, and Barrington, 

 Place, and Wild Eyes males succeeded him, so the character of 

 the herd has become eventually " Bates," although the first 

 purchases and earlier sires possessed little of that blood. In the 

 dairy cows, a capital uddered lot, the daughters of Duke of 

 Barrington 2nd, 36463, are well to the front, the own sisters, 



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