161 



and if you want a name here or there, you will 

 be far more likely to get it from the experience 

 of two or three and twenty than from two or 

 three only. Let us never forget the united 

 strength of a bundle of sticks. 



MR. SMYTHIES' CHALLENGE. 



In 1849 Mr. Smythies gave the following 

 challenge : "I will show 100 Hereford beasts, 

 which were the property of Sir Francis Law- 

 ley, Bart., on the 1st of January, 1849, and 

 the same number which were the property of 

 Mr. Aston, of Lynch Court, on the same day, 

 against an equal number, the breeders of Short- 

 horns or Devons in any part of Great Britain, 

 on the same day, for one hundred sovereigns. 

 I am willing to leave the decision to the three 

 judges at the last Smithfield Show, two of 

 whom are unknown to me, even by sight." 



At the same time Mr. S. made the following 

 offer: "I am ready to place four Hereford 

 calves, on the 1st of May next, in the hands of 

 any respectable grazier in the midland counties, 

 against four Shorthorns, and four Devons; no 

 calf to be more than four months old on that 

 day; the twelve calves to be turned to grass 

 together, to have nothing but grass till the 20th 

 of October following, then to be put in stalls 



and to be fed as the grazier thinks proper, but 

 the food to be weighed in each lot, till the fol- 

 lowing May, when they shall be again turned 

 to grass till the following 1st of October ; then 

 to be again taken into the stalls, and the food 

 weighed as before; the whole to be shown as 

 extra stock at the Smithfield Show, at the Ba- 

 zaar, and after the show to be slaughtered, the 

 four beasts that pay the best to be the winners." 



HEREFORDS VS. SHORTHORNS AND DEVON'S. 



To the Editor of the "Mark Lane Express" : 



Sir: It was not my intention to have 

 troubled you with any more letters on the sub- 

 ject of Mr. Keary's essay, but his misinterpre- 

 tation of my last letter is too gross to allow 

 it to pass unnoticed. As to what he means by 

 his assertion that my letter can have no weight 

 with practical men, I do not understand. Hav- 

 ing occupied fifteen hundred acres of land for 

 forty years, and having purchased every beast 

 on the estate myself, and every animal upon 

 it having been bred under my own immediate 

 direction, and the whole management of the es- 

 tate having been conducted by me, I think I 

 am as much a practical man as Mr. Keary. He 

 accuses me of having hastily arrived at an er- 



OX WEIGHING 3,500 LBS., RAISED IN SANGAMON CO., ILL., 1834. BRED FROM "SEVENTEEN BLOOD," 



(From an old print.) 



