SHORTHORN BREEDING. 233 



made 175 guineas; Charming Knightley, nine months 

 old, I sold to the Duke of Manchester for 175 

 guineas ; Charming Geneva, seven months old, fetched 

 125 guineas; my heifer calves making an average of 

 ^131 ^s. each. These were prices vv^hich made short- 

 horn breeding pay. At this same sale Lord Chesham 

 gave 100 guineas for Secrecy, a three-year-old heifer, 

 considered by some, but not by me, a doubtful breeder. 

 Three years afterwards, at his lordship's sale, Lord 

 Fitzhardinge gave 400 guineas for her, and the heifer 

 with which at my sale she was in calf by King 

 Charming, made 275 guineas, and the calf then by her 

 side 115 guineas; so that, on the outlay of 100 guineas,, 

 in two years she made a profit of nearly 800 guineas for 

 Lord Chesham ! 



Those who have not gone deeply into the science and 

 practice of breeding cannot appreciate the pleasure and 

 excitement a breeder experiences when, at a first-class 

 shorthorn sale-ring, under the direction of the veteran 

 " Strafford," or the blandishments of the courteous John 

 Thornton, one of a noted tribe enters the ring, the 

 pedigree is recited through a line of duchesses, cul- 

 minating either in the renowned J. Brown's, Old Red 

 Bull, or the noted Hubback. The bidding commences 

 by hundreds or by a thousand. " Going, going 1 Ah ! 

 you nearly lost it, sir." — " 2,500," " 2,600 " — " Thank you, 

 sir — and fifty" ("Bravo," from the crowd); " 2,700 in 

 two places " ; " and fifty." " Thank you, my lord," and 

 so on till 3,000 is passed, and, the biddings still in- 

 creasing, the glass slowly runs out, the word " gone " 

 is uttered, and my Lord Fitzhardinge is declared the 



