THE GENESEE FAKMEE. 869 (T^ 



Short-horn Breeders in England. — We put on record tlie following remarks on 

 Short-horn breeders in England, copied from the London Agricultural Gazette of August 

 27th, for future reference : 



Short-hovn breeders have hitherto dated from Charles Colling's sale, October 11, 1810 ; or from 

 tliat of his brother, Mr. Robert Colling's stock, some seven years later ; or much later still, perhaps 

 from the sale at Wiseton of Lord Spencer's herd, on the 11th of September, 1846 ; or from the sale 

 of the celebrated Kirkleaviiigton herd, on the 9th of May, 1850. These have all been great eras in 

 the history of the Durham breed, but none of them, it may safely be said, has exceeded in impor- 

 tance that which has occured in Gloucestershire. We look back upon the first of these events as 

 on the birth-day of that more general interest which now so widely prevails in the fortunes of this 

 undoubtedly the dominant breed of cattle in this or any other country. It was, as it were, the 

 expiry of some patent or mono]3oly of immense public value, or rather the sale of it in parts to a 

 more numerous propriatary. The results of that patient skill and perseverance exhibited for so 

 many years by the father of Short-horn breeders, were then distributed and scattered, and become 

 the means, in the hands of others, of extending the improvements which he had originated. The 

 local name become lost in the more general one, and people no longer spoke of the " Teeswater," 

 but of the " Short-horn " blood. 



It is curious, however, to observe that the influence of that event still exists, and that in the dis- 

 guise or diluted form in which, after the lapse of nearly half a century, one might expect to find it, 

 but in particular instances as intense and definitely marked as on the day when it first made itself 

 known. The high average price that was fetched by the stock at Tortworth last "Wednesday, was 

 due not merely to the number whose descent was traceable directly from Mr. Charles Colling's 

 herd, but to the especial value placed upon a particular tribe descended from a particular 

 animal in that herd. From Young Dutchess, one of the seven heifers then sold, there has descended 

 a family bearing her name, in which the merits of the original, due to Mr. Colling, have, in the 

 hands of Mr. Bates, and latterly of Lord Ducie, been not merely enduring, but increasing, with the 

 lapse of time, and of course with the number of the individuals inheriting them. The original 

 Dutchess fetched 183 guineas, 42 years ago ; and now Dutchess 59 (6 years old), of the 8th genera- 

 tion from her, fetches 350 guineas ; Dutchess 64 (4 years old), of the 7th generation, fetches 600 

 guineas ; Dutchess 66, of the same generation (hardly 3 years old), fetches the extraordinary price 

 of 700 guineas; Dutchess 67, of the 9th generation (15 months old), fetches 350 guineas; Dutchess 

 68, of the 8th generation (11 months old), fetches 300 guineas; Dutchess 69, of the 9th generation 

 (5 months old), fetches 400 guineas ; and Dutchess 70, of the 8th generation (calved about six weeks 

 ago), fetched 310 guineas. This last was the calf of Dutchess 66, so that cow and calf fetched the 

 altogether imparalleled sum of one thousand and ten guineas! [over $5000.] Beside these, there 

 were offered for sale two bulls, descended from Dutchess No. 1 — the Duke of Gloucester (nearly 3 

 years old) sold for 650 guineas ; and the fourth Duke of* York (nearly 7 years old) fetched 500 

 guineas. Excluding one cow of this family, which we have not named — as owing to some doubts 

 wliether she would breed she fetched but a low price — the nine animals descended from Charles 

 Calling's Young Dutchess (three of them being calves) fetched the enormous sum of 4160 guineas, 

 averaging 462 guineas a piece. 



An English guinea is not far from five dollars our currency. The facts stated above 

 are interesting, as showing the value of blood equally sustained through nine successive 

 generations, and now more sought after than ever. Blood in Dutchesses and Dukes is 

 often badly managed ; but results prove that, under the control of such breeders as Mr. 

 Colling and Mr. Bates, it is as susceptible of improvement as of deterioration. There 

 are at this time not far from twenty million head of neat cattle in the United Stales ; 

 and no other nation ever presented so wide and inviting a field for the full and profita- 

 ble development of the art and the science of producing domestic animals of the highest 

 possible excellence. In the Fifteenth Volume, second series, of this standard work, 

 commencing in January, we shall discuss the principles of stock growing more thoroughly 

 a,ud elaborately than has ever been done in this country. ' 



How TO Enrich the Soil. — " If farmers would only make an agreement with their friends in 

 town, that all the beef, mutton, batter, and eggs which they send should be duly returned, after 

 thev were done with them, for the restoration and renovation of land from which they came, they 

 would be pursing the plan which I have adopted." • 



Thus spoke Mr. Mechi, in his address to the members of the Royal Northern Agri- 

 cultural Society, at its recent meeting in Aberdeen. The principle advanced is not only 

 f. sound, but of the highest importance to all classes of the community. To farmers, 



6^— ""Z^AJ 



