THE GENESEE FARMER. 



agement of a herd, where one set of animals are 

 kept for use, and anotlier for sliow. It is this that 

 deters so many good men from ever exhibiting at 

 all. Tlie remedy, however, rests clearly with the 

 judges. No matter liow ready the Stewards or 

 the Council may be to pass over the abuse, let them 

 only act up to, and speak out, like Captain Davy 

 and Mr. Phillips, and they may soon do a deal of 

 good. Never miiul what interested peoi)le may 

 say who have dairy cows too fat to give milk, or 

 bulls too pampered to get stock. If they are tit to 

 be judges at all, they can estimate fairly-fed ani- 

 mals quite as correctly as they can the over-fed. 

 And a man who prizes a beast at a breeding show 

 chiefly because it is made up for a Christmas one, 

 i» simply sanctioning an absurdity, a contradiction, 

 and a delusion — if not a dishonesty." 



JONAS WEBB'S SOUTH DOWNS. 



The MarJo Lane Express of June 27th contains an 

 account of a visit to Babraham, the residence of 

 the world-renowned breeder of South-downs, Mr. 

 Jonas Webb. After a lengthy account of Mr. 

 "Webb's herd of 142 Lead of Short-horns, the 

 writer says: 



" Before we sallied forth again to the two outly- 

 ing farms, we turned for a slight interlude from 

 beef to mutton. Even in our Short-horn researches 

 in the Home farm, the embodiment of the latter 

 was always in view, in the shape of "Derby" re- 

 duced two-thirds, and doing duty as weathercock, 

 on the top of the old barn. The leg of mutton 

 point on which he was so great, has certainly been 

 made the most of by the modeller; but it comes 

 out in all its strength in many of his descendants 

 among the July yearlings. The old long-horned 

 Norfolk rams, whose narrow backs and sharp spines 

 proved such a very uncomfortable seat for Mr. 

 "Webb, when he used to ride them in his boyhood 

 at West Wickham, and set him a-thinking in his 

 maturer years, live only in story at Babraham now; 

 and not one even is kept as a relic of the dark ages. 

 The South-down flock at present consists of about 

 1,400, and about 1,000 lambs as well. Originally 

 there were three tribes, but a fourth and fifth have 

 been added; and Mr. Webb never hires rams, as he 

 can now always keep the blood sufliciently distinct 

 without it. In number tlie tribes are nearly equal, 

 and they have all produced prize sheep; and at 

 present there are from 120 to 140 rams, for letting 

 next month. The selection is made within fifteen 

 days from lambing, and upwards of 200 ram lambs 

 are retained each year. Besides the elaborate ear 

 marks, and divers others on the shoulder and hip, 

 they have cabalistic crosses of green above yellow, 

 blue above rod, and so on, on their sides, which tell 

 their descent at a glance to their owner's eye; and 

 furnish an unfailing clue, when they rise to ram 

 hogget fcstat*, and are ripe for entry in the Flock 

 £ov)k. All the fleeces are weighed, and if they do 

 not come up to 7 lbs. the ewe hoggets are sold to 

 go abroad. The Old Babraliam shearlings nearly 

 all averaged 8 lbs., and although the late mild winter 

 and spring was not favorable to the growth of wool, 

 the majority of the fleeces this year have touched 

 it. The nature of the soil is, moreover, not pecu- 

 liarly favorable to wool, as it is gravelly, and almost 



fine enough for an hour-glass; and the sand rather 

 prevents the grease from getting through the fleeces. 

 Mr. Webb never sells ewes in England: he has a 

 few from twelve to thirteen years old, and he has 

 bred from them at fourteen, but the rams are sel- 

 dom let beyond their seventh season ; and the heav- 

 iest of them have killed at 50 lbs. a quarter. The 

 losses among the breeding ewes are calculated at 

 about one m twenty; and as the difficulty of breed- 

 ing is much enhanced by the want of grass, Mr. 

 Webb has had anything but a May-game of it, in 

 bringing his flock to their present position. Two 

 lots of yearling rams, making some forty in all, 

 were in training for the final Warwick Koyal Selec- 

 tion, on some seeds behind the house. They were 

 principally by the prize old sheep and the first and 

 second prize yearlings at Salisbury ; and we found 

 on inquiry, that the second prize old sheep has 

 gone to America. Plenipo, who was a yearling in 

 1834, when his great chestnut namesake and neigh- 

 bor was in his zenith, swelled the t de of South- 

 down success for Mr. AVebb ; and The Gentleman, 

 Clamber, Liverpool, Shrewsbury, Derby, Young 

 Elegance, Gloucester, The Captain, and Old Uncer- 

 tain, &c., have never sutfered it to ebb. There was 

 Fancy Boy also, who was never let, and hung him- 

 self in early life in a fence; Perfection, the sire of 

 The Captain, for whom Mr. Lugak's oflTer of 150 

 guineas as a yearling was refused; Dictator, Avho 

 elicited a like answer; and Windsor Castle, the 

 conqueror of his half-brother at Windsor, who re- 

 ceived the name of the Queen's Own, from her 

 Majesty's expression of dissatisfaction at the ver- 

 dict, though the royal prerogative was not potent 

 to reverse it. Fifty yearlings for letting were busy 

 on the yellow globe mangel in another paddock ; 

 and two renowned heroes, to-wit, Old Duke and 

 Young Plenipo, were railed ofl^ in state at one end. 

 The latter has the Babraham flock blood in him for 

 ten generations on the dam's side ; and Mr. Webb 

 valued him so highly, that, in spite of a 200 guinea 

 ofter, he kept him for two seasons, and let him last 

 year for the first time. Old Duke is five years old, 

 and has achieved 410 guineas at three lettings. In 

 one of them Mr. IIexky Overman bid 169 guineas; 

 and the Duke of Richmond made it even money, 

 and got him. The jiasture behind the fold yard 

 was full of Old Duke's descendants; and Yoimg 

 Captain, the flock patriarch of the Emperor of the 

 French, who hired three last year, could also claim 

 a hand in some of the ninety couples of glorious legs 

 of mutton, which scampered off at our approach. 



"It would have been strange indeed if we had 

 not "drooped and turned aside" once more from 

 the short-horns, to visit a flock of 300 ewes and 

 lambs, before we proceeded on to the North farm. 

 The dam of Young Norwich and Young Plenipo 

 needed no pointing out, as the veriest tyro ought to 

 have challenged her as "a mother of the Gracchi;" 

 and there was also the dam of the 197 guinea rain 

 l)y Young Elegance, with a ram lamb by a son of 

 Young Plenipo at her side, which bids fair to bo as 

 good a South-down King in its turn." 



It is a shiftless trick to let cattle fodder them- 

 selves at the stack; they pull out and trample more 

 than they eat. They cat till the edge of appetite 

 is gone, and then daintily pick the choice parts; 

 the residue, being coarse and refuse, they will not 

 afterward touch. 



