A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



panic among all classes connected with agriculture, and prices came down 

 with a run. This has probably not been an unmitigated misfortune to 

 breeders, as the return to commercial values put trade on a business basis and 

 enabled them to secure the best strains of blood for replenishing their 

 herds at moderate prices. There are now in the county many grand herds 

 in the hands of tenant farmers as well as landowners who, if the country 

 continues to be kept free from disease, seem to be about to reap the result 

 of their enterprise in the higher prices that have been realized at the sales 

 of 1905 and 1906. 



The great annual show and sale of Shorthorns at Birmingham, to which 

 many Gloucestershire breeders send their young bulls and surplus heifers for 

 disposal, has this year shown that there is a brisk demand for good stock, and 

 values are again considerably higher than in 1905. 



At Badminton and a few other places the old breed of Gloucester cattle 

 is preserved, and at Maisemore and Poulton there are noted herds of the 

 Aberdeen Angus breed. Jersey cattle are met with for the supply of gentle- 

 men's houses with cream and butter, but are not kept commercially. 



Horses are not largely bred in the hill district, the nature of the 

 fences and size of the inclosures not being very well suited for this descrip- 

 tion of stock. Most of the larger farmers, however, try to maintain their 

 teams by annually breeding a few colts that are brought in to work at two 

 years, which enables them to sell a matured gelding or so every year for 

 town work. In the vale, and where shelter is afforded by high hedges, more 

 foals are bred. Although not attaining the standard of several of the mid- 

 land counties in the general excellence of the horses used in agriculture, 

 weight, quality, and soundness have greatly improved, largely due to the high- 

 class studs of Shire horses at Batsford and Blaisdon, while those at The 

 Hendre, Buscot, and Wantage in adjoining counties have contributed to this 

 result. There are also several societies that hire a stallion for the benefit of 

 their members, and individual landowners have done much to assist in this 

 important matter. Although Shire horses are generally speaking not so sale- 

 able as before the days of motor lorries, the best animals have maintained 

 their value, and there is no difficulty in obtaining a remunerative price for a 

 heavy Shire gelding six years old and suitable for town work. Hunters are 

 bred to a moderate extent chiefly in the vale, but the majority of horses of this 

 description in the county are bred in Ireland, a large number being brought 

 over by dealers and sold at Barton Fair, held at Gloucester at Michaelmas. 



Pigs bred in the county are mostly Berkshires or crosses with that 

 breed. Now that fat bacon is not so much appreciated the cross with the 

 Tamworth is a favourite and produces a very saleable carcass. Large and 

 Middle White pigs, and the breed of Large Blacks, are more generally seen 

 than a few years back. There is a bacon factory at Cirencester dealing with 

 a great quantity of pigs that is advantageous to feeders in that neighbour- 

 hood, which, however, does not nearly supply its requirements, and similar 

 factories are at Ebley and Newmarket. 



Of late years a great increase in the quantity of poultry has been evident. 

 The large number of portable poultry houses seen in the fields enable fowls 

 to be kept in a more healthy condition than when aggregated in large flocks 

 about the homestead. As an adjunct to an agricultural holding poultry may 



258 



