FIFTH SHOW AT GLASGOW, 1850. 309 



Of the Cheviots, the report is that the aged tups were 

 inferior, the aged ewes good ; the first prize pen, shown by- 

 Thomas C. Borthwick, Hopsrig, being ' declared by com- 

 petent judges to be the best Cheviot ewes ever exhibited at 

 the Society's shows.' The Blackfaced sheep were ' con- 

 sidered very fair, though not superior to what might have 

 been expected in a district on the west coast of Scotland. 

 It was obvious that a great number of the owners of some 

 of the largest and best stocks in the Highlands did not 

 compete at all.' In the class of Southdowns, the prizes 

 were shared between the Duke of Richmond and Mr 

 Watson, Keillor. The winning animals were declared to 

 be ' highly creditable.' 



The official report pronounces the show of pigs ' not 

 superior,' while ' the breeds were not sufficiently marked in 

 character to exhibit the specific differences between the 

 Large and Small kinds in their purity.' It is pointed out 

 that, ' in breeding pigs, it is essential to keep them pure, 

 whatever be the kind, otherwise their flesh will degenerate 

 into coarseness.' 



Poultry was much larger than any previous show, there 

 being eighty-six entries. Of dairy produce it is reported 

 that ' this was much the largest exhibition that had ever 

 taken place under the auspices of the Society, the entries 

 of butter being no fewer than 246, and of cheese seventy.' 

 The butter was pronounced good ; but it was pointed out 

 that ' the curing of butter is becoming circumscribed into a 

 smaller compass in the western counties of Scotland, for 

 which change several reasons might be adduced. One cause 

 is the breaking up of old pasture, and it is found that butter 

 made from new grass does not keep so well as that from 

 old pasture. Another is the great improvement that has 

 taken place in the making and curing of butter in the 

 northern counties of Aberdeen, Banff,* Caithness, &c., 

 whence large quantities are now sent to market in competi- 

 tion with that of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, which for many 



* As this sheet is passing through the press in 1879, a controversy is 

 going on in Aberdeenshire and Banffshire as to the means of restoring the 

 alleged lapsed character of the butter cured in these counties. 



