393 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE BREED IN THE SHOW-YARD. 



Acliievements of the breed in the Show-yard — The Highland Society's 

 Shows — Unique group of Tillyfour first-prize cows in 1864 — Features 

 ofpolled classes at Glasgow Show in 1867; Aberdeen, 1868; Edinburgh, 

 1869 ; Dumfries, 1870 ; Perth 1871 ; Kelso, 1872 ; Stirling, 1873 ; 

 Inverness, 1874 ; Glasgow, 1875 ; Aberdeen, 1876 ; Edinburgh, 1877 ; 

 Dumfries, 1878; Perth, 1879; Kelso, 1880; Stirling, 1881.— The 

 Fat Stock Shows — Black Prince, the champion at Birmingham and 

 Smithfield in 1867 — Polled animals champions at Birmingham and 

 Smithlield in 1872 — The Altyre Smithfield champions in 1881 — 

 Performances at French Exhibitions — Paris, 1856; Poissy, 1857; 

 Paris, 1862, and Paris 1878 — The champion group at Paris in 1878. 



The position which the polled cattle of the North-East 

 of Scotland have taken in show-j'^ards — local, national, 

 and international — has been almost unique. Wherever 

 the breed has been well represented, it has attained 

 marked distinction. It cannot be doubted that the 

 splendid triumphs achieved by polled Aberdeen or 

 Angus cattle in the principal British and French 

 exhibitions have done much both to foster the im- 

 provement of the breed at home and to spread its fame 

 in foreign lands. By these means its rare intrinsic merit 

 as a beef-producing race, and its truly handsome and 

 uniform proportions, have been made known far and 

 wide; while the sweets of victoiy in those hotly-con- 

 tested fields in which the breed has won its chief laurels, 

 have operated as a powerful stimulus to its patrons, who. 



