812 



TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



or more neatly carried out, it has never 

 been my fortune to see. 



My last interview with Sambo was as 

 follows. Old Lord Ducie (the first Earl, 

 who died in 1840) being on a visit to his 

 daughter (my uncle's wife) at Sarsden, 

 my father took him to see Vean's little 

 pack of beagles, which were quite the 

 show sight of the neighbourhood. Vean 

 was verj^ i^roud of them; and they cer- 

 tainly were beauties, and as good as they 

 looked, and brought their hares to book 

 m first rate style. Sambo was always out 

 with them, following close at the heels 

 of his master's horse, and apparently tak- 

 ing not the slightest notice of the pack, 

 or their quarry. It so happened that 

 one of the hounds, a bitch called J\Iad- 

 cap, in jumping a ditch which ran across 

 a gap in a blackthorn hedge, landed upon 

 a stout thorn, which tore her foot and 

 broke in it, making a nasty wound. Vean 

 cut the thorn out, but the poor dog was 

 incapacitated for further work, and it 

 was necessary to send her home, a dis- 

 tance of two or tbree miles. We were 

 gatiiered round, i)itying the j)oor bitch, 

 Avho was evidently in great [)ain, when 

 A'ean called Sambo, who came up at ,a 

 giilh.)p, and seizing .^hulcap by the neck, 

 began to shake her, evidently under the 

 impression that "she had inisllehaved, and 

 that it Avas his business to punish her, or 

 to hold her while punishment was in- 

 flicted. "No, Sambo," said Vean, "you 

 • musn't shake her; she is a good bitch, 

 but has hurt herself," holding up the in- 

 jured foot. "Take her gently home to 

 Joe (the kennel man) and take great care 

 of her." You ishould have seen how the 

 M-hole attitude of tlie old dog changed. 

 He licked the wounded with his ton- 

 gue, spoke to tlie beagle in their own lan- 

 guage, took its ear in liis mouth, and 

 walked (piietly away; and that afternoon, 

 across the fields, and under the gates, and 

 along ilic- grassy sides of the lanes might 

 be seen a limping heaglo in the custody of 

 a smool h-haired reddish dog, that might 

 lia\c lic( 11 ;i lurclicr, but was one of the 

 liest retrievers, ami eei'tainly one of tlie 

 cleverest and liest trained dogs in broad 

 England, marching slowlv along in the 

 direction of Canon Court.' The old Earl 

 was enchanted; 



"And by black Plilagetlion he swore 

 That since he lived upon the moor 

 He neer had seen such sight before." 



The quotation is from a poem of the 

 West, but it will serve to express the 

 utter astonishment of the old nobleman; 

 and I cannot recall his exact words. 



The family have long left Canon 

 Court; one of the girls married into the 

 Church, and another into the Peerage. 

 A younger lot of girls grew up much later 

 than those who had been our playmates 

 in childhood; and my last recollection 

 of the family is that of meeting, one 

 afternoon, years after the old Earl and 

 Sambo had passed away, in a pathway be- 

 tween the villages, one of the youngest 

 Miss Veans. The pathway was broken 

 by 'fairly high and thick stiles; the girl 

 sat quietly on a clever litlle horse, one 

 arm holding the bridle rein, the other 

 encircling on the saddle bow a beagle, 

 which might have been a grand-son, or 

 daughter, of Madcap. She was going at 

 an easy canter, and had just cleared one 

 awkward stile when we met; she passed 

 with a rapid salutation, and I watched 

 her sail over three more obstacles of the 

 same nature, as placidly as if they were 

 open gateways; and then I lost sight of 

 her. If alive, she is probably a grand- 

 mother; but I have never met another 

 Sambo; nor do I think his equal has yet 

 appeared; 



Mr. J. Baynes, M.L.A.,it is reported, has up to 

 the present lost 390 out of the 500 Queensland 

 heifers he recently imported. 



In the New South Wales Agricultural Gazette 

 Dr. Cobb gives gome interesting particulars 

 of the giant harvesters at work in California, 

 where the conditions at harvest time are very 

 similar to those prevailing in this State. The 

 machmes cost up to £1,600 for the largest steam 

 t- action harvesters. Dr. Cobb states that some 

 of the best of these cut a width of 24 ft. to 27 ft., 

 and require seven men and a boy to run ; they 

 consume about two tons of coal per day, and 

 harvest up to eight aoies per hour, or 1,000 bush, 

 per day, which make the erst of harvesting, 

 cleaning, and bagging about 3d. per bushel, hot 

 includ ng cost of bags. Some of the machines 

 are fitted with tires 7 ft. wide for work on sandy 

 country, as their great weight causes Ihem to 

 sinkdetply. The horse traction harvesters do 

 not require so many men to attend to them, but 

 usually from twenty to thirty mules or horses 

 are required to draw them. All these harvesters 

 cut the straw to within 8 in. to 12 in. of the 

 ground, the threshed straw being deposited in 

 heaps in the paddock. 



