The Agricultural Features of the Paris Exhibition. 187 
their bloom, and her ladyship's bulls were hardly up to the 
mark. The " red, white, and roan," ho\vever, had their advo- 
cates among the Jurors ; but a large majority decided in favour 
of the blacks. Lady Pigot's group was accordingly turned 
away, though the favourable impression they made on the 
Jurors led to their being awarded a special prize of honour 
in the shape of an "object of art;" which was also given to 
Her Majesty the Queen, for her Herefords, Devons, and Short- 
horns ; and to Mr. McCombie, of Tilly four, whose black group, 
on account, no doubt, of their youth and symmetry, was pre- 
ferred to the Ballindalloch lot for the coveted premium of lOOZ. 
The only occasion on which British and French cattle had 
any opportunity of trying their respective merits was in the 
competition for the 100/. prize for the best group of beef- 
producing animals, bred by the exhibitor. After the verdict 
already noted, the public will be prepared for the fact that Mr. 
McCombie's was really the only group firmly pitted against the 
French cattle for this prize. The adjudicating bench had by 
this time increased from 16 to 31. Eventually the chance of 
France achieving the honour was reduced to Count de Massol's 
Shorthorns. They were really a good, useful, well-fleshed, 
evenly matched group, and ran the Polls much closer than the 
English Shorthorns did. But ultimately, by a majority of 24 
to 7, the Aberdeenshire animals triumphed. 
This breed is rapidly rising in value and increasing in 
numbers. The favourable impression it made on many visitors 
to Paris has led to fresh inquiries after Polled animals from 
various countries. Regarding the maturing properties of this 
breed erroneous impressions have hitherto existed. It has often 
been said that Polled Angus or Aberdeen beasts are slow in 
ripening. Those who said so must have had no experience 
of the improved race of cattle of that description. When well 
fed from calf-hood, they will come out quite ripe at the age of 
two years and some months, though they will " keep " longer, 
and retain their levelness and quality of flesh. Three-year-olds 
of this breed have in recent years carried the championship 
several times at the leading English Fat Shows. The early 
maturing faculties of the " Polls " should, even outside their own 
country, be placed beyond doubt by the fact that only one of 
Mr. M'Combie's best " beef-making group " of six was over two 
years and a few months. Gentlemen with a hobby for the 
possession of three- and four-year-old black Polled bullocks 
" spare " the animals in the matter of diet until the last year ; 
hence to a considerable extent the grounds for the idea enter- 
tained by many that the breed is long in ripening. Another 
cause of this opinion is the fact that, until comparatively 
