Report on the British and Foreign Cattle at Kilhurn. 601 
is not of a very receut date, so far as Brazilian matters are concerned. It is 
manifest — at least it is my strong opinion— tliat inules of any character, and 
for almost any purpose, can bu pniduccd by a ])ioiicr selection oT quality in sire 
and (iaui respectively. When size and stien>;ih are wanttd, the sire would 
natuially be the largest and most pouerlul ass piocurable, the blood and breed 
depeudin:^ on the mare; the smaller aciive nuiUs, or ginettes, being got by 
pony sires From female donkeys. A vast number of facts are on record with 
respect to this species of natural selection, which, if the breeding ot mules 
conies iiiio lavour, could all be collected anil utdised in the scientific breeding 
of an animal which experience has taught me to Ktik upon as most valuable, as 
doing pretty nearly all that a horse could acconip.ish, and having qualities of 
endurance which are superior b}'' far ; and 1 leel very sure a mule could be 
bred with almost all combinations of size, [ovvcr, Heetness, and symmetry. 
William Loet, F.E.G.S., &c. 
XXIII. — Report on the British and Foreign Cattle exhibited at 
Kilburn. By Thomas Bowstead, Edenhall, Cumberland. 
Long before these pages meet the eye of the reader, all those 
who take an interest in agricultural matters generally, and 
in the vast and important work of the Royal Agricultural 
Society of England in particular, will have learnt through 
divers channels that the recent Exhibition at Kilburn, near 
London, was beyond question the most extensive, the most 
varied, and the most important dis])lay, as well of live-stock as 
of farm-implements, that has ever been held in any country. 
The statistics already given by the Senior Steward of Live- 
stock (p. 555) show that the only exhibition at all approaching 
Kilburn in cattle-entries was that held at Battersea, in 1862. 
And with the increase in numbers at Kilburn (1U07, against 789 
at Battersea) there was also observable, after the seventeen years' 
interval, a most marked improvement in the quality of the 
cattle-classes. True it is that Great Britain has long main- 
tained a proud pre-eminence in the breeding and management 
of every description of domestic stock. Her race-horses and 
hunters have stood unrivalled ; her stupendous dray-horses, her 
nimble and corky roadsters, have been the wonder of foreigners ; 
her sheep are remarkable for their variety, their early maturity, 
and their economical development, alike of wool and of mutton ; 
her pigs contrast favourably with tlie rough coarse swine of 
many other countries ; while her roast-beef — whether cut from 
the Shorthorn, the Hereford, the Devon, the Sussex, the Norfolk 
and Suffolk Polled, or from any of the famous Scotch breeds — 
