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Report on the Dairy and Stock-farm 
(366), grand dam by " Layton " (366). From this cow innu- 
merable progeny has been bred, and the " Duchesses of Kirkby 
and the "Rubies" in the present Low Hall Herd are bred from 
" Lady." Mr. Ashburner subsequently bought other Shorthorn 
cows; and since the formation in 1838 of the North Lonsdale 
Agricultural Society, he and his son have shown Shorthorns 
every year without a single exception, and they have almost 
always taken prizes at every Show. Mr. Ashburner, sen., did 
not give extravagant prices for fashionable blood, but used bulls 
from one or other of the families he had in his possession. 
Latterly " Duke of Oxford 10th," and " Oxford " (20,449), the 
one from Holker and the other one of his own herd, have 
done good. Mr. Ashburner was noted also in his district as a 
root grower, advocating wide intervals in the setting out of 
the swede crop. Since Mr. George Ashburner has succeeded 
his father, the Shorthorn stock has been increased from 40 to 75 
head, and bulls of the Bates' blood have been used, as " Sockburn 
Lad" (30,024), "Grand Duke of Lightburne 3rd" (2876), 
" Duke of Oxford " (31,004), " Cherry Duke of Lightburne " 
(36,349), "Duke of Oxford 41st" (38,174), "Baron Oxford 
10th " (42,739), and " Knight of Worcester 6th," out of the herd 
of Sir Henry Allsopp (now Lord Hindslip), who is in service 
now. Without specially forcing for show, or even frequently 
showing, Mr. Ashburner has exhibited not only in his own 
neighbourhood, but at the Liverpool and Manchester Society 
and other more distant Shows. He exhibited the " Duchess of 
Kirkby " and " Florence " at the Royal Agricultural Society's 
Show at Hull in 1873, taking there the prize for a pair of 3-year- 
olds ; again in 1877, at Liverpool, "Duchess of Kirkby" and 
her family were second in the Family Class. In 1883, at York, 
" Bride of Lome " and her three daughters were Reserve number ; 
and in 1884 " Bride of Lome " and her three daughters again 
were shown, and took the first prize for the family. 
The history of the farm is noteworthy also in other respects. 
Mr. Ashburner has taken the prize for " the best stock of cattle, 
pigs, horses, or sheep, suitable for and adapted to dairy-farms '^ 
within the district of the Manchester and Liverpool Society, in- 
cluding both Lancashire and Cheshire. In 1882 the same 
Society gave him a special prize for the superior management of 
his farm ; and in 1884 they placed him first for the best stock- 
breeding farm. It is not necessary to attempt the enumeration 
of the prizes won by animals in the Low Hall Herd. The 
" Duchess of Kirkby " has won a hundred prizes. The bull 
" Pure Gold " was also a prize-winner ; and the herd itself has 
supplied stock, especially bulls, all over the country, from Aber- 
deen to Essex, and across the water to Canada, California, and 
