350 
' Cross-hreeding of Cattle. 
tiou was received by one of the Middlesex coroners of the death of a mother 
and child, from a family of four, who, it is alleged, liavc died through eatinir 
cheese containing some jioisonous agent. The information given is that the 
name of the family is Sutton, of 12, Falconer's Alley, Cow Cross ; and that 
on Thursday last the mother sent for a quarter of a pound of cheese between 
herself and three children, and shortly after they had partaken of their meal 
the whole of them were seized with violent vomiting and internal excruciating 
pain, which continued until they were in a complete state of exhaustion. Oa 
the arrival home of the husband, finding his family in such a deplorable condi- 
tion, he called in medical assistance, when an opinion was given that they were 
suffering from fever, and an immediate order lor their removal to the Fever 
Hospital in the Liverpool Eoad was given. Charles Sutton, six years old, died 
that same night, and the mother on Friday afternoon. The deaths of the two 
other children were also expected. The medical gentleman at the hospital who 
had the deceased in charge, is of opinion that the deaths have been occasioned 
by poison, and refuses certificates. An inquest will therefore be held." 
This paragraph, it will be seen, refers to a case of poisoning 
by cheese in all probability similar to that examined by me. 
Ttoyal Agricultural College, Cirencester, July, 1862. 
XXII. — The Cross-breeding of Cattle. — By J. Coleman. 
Having been engaged for some ten years in the breeding of 
cattle of several descriptions as well as in the purchase of a large 
number for fattening purposes, I am induced, Mr. Editor, to 
send you a short paper upon the subject of cross-breeding, in 
the hope that you may think it worthy a place in the Journal. 
My views must be taken for what they are worth, and I cannot 
venture to hope that old breeders will agree with me on many 
points : but I trust that these few remarks may be of use to 
some of those who are starting in life, since my experience has 
led me to observe both what will best pay the breeder and be 
most sought for by the purchaser who intends to fatten. I may 
say, without discussing the why and wherefore, that I have gene- 
rally found the preference given to anything that is cross-bred. 
The majority of these crosses sent to our fairs and markets 
come from the North, and are generally the produce of a cow 
of a small breed and a shorthorn bull — their produce being an 
animal of greater size and earlier maturity than the dam, and 
still having a constitution that is able to withstand the rigours 
of the Scottish climate. 
The Galloway or polled breeds of Scotland, as well as the 
Ayrshire, West Highland, and other horned varieties, are now so 
extensively crossed with shorthorns that the pure breed is very 
scarce, and good specimens are very rarely to be met with except 
at the shows of our Agricultural Societies. Our Eastern Counties 
