516 
The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition , 1883. 
animals,  difficulty  was  often  experienced  in  obtaining  the  usual 
quota  of  stock.  When  such  measures  are  found  to  be  absolutely 
necessary  to  preserve  the  healthy  flocks  and  herds  on  British 
homesteads  from  contagion,  we  need  not  wonder  that  the  mani- 
fest hardship  and  suicidal  injustice  of  allowing  diseased  cattle 
to  he  landed  on  our  shores  was  universally  denounced  in  the 
strongest  possible  terms. 
The  influence  which  the  numerous  spirited  local  agricultural 
societies  exert  throughout  the  country,  owing  to  the  large  amount 
of  money  in  the  aggregate  distributed  in  prizes,  creates  an  evi- 
dent spirit  of  emulation  amongst  the  farmers,  and  fires  them 
with  that  keen  desire  for  “ blood  ” in  sires  which  evidently 
exists,  whereby  their  different  breeds  of  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses 
are  improved. 
This  naturally  leads  up  to  the  classical  home  of  the  Shorthorn. 
Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Wm.  Booth,  the  Judges  had  the 
opportunity  of  inspecting  the  grand  herd  of  Shorthorns  at 
Warlaby,  where  they  were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  many  of 
these  large  - framed,  heavy -fleshed  cattle,  showing  excellent 
dairy  qualities  ; so  much  so,  that  one  of  my  colleagues  has  since 
hired  a bull  from  Warlaby,  to  go  to  his  large  dairy  herd  in 
Dorsetshire.  The  production  of  such  a herd,  and  the  blood 
which  it  has  disseminated,  not  only  throughout  the  kingdom, 
but  through  every  civilised  cattle-raising  country  in  the  world, 
deservedly  immortalises  the  name  of  Booth. 
For  some  generations  it  has  been  the  philanthropic  custom  at 
Warlaby  to  give  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  free  service  of 
their  cows  by  a “Booth”  bull.  It  is  on  record  that  in  one 
season  four  hundred  cows  ranked  on  this  free-list ; but  so  much 
has  the  system  of  farming  changed  in  the  matter  of  breeding 
and  dairying,  that  comparatively  few  now  avail  themselves  of 
this  privilege. 
As  an  illustration  of  the  dire  effect  of  foot-and-mouth  disease 
in  a breeding  herd,  a cow  was  pointed  out  as  the  only  heifer- 
calf  that  could  be  saved  in  a whole  season  when  an  outbreak 
occurred  at  Warlaby,  and  for  this  cow  an  offer  of  2000/.  had  been 
refused. 
One  of  the  Judges,  who  has  strong  sporting  proclivities,  re- 
marked several  times  during  the  inspection,  that  the  Hares  and 
Rabbits  Act  had  not  by  any  means  exterminated  fur  in  York- 
shire. We  heard  no  real  complaints  of  game  damages  ; but  on  one 
farm  wire-netting  was  placed  between  the  woods  and  the  crops. 
On  another,  a portion  of  a wheat-field,  adjoining  a wood,  was 
much  eaten  ; and  a third  tenant,  who  had  evidently  worked  hard 
for  a crop  of  mangolds,  was  reluctantly  obliged  to  charge  the 
hares  with  nipping  off  a large  number  of  his  young  plants. 
The  cordial  relations  existing  between  the  tenants  and  their 
