563 
The  Yorkshire  Farm-Prize  Competition,  1883. 
tribes,  the  members  of  which  rarely  fail  in  distinguishing  them- 
selves. The  former  is  descended  from  a cow  called  “ Gerty,” 
which  cost  42  guineas,  and  from  her  have  descended  “ Gratia,” 
Grateful,”  “ Gratification,”  and  many  other  “G.’s;”  she  pro- 
duced 8 heifer-calves,  twice  twins  in  succession.  Mr.  Hutch- 
inson’s success  as  a breeder  is  not  to  be  attributed  to  high- 
priced  importations  into  his  herd,  but  rather  to  judicious 
mating.  Mention  must,  however,  be  made  of  a particularly 
sweet  two-year-old  heifer,  recently  bought  from  Mr.  St.  John 
Ackers.  The  Judges  were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that 
several  of  these  high-bred  cows  have  a capital  show  for  milk, 
which  is,  to  say  the  least,  not  an  invariable  characteristic  of 
Pedigree  Shorthorns. 
Though  some  of  the  calves  were  with  their  dams,  a number 
were  reared  by  the  pail. 
In  July,  the  cattle — excepting  some  bulls  and  Show  animals — 
were  all  out  on  the  pastures.  They  looked  a handsome  lot,  and 
in  proper  breeding  condition.  A two-year-old  bull  (“  Riby 
Star  ”),  brought  from  Ireland,  is  in  service  at  present ; he  is  out 
of  “ Riby  Marchioness,”  which  cost  1300  guineas  at  the  late  Mr. 
Torr’s  sale.  Mr.  Hutchinson  has  not  had  his  usual  good-fortune 
with  his  own  young  bulls  this  season.  They  have  suffered  from 
cripple  felon, — in  other  words,  chronic  rheumatism, — which 
partially  destroys  both  their  appearance  and  their  usefulness. 
Sheep. — The  flock  is  pure  Leicester  ; no  other  sort  of  sheep 
are  allowed  to  set  foot  on  Manor  House  Farm.  As  might  be 
expected,  uniformity  of  type  characterises  the  flock.  Eighty 
breeding-ewes  were  acting  the  part  of  scavengers  on  the  swede- 
field  when  we  saw  them  in  January.  Tup-  and  ewe-hoggs  were 
folded  on  turnips  in  separate  lots.  About  half  a score  of  tup- 
hoggs — one  of  which  took  the  first  prize  at  York  for  shearlings 
— were  being  house-fed : this  practice  is  not  followed  with 
females.  Three  old  veteran  prize-takers  were  roughing  it  in  the 
park,  and  looked  as  if  they  were  still  good  for  service  in  that 
line.  Seventy-five  ewes  produced  99  lambs.  This  is  not  a 
large  crop,  but  the  strain  are  evidently  good  nurses  ; the  lambs 
were  strong  and  healthy,  and  in  July  were  having  a good  time 
of  it  on  the  clover.  Even  on  this  luxuriant  and  truly  wonderful 
pasture  the  cake-troughs  were  standing. 
Several  rams  have  been  sold  from  this  flock  at  100  guineas 
each,  and  one  sheep  was  twice  let  for  the  season  at  that  sum. 
Pigs. — These  are  chiefly  pure  Berkshires ; a few  of  the  large 
white  breed  are  also  kept.  The  stores  seemed  to  pick  up  a 
good  living  in  the  covered  yards. 
Horses. — Seven  work-horses  are  kept ; they  are  heavy-legged 
active  animals.  Three  fine  Clydesdale  mares  are  bred  from. 
