876 
ObituO/ty. 
important decision to publish quarterly cases of impure feeding' 
stuffs and manures analysed in the Society's laboratory, and the 
system of farm competitions was started through the liberality of 
Mr. James Mason, then High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, who offered 
a piece of plate, value 100 guineas, for the best managed farm in 
the locality. 
The Oxford Meeting was also interesting as being the second 
visit paid by the Society to the city where it held its famous first 
meeting in 1839. On the earlier occasion, seven acres sufficed for 
the Showyard, and the prizes amounted to 790?. In 1870, the Show 
occupied 60 acres of ground, and the prizes for live stock amounted 
to 3,130?., besides 395?. and ten silver medals for implements. The 
entries of stock had increased from 2G6 in 1839 to 1,377 in 1870, 
and the implements, instead of being described in one single octavo 
page, witli room to spare, numbered 7,851 entries, with 359 ex- 
hibitors. 
The Duke made on his Lancashire estate extensive reclamations 
of land from Morecambe Bay ; but it is as a breeder of the highest 
class of shorthorns that, as an agriculturist, he will be chiefly re- 
membered. At his seat at Holker there has been for half a century 
one of the choicest and highest bred Bates herds in the world. At 
the public luncheon given on the occasion of his last sale on 
September 5, 1889, His Grace, in responding to the toast of his 
health, proposed by another distinguished shorthorn breeder, Sir 
Nigel Kingscote, said — " It was now very many years since he first 
began to take interest in shorthorns. His first venture in that 
line was in 1811. It had been his good fortune to have a first-rate 
adviser in his agent, INIr. Drewry, and he had thus become possessed 
of a herd which he ventured to describe as one of very considerable 
renown, and one highly esteemed amongst agriculturists, whether 
in this country or other parts of the world, who took an interest in 
shorthorns and appreciated the value of them accordingly." 
Situated on the shores of Morecambe Bay, the fine soil and 
climate of Holker, and its sheltered situation, render it one of the 
best breeding establishments in the kingdom, and no pains have 
been spared, either in the introduction of the best blood or in the 
management of the animals. The bulk of the herd traces to a cow, 
Oxford 15th, purchased when a heifer at Earl Ducie's sale in 1853 
for 200 guineas, and to Lady Oxford 5th, bought at the Havering 
Park sale in 18G7 for 600 guineas. The prolific nature of these two 
cows, the excellence of their produce, and their great quality, have 
given the herd a world-wide reputation ; and at the periodical sales 
of the surplus stock they have realised extraordinary prices, and 
have gone to all parts of the world. 
The successive sales at Holker, over a period of forty years, give 
the history of the development and rise of the breed ; for between 
the first sale and that of 1878, there was a difference on the average 
as between 25?. and 664?. On September 12, 1851, in order to lay 
the foundation for a superior herd of cattle at Holker, the late 
Mr. Strafford, the shorthorn auctioneer, sold the entire existing 
