The late George Turner. 
695 
shall have a difficulty in finding animal food sufficient for the 
people. 
" With wheat it is very different, as it is very easy of transit, 
and will he brought from all parts of the world, let the price he 
what it may. I hrve some relatives in California, where they 
harvest, thresh, and winnow their wheat in the field without 
rain, place it in sacks on the quay at the harbour, and wait 
until the vessels come and take it away. If the labourer has 
only to pay 6c?. for his loaf instead of 9c?., the remaining 
2>d. will go for meat. My advice to my brother-farmers is 
— ' Grow as much beef and mutton as you can, and as little 
wheat.' " 
It was to the herd and flock that Mr. Turner wisely looked for 
any way out of our present difficulty that may he possible. It 
was through the herd and flock that his own great contribution 
to the agricultural improvement of his day was made. " He 
had, in my opinion " — I quote a letter with which I have been 
favoured by Lord Bridport — " the best herd of Devons in 
1862 of any Devon breeder. In that year he left Barton, but 
continued in a smaller way to breed cattle and sheep, main- 
taining his reputation as a successful exhibitor until the last 
few years of his life. I may mention that when His Royal 
Highness the Prince Consort established a herd of Devons 
in Windsor Great Park, many of Mr. Turner's contributed to 
form it." 
With some particulars of this herd, as the reputation of many 
successors rests upon it, I conclude this short memoir. The 
following notes by the experienced hand of Mr. W. Housman 
were written some years after Mr. Turner had left Barton. 
They were published in the year 1870 in 'Bell's Weekly 
Messenger.' "It is now" (1870), he says, "more than fifty 
years since Mr. Turner began to breed Devons. The first 
portion of his stock was inherited from his father ; and to that 
he added, by purchase, infusions of the best ' Quartly ' and 
' Davy ' blood obtainable, together with some good material 
derived from the herd of ]\Ir. Halse. Amongst the bulls 
used by him in recent years, 'Albert Victor' (776) holds a 
prominent place in his estimation, as a most valuable and 
strongly impressive sire. He was bred by Mr. Turner himself, 
from his cow ' Vaudine,' a winner at the Royal and Bath 
and West of England Shows. The sire of ' Albert Victor ' 
was 'Leotard' (866), a son of 'The Little Known' (733), 
whose descent in the maternal line (pure ' Quartly ' blood ; he 
was bred by Mr. John Quartly) traces to the Bristol ' Royal ' 
first-prize cow ' Prettymaid,' and the celebrated ' Curly ' family 
of the late Mr. Francis Quartly. The male line of ' The 
VOL. XX. — s. s. 2 z 
