406 
The 3Ianagemcnt of a Shoi'thorn Herd. 
as the herdsman goes about among the animals. This may 
seem a trifle to introduce, but unless we find economy of time 
and labour in minutifs, we shall surely find much waste of them 
in the entire management of a farm or a herd ; and that saving 
or waste may just make the difference between profitable and 
unprofitable practice. 
Within the last 100 years the county of Gloucester has fre- 
quently changed its stock. The old Gloucestershire breed, with 
white backs, gave place to the Longhorn, the Hereford for 
working and grazing, and mixed breeds for the pail ; these were 
superseded by the Shorthorn. The county owns the names of 
some of the most eminent Shorthorn breeders, and at the present 
time is strong in long-established herds of high reputation. 
These I need not here mention severally. Any one of them 
might afford interesting matter relative to my present subject ; 
but within the limits of a paper like this it is impossible to do 
more than take a few illustrations of different kinds of manage- 
ment. Having noticed the system pursued at Maisemore Court 
as an example, like Mr. Richard Stratton's system in Mon- 
mouthshire, of Shorthorn management j-.n the course of plain 
farming, I propose to glance at two well-known " show herds," 
that is to say, herds constantly and successfully represented at 
the leading agricultural Shows, kept under very different local 
circumstances, and consequently affording contrasts with regard 
to treatment. I will first ask the reader to accompany me in 
fancy from Maisemore, through the city of Gloucester, to Prink- 
nash Park, only about half-a-dozen miles from the one place to 
the other, and then to extend his imagination down the Vale of 
Severn to Berkeley Castle. 
Prinknash Park, the property of Mr. B. St. John Ackers, 
stands high on the hills between Gloucester and Stroud, is 
approached by a steep ascent, and looks down upon a most 
richly wooded landscape, from a position of rare advantage as 
regards the picturesque, but, to the cold eye of the purely agri- 
cultural observer, not so highly favoured. The winters at that 
height come down with much greater severity, and the very 
hilly character of the land increases the risk of keeping heavy 
cattle. 
Mr. Ackers finds that in most cases it is best to hand-milk 
the cows and pail-feed the calves. To this system, however, he 
admits occasional exceptions ; but the cows which suckle their 
calves do not usually breed again so rapidly as the hand-milked 
cows, which are milked twice a-day, morning and evening. 
Some of the cows are good milkers, others yielding only about 
enough to maintain their calves. Before and after calving, the 
cows have medicine, to keep the system in a cool and healthy 
