440 Report on the Exhibition of Live Stock at Leicester. 
honours he obtained at Dublin in April, when he took the first 
prize in his class, and the Townley or ' Irish Farmer's Gazette ' 
Plate, value 155^., as the best of all the prize animals then 
present. " Bolivar " does not recross the Channel, having 
obtained a new home in Lancashire with Mr. Brierly, of Rhode 
House, near Manchester, where we have no doubt he will do 
good service, and prove a cheap purchase at 300 guineas. 
The yearling bulls, with scarcely more than two exceptions, 
were a good lot ; and we were much taken with Mr. Fawkes's 
pair as being animals of great promise, possessing size with 
first-rate quality of flesh and beautiful coats. Mr. Blythe may be 
congratulated on securing the "Reserve Number" for 120 guineas. 
The cows were a grand class, probably the best we have ever 
had. Here again Mr. Booth's " Lady Fragrant " supports her 
early promise at Plymouth, where she obtained first prize as a 
yearling. We doubt if a better animal was ever exhibited under 
that distinguished name. 
The judges very properly describe the two year-old heifer 
class as a weak one ; and though very severe criticisms were 
made on their decisions in this class, the public should consider 
that shorthorn judges look to character as much as, or perhaps 
more than, they do to points in an animal. It may be re- 
membered that when Mr. Bates went to see "Belvedere," his 
owner (Mr. Stephenson) was at the time from home, and the 
bull locked up in his house. Mr. Bates, however, having, through 
a crack in the door, obtained a good view of the animal's head, 
decided to purchase him, and his decision proved to be right. 
Although the first prize yearling heifer was quite first-rate, and 
there were several other good animals, we think we have seen a 
better class on the whole. 
That the younger females were not equal to the older ones is 
no cause for discouragement, since we know that very many 
breeders of first-class shorthorns will not incur the risk of 
training their animals for the show-yard, because by such training 
many valuable animals have been sacrificed, and the usefulness 
of a still larger number has been curtailed. 
The late lamented Lord Ducie laboured for years, but without 
success, to secure the exhibition of animals in a more natural 
state than that in which they are usually shown ; so that we can 
only say that it is a matter which must be allowed to take its 
course, though time may perhaps work a cure. 
Before taking leave of the shorthorns, we must say a word on 
our friend Mr. Dent's closing remarks on the cattle classes at 
Plymouth, as, although unintentional on his part, they are 
calculated to mislead the uninitiated. 
Pure shorthorns always have been, and with common care 
