JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 13, 1882.1 
ling him with great care to ascertain by touch his quality and 
aptitude to fatten, we thought, as we still think, that his equal 
may never appear again. It is stated that this most remarkable 
animal was sold at this time to a Mr. Ward of Geelong, in Aus¬ 
tralia, for twelve hundred guineas. We were, however, very 
sorry to hear of this animal’s death while travelling under the 
influence of a hot sun to a local cattle show in the Colony in the 
year 1858. Master Butterfly was the offspring of the cow Butter¬ 
fly, of whom we have above related that her showyard winnings 
were without a parallel. The same cow subsequently produced, 
when mated with the same bull Frederick, another bull calf, 
Boyal Butterfly, whom we saw as the winner of the yearling 
prize at the Royal Meeting at Warwick in 1859, and of the first 
prize for bulls above two years old at the Royal Meeting at Can¬ 
terbury in 1860. For him also the large sum of twelve hundred 
guineas was not only offered but refused. Colonel Townley 
writes saying, “ I refused at Warwick for my present bull, own 
brother to Master Butterfly, twelve hundred guineas.” We will 
now make our last quotation from Mr. Dixon’s prize essay : it 
states, “ Prices may at times have been wild and fanciful, and 
250 guineas may seem an extravagant bull-hire ; but still there 
is some method in the madness which would give 125 guineas for 
Oxford 11th as a calf, 250 guineas for her as a three-years-old, 
and 500 guineas for her as a cow, on the only three occasions 
that this dam of Fifth Duke of Oxford—the first-prize aged bull 
at Chester, and a 300-guinea purchase at six months old—was 
brought into the sale-ring. When we look back to the calm 
foresight of the Brothers Colling, the courageous confidence of 
Mason, the Rev. Henry Berry, and Whitaker ; Tommy Bates, and 
all his animated lectures on touch and form in his pastures, or on 
the showground ; a quiet day at Wiseton ; the dashing cow and 
heifer contests between Towneley, Booth, and Douglas ; the vic¬ 
tories of Duchess 77th, and the Twins ; the dispersion of the 
late Jonas Webb’s herd at the steady and paying average of 
£55 10.?. for 145 ; the brilliant gathering which appraised the 
Butterflies ; £8180 at Willis’s Rooms for the seventeen grand 
Dukes and Duchesses, and then scan the result in so many fairs 
and pastures, we may well feel that Shorthorns have repaid all 
the money, thought, and labour which have been expended upon 
them.” 
Since the period to which the last observations refer there has 
been a continuous enlargement of the area to which Shorthorns 
have been located, and a still greater number of annual sales of 
the best herds in the kingdom, amongst whom we hope it will not 
be considered invidious to name Mr. Richard Stratton of Broad 
Hinton, whose genius and untiring efforts to maintain the value and 
utility of the Shorthorn breed of cattle has proved highly advan¬ 
tageous to posterity, because he persevered in rearing animals of 
full milking capacity, as well as perfection in type and style. He, 
however, died in 1871, leaving behind him a great reputation and 
a herd which were reared and obtained extensive showyard 
honours, without sacrificing its milking powers, which few have 
done in recent times with the same success. In fact, it is the 
only reproach against the Shorthorn breed, that during a con¬ 
siderable period milk has not been regarded so long as the stock 
obtained the highest prizes at the Royal and other Agricultural 
Societies. 
We must now allude to the opening of the new departure or 
era in prices and values set upon the best animals, and this, like 
many other important epochs in agricultural matters, commenced 
in America, resulting from that which has not unreasonably been 
termed the sale of the century, but more especially as regards the 
extreme prices at which the most coveted animals were sold. 
Sale of the New York Mills herd, Oneida County, New York. 
Details of this extraordinary sale which have reached this country 
are too voluminous for us to give in their entirety as published 
47 
in the Nerv York Tribune. The origin of the herd was the 
purchase made by Mr. S. Thorne of new York, of several animals 
of the Duchess tribe at the famous sale of the Earl of Ducie 
in 1853. After changing owners several times the entire herd 
came into the possession of Mr. Campbell, who disposed of them 
for reasons not made public, in 1873, just twenty years after 
Lord Ducie’s sale. In the New York sale ; summary—ninety- 
three cows, &c., sold for £70,045, averaged £757, equal sixteen 
bulls sold for £173, averaged £386. Of the thirteen Duchess 
females one was withdrawn, and one made only £90 ; the other 
eleven made £47,800, or £4363 each ; the prices varying from 
£1140 for the twelfth Duchess of Thorndale to £8120 for the 
eighth Duchess of Geneva. Of these Lord Skelmersdale bought 
one for £6140 ; Mr. Pavin Davies one for £8120 ; Lord Bective 
three for £7000, £3060, and £2000 respectively ; and Mr. Hol- 
ford of Market Harborough, one for £3140. The others went 
to Kentucky, or were retained- by buyers at New York. In 
analysing the sale it will be seen that the fifteen descendants 
of the three daughters (all full sisters) of Duchess sixty-sixth 
made altogether fifty thousand guineas. It is satisfactory to 
know that such valuable animals were bought and added to 
the herds of this country, for no doubt these animals have been 
carefully managed so as to preserve up to the present time stock 
of the same untainted pedigree as the originals. Since this sale 
the sales in this country have continued unceasingly of the very 
best stock, but prices have rather receded lately for well-bred 
stock, owing in some measure to the depression existing in agri¬ 
culture ; still, the best and full pedigree tribes make very large 
sums, and will without doubt continue to do so. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour .—This will still consist of preparations for seeding 
the land for root crops, but especially for common Turnips ; and for 
the main produce we continue to advocate the Grey Stone variety, as 
they grow quickly, come a good size, keep well, and maintain their 
feeding value longer than any except the hybrid sorts. The fallows 
for Wheat will still require constant attention, chiefly by surface cul¬ 
tivation, by which any roots or bunches of couch, black bent, onion 
grass, and wild Oats will be kept at the top, and by the constant use 
of the scarifier and Howard’s self-lifting drag harrow they will for 
the greater part be lifted to the surface by the first-named implement, 
and any roots not so lifted out of the land will be combed out and 
left on the surface to die. So much is this latter implement preferred 
at the present time that on most farms well cultivated the old-fashioned 
wooden-framed drags are not now to be seen. If any land in fallow 
for Wheat is clean we advise the sowing of White Mustard seed, not 
for the purpose of feeding off by sheep, but for ploughing down as 
manure. We have often seen this done with great care, and the Mus¬ 
tard so completely buried out of sight under furrow that it could not 
be discovered by viewing the work what crop had been buried. We 
were recently on a farm and viewed the result of this plan of manur¬ 
ing, one-half of the land being sown after Mustard ploughed in, the 
other half sown after bare fallow manured with farmyard manure, 
and we estimated the first-named half of the field at three sacks of 
Wheat per acre more than the bare fallow-prepared and dunged por¬ 
tion. It is the practice on many strong land farms to grow winter 
and summer vetches, the winter-sown to be fed off in early spring (or 
as soon as the crop of green fodder is full) by sheep folded upon the 
land ; the spring-sown to follow these are being fed off at the present 
time. As fast as a portion of the early crop is fed off we like to 
plough the land carefully, burying under furrow all the unconsumed 
haulm, and seed the land with white Mustard. Now this plan will 
ensure a full crop of Wheat without any yard or town manure being 
required, and this is especially worth the home farmer’s attention 
upon land lying wide from the farmyard and premises, for it thus 
saves long carriage of the manure. In case, however, of any of the 
outlying fields requiring manure, guano at seed time and nitrate of 
soda in the spring are the best substitutes for yard or town dung, for 
these also save the heavy expenses of cartage attached to the use of 
straw-made manures. 
We notice the second cuttings of Red Clover are coming forward, 
and are promising a heavy crop either of seed or hay, as may be re¬ 
quired on the farm, because under the system of artificial drying of 
hay, corn, and seed crops the risk of second growth of Clovers, which 
has hitherto been difficult, will now be not only a safer but an easier 
process. This is more especially the case in some of the northern 
and Scotch counties, for where Wheat does not come to perfection 
Oats are usually grown, but in five years out of six it is difficult to 
harvest the crop in good condition. Now in the mountainous and 
elevated districts this new system of harvesting will prove invaluable, 
not only for hay, but for the Oats, Ac., also. 
