226 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t March is, im. 
FROIT. 
8. d. 8. d. 
Apples. 4 sieve 2 0to7 o 
..per barrel 20 0 40 0 
Apricots. 
Cherries. 
Chestnuts. 
Currants, Black.. 
„ Red.... 
Figs. 
Filberts. 
Cobs... 
Gooseberries .... 
doz. 0 0 0 0 
$ sieve o o 0 0 
bushel 10 0 12 0 
4 sieve 0 0 0 0 
4 sieve 0 0 0 0 
dozen 00 00 
lb. 0 0 0 0 
100 tt. 0 0 0 0 
4 sieve 0 0 0 0 
s. d. s. d 
Grapes . Ib. 2 0to8 0 
Lemons. case 10 0 20 0 
Melons. each 0 0 0 0 
Nectarines. dozen 0 0 0 0 
Oranges . 100 6 0 10 0 
Peaches . dozen 0 0 0 0 
Pears,kitchen .. dozen 10 2 0 
dessert. dozen 10 2 0 
Pine Apples, English lb. 1 6 2 0 
Raspberries. lb. 0 0 0 0 
Strawberries .... oz. 0 9 13 
POULTRY AND PIGEON CHRONICLE . * 
THE POLLED BREEDS OF CATTLE. 
(Continued from jmge 207.) 
When the celebrated Mr. McCombie appeared upon the scene 
he took up the good work systematically commenced by Hugh 
Watson. William McCombie carried it on with a skill and 
success that have few equals, and that will hand down his name 
to posterity as the chief improver of the polled breed. It might 
with truth be said that what the Booths have been to “ Red, 
White, and Roan,” William McCombie was to the “ Glossy blacks.” 
Than that, higher credit could be given to no breeder of live 
stock; and everyone who has any knowledge of the subject will 
admit that it is due to the memory of the late Laird of Tillyfour. 
In the space we can afford in this Journal, however, a detailed 
account of Mr. McCombie’s work as a breeder of polled cattle 
cannot be attempted. Still, as Tillyfour was regarded the head¬ 
quarters of improved black polled cattle, and as Mr. McCombie 
did more than any other man to gain for the breed the world¬ 
wide reputation it now enjoys, a short statement of the leading 
features in the history of his herd will probably prove acceptable 
to our readers. 
Mr. McCombie was born in 1805 and died in the spring of 1880. 
He dated the foundation of his polled herd from the year 1832, 
the first year in which he gained a first prize for a polled animal. 
This herd, however, was dispersed in 1880. In the interval 
between 1832 and 1880 lies the history of Mr. McCombie’s mode 
of breeding and his style and type aimed at by which he improved 
the black polled cattle, and which insured him an unrivalled 
career and immense success in the various cattle exhibitions, not 
only in England but also on the continent, especially in France, 
where the crowning victory of his life was achieved at the great 
International Exhibition held at Paris in 1878. On that occasion, 
in addition to several leading “class” honours, he carried off with 
a group of beautiful young polled cattle, all bred by himself at 
Tillyfour, not only the £100 prize for the best group of cattle 
bred by the exhibitor in the division foreign to France, but also 
the £100 prize “for the best group of beef-producing animals 
bred by the exhibitor.” To enable him to achieve these unrivalled 
successes let us refer to the means whereby he obtained them, and 
make some allusion to his ideal of form and type which he 
adopted during his career in the animals which he reared. Mr. 
McCombie claimed that his stock possessed valuable natural pro¬ 
perties not found to an equal extent in any other race of cattle. 
While he aimed at developing long, level, thick, deep quarters, he 
also retained the rounded appearance which was originally one 
of the dominant characteristics of the breed. 
As the polled Angus cattle are more prized for the production 
of beef, and at the earliest age, than for their milking capacity, 
we will give a description of the best polled Aberdeen and Angus 
cattle, as stated by Mr. G. Walker in a paper which he read before 
Kincardineshire Farmers’ Club in 1872. The colour is, of course, 
“ black, and all black if possible.” The points required in a bull 
are as follows :—“ Head neatly put on, clean throat and fine 
muzzle, not over long ’twixt the eye and the nose, eye bright and 
prominent, ear moderately sized, good breadth betwixt the eyes, 
and poll high ; neck a good length and clean, a little but not over¬ 
full on the top ; chest full and deep ; legs short, but not so as to 
give the animal a dumpy appearance; bone clean and free from 
coarseness ; shoulders not too full, and top free from sharpness, 
but not over-broad ; back level and straight; ribs well sprung; 
deep barrel; well ribbed down towards hook ; full behind shoulder; 
hooks level, but not too broad, and well and evenly fleshed to tail; 
twist full and long, and well fleshed down, but not protruding 
behind ; tail of moderate thickness, and hanging straight; hair soft 
and plentiful; skin of moderate thickness and mellow to the 
touch ; body fully developed, and the animal when in motion to 
have a blood-like look and style about him. A cow should differ 
from a bull in the head in having, instead of a broad masculine¬ 
looking head, a neat feminine-looking one. The ear should be 
also of good size, with plenty of hair in it ; the neck well put on, 
clean and straight, and without any prominence on the top or 
abrupt hollow where it joins the shoulder ; and the top of shoulder 
sharper than the bull’s, and the shoulders themselves thinner.” 
In both, however, “ scurs ”—loose horny excrescences on the head 
—are objectionable. We have been rather particular in de¬ 
scribing the individualities of form and shape in this breed, 
because they differ materially in some respects from most other 
breeds, but especially those valued for their milking capacities. 
We will now return to the doings of Mr. McCombie, for his 
famous polled ox in 1867, bred at Tillyfour and exhibited at the 
Birmingham and Smithfield Shows when four years old, and at 
both shows made almost a clean sweep of the special honours. At 
Birmingham he won the £15 and silver medal as the best in his 
class, the Earl of Powis’s silver cup value £25, four other prizes, 
and the gold medal for the best steer or ox in the show. At 
Smithfield he won the first prize and silver medal as the best in 
his class, and the £10 silver cup for the best steer or ox in the 
show, and the £20 gold medal to the breeder. The ox was, 
by the Queen's desire, forwarded to Windsor for Her Majesty’s 
inspection, and of which Her Majesty expressed great admiration, 
and was graciously pleased to accept from Mr. McCombie her 
Christmas baron of beef from the carcass of this fine animal. A 
year or two afterwards Her Majesty visited Tillyfour, mainly for 
the purpose of inspecting Mr. McCombie’s celebrated herd of 
polled cattle, and was interested greatly in the beautiful herd 
shown at Tillyfour. We may here observe that their superiority 
over most other breeds from a butcher’s point of view lies chiefly 
in the excellent quality of their beef and in the high per-centage 
of dead meat to live weight, and it is well known that they make 
the highest price per stone in all the principal markets of the 
kingdom. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour. —Some work, such as rolling the Clovers and carting 
manures to heap, was continued until the end of February, and March 
commenced with favourable weather, though it has since changed. 
If the weather should become fine during the next four or five weeks 
much sowing and planting will be done. Sowing Beans and Peas 
should be done first before the land becomes too hard and dry ; Oats 
come next in rotation, with Barley in due course. If the land had 
been ploughed early scarify it and sow the seeds; otherwise, w r ork 
down and seed the land daily as fast as it is ploughed. This only 
will make safe work, and land will work fine as it should do if dry 
weather continues, for what is right for dry weather as regards til¬ 
lage must be right if the weather becomes show T ery. On the other 
hand if we sow and wait for rain, without the seed vegetates imme¬ 
diately, the rain may not come in time, and the land be comparatively 
barren. We have known seasons when there was not rain enough to 
vegetate the Barley and Oats until near to and after harvest, and 
after such a long cycle of wet seasons as we have experienced it may 
very probably happen again ; at any rate we always recommend that 
ploughing or scarifying with immediate seeding is the only safe plan, 
because it is always right if the season proves either dry or wet after¬ 
wards. Rolling in those meadows and pastures laid up for hay 
should be done in favourable weather, when the land is firm enough 
to bear the treading of the horses. 
Live Stoclc. —This is now a very important matter, for whether the 
practice is to rear all the lambs (where a breeding flock is kept) for 
sale, or whether the lambs are usually reared for selling in the early 
market fat. In the former case the ewes and lambs also may be 
doing very w r ell, and a good average of lambs in number saved, and 
there is at present plenty of food ; yet if the weather proves dry 
through April and May a pinch may come, and at these high prices 
they may be held too long, referring to the lambs. In the case of 
these on the vale farms and grazing lands the lambs may be held on 
