1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
293 
Animals for Exhibition and for Use. 
It must be confessed that there is a wide gap 
between the breeders of our most highly valued 
stock, and the farmers, for whose interest, it is 
the fashion to say, that these costly animals 
are bred and exhibited. If a Shorthorn bull 
or cow has any in¬ 
trinsic value at all, it 
is only so far as it 
promises to affect the 
value of our general 
farm stock in the near 
or distant future, and 
in so far as at some 
time to come the milk 
pail may be filled, or 
the butcher’s stall 
may be weighed 
down with its pro¬ 
duce. Certainly no 
one supposes that a 
show-animal is valued 
for its product of 
milk, or the weight 
of beef in its carcass. 
The ordinary farmer, 
viewing the mam¬ 
moth proportions of 
a prize animal at one 
of our fairs, may 
possibly have some 
faint dream of a time when he may lead 
his cow to be served by such a bull at some 
cost within his slender means, but generally he 
views the animal in a state of bewilderment at 
the evident impossibility of that time ever com¬ 
ing. Consequently there is a want of interest 
upon the part of the majority of visitors at 
State fairs, where our best stock is exhibited, 
while at less noted exhibitions, such as local or 
county fairs, this lack of interest is not so con¬ 
spicuous. It has become a serious question, if 
the present eager disposition to run up the 
prices of Shorthorn stock to unprecedented 
figures, even at the 
risk of giving rise 
to suspicions of 
bolstering up prices 
by fictitious pur¬ 
chases, is not in¬ 
jurious to the gen¬ 
eral agricultural in¬ 
terest, and greatly 
retarding the day 
when we might 
hope to see the final 
fruition of the long 
continued labors of 
breeders. Each sale 
and dispersion of 
herds only seems 
to remove farther 
than ever from the 
farmer of moderate 
means his hope of 
some benefit from 
this stock, and the 
possession of a 
“ Duke ” or a 
“ Duchess ” for him¬ 
self. It has also be¬ 
come a question, if the high feeding resorted to, 
to get show animals into condition, is not injur¬ 
ing, if not destroying, the usefulness of these 
favored families of stock. These remarks are 
intended to be general, but they apply with 
the greatest force to a few families of Short¬ 
horns, which are never seen in public, but in 
that state of uselessness, known as sliow- 
conditiou. We desire to propound the question 
at this seasonable period, if it would not great¬ 
ly extend the usefulness of the Shorthorn, as 
well as every other high-bred class of stock, to 
exhibit at least occasionally some choice breed¬ 
ing animals in working condition ? If agricul¬ 
tural associations are what they ought to be— 
educational institutions for the benefit of the 
agricultural class—it would seem proper that 
such lessons should be given as could be un¬ 
derstood and appreciated, and from which 
something should be learned by the largest 
class of visitors, the farmers. How little is 
learned by the great mass of farmers from the 
show-ring or stalls, filled with high-fed show- 
animals, we know very well from mixing 
with the crowd upon many such occasions. 
We think they manage these matters better 
elsewhere, and notably so in Ireland, if we may 
judge from the report of the exhibition of 
breeding stock of Shorthorns, recently held at 
Dublin. As an example of how they do these 
things there, we have carefully engraved the two 
accompanying portraits of prize animals at the 
Dublin shows of 1873 and 1874, which appeared 
recently in the Agricultural Gazette. The bull 
St. Ruth was awarded the first prize as a breed¬ 
ing animal in 1873, as a two-year-old, and cer¬ 
tainly gave promise of success the present year. 
But the bull King Richard II. took the honors 
from him this year, among twenty-nine com¬ 
petitors, one of which was the bull Breakspear, 
an animal of American birth, which was found 
worthy to be taken 
across the Atlantic. 
At first sight the 
judgment might be 
considered at fault, 
but when these bulls 
are considered as ani¬ 
mals designed, not for 
show, but for service 
as breeders, the judg¬ 
ment is a proper one. 
A comparison of the 
merits of the two 
animals decides this 
point. Although both 
portraits are some¬ 
what distorted in the 
process of photo¬ 
graphing, one can 
sufficiently appreciate 
the finer head and 
fore-quarters of King 
Richard II., and his 
capacity for laying 
on flesh, to admit 
his superiority, notwithstanding that he is 
thin and out of condition, and is light in the 
hind-quarters. The better condition of the 
St. Ruth bull would give him a great advan¬ 
tage, but not enough to overpower the greater 
possibilities of his rival. It is just the educa¬ 
tion to be given by the exhibition of such ani¬ 
mals as these, and the opportunity for study 
furnished. thereby, that are needed to remove 
the prejudice against what is known as fancy 
stock, on the part of a majority of our farmers, 
who visit the state and county agricultural fairs. 
It is a fact that occasions mournful comment 
upon the part of 
Shorthorn breeders 
and live stock jour¬ 
nals, that there is 
no demand for 
bulls, wherewith to 
improve the com¬ 
mon stock of the 
country, and that 
only “fancy” bulls 
are in demand, and 
that by fancy breed¬ 
ers; also that 
“ good, useful bulls 
are now selling at 
lower prices, com¬ 
paratively, than 
they were twenty- 
five or thirty years 
ago.” How much 
of this is due to the 
present system of 
exhibiting cattle at 
fairs, and to the 
absurd and impos¬ 
sible engravings, 
called portraits of 
Shorthorn stock, so widely published by agri¬ 
cultural journals, for the wonderment of their 
readers, is a question which is inviting the at¬ 
tention of breeders. It is now fully time that 
the long talked of improvement of our com¬ 
mon stock should begin, and this can not 
be done with $14,000 bulls, nor $40,000 cows. 
IBISH BULL “KIKCr EICUARD II.” 
