SHORT-HORN "SENIOR WRANGLERS."

Under this title we present the public with a list of the winning Shorthorns in the first class of bulls and cows respectively, at the yearly meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The want of such a list, accompanied by explanatory comments, has long been felt by the writer of the present article, and has no doubt been equally felt by others. We restrict our labors to the first class of bulls and the first class of cows; partly because an extension of the plan would multiply materials to an inconvenient degree, but chiefly because the most significant and instructive lessons result from an exhibition of adult specimens of the Short-horn tribes. The character of calves (purity of blood granted) depends incalculably upon the skill of those who rear them; heifers and young bulls repeatedly excite expectations which are not realized in their subsequent history; but Short-horns matured by time and growth may be accepted as reliable, though, perhaps, favorable samples of the several families to which they belong, and invite judgment on the strength of properties fully developed and unmistakably apparent. Some sorts improve as they approach the point of maturity, some grow worse; in either case, the mature animal is the only fit example and the only adequate criterion. Our objections to one of the most fashionable Short-horn families of the day are founded upon the fact that the members of that family, as adults, seldom verify the promise of their state of veal. Yet amongst the idolatries in vogue, calf idolatry is becoming notorious. The gold medal has endowed it.

The value of the animals exhibited is far from being merely individual. If this were all, our shows would lack interest and profit. But the winning Short-horns are, or ought to be, representatives, and herein consists their importance. The herds which have produced them are supposed to be capable of producing others like them; if the same blood is at work the same "points" may be expected. As a general rule these conclusions will be established by facts. The Short-horn herd which sends forth a Shorthorn winner may be safely looked to for the supply of good Short-horns, and accordingly a first prize is an advertisement equally beneficial to the owner of the successful animal and to Short-horn breeders who desire fresh blood.

OXFORD, 1839.

Duke of Northumberland (1940), bred by and the property of Mr. Bates. Oxford premium cow (Herd Book, V., p. 752), bred by and the property of Mr. Bates.

Duke of Northumberland was the result of a combination of R. Colling's "Princess," and C. Colling's "Duchess" blood, in the proportion of threefourths of the former and one-fourth of the latter. Down to the time when the two strains became united in the person of his dam, Duchess 34th, in

breeding, to a considerable extent in each family, had probably not only preserved the original types, but also multiplied hereditary power. Mr. Bates bred in-and-in the descendants of Mr. C. Colling's Duchess 1st, and Mr. Stephenson those of Mr. R. Colling's "Princess," although in both cases with the addition of a little fresh blood. At length Duchess 29th and the Princess bull Belvidere were brought together, and the offspring of this alliance, Duchess 34th, bred, to her own sire, the illustrious bull at present under our notice.

To Duke of Northumberland the most extraordinary merits are ascribed. They are said to have been unprecedented then and unparalleled since. He has been called by those who knew bulls long before him, and who have known bulls of the present day, "the best bull that ever lived." He appears to have satisfied everybody that saw him, and to have realized the prevailing idea of short-horn beauty. We never heard but one qualifying criticism. "He was, if anything, a trifle too long," was the mild judgment of an experienced living breeder; and a gentleman whose services are fre quently solicited, and sometimes obtained, as a judge at our leading shows, wrote of him the other day-"He was certainly the best bull I ever saw of that or any other time."

Oxford premium cow, by Duke of Cleveland (a son of Duchess 26th and Mr. Whittaker's Bertram), was out of Matchem cow by Matchem, grand dam by Young Wynyard. Beyond this the "Herd-book" gives no information. concerning her pedigree in the female line. We may, however, assume, considering her character and the achievements of herself, her collateral kindred and their posterity, that the earlier maternal ancestors were purely bred animals of no mean order.

CAMBRIDGE, 1840.

Hero (4021), exhibited by Mr. W. Paul Putney; bred by Mr. Topham, West Keal.

Red Rose, 13th, afterwards Cambridge Premium Rose (H. B. V., p. 125), bred by and the property of Mr. Bates. Hero has only four crosses; the earliest, Mr. Champion's Cossack, nobly bred; the second, an unknown son of Colling's Major; and the two last as good as they can be, Raine's Young Rockingham and Crofton's Eclipse.

Cambridge Premium Rose, from which Mr. Bates raised his Cambridge Rose family, belonged to a tribe descended from Mr. R. Colling's cow, known as the American cow, an own sister to Red Rose, the dam of Pilot (496), with whose blood the Warlaby herd is so strongly impregnated.

LIVERPOOL, 1841.

Cleveland Lad (3407), bred by and the property of Mr. Bates.

Bracelet (H. B. V., p. 103), bred by and the property of Mr. Booth, of Killerby.

Cleveland Lad was by Short Tail, a Belvidere and Duchess Bull, and out of Matchem cow, the ancestress of the "Oxfords." Young Wynyard, the grandsire of Matchem cow, was a son of R. Colling's Princess; and therefore, through Cleveland Lad, his brother 2d Cleveland Lad, and the Dukes of Oxford, the present "Duchess," and other Kirklevington families have

received an infusion of "Princess" blood, in addition to the amount of it which Belvedere brought into Mr. Bate's herd. Cleveland Lad, as well as Oxford Premium cow, inherits the Chilton blood through Matchem.

A searching examination of the various lines composing the ancestry of Bracelet, one of the most admirable of cows, reveals, in close relation to her, the names of some of the noblest specimens of the early Killerby, Warlaby, and Studley Shorthorns. Through her sire and dam's sire, Priam and Argus, she is descended from Isabella, and Anna by Pilot, and from the Strawberry and Halnaby race; possessing, besides, more remotely in the line direct. the blood of animals which were selected from the best herds of their day, and became the foundation stock of the Killerby families. Bracelet, before visiting Liverpool, had given birth to Buckingham, by Colonel Cradock's Mussulman; and afterwards produced Morning Star, Birthday, Pearl, and Hamlet.

Mr. Bates had carried nearly all before him at the two previous shows. At Oxford he took all the Short-horn prizes except a £10 prize for the best bull calf, which was awarded to the Marquis of Exeter; and in 1840, as we have just seen, he was victorious with Red Rose 13th. Happening to meet Mr. John Booth some time before the exhibition of 1841, he alluded exultingly to his past successes, and rather daringly of his future prowess. Mr. Booth met his defiant remarks with these quiet words: "I've got a rod in pickle for you at Liverpool." Bracelet, one of the most beautiful cows that ever was bred, a twin with Necklace, who rivaled her beauty, and even surpassed her in honors, was that rod.

BRISTOL, 1842.

Sir Thomas Fairfax (5196), exhibited by Mr. Parkinson, Ley Fields, and Mr. John Booth, of Cotham; bred by Mr. Whitaker, Burley.

Necklace (H. B. V., p. 726), bred by and the property of Mr. Booth, of Killerby.

It has been the lot of few bulls to win so many principal prizes as Sir Thomas Fairfax. He may be said to have been the champion bull of his day. An examination of his breeding discloses the secret of success. His sire, Norfolk, bred by Mr. Whitaker, adopted by Mr. Bates as a cross for the Duchesses, and used very extensively in the Farnley herd, combined the blood of Mr. Bate's Second Hubback with that of the Brampton Nonpareil, whose parents (own brother and sister) were both by the famous North Star (own brother to Comet), and from Mr. R. Colling's Young Sally. The dam of Sir Thomas Fairfax was a descendant of the Charge, Booth, and Colling strains, intermingled with some of those early Short-horns of whose antecedents the Herd-book tells us very little.

Necklace was twin sister of Bracelet, mentioned in the preceding division. DERBY, 1843.

Musician (4523), bred by Earl Spencer, exhibited by Mr. E. G. Barnard, M. P., Gosfield Hall, Halstead.

Rosey (H. B. VII, p. 532), bred by Mr. Colling, White House; the property of Mr. T. Crofton, Holywell.

Musician, a pure Wiseton bull, directly descended from the Chilton cow,

No. 25, and her daughter, Clarion, was by Warlock, a son of Firby and Eloquence, by Mercury.

His pedigree comprises the names of some of the late Earl Spencer's favorite animals.

Rosey was a great-granddaughter of Mr. J. Colling's Rachael by Frederick; the three subsequent crosses being of the very best description. Her sire, Borderer, "alias Mr. Smith's Premium Bull," (bred by Mr. Smith of Shedlaw), was descended from the stocks, Messrs. Robertson, of Ladykirk, R. Colling, and some of their well-known contemporaries. The next bull was Colonel Cradock's Gainford; and the one beyond, Cupid, own brother to Rob Roy (557), whose influence proved so very great and so beneficial to the herds of the Raines.

SOUTHAMPTON, 1844.

Strelly (7560), bred by and the property of Mr. John Cooper, Thurgarton. Birthday, (H. B. VI., p. 271) bred by and the property of Mr. John Booth, of Killerby.

Strelly was a three-cross bull; the best that can be said of his breeding is, that his father was well bred, being by Mason's Spectator (2688) out of a cow by Childers (1824), with a remainder of sound old blood. These elements, if not causes, are important conditions of Strelly's success.

Birthday, a daughter of the Liverpool royal prize cow Bracelet, claims descent, through her sire, Lord Stanley, from Mr. R. Booth's Lady Sarah, an own sister to Isabella by Pilot. Lord Stanley was a grandson of Lady Sarah; and his sire and dam's sire were noble representatives of the Castle Howard herd.

SHREWSBURY, 1845.

Cramer (6907), bred by Mr. Parkinson, Ley Fields; exhibited by Mr. J. B. Stanhope, M. P., Revesby Abbey.

Ladythorn (H. B. VI., p. 429), bred by Mr. John Booth of Killerby; exhibited by Mr. J. B. Stanhope, M. P., Revesby Abbey.

Cramer, whose father, Sir Thomas Fairfax, took first honors in 1842, and whose maternal cousin, Belleville, won a similar degree in 1846, belongs to a notoriously good and prize-gaining family. The excellent qualities of his dam, Cassandra (H. B. V., 146), have been inherited by numerous descendants in the female line direct, and have been transmitted also to the posterity of her sons--Clementi, Collard, and Cramer. The names of these bulls will be found to occur in some of the best genealogies of the present day.

Ladythorn was so nearly related in blood to Birthday, the winner at Southampton in 1844, that the same observations will apply, with very little alteration, to both cows. The only difference in their breeding is in the second cross, or dam's sire, which in the case of Birthday was Priam, and in Ladythorn's Young Matchem, the well known son of Mason's Matchem and the Killerby cow Blush.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, 1846.

Belleville (6778), bred by and the property of Mr. J. M. Hopper.
Hope (H. B. IX., p. 3991, bred by and the property of Mr. Richard Booth.
On his sire's side, Belleville is descended from the herds of Messrs. J.

and G. Wood (of Kimblesworth and Whitworth) and Mr. Crofton of Holywell, through his dam, from those of Mason of Chilton and Mr. Shaftoe. Belleville's connection with Mr. Parkinson's Cassandra and Cressida family has been already intimated in the remarks on Cramer, the premier bull of

1845.

The classic names composing Hope's pedigree-Faith, Farewell, Flora, Leonard, Raspberry, Young Matchem, Isaac, Young Pilot, Pilot, and Julius Cæsar-render needless any observations on the superlative excellence of her blood. She was as grand a breeder as she was grandly bred. The royal prize cow Charity, the dam of Crown Prince, was her daughter, and Hopewell and Harbinger were her sons.

NORTHAMPTON, 1847.

Captain Shaftoe (6833), bred by Mr. Lax of Ravensworth; exhibited by Mr. Parkinson, Ley Fields.

Cherry Blossom (H. B. IX., p. 299), bred by and the property of Mr. Richard Booth.

Captain Shaftoe, by the Ravensworth bull Mehemet Ali, and from a Shaftoe and Mason cow very closely allied to the dams of Cramer and Belleville, received through his sire the fine blood of Colonel Cradock, Mr. Whittaker, and Mr. Booth.

The pedigree of Cherry Blossom, like that of Hope, sets forth some of the noblest Warlaby names, at once familiar and illustrious. She was by Buckingham, and was own sister of Baron Warlaby.

YORK, 1848.

Deception (1957), bred by Mr. Garne, Broadmore; exhibited by Mr. R. Keevil, Melksham.

Violet (H. B. VII., p. 589), bred by the Rev. Mr. Glaister, Kirby Fleatham; exhibited by Mr. J. M. Hopper.

Deception was got by Elevator (6969); his dam by a bull called Raffler (7391); his granddam by a bull called Consul (1868); and his great-granddam by a bull who rejoiced in the name of Gazer (7030).

Violet was a two cross cow. The first cross is imperfectly recorded, and the second presents a sire without a dam.

NORWICH, 1849.

Andrew (12396), bred by the Duke of Buccleuch; exhibited by Mr. W. Tod, Elphinstone Tower, Tranent.

Charity (H. B. IX., p. 295), bred by and the property of Mr. Richard Booth.

Andrew was by a bull who does not appear to have been registered in the Herd Book, and of whom all we are told is that he was a son of Raine's Thorpe. The dam of Andrew was by Mr. R. Booth's Studley, and the granddam by Whitelaw, a bull with a very carelessly recorded pedigree, displaying good names unverified by accompanying numbers. Beyond Whitelaw there is some exceedingly fine old blood, chiefly Mr. Robertson's of Ladykirk.

Charity, the daughter of Hope, whose magnificent affinities we have