of such a power that we have already noticed. Then Mr. Smith, of Woolston, with characteristic good temper, forwards his recently issued "Challenge for a thousand," although of late thousand pound challenges have not done much for those who made them. Thirdly, Mr. Fiskin claims to be the Columbus of the art, and demands the recognition of his right to be ranked as the original inventor of ploughing by steam. Further, Mr. Burcham details the only conditions upon which a prize for steam ploughing should be awarded; and, taking these at once for granted, proceeds to suggest, with possibly an eye to the spoil, that such a premium should not be less in amount than a thousand. The Council itself, not to be behindhand, volunteer another inducement for the development of the same principle. They will give twenty-five pounds to the gentleman who will furnish them with the best essay on that suggestive and prolific theme-STEAM CULTIVATION. It is noticeable

that the Bath and West of England Society has a prize now open to competition of precisely the same amount, and on the same subject: Would one essay be eligible to take the two?

And now, as country gentlemen, after all, really set the fashion in important points, the House in Hanover Square, like the other Houses in Westminster, has closed its doors. There are assizes, harvesting, grouse-shooting, and other autumn sports to call them away. There will be the home-trial with the reaper, or perhaps, even, as an especial treat, a field or two operated upon under the direction of Mr. Howard or Mr. Fowler. But the formula of official life is over. Mr. Hudson calmly turns his back on minutes of meetings; Mr. Gibbs folds up his Report of the Judges' well-worn authority; and his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, having duly read himself in, awaits to fulfil hereafter the good promise he has already made as President of the Society.

The eleventh annual meeting of this Society has been fixed to take place at Manchester, on Thursday and Friday, the 9th and 10th of September next; and the entries closed on the 30th ult. Through the liberality of the inhabitants of Manchester a large amount has this year been raised for special prizes; and, including the amount voted from the funds of the Society, the Committee of Management had not less than £1,000 at their disposal. With such an amount of premiums, and which appear to have been judiciously appropriated, there can be little doubt of the complete success and importance of the meeting. We have been favoured with copies of the prize lists and regulations, and purpose to draw the attention of our readers to some of the principal features, Prizes are offered for cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, implements, cheese, butter, poultry, vegetables, seeds, roots, fruit, and flowers, and for saddlery; the total number being not less than 252. We notice, first, the Society's prizes, which are open to general competition. These are for the best Shorthorn bulls of different ages, for the best cows or heifers in-milk or in-calf, the best two-year-old heifers, and the best yearling heifers, all without restrictions as to breed. In the classes for horses, the premiums open to general competition are for stallions best adapted for agricultural purposes, dray-horses, horses for road purposes, and thorough-bred horses. Four prizes of £3 each are also offered on the same condition for the best Leicester, Southdown, Shropshire, and Cotswold or other long-woolled rams, except Leicesters. There are a number of other prizes for stock open to members of the Society on the conditions which are set forth in the list; and prizes are also offered by the Society for vegetables and seeds; and medals and prizes of the value of £50 for agricultural implements.

The principal prizes announced by the local committee are open to general competition. In the classes for horned cattle there are two premiums, of £10 and £5, for the best bulls of any breed, not exceeding three years old; the same amounts for balls not exceeding two years old; and £5 and £3 for yearling bulls. Prizes of £10 and £5 respectively are offered to the farmer or dairyman who shall exhibit the best lot of four dairy cows, in-milk or in calf; and prizes of the like amount for the best pairs of two-year-old heifers;

and also for the best pairs of stirks. Two premiums, of £20 and £10, are offered to cattle dealers who shall exhibit the best lot of six dairy cows without restriction as to breed. Some of these prizes, and others in the special list, are of a novel character, but they appear to be well calculated to give great additional interest to the exhibition. With regard to special prizes for dairy stock, we heard a very excellent suggestion made a few days ago, viz., that the judges selected to award the prizes in these classes should, in all cases, be experienced dairy farmers, and not breeders of stock only. Were this the case, the properties required in good dairy cattle would be more distinctly recognised than they have hitherto been, and the utility of competitions of this nature would soon be universally acknowledged.

In addition to the premiums for cattle to which we have referred, there are first and second prizes of £10 and £5 respectively, in each case, offered to graziers, cattle salesmen, or butchers, for the best pair of shorthorned and West Highland heifers, "showing the most symmetry, quality of meat, and weight;" for the best pair of Polled or Galloway Scots, and for the best pair of heifers, bred and fed in Ireland-the whole of these premiums being open to general competition.

The special prizes for horses are numerous, and range from £10 to £3. They are for horses best adapted to draught purposes, and for road purposes, thorough-bred horses, hunters, and cob horses; there being, in addition, prizes of £15 and £7 offered to dealers for the best pair of carriage horses; £10 for the best pair of ponies, not exceeding fourteen hands high, and suitable for harness; and £5 for the best gelding or mare pony, not exceeding fourteen hands-the whole being open to a'l competitors. It is, however, very properly stated in the regulations that no exhibitor shall enter any animal for two distinet prizes, this referring to every part of the exhibition.

There are six prizes for cheese, ranging from £15 to £3, "made on the exhibitor's farm in Lancashire or Cheshire, or within the limits of the Society, viz., thirty-five miles round Warrington;" and three prizes for butter, the competition being confined to the same districts. In the classes for seeds and roots, prizes are offered for wheats and oats of different varieties; for beans, barley, fluke or other varieties of kidney

potatoes, swede turnips, mangel-wurzel of different varieties; and a premium of £5 is added for "the seedsman who shall exhibit the best collection of grasses, grass seeds, wheat, oats, and barley, in the ear; turnips, mangels, and general agricultural seeds." There are also a number of prizes offered for fruits, vegetables, and flowers, to be competed for by cottagers, being labourers, artificers, or working men: these prizes will have a useful effect in inducing persons to keep up a show of flowers in their gardens during the autumnal season. The last special prize is one of £5, offered to the saddler who shall exhibit "the best set of harness for agricultural purposes, lightness, durability, and cheapness being essential.”—Abridged from the Midland Counties Herald.

PLATE II.
FREDERICK,

A CELEBRATED SHORT-HORN BULL.

Frederick (11489), bred by Colonel Towneley, of Towneley Park, was calved February 6th, 1849; he was got by Duke (9032), dam (Bessy) by Thick Hock (6601), grandam (Barmpton Rose) by Expectation (1988), great grandam by Belzoni (1709), gr. gr. g. d. by Comus (1861), gr. gr. gr. g. d. by Denton (198), - by a son of Comet (155).

Unlike the majority of our most famous shorthorns, Frederick was never entered at any of our agricultural shows. Colonel Towneley very handsomely gave his tenantry the use of him up to four years old, when the bull was brought back home again to Towneley. Since his return to this famous herd, he has of course had better opportunities, and he now ranks as one of the most fashionable stock getters of the day. Either for the prices they have made, or the prizes they have taken, the produce of no animal has ever yet equalled that of Frederick. For instance, his son, Master Butterfly, the first prize bull at Chelmsford, realized the unprecedented sum of twelve hundred guineas; while such names as Roan Duchess the Second, Blanche the Sixth, Frederick the Second, Ringlet, The Royal Butterfly, and others, speak still further to his repute.

Frederick, though now upwards of nine years old, is as fresh as ever he was; and his calves of this year are quite as promising as they hitherto have been, which is saying no little for them.

WARTS ON HORSES.-The following recipe appeared in The Field :-"One part of arsenious acid, in a state of fine powder, intimately mixed with four parts of lard, may be applied over and around the excrescences every other day. This will excite sloughing action, and in about a fortnight the warts will be thrown off." I have used it with perfect success on a valuable young thorough-bred stallion, which had upwards of a score of large warts upon him. Its operation was not quite so rapid as stated in the recipe, as it was five or six weeks from the first application before the last of the warts dropped out. The wounds are now healing fast. The warts had previously been rubbed with iodine, under the advice of a local veterinary surgeon, but without effect.-CARLISLE, in Field.

THE BAKEWELL-FRAMED LINCOLN SHEEP.

SIR,-It has been asserted by many breeders of short-woolled sheep that a ram is not to be found, nor ever has been, having the Bakewell cast or mould with a Lincolnshire coat of wool on his back. As a proof that their opinions are erroneous, I will mention three Lincoln rams, of different years, belonging to different men; and I give them as model and specimen sheep for profit. In the year 1844, Mr. Tirrell, of Eagleton, near Oakham, Rutland, let an extraordinarily good Lincoln threeshear ram to Mr. Clarke, then bailiff to the Marquis of Exeter. He was used by Mr. Ivins, an eminent ram breeder, of Haydon, near Banbury. This famous ram was exhibited at the Northampton great ram fair on the 19th of September, and struck many spectators with admiration when they beheld heavy wool, mutton, and the Bakewell symmetry combined. Mr. Tirrell has bred from the best flocks in the county of Lincoln for upwards of half a century, and in 1855 he bought a shearhog ram at Peterborough fair, of Mrs. Casswell, for £40; and last year he gave the well-known Mr. Kirkham, of Hagnaby, £48 38. 6d. for a ram, at the same fair. Mr. Tirrell and his son let yearly upwards of 130 rams, without a show-day, and without taking any to fairs or markets.

The second Bakewell Lincoln ram was bred by the abovementioned Mr. Kirkham, and was sold by auction at Peterborough for £95, three years back, to the celebrated ram breeder, Mr. Casswell, of Laughton, near Falkingham.

"The true value of anything,

Is what by auction it will bring."

The third Bakewell Lincoln ram was bred by Mr. John Stokes, of Caldecott, Rutland, and exhibited last year at Uppingham, Rockingham fair, Kettering fair, and Peterborough, where £70 was offered for him. Common sense says, that if three male sheep can be bred in the desired form, and Lincoln wool upon them, some of the sisters of the said rams will of

course be of the same cast and wool. Having obtained what but to ewes of the same stamp not related, which would proyou require in male and female, do not put brother to sister, earth. The reason of Mr. Tirrell letting so many rams, and so duce the most profitable breed of sheep upon the face of the readily, to a vast number of old customers, is, that he is not an expensive or extravagant keeper or feeder; so that he can afford to let his half-fat sheep at less money than the high and expensive feeders: and, although his sheep are lean, they are of the best Lincoln blood-nay, second to none—and fitter for the purpose for which they are kept than monstrously fat house, alias stall-fed, sheep, which require lifting up, and are fitter for the butcher than to put to ewes. I have known Cotswold three-shear rams stall or house-fed until they have weighed alive upwards of 30 stone, or above 70lbs. per qr. when slaughtered. Mr. Tirrell says all rams ought to be allowed to rove at large: exercise is natural and beneficial to every animal.

I conclude my letter by stating that report says, upon good authority, that Mr. Bryan Ward, of Drayton on-Well and Leicestershire, makes upwards of £1,200 a-year by the letting

of Lincolnshire rams of the best blood. The Mark Lane Express has always been opposed to over-feeding male animals. SAMUEL ARNSBY.

Millfield, Peterborough, Aug. 3rd, 1858.

Fre Property of Lieut Colonel Trendey of Towneley Park Burnley Lancashire.

London, Put liched by rogerson & Turford 246, Strand, 1868

MR. RAREY'S

ON BALKING.

Horses know nothing about balking, only as they are brought into it by improper management, and when a horse balks in harness it is generally from some mismanagement, excitement, confusion, or from not knowing how to pull, but seldom from any unwillingness to perform all that he understands. High spirited, free-going horses are the most subject to balking, and only so because drivers do not properly understand how to manage this kind. A free horse in a team may be so anxious to go, that when he hears the word he will start with a jump. which will not move the load, but give him such a severe jerk on the shoulders that he will fly back and stop the other horse; the teamster will continue his driving without any cessation, and by the time he has the slow horse started again he will find that the free horse has made another jump, and again flown back; and now he has them both badly balked, and so confused that neither of them knows what is the matter, or how to start the load. Next will come the slashing and cracking of the whip, and hallooing of the driver, till something is broken or he is through with his course of treatment. But what a mistake the driver commits by whipping his horse for this act! Reason and common sense should teach him that the horse was willing and anxious to go, but did not know how to start the load. And should he whip him for that? If so, he should whip him again for not knowing how to talk. A man that wants to act with any rationality or reason should not fly into a passion, but should always think before he strikes. It takes a steady pressure against the collar to move a load, and you cannot expect him to act with a steady, determined purpose while you are whipping him. There is hardly one balking horse in five hundred that will pull true from whipping; it is only adding fuel to fire, and will make him more liable to balk another time. You always see horses that have been balked a few times, turn their heads and look back, as soon as they are a little frustrated. This is because they have been whipped and are afraid of what is behind them. This is an invariable rule with balked horses, just as much as it is for them to look around at their sides when they have the bots; in either case they are deserving of the same sympathy, and the same kind rational treatment.

When your horse balks or is a little excited, if he wants to start quickly, or look around and doesn't want to go-there is something wrong, and he needs kind treatment immediately. Caress him kindly, and if he doesn't understand at once what you want him to do, he will not be so much excited as to jump and break things, and do every thing wrong through fear. As long as you are calm, and keep down the excitement of the horse, there are ten chances to have him understand you,

where there would not be one under harsh treat

ment, and then the little flare up would not carry with it any unfavourable recollections, and he would soon forget all about it, and learn to pull true. Almost every wrong act the horse commits is from mismanagement, fear, or excitement; one harsh word will so excite a nervous horse as to increase his pulse ten beats in a minute.

When we remember that we are dealing with dumb brutes, and reflect how difficult it must be for them to understand our motions, signs, and language, we should never get out of patience with them because they don't understand us, or wonder at their doing things wrong. With all our intellect, if we were placed in the horse's situation it would be difficult for us to understand the driving of some foreigner, of foreign ways and foreign language. We should always recollect that our ways and language are just as foreign and unknown to the horse as any language in the world is to us, and should try to practise what we could understand were we the horse, endeavouring by some simple means to work on his understanding rather than on the different parts of his body. All balked horses can be started true and steady in a few minutes time; they are all willing to pull as soon as they know how, and I never yet found a balked horse that I could not teach to start his load in fifteen, and often less than three, minutes' time.

Almost any team, when first balked, will start kindly if you let them stand five or ten minutes as though there was nothing wrong, and then speak to them with a steady voice, and turn them a little to the right or left, so as to get them both in motion before they feel the pinch of the load. But if you want to start a team that you are not driving yourself, that has been balked, fooled and whipped for some time, go to them and hang the lines on their hames, or fasten them to the waggon, so that they will be perfectly loose; make the driver and spectators (if there are any) stand off some distance to one side, so as not to attract the attention of the horses; unloose their check-rein, so that they can get their heads down if they choose; let them stand a few minutes in this condition until you can see that they are a little composed. While they are standing you should be about their heads, gentling them; it will make them a little more kind, and the spectators will think that you are doing something that they do not understand, and will not learn the secret. When you have them ready to start, stand before them, and as you seldom have but one bulky horse in the team, get as near in front of him as you can, and if he is too fast for the other horse, let his nose come against your breast: this will keep him steady, for he will go slow rather than run on you; turn him gently to the right, without letting him pull on the traces, as far as the tongue will let them go; stop them with

P