General Collection of Barley from all quarters. Messrs. H. Raynbird & Co., Basingstoke. Bronze Medal.

Malting Barley.-Messrs. H. Raynbird & Co., Basingstoke. Bronze Medal.

Collection of Oats from any one quarter.-The Commissioners for the colony of Victoria, Australia. Bronze Medal. Mr. J. Hurlburt, Canadian Court, International Exhibition. Highly Commended.

Black Oats. Mr. J. Choyce, Atherstone. Bronze Medal.

White Oats.-The Commissioners for the colony of Vic toria, Australia. Bronze Medal.

Rye.-Mr. E. W. A. Dixon, 15, Fulham Place, Maida Hill. Bronze Medal.

Collection of Rice from all quarters.-Mr. P. L. Simmonds, 8, Winchester Street, S.W. Bronze Medal.

Head of Maize, or Indian Corn, of any kind.-Mr. W. Dixon, Canadian Court, International Exhibition. Bronze Medal.

Collection of different kinds of Maize, in heads, best quality. Mr. E. Stuart, Villa Stuart, Nice. Bronze Meda!. Collection of Maize: most numerous in kinds.-Mr. P. L. Simmonds, 8, Winchester Street, S.W. Bronze Medal. Cereals of any kind, not included in the above. Mr. J. B. Lawes, Rothamsted, St. Albans, Silver Medal. Mr. A. Dixon, Canada West (Buckwheat). Highly Commended, Peas. Mr. D. Honeyman, Nova Scotian Court, Interna. tional Exhibition. Bronze Medal. Mr. E. W. Thompson, Toronto, Canada West. Bronze Medal.

Beans. Mr. D. Honeyman, Nova Scotian Court, International Exhibition. Bronze Medal. Mr. L. V. Sicotte, St. Hyacinthe, Canada, East. Bronze Medal,

GENERAL COLLECTION OF SEEDS AND ROOTS. Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading. Silver Medal. COLLECTION OF GRASSES AND CLOVER SEEDS. Sutton and Sons, Reading. Bronze Medal.

THE FARMERS' FRIENDS.

In LEICESTERSHIRE.-As if to show how utterly absent from the meeting was all chance of the expression of agricultural sentiment, Lord Berners, one of the authors of the new Game Preservation Act, said: "I am glad that this society, while rigidly excluding party politics, is founded upon the principle of not excluding the discussion of ques tions of a fiscal or social character which may affect the general interests of the country. This has been the means of enabling the farmers to meet together and discuss their grievances, with the view, if necessary, of drawing up petitions for presentation to both houses of the Legislature." Can anything be more absurd than such a statement? What was one of the chief grievances of the Leicestershire tenants? Why game, with all the incidents of vexation and Were there loss which game preservation brings to them. any of Mr. Hartopp's tenants there? If so, what did they think-though they said nothing-about game, and more stringent laws for the preservation of game? Surely it must have been in the spirit of mockery that Lord Berners was put up to talk about "farmers' grievances." Why he has just made himself, par excellance, a farmer's grievance!

-The Economist.

FAILURE OF THE NEW POACHING ACT. The following case has been heard before the Leicester Borough Magistrates. A man named Thomas Roullson, a well known poaching character, appeared in answer to a summons charging him with having game in his possession on the Saturday morning previous. From the evidence it appears that some policemen were going off duty along Brunswick-street, Leicester, when they met the defendant and another man, who appeared to be heavily laden. Suspecting them to have some game in their possession, they stopped them, when on the defendant was found a bag containing twelve rabbits and a large net (60 yards long), such as is used by poachers. On the other man was found another bag containing eleven rabbits. Having taken their names and addresses, the police took the The other person game and netting from the men and left. had, however, given a wrong address, and could not be found. Defendant, in answer to the charge, said he got them from land where he had a right to go, and all he could carry on his back he considered he was entitled to. The Town Clerk said this was the first case which bad come before the Borough Magistrates under the recent Poaching Act, and he thought it necessary to call attention to the provisions of the statute. The clause under which the information was laid might be divided into two parts-one relating to the duty of the policeman, the other to the offence to be proved before the magistrates. With respect to the policeman, his duty was to search any person he may meet on the highway whom he may have good cause to suspect of coming from lands where he shall have been unlawfully in search of game, and having in his possession any game unlawfully obtained. In the case before them it was therefore clear that the constable was justified in searching the defendant and detaining the rabbits so found -rabbits being game for the purposes of the Act. It was then the policeman's duty to lay an information before the magistrates, and the offence to be proved before them was that of the defendant having obtained the game so found by going unlawfully on land in search or in pursuit of game. The mere possession of the rabbits was not legal proof of the defendant having unlawfully obtained them, and the Act did not impose upon him the obligation of accounting for the possession of, or of showing how he obtained them. The game might have been lawfully obtained by purchase, or, as the defendant had said, going on land where he had a right to search for game. It might also have been unlawfully obtained, but by not going on land. It might have been received from some person who had without his knowledge unlawfully obtained it, or it might have been taken on the highway. In none of such cases would the offence be within the words of the Act. A recent Act of Parliament required any suspected person found in possession of any deer to account satisfactorily for the same, but there was no such provision in the present Act, and this difference confirmed him in the construction of it. He was therefore of opinion that it was the duty of the prosecutor to prove the offence charged by distinct affirmative evidence, and as the only proof before the magistrates was that of mere possession on the highway, he must advise the magistrates to dismiss the case.-The Mayor then discharged the defendant, amidst applause from the Court as the rabbits were restored to him.

IN-AND-IN

SIR,-The interesting letters upon "Sheep-breeding" that appear from time to time in your paper are calculated in many instances to mislead the uninitiated. In this observation I refer in particular to those you have extracted from the Sydney Morning Herald, and that have appeared in your issue of last week, written by James Wright and by N. P. Bayly. The latter gentleman especially writes so very well, erroneous as his doctrines are, that the very plausibility of what he advances may be of serious harm in a community of "casual observers." Thus, both of the above-named writers would lead us to suppose that the nucleus of the Rambouillet flock had been selected from the sheep of ten different breeders, purposely for crossing. Now, an impartial perusal of the Baron's report will not admit of that construction. The natural inference drawn from the circumstance rather is, that no smaller number of flocks could afford to yield 383 sheep sufficiently good, in the opinion of those intrusted with the selection, for the great national object in view. This, sir, is the only just and candid interpretation of the Baron's utterances. And if the report in question had not been altogether so very explicit upon this and various other points, as it fortunately is, I could easily conceive what course of management had been pursued with regard to the French flock, since it was first formed, from the results being so very successful. Indeed, I feel certain that similar results—namely, a satisfactory type, combined with a permanent character-can never be secured in any department of stock-breeding, but by adopting the one course, that is, selecting the right parents to begin with, and breeding continuously afterwards from this family, without any external mixture or foreign croas. Every best man and beast, of whose history I know anything, has been bred in this way; and I think it could be easily shown that every man who has distinguished himself for successful breeding in the British Empire has diligently pursued this course. But Mr. Wright is not satisfied with advancing vague and general theories in support of an opposite course in reference to sheep breeding, but in the warmth of his onslaught upon those whose judgment is happily better founded than his own, he unhesitatingly oversteps the bounds of his province, and says: "The effect of breeding in-and-in is not confined to sheep. It is very manifest in the majority of the herds of cattle, and the mobs of horses throughout the colony, from want of knowledge and want of power to prevent it, &c., &c."

Now, sir, in this paragraph Mr. Wright verifies the saying, 'a little learning is a dangerous thing." I have for thirty years paid a good deal of attention to cattle-breeding, but I never thought the inferiority of our herds ought to be attributed to in-and-in breeding. No; the inferiority of our herds is only the result-the legitimate result of indiscriminate crossing. So little regard has been devoted to breed in their management, that it is now wholly out of the power of the most skillful to say whether they are Longhorns, Shorthorns, Devons, Scotch, Welsh, or Irish. Had our herds been bred in-and-in from the originals, with due care and skill exercised in the selection of sires, their superiority would be now as striking as unfortunately is the reverse. I assume in saying this, that the originals themselves were of the right sort. If so, and that the natural process (using the best sire) had been facilitated, the type would be now grand, the character would be now permanent. As I have not at all touched upon

BREEDING.

this subject, I shall endeavour to make a convert of Mr. Wright, by submitting to him that every most valuable tribe of cattle in England were bred in-and-in, yet from the right sort to tegin with.

The most famous cattle-breeders that were ushered in to us with the present century were the Messrs. Colling, of Darlington. These men, as can readily be seen from "Coates," selected their breeding beasts from various sources, as the French did their sheep. This they did no doubt with great skill, at the same time with a full knowledge of the strains of blood of their various purchasers. From these animals they bred carefully and closely, until from brother and sister they produced the bull "Favourite" (252). This bull was allowed by all competent judges who saw him to be the best in the world. What use his owner made of him can be best seen by referring again to "Coates," and giving the pedigree of a cow or two. Here it is:

"Barmpton, red and white, bred by Mr. R. Colling; got by Favourite' (252); dam' Bright Eyes' by Favourite' (252); grandam by 'Favourite' (252); great grandam by ‘Favourite' (252)" &c. &c.

Here, sir, we see that while his owners considered "Favourite" (252) their best sire, they used him to his own descendants, generation after generation, to the day of his death. To show that they acted wisely, I may mention that at Charles Colling's sale, in 1810, "Comet” (155), an aged bull, got by "Favourite" (252), and out of a sister of "Favourite" (252), realized the enormous (in those days) zum of one thousand guineas; and no bull could well be bred inand-in more than was "Comet" (155). His father was his grandfather, his great grandfather, his uncle, his granduncle, his cousin, and what not; his mother was his sister, his aunt, his full cousin, and second cousin, and every other

cousin.

It is probable Mr. Wright will imagine, upon the strength of this close-breeding, that his purchasers regretted their bargain. Not so. No sooner were his calves seen with his new owners, than they were offered 1,500 guineas for him, an offer that was at once declined; and all the most valuable cattle from "Comet's" day to our own are bred after this fashion. Bates, of Kirkleavington. procured his first "Duchess" from Colling. No man could be a greater enthusiast-no man had greater experience than Bates, yet he was not satisfied with the half brothers and very near relations for sires, but he procured for the use of "Duchess" an own brother-" Duke" (226)—bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh for many generations. From these he bred a fixed permanent type. His mode of breeding was not only sanctioned but heartily encouraged by the lovers of shorthorn cattle, both in the old world and in the new. That he felt satisfied himself that he held "correct opinions" can be readily seen from his contributions to the agricultural prints of his day. In one of these, he says: "When I began breeding, early in life, I acted on sure principles, and on data that can never deceive; and success has been the certain result. And my breed of Shorthorn cattle may yet be further improved from my own herd, and they can be improved from no other."

The "sure principles" and "data" of Mr. Bates are no mystery. He possessed himself of parents of the right kind, as was done in the case of the Rambouillet flock, and bred

closely and carefully from these, to the exclusion of every other blood. And many men who would not believe in his day that his mode was the proper one are since convinced. The pure offspring of his cattle have been sought after far and near; re-conveyed across the Atlantic, and sold, in some instances, as high as four shillings an ounce. A startling fact that is, to those who recommend crossing.

Another breeder of no less note, although a Hereford man, was the late Mr. John Price, of Poole House. Indeed, I do not know of any man, dead or living, who understood the principles of breeding better. Mr. Price saw clearly the injurious effect crossing had upon animals; that if animals had been left pure and in their natural state, they would be perfect. In forming his herd, he accordingly took a great deal of paina to secure a tribe that was for generations bred in the natural way. This tribe he thus speaks of, latterly in life: "I have kept the blood of these cattle unadulterated for forty years, and Mr. Tomkins," of whom he bought them, "assured me that he had bred the whole of his stock from two heifers and a bull selected by himself in early life, without any cross of blood. My herd of cattle has, therefore, been bred in-and-in, as it is termed, for upwards of eighty years, and by far the greater part of it in a direct line on both sides from one cow, now in calf for the twentieth time. I have bred three calves from her by two of her sons, one of which is now the largest cow I have, possess ing also the best form and constitution. The other two were bulls, and proved of great value; thus showing indisputably that it is not requisite to mix the blood of the different kinds of the same race of animals in order to keep them from degenerating." Here is the firm fact of Mr. Price against the vague notion of New South Welshmen.

At the risk of being considered tiresome, I must still draw the attention of those who think, with Mr. Wright, that closebreeding in stock is injurious, to the fact that the most famous cattle breeder in England confines himself exclusively to his own tribe. I now speak of Mr. Richard Booth, who has, without any exception, the best Shorthorn cattle, to-day, in the world. This prince of breeders uses always the best sires, irrespective of relationship. He puts the sire to the daughter. "Lady Grace," that took the first prize last year at the Cleveland Society's Show, is both the daughter and granddaughter of "Crown Prince" (10,087). He puts brother to sister, and in this way was produced "Soldier's Bride," that beat the nation last year as a two-year-old heifer; and is said, upon good authority, to be the best beast that appeared in England since the days of "Bracelet." In fact, Mr. Booth seems only to study one thing in the choice of parents That thing he himself describes-❝ the greatest possible accu

mulation of proved blood in one individual." That this doctrine is the right one can hardly, now-a-days, be disputed. Mr. Booth's cattle have become so very valuable that no one can now purchase a single hoof from him. His bulls, probably numbering upwards of thirty, are hired out by the season at an average rental of £200 each. Some very particular hirers, indeed, and crack breeders, like Mr. Carr, of Stackhouse, go as high as three hundred guineas for the season for their favourite bull-if they can get him. And even at these rents the "Booth bulls" pay their hirers well. From their close breeding and extraordinary family merit, their hereditary force is quite irresistible. This is the reason why the hire for one of them, for a single season, is more than would be sufficient to buy, for good and all, a bull apparently very good, but of mixed blood, such as Mr. Wright would recommend to people.

Lastly, I myself have here a heifer from which, for various reasons, I wish to produce a male calf. I had at this time as good a bull as I could wish-her first cousin. This relationship, in my opinion, was remote enough to admit of an uncertainty in the character of the offspring. To preserve my type I used her brother. The produce was a bull. He is now thirteen months old. Should he and I visit Melbourne together, he shall halt at the door of the Economist for “ocular demonstration." Visitors who have, last month, seen him, shook their heads and observed, "He must have been the result of a good cross." In another year, I expect he shall be the sire of his brother. Mr. Wright condemns that way;

"Yet buirdly chiels and clever hizzies
Are bred in sic' a way as this is."

One little recapitulation, and I am done. The French flock of sheep at Rambouillet, and the herds of cattle in England that I have specified, are bred upon the right principles. High-bred stock can only be preserved in a high-bred state by excluding every other blood from them. Once introduce a strange strain of blood, and the old doom will overtake youuncertainty first, degeneracy next, and a common type at no distant period. Again, if you are in possession, unfortunately, of an inferior race of breeding stock, and if you have not the skill, the means, or the opportunity of replacing that inferior race by a high-bred one, by all means begin at once to introduce fresh blood. This can be most economically and most successfully done by procuring fresh sires. The more closely and highly bred these sires may be, the better to "Advance I have the honour to be, Sir, Australia." Your obedient servant,

It is truly pleasing to report such wholesome sound sense, delivered at an agricultural gathering, as the following extracts. The first is from the speech of the Earl of Lichfield, at the Staffordshire Society's dinner.

His lordship said: "Perhaps, although he was trespassing upon their time, they would allow him to say a word or two on the subject which brought them together. The immense utility of these agricultural meetings would be allowed on all hands, but he thought a word might be said as to how they could be made still more useful. He believed that by nothing could they do more to promote this end

than by encouraging, in every way in their power, discussion at such meetings. He was rather inclined to feel, from what he had seen at various agricultural meetings, that a certain number of people who sat at the head of the table had it far too much their own way. He should be very glad, upon certain subjects, to hear the voices of some of the tenant farmers; and he could not help thinking that, in the list of toasts, that was one which might be very advantageously introduced, not only because, after all, these agricultural societies were intended to instruct them in the calling which they followed, but also as giving them an