PLATE III. A POLLED GALLOWAY HEIFER; 66 THE BEST BEAST IN THE YARD," AT THE BIRMINGHAM FAT CATTLE SHOW, DECEMBER, 1861. "The Galloways, as a distinct race, are by far The prize of £10 as "the best Scotch cow or the oldest breed of stock in the United Kingdom, heifer;" the Gold Medal as "the best of all the tracing back pure and unalloyed, even so far, it is cows and heifers;" the silver cup of 25 guineas as affirmed, as the commencement of the seventeenth"the best beast in the yard;" Simpson's cup of century. They look, too, just the animals for a 50 gs. as 'the best animal fed on his Cattle Food;" rough bleak district; long, low, and active, with and the silver medal to the Duke of Buccleuch rough black and tan coats, and plenty of thick as her breeder. In the week following at the curly hair. The bulls have somewhat bullet Smithfield Club Show, she took the first prize of 'Nigger' heads, with every sign of vigorous con- £10 as the best Scotch polled cow or heifer, with stitution, and thorough capability to cope with the another silver medal to the breeder. At the Interclimate. But the Galloways die well for the national Show of fat stock at Poissy she took the butcher, and many of those exhibited at Dumfries first prize of £40 and the Gold Medal as the best bad fed and furnished as even as could be. The cow or heifer in the Scotch class of polled cattle. symmetry of outline was frequently very perfect, She was sold here to a Paris butcher, and Mr. and whether they have been improved up to their M'Combie has received for her, by sale, prizes, and present form, or only kept to it, there is no kind plate more than £200. of beast the Highland Society should be more careful in encouraging. Not, however, that the necessity for any such official countenance is very imperative. The farmers of the district have been very true to them." This description is from our own report of the Highland Society's Meeting at Dumfries in 1860, and where this very Galloway heifer was exhibited and commended as extra stock. She was bred by his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, who has a herd of Galloways, all now going into Mr. Ravenscroft's new Herd Book. Never having had calf, the heifer was as nearly as possible sold off to a butcher as she stood on the Dumfries show ground; and it was only through the influence of some of his friends in the neighbourhood that the well-known Mr. McCombie, of Tillyfour, could get an offer of her. He ultimately gave £50 for her, and in answer to the Duke's inquiry pronounced her then and there to be "the best Scot I ever saw." The cow's subsequent career amply corroborated this estimate of her worth. She was at the time four years old, and having spent sixteen months more in feeding at Tillyfour, travelled south in last December for the Birmingham Fat Stock Show. She here took the following whole series of premiums: It was thus that we wrote of this famous Galloway, on meeting her again in Bingley Hall:"There was one, a solitary, single stranger, that stood in a class all by herself, but that led out, as it was classically expressed, like a black cloud." And this was Mr. M'Combie's polled Scot-not only the best female, but, after careful comparison with the Yorkshire steer, the best animal in the show. And a wonderful one she is! almost on every point, perhaps, as perfect a fat animal as ever was shown. Short on the leg and deep in the frame-wide before and square behind-long in the quarter, and famously let down to her very hock-with a fine countenance and expressive eye -a beautiful coat and the most mellow of touches -well might Mr. Simpson exalt himself when he could claim credit for his cattle-food as having aided to perfect such an animal as this! And then salesmen and butchers are continually assuring us that these polled Scots die the very best beef in the world, so that when Mr. M'Combie brings her to London, he can of course command almost any price he pleases for her. Mr. M'Combie also exhibited a very admirable polled ox, and the sensation created over the two will most probably result in a premium for the best of all the Scots,' H as for the best of all the Shorthorns, Herefords, or Devons. We must repeat that the judges acted with some boldness in awarding the Scotch cow not only the Gold Medal but the Cup, and we shall be rather curious to see how the decree is reviewed in Baker-street. It is not unlikely that a 'regular' Shorthorn or Hereford man would fail to see so much in her; but it is the very liberality of opinion, the abnegation of any one certain influence, that so pre-eminently qualified Messrs. Barnett, Trethewy, and Williams for the duty they undertook. One such manful, dashing decision as this will do more permanent good than even twelve-months' public judging by conventional line and rule." Noticeably enough, another was preferred to her for the Gold Medal in London, and one of those the Scot had beaten at Birmingham, but it was a reversion of judgment we never agreed in. Mr. M'Combie is renowned all the world over as a breeder of the black polled Aberdeens, another variety of the Galloways; and his prize cow, more especially, was one of the most perfect animals in Battersea Park, PLATE IV. THE FIRST FLIGHT. Hawking is a sport one now sees very little of, though we can easily imagine that the bare-legged, wiry lad has descended the rugged cliff suspended by a rope, robbed the eyrie of its nestlings, attended to their feedings and flyings "at hack," made them familiar to his call and whistle, taught them to sit quietly on the fist, bear the hood, jesses, bells, and leash without resistance, accustomed to the lure, and the sight of stranger horses and dogs. Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick, in their work on Falconry in the British Isles, say that "the hawk is included in the gamekeeper's language of vermin;' but if they knew the nature and habits of the larger hawks, it would be found that, instead of being injurious, exactly the oppo site is the case. Observing and intelligent men rejoice in a visit from the peregrine to their moors during the time that the grouse are laying, being aware that the falcon's principal object of pursuit at that season is the Royston and carrion-crow, and other egg-stealers, which then infest the ground. Black game, while young, are easily killed by falcons; and even tiercels have been tried with success. With an old blackcock, how. ever, it is a different matter; and only a very highcouraged and powerful falcon is equal to the attempt. These birds do not fly with much speed, and the hawks easily come up with them; but they are very strong, and difficult to secure when brought down." SEWAGE IRRIGATION. BY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. It may be very true that the experiments given in evidence before the Committee were not always made with the requisite care; that the amount of sewage applied was often far too small, and at too distant intervals; but still, after allowing every necessary drawback, there yet remains in that report a very considerable amount of facts well worthy of my readers' careful consideration. In this inquiry the amount of sewage needed to produce the most profitable result is indeed the primary question. Now, in the great sewage irrigation operations so long successfully carried on at Milan, and at Edinburgh, the quantity annually applied per acre appears to be about 5,000 tons. In Northern Italy, where five or six crops of grass are annually produced by the irrigation of the meadows near Milan, with the river water, into which the city sewage is discharged, an annual charge is made for the use of the water. It appears from the report of Mr. Smith upon Italian irrigation, that the price paid annually for the irrigation water is.. 5s. 9â. That during the summer season the meadows are watered .... That the weight of water applied per acre each time is about That the annual produce per acre of grass is about.. 18 times. 230 tons. ....224 cwts. That this is about the most beneficial amount of liquid to apply per acre accords with what I had long since occasion to remark. It was after examining the amount of water required to saturate thirteen kinds of soil that I was led to conclude that if we calculate the mean amount of water in these thirteen varieties of saturated soils to be equal |