MR LENEY'S SHORTHORN SALE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1616, 2 October 1874, Page 377

MR LENEY'S SHORTHORN SALE.

Daily Telegraph, 3rd July, 1874. The “Shorthorn” is in the saddle, and rides no inconsiderable portion of mankind. It is often the fashion with racing men to regard the thoroughbred horse as being, with the exception of man himself, the moat universally diffused animal product that these islands export. True it is that there is hardly any considerable nation of the civilized world which has not imported, often at great expense, colts, fillies, brood-mares, orstallions—and sometimes all of them—which trace their descent from one or other of the famous equine studs with which these islands abound. But it is not less true that the shorthorn is even more widely scattered over the earth than the thorough-bred. Many of the smaller kingdoms and colonies have neither money, taste, nor time to spare upon the production of a superior breed of horses, but there is no country, province, or island in which men can get on without eating, and the “ Roast Beef of Old England ” has long been, and will probably long continue to be, the food of that large portion of the human race which can afford to consume it. Herds of cattle are to be found in many countries where sheep cannot thrive, and political economists, like Adam Smith and Ricardo, tell ns that, long before the introduction of the precious metals, some word connected with cattle was employed as the universal symbol of money. Among the Greeks, the most ancient coin of the Attic standard was stamped witli the figure of an ox, and the didracbm, of which the origin is carried back in Dr. William Smith’s “ Dictionary of Greek and Latin Antiquities ” to the mythical times of Theseus, bore a name which signifies “ an ox.” iEscbylus makes one of his characters exclaim, “ A large ox has fallen upon my tongue,” which means that the speaker's silence had in a particular instance been purchased by a heavy bribe. The Latin word for money, “ pecunia,” is, as every schoolboy knows, derived from “ pecus,” or cattle, 0 and such fashionable modern sales of shorthorns as that which yesterday took place at Mr Leney’s farm in Kent, teach us that, at this moment, “money” and “cattle” aro more than ever interchangeable terms. Within the last dozen years, the prices realized at each of the great shorthorn sales, such as those of the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Dumnore, the Earl of Ducie, Mr Leney, Colonel Gunter, Mr Campbell, of "New York Mills, and many more, have been watched with interest in every part of the globe ; and when, in September of last year, twelve of Mr Campbell’s Bates cattle brought an aggregate of s2so,Boo—being rather more, in English money, than £4,100 apiece—the universal feeling not only among “ shorthorn men,” but whenever readers could appreciate the amazing significance of such gigantic prices, was one of unmitigated astonishment. And yet the shorthorn, which is now in such request throughout the earth, is entirely the product of the present century. When the late Sir James Graham was a young man, long-horns were the fashionable breed of cattle even in the northern counties of Durham and York, to which we are indebted for the shorthorn ; and when the right honorable baronet wished to describe the miprogressive and stagnant Conservatism of the late Colonel Lowther —the father to the present Earl of Lonsdale—ho could find no more appropriate phrase than that the Colonel “belonged to the old long-horn breed.” We are told by the great bovine auctioneer, Mr John Thorpton, that “from time immemorial the breed of shorthorns existed as a local race among the rich grazing valleys of the Tees, in the counties of York and Durham. Noblemen and squires, with a thoroughly English love of good stock, kept up the herds on. their estates with ns much pride as their own pedigrees.” But, above all other stock-raisers whom this island has produced, honor ought now to be paid to four men, who have all passed away, hut whose memory deserves to he held sacred by those who were present yesterdav at Wateringhury, in Kent, and who with appreciative eyes scrutinized Mr Leney’s extensive and admirable herd of Bates and Kcightley cattle. First among this honored quartette must be mentioned the name of Charles Colling, of Ketton,in Durham, who, at tin- beginning of the century, first brought shorthorns into fashion. In 1810, his herd, containing fprty-aeyeii Jiead, was dispersed under the hahmief at the large average price of '£l6l'’§s per * An onnullff miffif/iuHvo {nofanoo ia tft lio in

* An equally suggestive Instance is to lie round m the old Danish word lig'yvndcfa, treasure, which literally signifies cattle in ntore, artd dates from thut early period when the extent of a raau'a Lords was tlie measure of Lis woaltL.

head. His brother, Robert Colling, of Barmpton, in the same county, followed, i secondly, in Charles Colling's steps, and contributed largely to the establishment and diffusion of this matchless breed. The other two names to which it is meet that honorable mention should again and again be accorded are those of Bates, of Kirklevington, in Yorkshire, and Booth, of Warlaby, in the same county. Modern shorthorn fanners arc so familiar with the respective merits of the Bates and Booth herds that we need not describe the various attributes of those two distinguished breeds. Suffice it to say that the controversy between " Bates men " and " Booth men " rages as fiercely as that between the Big-endians and Little-endians of Dean Swift; nor is the quarrel confined to the parent-island which gave birth to both tribes. While Ireland is faithful in its allegiance to Booth, Canada and the United States are fanatical votaries of Bates. Australia inclines to Booth; Franco has a partiality for Bates. In every portion of the earth Kirklevington and Warlaby divide the suffrages of shorthorn breeders; and it would surprise those who have not noticed the extension of the demand for England's pedigree cattle to be told that there is" hardly a countiy, or even a large island, upon the face of the globe which has not imported specimens of our insular shorthorn. For upwards of fifty years the United States has stocked the vast plains and rolling prairies of the New World with cattle purchased in England. Australasia has lately entered with ardor as a competitor in the race, and France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Spain have not been unrepresented in our shorthorn market. Even the smaller nations, such as Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Bessarabia, Bulgaria, and Wallachin have found out the value of Bates or Booth cattle. Egypt has introduced them into Africa; nor is the time far distant when Asiu, the cradle no les3 of the bovine than of the equine and human races, will be reinvigoratedbythe importation of cattle which, in their adaptability to a l ] soils and climates, and in the earliness of their maturity, are without rivals upon earth. Just as the Brothers Colling, of Durham, were conspicuous among the early raisers of illustrious cattle; so did the Brothers Lency, of Kent, to transmit an improved breed of horned beauties to the shorthorn fancier of the day. Fifteen years ago Messrs F. and C. Leney were in partnership, as brewers and hop-growers, at Wateringbury, in Kent. Their business in both departments throve and grew apace, and about tho year 1859 or IBGO Mr C. Leney began to breed shorthorns from the local stocks by which he was surrounded. His example was followed and improved by his brother, who in 1863 bought Air Golding's entire herd, and at once took a prominent place among the notable stock raisers of England. For many years Mr Golding, who was a large hopgrower at Hunton, near Maidstone, had been engaged in raising stock from blood introduced into Kent by Captain Davies in 1829, and lots 12 and 26 in the catalogue of animals sold yesterday at Wateringbury were from this strain. In 1864, Mr F. Leney proceeded to buy a few low-priced shorthorns, averging about 30 guineas apiece, at the sales of the Rev. Thomas Harrison and other Yorkshire breeders. But his great stride forward was made in 1865, when he was a purchaser at Sir Charles Knightley's annual sale ; and upon the bankruptcy of Mr Tanqueray during the same year Mr F. Leney became the possessor of all his Charmer tribe, consisting of nine or ten animals, sprung for the most part from two admirable calves sold at the sale of Mr Adkins, of Milcot, in Warwickshire, during 1860. It should be mentioned, parenthetically, that Mr Adkins was an accomplished breeder, employing Sir Charles Knightley's bulls and other gems of the Charmer, or, as some called it, the Sylph tribe. . In 1867 Mr F. Leney added to his herd by buying at Mr E. L. Betts's sale a peerless cow named "Grand Duchess the Ninth," and by privately acquiring a bull, "Lord Oxford the Second," for 200 guineas. At the Queen's sale at Windsor he was the purchaser of the Knightley cow and of several imported shorthorns, brought from the United States by Mr J. 0. Sheldon. During the successing years, and long after he had dissolved partnership with his brother, who retired from the business, Mr F. Leney was always a good buyer of Knightley blood : and in 1872 he acquired possession of two magnificent Bates bulls —the " Eight Duke of Geneva," for whom he paid 1,650 guineas to Mr Harwood, and the "Sixth Duke of Oneida," whom lie purchased on the other side of the Atlantic for 1,200 guineas. He had his reward in yesterday's sale, at which 41 head of cattle were sold for £9,095 2s, being an average per head of £221 16s Bd. It is true that in two or three remarkable instances, and notably at Mr Campbell's famous American sale of last September, this average has been surpassed. Messrs Harwood and Winterfield and Lord Dunmore can boast that at their respective sales higher prices were obtained; but inasmuch as the sale yesterday at Wateringbury was but fhe third of its kind upon the same spot, it must be admitted that Mr F. Leney has little ground for complaint In 18?2 he pulled out the largest sum ever given theretofore for a bull, and yesterday lie had the satisfaction of receiving the largest sum ever expended upon a calf. We aro'ajl fau|il.i;uy either personally or vicariously, with the excitement that prevades the cluster of spectators gathered round Mr TattersallV rostrum when a thoroughbred yearling colt is knocked down for a king's ransom. It is not, therefore, difficult to imagine the intensity of the excitement which prevailed yesterday at Wateringbury when a roan calf—lot 14—-aged eight months, was knocked down to the bid of Mr Loder, of Whittlebury, Northamptonshire, for the prodigious sum of 2,000 guineas. The marvellous redundancy of money which meets us at every turn is pregnant with strange coincidences. .When a* morsel or perishable Sevres china, 1 about equal in height to a flower-pot, is bought at 10,000 'guim'ao, there is perhaps little room for wonder that a Duchess calf should fetch one-filth of that stupendous sum. But it must be remembered that while there are , 1 ut few bits of precious and ancient china for sale, pedigree cattle and their progeny are sure of their price during every month

of the year. If it were but possible for the Brothers Colling, or even for Sir Charles Knightley, to rise from their graves, we should say that the sum realized yesterday by lot 19—" The Fourth Grand Duchess of Geneva, roap, calved November 12, 1873"—-would astonish them. , , The sale of yesterday commenced, as usual, with a luncheon, at which the head of tho table was taken by Lord Penrhyn. Among the guests were numbered Lords Bective, Chesham, Dunmore, and Skelmerdale, Colonel Gunter, of Wetherby Grange; Captain Olliver, of Northamptonshire; Mr Drewery, the representative of the Duke of Devonshire ; Sir Nigel Kingscote, Mr Holford, Mr Loder, the Rev. John Storer, Mr Berwick, and many more. The sale —conducted by Mr Strafford at a snail's pace, which contrasted unfavorably with the promptitude of Mr Page when he disposed of Mr Campbell's shorthorns in the State of New York—suggested many significant facts, to which it would be well that raisers of fashionable cattle should give earnest attention. Perhaps the most important moral to be drawn from yesterday's proceedings was that Mr Leney never took a wiser step in his life than when ho gave 1,650 guineas for the Eighth Duke of Geneva, and 1,200 guineas for the Sixth Duke of Oneida. By crossing those two famous Duke bulls—of which one is believed to be the best animal of his class in the world—with the best blood of Sir Charles Knightley and of Robert Colling, Mr Leney has gained for himself to the proud position among stock raisers to which the sale of yesterday undoubtedly elevates him. But, in addition, it is desirable that those breeders, who are ambitious to sell an eight months' calf for 2,000 guineas, should attentively mark the favorable ground and sunny situation in which Mr Leney's stock farm is located. There are few better spots for shorthorns than the meadows at Holker Hall in Lancashire, where, upon an eminence that overhangs Morecambe Bay, the Duke of Devonshire keeps the famous herd over which Mr Drewery presides. But it is doubtful whether tho Holker Meadows surpass in beauty and healthiness the Kentish pastures, which Mr Leney has dedicated to the worship of that Egyptian god whose bovine symbol appears upon the rockhewn temples of the Nile. Sloping down to the river Medway, the farm at Wateringbury is not less adapted to the culture of shorthorns than are the neighboring paddocks of Sir Joseph Hawley at Leynotirne, near Maidstone, to the production of Derby winners. Despite the vast prices realized by Mr Campbell at New York Mills in September last, and of the spurious sale of a bull in Chicago for £2,800 which was not forthcoming when called for—we may safely boast that in shorthorns the thoroughbreds of England may still defy competition from the rest of the world.