Agricultural.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 90, 30 March 1876, Page 7

Agricultural.

A LADT AGRICULTURIST AND SHORTHORN" BREEDER. C North British Agriculturist.' Under the heading* of " Noteworthy Agriculturists," the ' Agricultural Gazette' gives a good portrait of Lady Emily Pigot, confronted, however,- by a miserable representation of her ladyship's famous prize-winning heifer, Zvesda. Lady Pigot's shorthorns have for a considerable number of years been well known to embody the best of Booth blood, and they have been very successful in the showy ard. Our contemporary says : Her ladyship has, indeed^ long been honorably known in the agricultural world as a successful exhibitor rf shorthorn cattle, and some notice of her agricultural career was inevitable ; but of the many who are already familiar with her achievements on the farm and in the showyard, comparatively few, we dare to say, are equally acquainted with the far more extraordinary ■ illustrations of energy and activity which her life has givan in other directions, and in connection with altogether different pursuits. Known among our readers, perhaps only as a lady who has long* taken great 'interest in shorthorn breeding, she is celebrated in other circles as at once the most cultivated and the most courageous of women. Adventurous traveller, heroic nurse, energetic politician, admirable village philanthropist — : known in many a foreign land, on many a battle field, in many an election fight, in many a schoolroom and religious meeting* — she is at ttie same time one of the most gifted and accomplished in all that charms the home circle and the drawing room. We may be permitted to complete the merely personal picture by a quotation from her •lad3 , ship's own words, which we have before us : — " Altogether mine has been a curious life, from my spoilt and petted child-, hood followed by married life, with its various social and political interests, its wanderings and journey ings — now for months in all the rough simplicity of a Norwegian hut, cooking for myself from sheer necessity — now riding over trackless parts in North Morocco, or painting the fierce camels of Algiers, surrounded by chattering and curious Arab women — again, in Venetian gon-' dolas, where I have idled away the glorious summer nights j or, yet again, exploring wild caves in Corsica, Sardinia, and Hungary — on battlefields,, in hospitals — ever restless, ever work-, ing • always endeavoring* to crowd into the twelve. working hours of life's day more than could by most be done in eighteen. Thus have I gone on, with a heart very alive to suffering, in man or beast ; especially sensitive to the woes of little children, and to the neglect, in which so many are reared. Keenly appreciating the beauties of nature, passionately fond of music and the fine arts, rejoicing over all that is good and pure and holy, with a soul full of gratitude to the One above, J have lived, as I believe few do, a life ol real enjoyment, because of work, and because i find interest and amusement in almost everything', also because I have never forgotten my own maxim — namely, / To succeed in life two things are absolutely necessary — to ho in earnest about, what you are doing*, and to persevere in that doing, 7 " Her ladyship's own words respecting her fanning and. cattle breeding career are interesting, and are thus appended ; " I had been the owner of two or three West Highland kyloes, bought during a summer's residence in Argyleshirej but one day, I think in 1856, some one suggested that I should look at Mr Jonas Webb's cattle ; accordingly Sir Robert and myself went there, and I was so struck with the massive character of the shorthorn, that I said, ' Here are the sort for me/ and after much consultation, hesitation and debate, I finally bought a- heifer called Happiness for 280 guineas. She had only, what I should now call, a very mixed pedigree, but she was a grand animal. I sent her in 1858 to "Dublin, where she won the first prize and the .£2O gold medal as the best female in the yard ; but she died from inflamation caught on the journey homo. Mr Wetherell's sale in 1859 was the first I was ever at, and Stanley Hose the first shorthorn I bid in person for. Stanley Eose I also sent to Dublin, and again took the same honors;; but she too died on her return, through an accident to her truck. And 1 soon began to realise the facts that shorthorn breeding is not "all couleur > de Arose, for I am certain that i 1 lost -£'2000 by deaths and inexperience during my first three years. In 18C0- I undertook wliat, for a woman, . was - a large farin^— s3o " acres, of heaivy land — and : being ;aware .that, to be able to. approve or find fault in a work, you must know .bto.w.it should be done .. yourself, I -went through all- the.. operations/of :tlie farm- the, supervision of my /friend,' :Mr John: B. ' Booth,; of Killarby', where 'l learnt how to plough and to drain. ; I ; h'ad a great desire that all on my ''farm should "be of the verv best, and I bought cart mares at over! : 100 guineas.' " I bought South'downs from Jonas Webb, hut my land 'wjfsfso cold and wet, they soon .had fopVrot, arid* I : was "compelled to ' sell therm all off. C then went in for Lincolns, and bought rams of the' late W. Tori* ; . hut their, heavy , fl;ef?cesy got "clogged ; with our clay, and ihey did not thrive. I

accordingly sold them off; a great many going to\ Germany, y, Mr Preece and his Javnrite: Shropshire's were then brought into sight, and for a time these heavy carcassed and thick- wooled sheep did well. I found, however, that* it was ruinous to keep a shorthorn herd where there was so much timber, consequently sour grassland on such a cold unproductive clay', and so far from a railway station, and so heavily rented as I was. So, in 1870, I gave up my farms, and sent the herd to Wytham-pn-the-Hill, and for the fiist three years my cattle made wonderful improvement, but last summer and- winter owing to the drought and consequent scarcity of fodder, they were starved, and they arrived here, in May in a very woe-begone state ; and all this summer we have been' struggling against want off food, and that pest of Shorthorns— the flies— which are ten times more numerous here than even in the densely wooded park at branches. My land is poor, and very light, but we have some good water meadows, and I have just taken an additional farm of 250 acres from the Earl of Lovelace, which has some fair pastures." The herd numbers between 90 and 100 animals, including representatives ofthe famous Mantalini, Bliss, and Farewell tribes. There are fourteen Mantalini females and four Bliss females. " Except at Aylesby, no such succession of fine Booth sires have ever been in use in any herd."