it to the Britishers, they'll pile a heap for 't-for when theyve gut it, ships is of no use-only lumber-Ther'll be no sea-fites, Sorney, after I've gittin there," ses he. "No fear 'o war-'cos there'll be no shipsonly my torpedo"-" But," cuts in Barney, "if there ain't no ships, Ginger-there'll be no use of torpedos, only lumber ;"—Oh, don't you bother, Barney-keep your eye skinned-you're a loafer. Cum-I'll jine"-Lordy! It's wonders wot a man won't do when his wife wopps him!

Well-So Ginger an' us was along: an' so we cum on to Noo Yorkwe did see sites, I tell yer, there.-An almighty place to be shure is that York, nothin 'at all like it this side etarnity. Its a screamer among citties-Like Snorter's-ville on'y larger-a lump-Then as for Bill Sumpters' Inn-the Astor House do cut that out an' out quitethat's the clear grit.

I gess yeu folks down there hav'nt no noshun of the Astor HouseOh! none-It's as big as Jimmy Butler's clearin' an' no braggin'-an' sich a gittin' up stairs, Jim Crow hisself never hearn on.—I was poked up in the sky-parlurs, and it was so far high, an' I so 'tarnally used up, that I ses to the feller that shown me along,-ses I,-" Luk ye here stranger hadn't you better call me now for 'morrer mornin'-else you'll use all yer time a gittin' up an' down agin."-He larffed at this —but I was sarius, so I ses-" Burn me but I'm so tarnally grined down an' used up, that I must haven a brandy cocktail, with a lump of ice in 'em."-Well,-away the critter went,-an' after I'd licked off a goodish lump o' sleep, he cum agin-but Lordy! wot a cocktail he had gittin' to be shure ;-Nothin' but mucky water-as I live-ses I, "Hilloh! stranger! wotens this?"-" Lordy!" ses he-" that wos a cocktail," but here's so far up from the bar-room, that the ice all melted in the first ten flites, an' now, the heat o'my hand has ewaporated all the brandy!" Now, I call that an ill-convenient distancequite

Talkin' o' cocktails-There is sich mint-julips at the city hotelLordy!-Go it Willard-We dine 400 every day at the Astor-but they eat so slow-why they're always fifteen minits full.—I gess one of our gals, down at Cravatstuffin' Creek-'ud eat 'em out o' their lives in the time-ten dinners an' a supper, an' pick her teeth-twice.

Well I don't like them great steemers-they are snorters-I gess they do pile on the pine knots, an' go it tooth an' toe-nail with a vengeance. They ain't at all like our Mississippi roarers-they're so bigger-an' then there's sich a mixin' o' paint, an' fine things-one can't spit here nor thare at all-its very ill convenient-besides-I don't at all cotton to them staterooms.-I sleep in the lower hole, and the chap over me allways waited till I'd git up o'mornins, an' then stept out of his'n hole on to my head, an' so down.-He sed, it

stretched him so, if my head wern't there.-One day, I bobb'd, an' down he cum with such a lumpin'-but he well nigh pokt my eye out with his toe, and when I spoke up-he sed as it was all my fault, an' surved me right for moovin'-I gess he's a neat man-I arsked him to get his pictor paint, an' giv' it to me.—But he ain't dun so yit.

At last-we've cum to land here-an' sich a quare site as it is to be sure to see the folk a plantin' trees, in White's Island-jist as if they din't grow natural-but they say they don't. Oh, Lordy!—well, after all-Merriky wopps the univarse, for all or nothin.

I'll writ yeu agin by an' by-in the mean giv my luv to all the gals down in our diggins-but abov' all don't forgit Koppereena Lobskous, and Katti Skompotts, the tew Duch gals down at the Fork. The Duch gals is the gals for me-they're the clear grit-sich stick ins out-an no shamakins.

To Muther Sapstalk, at Snortersvil,

Brimstone bottom,

on the Sulphur fork of the Bluddy Red,

Arkansaw.

Hug yer Sun,

SORNEY SAPSTALK.

MR. EDITOR,

COUNTRY STOCK.

BY RED ROVER.

"Est in equis patrum

Virtus nec imbellem feroces

Progenerant aquila columbam."-HOR.

I was agreeably surprised on receiving No. I. of the New Series of the N. S. M. to find that it has been very judiciously enlarged by agricultural information. This feature I have long wished to see adopted; for I am of opinion that the interests of sporting and farming are so closely allied, that what is interesting to one must necessarily be interesting also to the other.

To the sportsman great advantages may accrue, if this new matter be well applied, for they may thus have direct and authentic information of all the various improvements in agriculture; and during the summer months, when hounds lie dormant, and shooting there is none, and the sportsman has plenty of leisure time for informing and improving his mind, the pages of the N. S. M. will afford the “utile cum dulce."

I hope, moreover, that it will prove an inducement to country gentlemen and farmers, to communicate their opinions on the various branches of agricultural business; more especially as relating to the

breeding of cattle, sheep; and though last, not least, of all kinds of working horses, from the humble cart-horse, to its aristocratic relative the racer. Almost all farmers in the grazing districts have, at some time, bred something useful for the road or the field. All have at least bred cart-horses, and hence formed some opinion as to what sort may be best. Surely then, we may hope that they will not be backward in giving their experience to the world. There never was a time, (despite of the stuff talked about railroads doing away with horses, and the thrice-told tale of the buying up of everything by the foreigners) I say there never was a time when horses were in greater demand, or realized higher prices, than now. The improvement in the breed of cart-horses is equal to that of the superior kinds. A good four-year-old cart colt will bring in from 351. to 407. Having been worked since a two-year-old, and thus paying for its keep. This I have been often told pays better than the breeding any other kind of horse, for many reasons; the risk is not so great, the rearing does not cost so much, and they come into work sooner. In Yorkshire, breeding is found to pay well; and is greatly benefited by the capital stallions they have there. In your number for November last, I mentioned several of the Yorkshire horses which were now in estimation there. Next to that county, I think that Lincolnshire and Leicestershire are entitled to precedence on this score; both being grazing, and consequently good hunting counties; good prices for hunters are to be readily obtained. That as many horses are bred purposely for sale in these counties now, as formerly, may be seen by the many strings which travel in the season; formerly Mr. Fryatt of Melton Mowbray, was about the only man who kept horses. Those were the days, when old Vivaldi by Woodpecker, (a capital four mile horse, and the sire of many good hunters, all lop-eared like himself,) Julius Cæsar, Old England, and Cannon Ball, were in the fashion, and swept the country all round. Nor should I omit Sir Harry Dimsdale, a white horse, of a very savage disposition, who long stood at Belvoir, and got many good horses. Old Vivaldi and Sir Harry mares, are still sometimes seen as brood mares, but they are nearly extinct. The stock of The Flyer, Duplicate, Rector, Orion, and Sir Gilbert, are everywhere to be seen, and are mostly esteemed as hunters. The Flyer was a very singularly made horse, being hollow in the back, lop-eared, and very much like Lord Exeter's old Redgauntlet. There are now in Lincolnshire many stallions not a whit inferior to the above mentioned nags. Lambtonian by Filho-da-Puta, the property of Mr. Marfleet near Lincoln, is highly spoken of, and his stock are coming out well, although by many considered too leggy.

Negociator, by Prime Minister, is likewise a favourite horse. There are also two Muley horses which travel in this district, viz. Magnet,

NO. II.-VOL. I.-NEW SERIES.

U

bred by Mr. Nowell (as is generally to be understood when Muley is in the case), and Rocket, a remarkably fine big-limbed horse, and one that must get hunters. Besides these there are Gambol, the sire of Marialva, Gambolette, &c.; Dormouse, by Bizarre, a fine brown horse; Woollaton; Maplebeck, a young chesnut horse, but bad-tempered; He was got by Vanish, and belongs to some person at Newark ; Darnley, by The Colonel, a neat little bay horse, belonging to Mr. Walker, of Grantham; and a little bay horse, called Norton, by Filho da Puta, belonging to some one at Sedgebrook. Mr. Wortley had also a well-bred horse, Young Emilius, by Emilius, out of Shoveller, but I believe that he has been sold; his stock were very good, but he was curby-hocked, which diminished his value as a stallion; he has the honour of seeing one of his get in the Calendar, viz. Happy-asLucky, out of Catherina, by Walton, entered in several stakes. There has been, for two or three years past, a capital show for hunters at Croxton Park, originating, I have heard, with Mr. Wortley, who is a good judge of horse-flesh, and a thorough-bred sportsman. The prizes, which are raised by subscription, are really worth competing for, and they bring together a vast number of horses. There are three prizes given for four-year-old hunters, viz. £20 for the best, £15 the second best, and £10 the third best. Three of the same amount are given for three-year-olds, and three for brood-mares. Good horses can therefore gain a prize, which is worth having, and earn a name from which they are soon bought up at good prices. The certificate of the breeding of the horse is required at the time of exhibition, and noted down in a book.

Amongst the prizes at the various agricultural meetings in every part of the country, there seem to be very few for horses, and scarcely in any county, that I know of, is there an exhibition of horses similar to that at Croxton Park, yet it appears to me to be a thing much to be desired in every point of view. Another thing which is very beneficial is, the plan which the Duke of Rutland has adopted, of keeping some good thorough-bred horses for the use of his tenants, at the low rate of £1. 1s. This encourages the tenants to send their mares, particularly as the horses are superior ones, and the price low. It is some time since I was resident in that part of the country, but I remember his two stud horses, for which he got £1000 from the foreigners; one was a fine brown horse, Hawker, by Emilius; he appeared several times under the Cadland blue, but not with much success, at Newmarket; his stock, which abound in the country, are very good, with great substance. The other horse was Armadillo, by St. Patrick, as handsome as wax-work, a bright bay, with good bone. All his stock are very large, although he was himself decidedly a small horse. These horses were succeeded by two useful nags; Shamrock, by Rolla (a son of Quiz), and well-known on the Curragh for many years;

he is a bright bay, short, and not very good in the hind quarters, but his yearlings, out of strong mares, are good. The other is a chesnut horse, bought of Colonel Peel, Blankney, by Velocipede, out of Lunatic, by Prime Minister; he did not shine on the turf, but is a fine, strong, good-legged horse, with a coarse Blacklock head. He was taken out of training, having all but fallen a victim to the disease which destroyed Rattrap; in fact, I have heard that they actually delayed some time in carrying Rattrap out to bury him, expecting this horse to die; however, he got better, and is now likely to prove a very superior sire.

But of all the horses that have come under my notice in those counties, none can, in my humble opinion, be compared with Mündig; he is, decidedly, the finest thorough-bred horse I have seen; faulty no doubt in the shoulder, but with immense substance, good in shape, and of stout blood; I believe Mr. Potterton, of Clipstone, has him, as well as D'Egville, for the season. Such of Mündig's stock as I have seen, are very strong and good; one, Evelyn, has already proved a winner; but it is to his half-bred stock that I look principally, as many horses I could mention are, undoubtedly, his superiors for racing purposes.

At Melton, there are three or four good horses. Mr. Fryatt has two-Birdcatcher, by St. Patrick, out of Sister to Fuss, by Medley, Brother to Pickpocket (formerly Fryatt's property, and now gone abroad) and half-brother to that good old mare Birdlime; Birdcatcher, as well as his brother, were good runners, and there is a deal of their stock in the country of a very good sort. He has also been distinguished by one or two of his stock appearing as winners. Sir R. Bulkeley generally has some thorough-breds put to him. Fryatt's other horse is a big brown horse, Stapleton, by Strephon, but I do not hear him much praised. Rothelan, by Tiresias, also standing at Melton, is a neat horse, but not over-gifted with understandings.

I cannot leave the subject of Melton, without mentioning the pleasure I had, some time ago, in there inspecting the studio of Mr. Ferneley, the animal painter. He certainly has brought that branch of the art to great perfection; he throws real life and action into his horses, and puts his men upon them as they are presented to the eye, and not like the old pictures of sportsmen with red faces, ochre breeches, and seats on the pigskin like Dutch dolls. It is only within the last few years, that horse-painting has made any advances, but now it equals all, and surpasses many branches of the art; and Ferneley, Cooper, Herring, Hancock, Alken, and Spalding, can give the lovers of the horse faithful resemblances of their favourites. We, unfortunately, have no idea of the animal our forefathers rode, from the faulty pictures of Gilpin and Stubbs, neither have we any trust