The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1893-11-15

were imported to Balmoral. They had
served in the Egyptian campaign. and
were bought by her Majesty.
It was Thought they might serve in
the place Of ponies, but the expert
ment was n failure. A shoe on one of
the outbuldings at the Glassalt Shiel
is the sole trace they have left behind.
At the Abergeldie Mains is kept the
Queens herd of polled Angus cattle.
There are two varieties OF polled (horn-
less) cattle in Scotland, the shaggy
Galloway and the smooth Angus or
Aberdeen The latter take their name
angus" from the old district of An
gus now comprised in Forfarshire.
They we're called "doddies" in Angus
and "humlies' in Beechan. When
! DR.. johnson made his celebrated tour
in the western islands in 1873 he found
! black, hornless cattle in Skye, which
he remarks, are "called by the Scots
humble cows as We call bee humble
bee that wants sting.
The Queen began her herd at the
| Abergeldie Mains in 1881. Previous
to this she had personally inspected a
more extinct but valuable herd ut Til
liford, Aberdcenshire. One of the first
purchases was heifer, the "Pride of
Aberdeen oath" for l25 guineas, n
| little over $3.50.
In 1873 the Queen had desired to be
enrolled as an ordinary member of the
Highland Agricultural Society. There
are no fnvors shown royal exhibitors
Mt the shows of this or any other Brit
ish Agricultural Society. They enter
on level with other members. nnd by
no means always come out first.
Shortly after the formation of Her
Majesty herd she presenteda a splendid
challenge cup for the first best animal
Of the polled breeds exhibited Mt the
shows of the Cromar, Upper Deesidc,
and Donside Agricultural Society.
Competitors are limited to those bred
in the district embraced by the socie-
ty. The Queen is also the patroness
OF the Polled Cattle Society.
The herd at Abcrgeldie numbered
about sixty in the beginning of 1892
At Chr,stmas nineteen fat cattle were
soEi. At the Highland Society's show
at Inverness the same year the Queen
was large exhibitor Of polled Angus,
and the Ballindallock Challenge Cup
for the best COW of the polled classes
was won by miss Pretty" who has
been several years in the royal herd,
though not bred at Abergeldie. Her
Majesty also took prizes for Princess
Irene III and "Pretty Peggy" both
home e-bred snimals.
The morning l saw Miss Pretty at
the Abergeldie Mains, the grieve, Mr..
Cobb opened the door of her cot that
she might exhibit her beauties more
fully in the open yard. She is large,
glossy coated, compact animal, whose
lines form almost parallelogram sup
ported on four CLEAN legs, and with u
handsome head from out of which
looked pair of full, gentle eyes; no
sign of bone or high hips, which is as
it should be in breed devoted to
beef.
The monarch of the herd fixed q
somewhat maieyolent eye upon me as
lifted my arm and he suddenly
caught sight of my plaid and knew me
for stranger. He had previously
been placidly chewing his cud He
does not like strangers. Happily he
was securely tied. Nevertheless ]
willingly backed out of his royal pre-.
ence. | asked how he would make his
attack, having no horns, and was as
sured he could ''toss' quite as we'll
without them.
Prince Arthur and another whose
name l have forgotten are handsome,
low-standing, broad-backed animals,
weighing about 1900 pounds. These
had large, wild, expressive eyes.
A long line of pedigreed cows stood
in one byre, one of them, Princess
irene H., the prize winner, There was
also Pride of Aberdeen. This is a
very celebrated strain.
Iearlings in pen came up to in
vestigate the visitors glove with their
tongue, pretty, gentle creatures, en-
tirely black, as the highbred polled
Angus must be.
The byres and various compart-
ments at the Abergeldie Mains are like
those of the ordinary farm, with more
OF the finish of the model arrange
ments OF the Prince Consort's Shaw
farm at Windsor. The farms consists
of about 10 acres. The house and
byres are not far from Abergeldie cas-
tle The grieve lives in farmhouse
near the kitchen gardens which supply
the daily vegetables for Balmoral Cas-.
tie. The Queen not infrequently loans
the house at the Mains to some friends
for the summer.
The dairy at Balmoral is not to be
compared with that of Windsor. 1t is
an octagon of plain granite, surmourt-
rd by dome-like roof. Below the
dome is row OF small stained-glass
windows that can he dropped. Beneath
are large windows that can also be
opened. Open gratings in the floor
admit the air from that direction. SO,
AS we see, the dairy possesses the first
requisite for the manufacture of good
butter, viz, pure air.
Tha Nnnr IL nf tilas vida marble