Leney's farm (1870)

Post date: Feb 18, 2012 10:59:16 AM

Extract from Farmer's Magazine (1870) available on Google books.

Note:

• the journey time by train from Cannon Street to Tonbridge has not changed much over last 142 years!

• 1,000 hop pickers for 140 acres of hops.

• prices paid: Leney reported to have refused 1,500 guineas for one cow and her calf!

MR. LENEY'S. A trip to Wateringbury before the "South Eastern" Railway came into being, was a weary thing, by comparison. Now you take train at Cannon Street, slip down one side of a Sussex and Kentish triangle, instead of going round two, and reach Tonbridge in an hour. A change at Paddock Wood, and then a few miles down the Maidstone branch, brings you to Wateringbury station, which was in a state of blockade. The hopping season was just over, and a strange motley troop of Celts and Saxons with dishevelled hair, squalling babies, potatokettles tied up in handkerchiefs, and bunches of faded hop-bines as a token of their autumn outing, struggled up to the barriers, within which the stationmaster was entrenched. Black eyes were rather the rule, than the exception, with the women, as they fight severely before parting; but the men don't seem "to malice each other" so much. In the midst of an apparently severe journey we have seen them suddenly relent, perform a sort of wild Pyrrhic dance, and give the kiss of peace.

Mr. Leney, who lives at The Orpines, a pretty spot which Shorthorn men know well, about half a mile from the station, has sometimes a thousand of them at work on his 140 acres of hop yards, which are principally planted with Goldings. The poles are creosoted at the bottom, which generally is in better preservation than the top when their natural term of fourteen or fifteen years is completed. The Goldings, which are grown here and at Yalding, require poles of 16 to 18 feet. The bines just reach the top of the pole, and if they were to lean over much they would lose quality or become "housey," as it is called. The Grapes require an intermediate pole of from 12 to 14 feet; and the Jones's, which don't climb, one of 2 or 3 feet less. These latter do not produce the same quantity, and are grown more in the Weald of Kent and Sussex. The withered bines have their uses, and not only furnish litter and thatch, but serve to put over the mangold " clamp." The whole of the 340 acres which Mr. Leney has in hand are upon the hazel mould, with Kentish ragstone as the subsoil, and 80 acres of it are in permanent grass. Swedes succeed trifolium, and are used with cut straw and malt-dust for cattle in the winter; and the mangolds are Sutton's Globe and Long Red and Yellow, following rye, which is cut sometimes at a five-foot growth on May 1st.

We have our first view of the herd in a meadow by the side of the Medway, where four lots from Mr. Fowler's sale are undergoing quarantine. The white nine-year-old Seraph, of the Sweetheart tribe, retains much of the massiveness which enabled her to win three cups in her day. Near her are the two roans Nymphalin and Pipalee, own sisters, by Bull's Run, from Sylphide; and the big, deep-fleshed heifer Knightley's Grand Duchess, by Fourth Grand Duke, from Nymphalin, still nineteen days short of two years, and a proof of what " Bates upon Fawsley" can effect. She was a 210-guinea purchase, and Mr. Leney and Mr. Sheldon fought in their best style. The wind nipped so shrewdly that an adjournment was made to a long shed, and the biddings gained spirit by the move.

A few years ago Mr. Leney merely bought calves to make into steers, with which he won three silver cups at the Ashford Fat Show and two at the Maidstone. In 1862 he desired something better, and bought sixteen of Mr. Golding's, of Hunton, in a lot. Clifford by Fourth Duke of Thorndale, from a cow of Mr. Fawkes's blood, bought at Mr. Hales' sale was used for three seasons, and was then replaced by Mr. Harrison's Waterloo Duke. With him came May Queen, and Lady Blanche of the Anna by Pilot and Blanchette of the Sockburn Sail tribe; and, at Mr. Langston's sale, he could not resist Columbine of the Chaff tribe and two or three others. At Mr. Tanqueray's, he still followed the Fourth Duke of Thorndale blood, and bought Second Kentish Gwynne, Charming by Mameluke, and her four daughters by Fourth Duke of Thorndale, her grand daughter and old Sweetbriar, also of the Charmer tribe. The May Morning of '67, in Kent, did not lack some of his cheerful, sonorous bids; and, Second Lord Oxford 200gs. ("the lame bull" of the Willis's Rooms day), and Ninth Grand Duchess, a doubtful breeder, were added to his store. The cow was condemned to salts and starvation at Starve Crow, and Second Lord Oxford caught her at last, and she calved Grand Duke of Kent. Maidenhair of the Rosy tribe (80 gs.), was another Bctts' purchase, and on the following day Mr. Leney returned from Mr. M'Intosh's with Fawsley Third (190 gs.), a daughter of Coquelicot; which, although only four years old, has already bred three calves. Columbia of the Walnut tribe, at the Marquis of Exeter's, and Knightley (100 gs.), a Charmer bull, followed. The Columbia purchase turned out so well, that her dam and sister recently came to bear her company from Mr. Sheldon's. Princess Alice of the Cold Cream sort (120 gs.) fell to Mr. Leney's lot after some very decisive biddings at the Royal Home Farm sale in '67, and then the party adjourned to a Windsor hotel, to discuss the lots of "Sheldon of Geneva, Illinois." It was here that the ," Short, sharp, and decisive" style came out in its highest force, and Seventh Duchess of Geneva (700 gs.); Fourth Maid of Oxford (300 gs.), a doubtful breeder; and Seventh Maid of Oxford (260 gs.)—all departed to Orpines. Well might Mr. Leney's opponents say: "You travel so fast, we could hardly look round." Two Sweethearts at Lord Dartmouth's, Garland at Mr. Gilbert Wood's, Wild Duchess (105 gs.) at Lord Penrhyn's, Ruby (60gs).and Rarity (71 gs.) of the Charmer sort, at Mr. Claydon's j Maryland (90 gs.) of the Rosy tribe (a pure Knightley), and Spangle (160 gs.), of the Sweetheart tribe, &c, have been added since then. At present the herd contains six Duchesses, five Oxfords, fourteen Charmers, eight Sweethearts, seven Rosys, three Walnuts, two Gwynnes, two Wild Eyes, two Lilies, three Chaffs, four Lucy Longs, two Surmises, one Cold Cream, and six Garlands.

In May last the herd was 120 strong, and Mr. Leney tried the experiment of a draft sale. The stock sold did not average more than eleven months, and the 19 males (including the 500-guinea bull) averaged £56 9s., and the 23 females £70 5s. 2d. There were no Duchess or Oxford females in the sale, and Messrs. Foster and Moore took the three Charmers to Cumberland at 200 guineas, 235 guineas, and 175 guineas. The 500-guinea Grand Duke of Kent, by Lord Oxford 2nd, from Ninth Grand Duchess, was not delivered, owing to illness, and Lady Oxford (100 guineas), from Columbia, departed for America. Bates and Knightley are the tribes on which Mr. Leney takes his stand, with a strong feeling for the Jennies. His plan is to breed from them early, and let them suckle their own calves. He never prepares them for Shows; but he has taken Smithfield Club honours with his steers, to wit, a second with one not of his own breeding, in 1865, and a first the next year with one of his own Cliffords.

The sale-meadow is a very pretty one, close to the house, and half-flanked by shrubberies. You look right up the vale of the Medway, and within a mile or two are the woods of Mereworth Castle, where Lord Falmouth has his residence for the greater part of the year. His lordship's breeding paddocks are there, with Queen Bertha, Hurricane, and Flax as their leading matrons ; and Kingscraft, Atalantis, Gertrude, and Guy Dayrell have been no unworthy scions of the '67 foal-crop.

Most of Mr. Leney's large fields are furnished with Sheds facing the south, for the sake of isolation in case of any disease. They are all built of wood, and roofed with felt, so as to keep up an equable temperature in summer and winter. Those in the park, near Wateringbury Place, shelter a large number of hoppers during the season; they witness strange gambols by day, and stranger when the wild revellers " dance by the light of the moon." The Park is one of the principal cow meadows, and we found there quite a parliament of ladies, headed by Chorus 1st by Fourth Duke of Thorndale, of the Charmer sort, a thick roan. There is a good deal of gaiety about the American Maid, or Fourth Maid of Oxford by Imperial Oxford, and her loin is worthy of note, while 7th Maid of Oxford is remarkably nice in her under line, but a little slack behind. Jenny 8th by Clifford has much of the look of old Moss Rose, and a very nice roan, if she was a little more filled up behind the shoulder. There is no more promising milker in the herd than the sweet-headed Jenny 12th, but she made a faux pas, and had a calf at 21 months. There, too, are Columbine, a fine red, of the Chaff sort, Columbia, and Miss Knightley, own sisters, by Sir Charles, May Queen, with the old fashioned head, and dating back through Anna by Pilot and Fawsley 5th to Fawsley by Little John. Grand Duchess 9th, a 210-guinea purchase at Mr. Betts' is all hillocks now, and one horn curls round almost into her eye; and old white Maryland, one of the last that Sir Charles Knightley bred, is also among the has-beens. Miss Thornton, an old white, by Welcome Guest (15497), from the Clifton pastures, is the only "bit of Booth" on the ground. The two-year Rarity 2nd, a heifer of great substance and gaiety, and Garland 5th, from old Sabrina, a red, with a very neat breast, are near her, and so is Twin Duchess 4th, with a head to model from. The massive Seventh Duchess of Geneva, a grand massive white with that remarkably prominent Bates nostril, is the grand centre-piece of all, and Mr. Leney tells how, although sorely tempted, he refused 1,500 gs. for her and her heifer-calf by Fifteenth Grand Duke on his return from Mr. Bowly's sale. Oxford Fawsley is small, and with a very nice head; but Sweetbriar has got a game leg in the tenth year of her age, and has sadly failed in consequence. Lord Oxford 2nd knocked her over, but she bore him a good bull-calf notwithstanding.

Duchess of Oxford, from Maid of Oxford 7th, is a gay little occupant of one of the calf partitions in the shed, and her dam is one of the seven selected as an illustration for the last volume of the Herd Book. At the other end we found Grand Duke of Kent growing into a lusty well- fleshed bull, and quite recovered, except in his sprawly mode of walking, from his recent illness. The shed is rather rich in calves, a good white heifer by Fifteenth Grand Duke from Seventh Duchess of Geneva, and his half-sister from Spangle; two bull-calves, one a Sir Charles Knightley from Dew of the Valley, with most beautiful bone; and the other by Lord Oxford 2nd from Maidenhair. Mr. Leney draws attention to Seventh Maid of Oxford's calf by Fifteenth Grand Duke, which has fallen a white, while its predecessor by the same bull was a red. Princess Alice, a fine rich-haired calf, going back to Cold Cream, is an appropriate preface to Lord Oxford 2nd, a big white bull, with a grand head and forehand, but gouty in one leg. He is by Fourth Duke of Thorndale out of Oxford 13th, and had a reserve on him of 200 gs. at Mr. Betts'. It was thought that he would never get up after Mr. Leney paid for him; but still he is quite able to bull the young heifers. His length is very good, and his hair remarkably silky, and there are several good roans among his heifers. Knightley by Barleycorn from Columbine is a pure Charmer bull of a peculiar stamp, such as we never met with before. He is thick, level, and deep-fleshed, with a peculiar crest and short, shaggy head, which, with rather tucked-up horns, somewhat detracts from his gaiety. His son—the two-year-old Sir Charles Knightley—has a much nicer head, and just one cross of Fourth Duke of Thorndale in his Charmer escutcheon; but he has not got his growth yet, although he has a lusty promise. Fifteenth Grand Duke by Fourth Grand Duke out of Twelfth Grand Duchess by Imperial Oxford has no trace left of his lameness; but he is rather small, with capital thick thighs, and a nice eye and crest. He was bred by Mr. Bolden; then Mr. Tanqueray bought him; and he came into Mr. Leney's hands with some Charmers and Gwynnes in cattle-plague time. He is a deep-fleshed one, and likely to get them with good steaks and boiled beef as well—that delight of "La Belle France." Mr. Leney has thus Oxford, Charmer, and Duchess blood at hand for a cross; and so far this year he has had eight heifer and three bull calves.

Third Countess of Wateringbury by Lord Oxford 2nd from Chorus 2nd and 2nd Countess of Wetherby by Lord Oxford greeted us as we left the yard for the park, which lies about half a mile away. We found there Jenny 9th and 12th, both by Clifford; the long, low, and thick Sultana, which goes back like the Jennies to Matilda by Highflyer; Sharpc's Pauline; Ninth Grand Duchess, in-calf from July; Columbine, with fine depth of rib, bred by Sir Charles Knightlcy, and one of his last; and Chorus 2nd, big and broad across the back. Something brings back the conversation to Fourth Maid of Oxford, and we learn that she was a perfect martyr. Still 300 gs. worth of American stock was not to become mere butcher's meat without a struggle. She sometimes walked fifteen miles a day, and finally worked six hours a day in a pugmill, preparing clay for bricks, which combined processes took nearly 30 stone off her.

We adjourn to the meadow near the oast houses, where many of the older cows are grazing. One of them, Second Kentish Gwynne, a thick, white, and rather cushioned behind, once shared the honours of penal servitude with the Fourth Maid. There, too, is the shadow of old Sabrina, and with her that deep good cow Sultana 2nd. So are Ruby, the dam of Rarity, Maidenhair, and Chorus 2nd, which figures with her calf Countess of Wateringbury in the last volume of the Herd Book, Spangle, of the Sweetheart tribe, and Columbine, a low thick cow of the Chaff; and Fawsley 3rd (190 gs.) soon, makes you ask her name and belongings. The eleven-year-old Jenny has a true Yorkshire milking character about her, and we are not surprised to hear that she is good for six to seven gallons per day in the height of the grass.

"The grand tour" ends in a yard hard by Mr. Leney's own brewery, where we find Princess Alice, a gay and pretty heifer with Cold Cream and British Prince in her veins. Old red Charming is there too, with that length and quality which first charmed the ring when she was sold at Mr. Adkins' sale in '50, and induced Mr. Leney to buy her in a lot of eight from Mr. Tanqueray's; and with Seventh Maid of Oxford, another picture elect, we closed our note-book in Kent, and bid good-bye to the most spirited Shorthorn buyer that it ever possessed. HMO

Leney does not seem to have been shy about publicity. Ses also Wateringbury to become household word for shorthorn breeders. The preceding year, 1869, Charles Leney had put his entire herd of shorthorns, 45 head, up for sale at Court Lodge Farm, West Peckham (Kentish Gazette 22nd June 1869).