Pir Uren) CUE) Ty mi Hi Mi ce tue fa is 7 aa gs 7 ea y Ait ay HY Py ai} dé f cS iS as 36 ~ § ee) mM ea 8 ise) Oi fy] 8 M8 K 4 S Fils bOun mime aOKN CATTLE: Path ORTG IN PROGRESS” AND phe se NAC ON DTT LON: Bi, AUTHOR OF “AMERICAN CATTLE, EDITOR OF THE “AMERICAN SHORT-HORN HERD BOOK,”’ ETC. BULE ReAe Oe IN: Y.\: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by LEWIS F. ALLEN, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. WarREN, JOHNSON & Co. Stereotypers, Printers and Binders, Burrato, N. Y. PRE BAG E: THIS book has cost me much labor. The material from which it has been drawn was difficult to obtain—much more than those not conversant with the subject would imagine—and many years have elapsed in its gathering. Short-horn cattle history, in a connected form, has never existed since the race has been known, and it is only through the scraps and desultory notes made from time to time by different breeders and occa- sional writers within the past seventy years that we learn any- thing with certainty, and then in such disconnected fragments that the toil of dissecting, arranging, and putting them together understandingly has been most perplexing and difficult. Still, the work, such as it is, has been accomplished; and that a volume of this character is needed by the Short-horn breeders, of America, and other countries where the race exists, must be evident to every intelligent breeder. Many of the various writings relating to Short-horns, their breeding and pro- gress, scattered through the agricultural publications of the day, both in Great Britain and America are of decided value; but portions of them have been intermixed with such partisan feel- ing, and sometimes so inaccurate in statement as to yield little of correct information to those who wish to arrive at the real truth of Short-horn history. The mass of cattle breeders have not been of the class addicted to scholastic pursuits, although they knew many facts, valuable and important. Many of these iv PREFACE. facts have been given to the world; but more of them have perished with their possessors who died and left no sign of their labors, other than the noble animals whose posterity have survived them. The English Herd Books, from the year 1822, have recorded pedigrees of the Short-horns existing nearly a century back, and as they have since increased and multiplied, down to the present time; but they have given us pedigrees only. Had they been accompanied with historical matter relating to their breeders, and the distinguished animals of their times, they would have added much of both interest and instruction. Some such notes have been written by accurate observers, and preserved, from which we have gleaned valuable informa- tion; but the information derived from them is less full and complete than could be wished. Inference and guess-work have been measurably resorted to by some writers in past days to give color to various facts and theories of their own—some of them right, and some erroneous. In the examination of authorities leading to the present work many contradictory statements have been canvassed, and an effort has been made to separate the probable from the improbable; yet it is not denied that errors may be found in these pages, so difficult has it been to detect and separate fact from opinion, truth from imagination. It may be asked: Why, with such contrarieties of historical fact and opinion, strive to write Short-horn history at all? The plain answer is: The Short-horns “ave a history, and a most interesting one. A hundred years ago they were comparatively an obscure race* of cattle, even in the land of their nativity. For several centuries they had been considered of little value over other common neat cattle, until sagacious men discovered PREFACE: Vv their capability of improvement; and through the persevering efforts of such men they have been raised to a degree of per- fection, value, and popularity, far beyond any other of the known bovine races. The money value of well-bred Short- horns now in the United States alone, may be safely estimated at several millions of dollars. They are worthy of a history, and a better one, too, if possible, than is here presented; but there having appeared no other, this must suffice until an abler and more painstaking pen shall replace or supercede it. This effort has been a labor of love chiefly, for in its limited sale—anticipated only among Short-horn breeders—no pecuni- ary profit can result from its publication. Having been for many years connected with the compilations of the American Herd Book, and so many questions continually arising touching facts and incidents in their previous breeding, (perhaps better known to the author through his several hundreds of correspondents than to almost any other,) he has been convinced that these cattle should have, as they well deserve, as full a history as can be given of their race. The book makes no pretension to literary merit. It is a plain subject, treated in a plain way, and in the hope that it will be understood by all who may look into its pages. Omissions, both of fact and date, there may be, on the detection of which fastidious critics may carp and con- demn. If such there be, we advise them to go forthwith to work and get upa better. Without further apology or excuse for its shortcomings, it goes forth to the public. It is proper to say in this connection, that both the first and second volumes of the American Herd Book contain consid- erable matter (written and edited by the author of this work) relating to Short-horn history, as then understood. But the pres- ent work supercedes all that, as further sources of information vi PREFACE. more detailed, and in some instances more accurate, have since come to light. It is fitting here to acknowledge the several favors which I have received from many correspondents in various parts of the United States, also some few in England, and the Canadas, who have contributed valuable information and papers relating to various subjects of this volume, for which I hold them in grateful remembrance. LEWIS F. ALLEN. BuFFALo, N.Y., August, 1872. ie US kA ORNS: WE have thought it necessary to illustrate the work with a few portraits of animals of distinguished reputation in their times, and such as would show the comparative merits and improvements in the anatomy and style of the Short-horns as they progressed from as early a day as possible down to a recent period. The scarcity of portraits of the earlier animals has afforded but a limited opportunity to make selections. We have wished to present the best specimens of their time, irrespective of any particular tribe or family to which they belonged, and only regret that the portraits we have been able to obtain are restricted to the herds of so few breeders; yet they were animals well known in Short-horn circles, and whose blood courses in the veins of very many herds of the present day. They are given with no intention to claim superiority over some others that may have existed contemporary with them, but because other equally good portraits could not be found. We place them in the order of time at which they lived: 1. DucueEss, red and white, bred by Charles Colling, calved in 1800, got by Daisy bull (186), out of , by Favorite (252)—by Hubback (319),—the Stanwick (original Duchess) cow, by J. Brown’s red bull (97). At 7 years old, milked down, and thin in flesh. Drawn by Weaver. Plate after a copy by Dalby. Page 13. 2. COMET (155), light roan, bred by Charles Colling, calved in 1804, got by Fayorite (252), out of Young Phcenix, by Favorite (252),—Phcenix, by Foljambe (263),—Lady Maynard, by R. Alcock’s bull (19),—by Jacob Smith’s bull (608),—by Jolly’s bull (337). At 6 years old. Drawn by Weaver. Plate after a copy by Dalby. Page 74. 3. KETTON IsT (709), red and white, bred by Charles Colling, calved in 1805, got by Favorite (252), out of Duchess, by Daisy bull (186), etc., as in No. 2, above. At full age. Drawn by Weaver. Plate after a copy by Dalby. Frontispiece. 4. THE WHITE HEIFER THAT TRAVELED, bred by Robert Colling, calved about the year 1806, got by Favorite (252), out of Favorite cow, by Favorite (252),—gr. dam, by Punch (531). At full age. Drawn by Weaver. Plate after a copy by Dalby. Page 84. 5. DucCHESs IsT, red and white, bred by Charles Colling, calved in 1808, got by Comet (155), out of ——-——, by Favorite (252),—Duchess, by Daisy bull (186), etc., as in No. 2, above. At full age. Drawn by Dalby. Page 125. 6. BELVEDERE (1706), roan, bred by Mr. Stephenson, calved in 1826, got by Waterloo (2816), out of Angelina 2d, by Young Wynyard (2859),—Angelina, by Phenomenon (491),—Anne Boleyn, by Favorite (252),—Princess, by Favorite (252) [bred by Robert Colling, and own sister to his White bull (151)],—by Favorite (252), Vill ILLUSTRATIONS. —by Snowdon’s bull (612),—by Masterman’s bull (422),—by Harrison’s bull (292), —bred by Mr. Pickering. At 8 years old. Drawn by Dalby. Page 127. 7. DUCHESS 34TH, mostly red, bred by Thomas Bates, calved in 1832, got by Belvedere (1706), out of Duchess 29th, by 2d Hubback (1423),—Duchess 20th, by 2d Earl (1511),—Duchess 8th, by Marske (418),—Duchess 2d, by Ketton Ist (709), —Duchess Ist, by Comet (155), etc., as in No. 5, above. At 11 years old, milked dry, and left hip broken down. Drawn by Dalby. Page 128. 8. DuKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND (1941), red roan, bred by Thomas Bates, calved in 1835, got by Belvedere (1706), out of Duchess 34th, by Belvedere (1706), etc., as in No. 7, above. At 8 years old. Drawn by Dalby. Page 131. g. NECKLACE (twinned with light roan Bracelet), mostly red, bred by John Booth, Killerby, calved in 1837, got by Priam (2452), out of Toy, by Argus (759),— Vestal, by Pilot (496),—Vestris, by Remus (550),—Valentine, by Blucher (82),— Countess, by Albion (14),—by Shakspeare (582),—by Easby (232). At 6 years old. Drawn by Gauci. Page III. 10. COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF (21451), roan, bred by Richard Booth, calved in 1864, got by Valasco (15443), out of Campfollower, by Crown Prince (10087),— Vivandiere, by Buckingham (3239),—Minette, by Leonard (4210)—Young Moss Rose, by Young Matchem (4422),—by Priam (2452),—by Young Alexander (2979), —by Pilot (496). At 4 years old. Drawn by Gauci. Page 146. The red and roan shades in the colors of the plates show less conspicuously in lithograph than in the original paintings, for which allowance must be made. . The artist, Mr. Page, has executed them with great fidelity and care. Further notices of these animals will be found on the pages where the plates occur. ABLE OE CONTE NES: CHAPTER IT. First Period of their History—The Second Period—The Cathedral Cow—When began the Improvement—Progress of Improvement...........-.2-..25- 13 CEVA REAR Tete The Early Breeders—Dates and Names of Noted Animals—The Colling Brothers— Hubback—The Stanwick, or Original Duchess— Lady Maynard and Young Strawberry—Foljambe—Charles Colling’s Mode of Breeding —The Durham @Ox—— Robert Collins andi his Breeding rele jeer o cis wie lois) clei cioreie eier«) eros) eialeiolersle 28 @AEAGP bn Were the Collings the Earliest and Chief Improvers of the Short-horns—Their Early Cattlkh—The Galloway Cross—Berry’s Youatt History—Charles Colling’s Final Sale—Robert Colling’s Sales of 1818 and 1820—The Collings’ Improve- MANES OOGOU CODE OOD DOB OOO CORE cam OOre cere cir raha ateiallepasacehes evaveysievelsis).e 56 CHAPTER IV. The Booth Family and their Short-horns—The Studley Herd—The Killerby Herd SNe Wenlelony lelereel sao ouoedcnoscddodeaa dace spuadoaboonoDoUSKGGDS 95 CHAP WE Ry Ve Thomas Bates—His Short-horns and their Breeding—The Duchess Tribe —The Matchem Cow—Mr. Bates’ other Tribes—Colors of the Bates Herds—Sale of Mr. Bates’ Herd, and their English successors— Lord Ducie’s Breeding and SEIES oooccosdodooncd oboe coo dogo MUUgoUS OBOE DO eDUCgoGgauGoEOUS COURS 118 CHAPTER VI. Mr. Bates’ Influence on the Short-horns—Did he Improve them............. 144 CHAPTER VIT. The English Short-horn Breeders contemporary with the Collings and their imme- SERS GICEEERONES Cotdod bocunaooUd od GubddGUU Oo eo deo UnOdGoOOnSuaoOoGaE 148 x TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. The Short-horns in America—The Gough and Miller Importations of the last cen- tury—The Patton Stock—Various other Importations—The Kentucky Impor- tation of 1817—Sundry Importations down to 1830 ......-.eccseecccees 155 CHAPTER Ix. The Later Short-horn Importations into various States by different associations and individuals—Declension of Prices ............cc cece cccccccecce soeaod pLbye) CHAPTER X. Revival of the Short-horns in America—Importations in rapid succession into sey- eral different States by individuals and associations — Canadian Importations— The Short-horns as Milkers— As Flesh-producing Animals — Vitality, Longev- ity, and Fertility—Colors of Short-horn Noses—Bodily Colors .......... 193 CHAPTER XL. Exportations of American Short-horns to England and Scotland—The Style, Figure and Quality which should represent a Perfect Short-horn .......... gan de Cee CHAPTER XII. Pure Short-horns—Herd Books—Pedigrees—The English Herd Book—The Amer- AGAN LEVEE BOOK Aas ee oleans aie lorctersis eaisteteiotohs woe loneiebetersuaretecernreloseis invetsvensiotenees 230 @AHVAVP ae aR exelelas Progress of Short-horns in America—Have they Improved—English and American Herd Book Pedigrees—Notes on Breeding—Thorough-breds—Full-bloods— (COMAMISON ssocodsdcoensdosodooo0 dsb 00D DOUdGODDO06 Sdg00b0b00000000 244 Poke i ob Tis 1, ite ie bi MOV iw tpt) Rp Ceern wy Tg TOs rau bk Aer ree His ays Haat’ “ye roto sfett Nd Sl PMaaiAe Bit Ae Navy ft has uct RoR a , a aan Pak in aaa te as ; CAaBM f } dhit BOs : f \ Pou han) Nie RU Ag HS ries Peano hehe cc a 3 1 Thee estes) ye ale At Inguinal Reh: tae uy et NS A MSV GIST oN Aa i i ’ H Toons va Pie aallag Heath NRTA LAG nies ein ne (is he hata nA Hits Ae ee aes fit f “dT0 SUVAA (98T) ° OL ‘ONITTOD SATAVHO XI CHXT ‘0081 NI CHATVO TIod ASIVG Ad SSHHONE HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. CTPA eis Ra, First PERIOD OF THEIR HISTORY. THE origin of this noble race of cattle is obscure; but, that their lineage is ancient there can be no question. Modern records—say within the last hundred and fifty years, as tradition had already done for several hundred years previous—first recognize them inhabiting the counties of Northumberland, Durham, York, and Lincoln, on the north-eastern coast of England, and the country more immediately in the vicinity of the river Tees—the dividing line between Durham and York—as the locality where the more signal efforts have been made in their cultivation and improvement. Why it is that the histories of nations, states, and peoples, usually so minute in what relates to conquests, government, laws, military and naval achievements, arts, and the general condition of the people, leave out valuable minor items to which the industry of the popula- tion is continuously directed, is difficult to say, other than the histo- rians themselves have had no tastes or sympathies in common with agricultural pursuits; or perhaps the humbler subjects of agricul- tural industry were esteemed of too vulgar and menial a character to attract their notice. In short, domestic animals were below the “dignity of history,” while the dirty intrigues of a lascivious monarch with a high-born wanton, or of a court favorite with an attractive wench of plebeian birth, were exalted subjects of record! From researches through the various authorities in English annals from the time that England had a recognized history at all, we find no mention made of cattle, as distinguished by origin, race, or breed. They are mentioned as domestic animals, simply, furnishing a portion of the food of the people, and articles of traffic, and there all allusion to them ends. We know nothing further whatever of their existence, 14 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS:. use, or varieties than we know of the foxes, hares and badgers, in which the outskirt lands of the nobility abounded. We have labored descriptions and illustrations of the costumes of the people, their amusements, games, tournaments—faithful chronicles of the times, no doubt—but not a word of their domestic animals, save now and then an allusion to the horses of the realm, but of them, even, no definite idea is given of either breed, conformation, or their adaptation to different uses. In view of this dearth of information we have to resort somewhat to conjecture, and that conjecture drawn from collateral testimony, and incidents occasionally cropping out through historical events. Until, therefore, we can strike a vein of information with apparent truth and probability on its side, we must, as best we can, grope through the clouds of tradition mainly for an earlier account of the Short-horns, For some centuries previous to the advent of the Normans under William the Conqueror, and while under Saxon, and probably the anterior Roman rule, the warlike Scandinavians of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, invaded the north-eastern coasts of England, compris- ing the counties which we have named, then called Northumbria, and held them for longer or shorter terms in subjection. The Scandina- vians were skilled in the use of arms, bold navigators, pirates, both on sea and land, raiding upon all the weaker peoples which they could reach, and holding them subsidiary to their own power and purposes. With all these peoples, which, to a greater or less extent, they subjected to their rule, they established trade and commerce, and interchanged commodities, for they were as enterprising and sagacious in trade as they were daring in their conquests and rob- beries. ‘They may not have carried away prisoners from England to their own lands, but more or less of their adventurous men set- tled themselves and made homes among the conquered people, mar- ried their women, and the children became Northumbrians in birth, habits and permanent abode. At the time of the Norman conquest, in the year 1066, the people of Northumbria presented a mixture of ancient Britons, Saxons and Scandinavians, in blood, name and identity of character. Its cli- mate was the most rigorous of the territory lying south of Scotland; its coast looked out on the bleak German ocean; its soil was moist, readily worked, rich in the natural elements of fertility, and emi- nently fitted for pasturage and the production of the better grasses; yet its agriculture, like all the northern English counties of that day, Biko LPERTOD: OF THEIR HISTORY. 15 was ina low condition. Its laborers were inured to the hardest fare, and the rudest of homes. The invading Danes were not better in their own homes than were the subdued Saxons of Northumbria in theirs, and between them both, we may imagine that with the alternate struggles of invasion on one side, and defense or submission on the other, agriculture held but a meager opportunity for improvement. Concurrent with their forays on Northumbria, the Danes extended their raids southward, taking possession for a time of Holstein, Utrecht, and the northerly portion of Holland. These countries they held, as they did north-eastern England, for purposes of plunder, trade and political advantage. As all these outlying provinces enjoyed a milder climate and a more productive soil than their own, the sea and land rovers profited largely in their conquests, and extended their commerce, not only with the peoples whose homes they had usurped, but with distant countries as well. Hence they waxed rich and powerful, as riches and power were then considered. Among the prominent articles of their traffic and interchange between Den- mark and the provinces over which they held their fitful sway, was that of domestic animals, and the chtef of these were neat cattle. In north-western Europe, and all along the coast through Sweden, Denmark, and southwardly through the subjugated countries towards Holland, the cattle were a large, raw-boned race, of which we now know little beyond what the ancient chronicles say of them, and as they have been more lately known, only that they were useful beasts, strong for labor, yielding largely of milk, coarse in flesh, peculiar in color, and short in the horn. Such cattle, or those near akin to them, exist in those countries now. It may well be supposed that the continental cattle were frequently carried across the narrow sea sep- arating England from the land of the Danes and their contiguous southern neighbors, and that they became a permanent stock of the country, as a cognate race existed in the Northumbrian counties, when the first dawnings of agricultural advancement opened upon the landholders and cultivators of that region some centuries after the victorious Norman had firmly established himself on the English throne, and driven the Danes from the possession of its soil. For many years after their invasion and conquest, the Normans encountered much hostility before the stubborn Saxons and Danes (the latter which had settled among them now become incorporated with the others in a common nationality) peacefully submitted to the rigorous yoke which, from the moment he had secured his footing on English ground, the Conqueror had fastened on the necks of the 16 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. ravaged people. Plundered in their homes, despoiled of their lands and chattels, subjected to ignominious servitude, and oftentimes struggling for life itself, the Northumbrian serfs, even when peace- fully submissive to the iron rule of their new masters, could make but little progress in their rude agriculture, or rise to an improved condition of life, labor, or production. To this subjection of the people and their lands to their new law- givers, followed in succession through a long course of years, the foreign wars of the kings and rulers, heavy taxation, military con- scriptions, the petty rivalries of the nobles among themselves, the rebellion of the barons against the despotism of their monarchs, civil wars, religious convulsions, and the almost numberless turmoils incident to a proud, brave, enterprising, warlike, yet ignorant people of divers races, such as England, by the intermarriages and social amalgamation of the higher classes of the Saxon and Norman blood, had now become. For several centuries the common people were little more than barbarians, and their rulers no better than despots. Agricultural progress either languished or barely held its own. The clothing of the peasantry and laborers was partially of the skins of sheep and goats, frequently undressed, or sometimes by a luxurious indulgence, of the coarsest cloth. ‘Their habitations were covered with thatch, without chimneys, or floors, other than of earth or tile. Their beds were of straw or grass; their food of the coarsest of grains, and meat seldom. ‘Their farm stock had little or no shelter beyond what the woods and frequent glens afforded, and of course were subjected to the inclement vicissitudes of the climate. Yet the barons, having monopolized the land, lived in state, indulging in sumptuous feasts and entertainments, although of necessity coarse in their kind, while the clergy and monks, appropriating to themselves the chief learning of the times, nestled in the choicest nooks of the territory, levied their exactions upon the surrounding people, and reared their vast Cathedrals, and spacious, comfortable Monasteries, while consoling them with their religious services and ceremonies. The royal courts, too, were more luxurious than either the barons or clergy, and although great in administration and powerful in arms, were more or less degraded in life and morals. Yet among all these adverse influences, great and bright men in court, and state, and church, arose through the degradation and ignorance around them, and gradually worked the people into better conditions of employment, progress and civilization. His PE RTOD On hiibh tR Sls T OR. 17 The necessities of the great landholders began at last to lead their attention to the improvement of their soils. The country had pro- gressed rapidly in population. The now constituted people of Eng- land, under a progressing nationality, had become a mass of breeding humanity. Human life had long been cheap in the sacrifices which had been made by the governing classes, as well among themselves as their serfs, during the wars, both foreign and civil, and also in the frequent executions at the hands of “justice,” which then took place for even paltry offenses committed against each other by the common people. Yet the teeming workers at home filled these depleting gaps more rapidly than they occurred, and far beyond, furnished new mouths for consuming the products of the soil as well as hands to aid in its development. Along these times an experimenter and writer in agriculture occasionally turned up. “ Zhe Whole Art of Husbandry,” by Barnaby Googe, was published in the year 1558; “Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Husbandry,” in 1562; Sir Hugh Platt’s “Jewell Hlouse of Art and Nature,” in 1594; Fitz-Herbert, Harrison, and some others, about the same time wrote and published limited works on husbandry. In addition to these more humble authors, illustrious minds, like Bacon, Raleigh, and an occasional compger of noble birth or station enlightened the people with progres- sive ideas on soils, their management, and articles of production. The English world still moved. Yet in all their agricultural advancement we hear nothing of improvement in neat cattle, until near the beginning of the eighteenth century, or shortly previous to the year 1720. It is true that great progress had been made in culti- yating the soil; wide stretches of the marshy coast along the shores of Lincoln, Cambridge and other counties, had been dyked in and reclaimed from the sea. Considerable progress in science, in the arts, in trade, and various departments of industry had been devel- oped, but with a strange indifference to the improvement of domestic animals, with the single exception of the horse—as he was indispen- sable in both war. and luxury—little attention so far as public knowl- edge was concerned, had been given to either cattle, sheep or swine, except what was acquired in a few widely separated localities; and even those improvements, wherever they occurred, attracted little or no attention from writers on husbandry, or its interests. Yet we must suppose that intelligent and studious minds had occasionally been at work during the general progress in agricultural advancement, and some attention paid to ameliorating the forms and condition of neat cattle; for it is impossible that the Short-horns, like the fabled 2 18 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Minerva, from the head of Jupiter, should have burst out in the full proportions of shape, color and condition, at the time we first hear of them—about the year 1700—from the coarse, unimproved herds of previous centuries. SECOND PERIOD OF THE SHORT-HORNS. In the preceding rambling, desultory, and (as some of our readers may pronounce) irrelevant remarks, have been narrated the reasons why, if any progress had been made in the improvement of the neat cattle of England through past centuries down to nearly the year 1700, we have no certain evidences of the fact recorded until a comparatively recent date. We think the causes enumerated have been sufficient to explain. For the improvement which had taken place, tradition (uncertain, to be sure, when unaccompanied with sus- taining probabilities) has done something to inform us, and recorded observation since, has done much more. zal i Nh Lis alii lu ij ) e SE ui i ill le | t iy . YF \ NWA ip SSS! IY Li \\ \\ ea SN AWG WHI AN \\ WW aan Td \ NATH s Sl ih SANS SALT S it liven Z i! ni ey) i Viiit 7) Win ch (oe TM yi ss NY aN jv The Cathedral was finished about the year 1300, when the original design was probably sculptured and set. The figures, it iS Mh hi i My ial | ‘s h il i! IM il it h LIS he ALL | will be observed, are altogether disproportioned, the maids being too high and the cow too low in stature. of the cow have been mutilated, a part of the tail and two of the teats broken off. It will also be seen that parts 22 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. “ Tn regard to the curious old monkish legend, of finding a peace- ful rest here at last for the bones of St. Cuthbert, the patron Saint of Durham Cathedral, it is of such length, and so variously told, that it would exhaust your patience to follow it up in all its twistings and turnings. I will therefore give you the substance of it, condensed from what I am informed is the most reliable account : “ Know, then, that the mighty St. Cuthbert, famed for royal de- scent, and many and great virtues, died so long ago as the 2oth of the calend of March, Anno Domini, 687, and was buried in Holy Island, a meet place indeed for so worthy and sanctified a man. Here his body rested in peace for the space of two centuries, when Bishop Eardulphus, and the Abbot Eadred, fearing that it would be disturbed in the terrible devastations which the Danes and other ruthless pagans began to commit in the neighborhood, exhumed the remains, and carried them, for re-interment, to Cuneagestre, sit- uated a few miles from Dunholme, (now Durham,) where they remained one hundred and thirteen years, till the dreadful pagan war had nearly ended. Bishop Aldwinus then removed the holy body of St. Cuthbert to Ripon, in Yorkshire, to lay it by the side of another famous holy body, namely, that of St. Winfred, who was buried in the renowned Cathedral of that place. But after four months from this time, the Danish forays having entirely ceased, it was determined to carry St. Cuthbert back to Cuneagestre, and re-inter him where he had remained so peacefully before for upwards of a century. In bearing him thither, all at once, at a place called Wardenlawe, Bishop Aldwinus and his monks were stayed in their progress, and with all their force could not remove the body any farther, for it seemed fas- tened to the ground. At this strange and unforeseen accident, they were greatly astonished, and their hearts deeply exercised; where- upon they fasted and prayed three whole days with great devotion, to know by revelation from God, what to do with the holy body. At the end of this time it was revealed to Eadmer, one of the most virtuous of the monkish brotherhood, that St. Cuthbert should be carried to Dunholme, where he was to be received as his final resting place. But now came the great difficulty, for not one of the monks knew where Dunholme lay. Yet trusting to Providence to indicate it to them in some way, they took up the body again, and with con- fiding hearts proceeded on their journey. Presently they overheard a woman calling to another whom she met, that her cow had strayed away and was lost, and asked if she had seen her. ‘Yes,’ was the reply, ‘just beyond, in Dunholme.’ This was a happy and heavenly WHEN THE IMPROVEMENT BEGAN. 23 sound to the distressed Bishop Aldwinus and his brethren, who thereby had intelligence that their journey’s end was at hand. Being guided thither by these women, they at once constructed a little church of wands and branches, wherein to lay their Saint till a larger and more solid building could be raised to enshrine him. This was soon done by the erection of a Cathedral of moderate size, which in the year 1093 was taken down, and the corner-stone of the present magnificent Durham Cathedral was then laid. After being finished, in gratitude to the milkmaids and cow, by whose means the final rest- ing place for the holy body of St. Cuthbert had been found, their statues were placed in a conspicuous niche of the north-east tower, where it is to be hoped they will be allowed to remain as long as this mighty fane shall stand, whose foundations, in accordance with the instructions to us of scripture, have been laid upon a rock. ” It is unnecessary to say more of the early establishment of the ancestors of the present Short-horn race in the north-eastern counties (Northumbria) of England, for some centuries occupied by the Danes before the conquest. WHEN BEGAN THE IMPROVEMENT IN SHORT-HORNS. It has been asserted by some English cattle writers that it was early after the year 1700 that the improvement of their cattle was begun by the breeders, and that such improvement was aided by the importation of a bull or bulls from Holland. This assertion, how- ever, is merely a conjecture. No official record of the introduction of any such bull or bulls has been found; and as no evidence of any such occurrence being even probable has been authentically recorded by revenue officials along the eastern coast of England in the counties where such importation would have been made, if at all, in a search extending near a century back of 1750, the conjecture or supposition of the introduction of the Dutch bulls may be not only doubted, but denied.* Indeed, no fostt’ve instance of any such im- portation is asserted by the cattle historians of that day, and the evidence of such being the fact was only hearsay. Aside from this negative testimony to the contrary, a statute of Parliament enacted in the eighteenth year of Charles II. (1666), positively forbade the importation of cattle from abroad into England, and that statute was strictly enforced until the year 18o1, a time fifty years or more sub- sequent to the pretended importation of any bulls or cows from Holland. We might, from documents now before us, go into a * “ Vouatt’s Cattle ’’—American Edition—Article Short-horns. 24. HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. labored statement of the fro and con assertions relating to such im- portations; but as nothing positive, beyond tradition, conjecture, hearsay, or supposition has been advanced to establish the fact of such importation, and the act of Parliament and the Custom records positively deny it, further remark is unnecessary. To account for so many Short-horns being white in color, some of the cattle writers have asserted that this feature came from the wild white cattle in the parks of Chillingham in Northumberland, and Craven in Yorkshire, which had, almost from time immemorial, run in enclosures there, wild and untamable, as buffaloes. Aside from a likeness in color, these wild cattle had hardly a feature in common with the Short-horns. ‘They were high-horned, black-nosed, light of body, long of limb, altogether opposite to the others. ‘The supposi- tion that the zw/zte color in the Short-horns was derived from the wild race is but pretension. On the contrary, there were, and still are, white cattle in Denmark. It is, and has ever been, a legitimate color in the Short-horn race. Another fact may be asserted, even admitting that either the Dutch or the wild blood had been crossed into the original Danish blood, the period at which it took place was so long anterior to the time of the writers who claimed it, that even then scarcely a hundredth part of those bloods could be traced into the good Short-horn cattle of their day, and so infinitesimally small could it be now, that fractions can hardly compute it. Thus, the claim of the Dutch blood, and the origin of the white color of the wild cattle in the Short-horns, by these writers, may be dismissed as apocryphal. So late as the year 1780, more than ninety years ago, as related on good authority, a tradition was then current among the cattle breeders of Durham and York- shire, that for two hundred years previous, running back to 1580, there had existed a race of superior Short-horns on the Yorkshire estates of the Earls and Dukes of Northumberland,* one of the most ancient families among the nobles of England. Their family name was Percy, and the Barony of Percy was founded in the year 1299. The family through its successive Barons, Earls and Dukes, was rich, powerful, and influential. Located near the Scottish bor- der, and subjected to the wild raids of the northern clansmen, they * Mr. A, B, Allen, in the year 1841, soon after his return from England, where he had spent some weeks in the Short-horn districts, informed us that in Durham an ancient record remains, showing that these cattle, in great excellence, existed four hundred years ago, say in 1440; but what the standard of excellence in that remote day was, is now difficult to know. WHEN THE IMPROVEMENT BEGAN. 25 were brave by instinct, warlike by necessity, enterprising by educa- tion, rich by inheritance. Their estates were vast, and to their ear- lier grants from the Crown, they added largely both by purchase and marriage. They had the means to apply the agricultural improvements of the generations through which they had passed, and no doubt many of the heads of the family had the sagacity to adopt them. Among those improvements none were more probable, as theirs was eminently a grazing country, than that their attention had been turned to their neat cattle. In the earlier part of the eighteenth century the title of Earl of Northumberland became extinct by the death of the last male heir of the Percy family.. The “proud Duke of Somerset,” as history records him, had married the daughter then representing the Northumberland title and estates.* The issue of the marriage was only a daughter, and she a Percy on the side of her mother. This daughter married Sir Hugh Smithson, and having children, Sir Hugh, in the year 1766, was raised to the peerage, with the title of Duke of Northumberland. “So fond was he of his Short-horns that his peers quizzingly dubbed him ‘the Yorkshire grazier.’ He was in the habit of weighing his cattle, and the food they ate, so as to ascertain the improvement they made for the food consumed.” Sir Hugh’s active life was about midway and later in the years of the eighteenth century. A hundred years earlier than the time of Sir Hugh, there existed fine stocks of Short-horn cattle in Durham and Yorkshire. “The Aislabies, residents of Studley Park, had very fine cattle in the seven- teenth century.t The Blacketts, of Newby Hall, in Northumberland, * An anecdote is thus related of the ‘“‘proud Duke”: His Percy wife dying early, he was again married to a lady of less rank in the peerage. The Duke being one day closely engaged in his room, looking over some important papers, his wife stepped softly up behind and tapped him familiarly on the shoulder. He suddenly turned around and with a severe expression exclaimed, ““ Madam, your familiarity is altogether inopportune. Recollect that my 77st wife was a Percy !” + In a letter to us from our brother, the late Richard L. Allen, of New York, (a warm admirer of Short-horn cattle,) when in Yorkshire, Eng., August, 1869, he writes of a visit to Studley: ‘“T spent a few hours at Studley Park, attracted thither by the ruins of Fountain’s Abbey. Its graceful, undulating and massive old trees ; one section of long, natural and now decaying oaks, of great circumference, and low but wide-spreading tops; another of immense beeches, which are of a different species from ours, tall and very wide-spread, and with drooping branches, which sometimes lie on the ground, fifty feet distant from the trunk; and then a stately chestnut in full bloom; double rows of the lime and elm, almost as fine as the beeches, and many firs of stalwart size, give to the park a great attraction. * * * * * * * ““T asked the guide if there was any herdsman who could tell me about the cattle, and he said there was none. I presume the interest in the Short-horns on the estate died with Mr. Aislabie. His father was originally a private country gentleman, who became Lord Chancellor, and inher- ited the estate from the Mallorys, who owned it through several generations, his mother being the last heir. His son, William, who was in Parliament sixty years, was the great improver of 26 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. paid great attention to Short-horn cattle at the same time with the Aislabies. Portraits of these animals were occasionally taken and hung up to adorn the entrance of the hall; but when the noble resi- dence passed out of their hands those pictures were sold. We should hope that they yet exist in some old curiosity shop, and if so, and can be found, we shall then have a definite idea of what ove family of ancient Short-horns were.” * There can be no question, as our following narrative will show, that many valuable Short-horns, descended from and largely im- proved in appearance and quality over the ancient race, then existed in those counties, and were distributed in the hands of many differ- ent breeders. ‘To what degrees of excellence they had then attained we do not know, nor do we know but a portion of the names of those several breeders; but at a later day, when their cattle had assumed a consequence and celebrity sufficient to attract the attention of agricultural writers a hundred years ago, they were chronicled in the books and agricultural surveys of their neighborhoods as of extraordinary value, and remarkable specimens of their race. The cows were described as large milkers, and the bullocks as attaining a great weight of carcass, and extraordinary productions of tallow. Aside from the herds on the Yorkshire, Durham and Northumber- land estates, we have a few names, of the then conspicuous Short-horn breeders in the earlier part, or before the middle of the eighteenth century, (1750.) Among them are Mr. Milbank, of Barningham, Sir William St. Quintin, of Scampston, Sir James Pennyman, of York- shire, and others of less noble rank, showing that the attention of some of the most respectable landholders was alive to the improve- ment of their cattle. It is recorded that Mr. Milbank bred and fed a five year old ox which, when slaughtered, the four quarters weighed 2104 pounds, the tallow 224 pounds, and the hide 151 pounds. Also, the grounds and estate, and I presume was the one who did so much for the Short-horns. On his death the property went to his co-heir and relative, Mrs. Allanson, and on her death, in 1803, to her niece, Mrs. Lawrence, and on her death, in 1854, to the present Earl De Grey, now a mem- ber of Gladstone’s Cabinet, who, although a man of mark in his way, I suspect cares very little for country life or the improvement of his estate, as he resides on it but seldom, and his neighbors have little to say of him in this respect, as they had of the Aislabies and their lady successors.” The above mentioned Earl De Grey was one of the late ‘t Joint High Commission,’”’ who nego- tiated the treaty between the United States and England at Washington, in the year 1871. It is to be regretted that the descendants of the once noble Short-horns which ranged over that lordly domain, should not still occupy the ground of their progenitors, which they long ago graced in their picturesque colors and comely proportions. A poetic charm still hangs about the atmos- phere of Studley, coupled with the once aristocratic presence of its Short-horns.—L. F. A. * A, B, Allen, in American Agriculturist, A. D, 1841. PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT. 27 a cow from Mr. Milbank’s stock, afterwards belonging to Mr. Sharter, of Chilton, which, when slaughtered, at twelve years old, having pro- duced several calves, her quarters weighed 1540 pounds. She was daughter to the celebrated “Studley bull” (626), he being calved in the year 1737. This brings us forward to a period at which some intelligent ink- ling is had of the existence of Short-horn cattle in the hands of known breeders, and of an excellence in style, weight and quality commanding the attention of agricultural historians, and at about what date the £vzowm ancestors of our later Short-horn tribes, or fam- ilies can, with a considerable degree of certainty, trace their lineage. It is possible that some errors, both of fact and inference, may have crept into the various accounts in those early days of Short-horn breeding; but we have sufficient evidence of the antiquity of the race, and the lines in which they had descended, down to the year 1750. Soon after that time records began to be kept of their lineage, as purity of blood was considered of vital consequence. The colors of the cattle in those days were red, of different shades, red and white, pure white, frequently white on the body with roan necks and heads, and roan of red and white intermixed over the body, or in patches, with either more of the white or of the red pre- vailing, as now. What was their exact quality, style or symmetry, as compared with the choice Short-horns of the present time, it is diffi- cult to say, as we have no accurate portraits of them; but that they combined the main points of excellence belonging to the race as now recognized, and in which still higher improvements over them have been made in the cattle of later years, we can have little doubt. Thus, we have seen the Short-horns from the ancient race existing in Northumbria anterior to its conquest by Wiliam of Normandy— otherwise the Conqueror—within a few years after his landing at Hastings in the year 1066, brought down through a series of seven hundred years, steadily improving, with the progress of the English people in their agricultural advancement into a condition of excel- lence then unequaled, probably, by any contemporary race of cattle in the British islands or the neighboring continent, and that excellence attained through their own blood alone, uncontaminated by any foreign element, or if occasionally so, to such small degree as to be unrecognized in the predominating merits of the original race. 28 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. @ PiAGE i Eel THE EARLY BREEDERS—DATES AND NAMES OF NOTED ANIMALS. ARRIVING at a point of time about the year 1750, or a little later, we find the Short-horns a recognized breed, and that great pains had been taken with their cultivation by intelligent landholders, as well as a dissemination of their blood into the hands of enterprising tenant farmers. Such we learn from the records of agricultural writers through the later years of the last century, and the earlier ones of the present. We now proceed to a broader field of operation, and a more intimate discussion of their merits in the possession of breed- ers, by zame, as well as of noted animals, then individually known and recorded. The field of operation is still the ancient Northumbria, the most active movements are within the counties of York and Durham, in and about the valley of the Tees. From the years 1730 to 1780, many eminent breeders are named, and among them, besides those already mentioned, are Sharter, Pickering, Stephenson, Wetherell, Maynard, Dobison, Charge, Wright, Hutchinson, Robson, Snowdon, Waistell, Richard and William Barker, Brown, Hall, Hill, Best, Wat- son, Baker, Thompson, Jackson, Smith, Jolly, Masterman, Wallace, Robertson, and some others. ‘These names we find as breeders of the earliest cattle whose names and pedigrees are recorded in the first volume of the English Herd Book. It may be well to know that as this Herd Book was not published until the year 1822, (some thirty to forty years after many of the names we have mentioned had left the stage of active life,) tradition, and the memory of men then living, as well as written records of their predecessors, were the authorities on which the lineage of the earlier animals were admitted to its pages. Confining the present relation to a period anterior to the year 1780, the earliest named animal on record is “Studley bull” (626), “red and white, bred by Mr. Sharter, of Chilton.” This is all the Herd Book says of him. He was calved in 1737, and of the Barningham STEDLEY BULL: 29 (Milbank) stock, which came from Studley, in Yorkshire, where they had existed for many years. He is described, by one who often saw him, as having possessed wonderful girth, and depth of fore quarters, very short legs, a neat frame, and light offal. He was the grandsire of Dalton Duke (188). This latter bull was bred by Mr. Charge, and sold by him at the then high price of fifty guineas, to Messrs. May- nard and Wetherell, in whose possession he served cows at half a guinea each. From Studley bull came “ Lakeland’s bull,” which was the sire of William Barker’s bull (51), which was the sire of Richard Barker’s bull (52), both noted as the sires of many of the best early Short-horns of their day. Studley bull was also sire of the cow Tripes, bred by Mr. Pickering. The dam of Tripes was bred by Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton, in the year 1739. From her originated Mr. S.’s Princess tribe. It may be noted here that in the earlier recorded pedigrees—notes or memoranda, rather—only one or two crosses are given, with the name of the sire only, and but rarely the name of a dam given at all. In many other instances the name only of the recorded bull is given, without any allusion to breeder, owner, sire or dam; simply recog- nizing him as a Short-horn, from which other recorded animals are descended. To “Studley bull” can be traced a larger number of the early recorded Short-horns than to any other one of which we have a par- ticular knowledge. His blood was well known, and popular, and being of the Milbank stock, was probably as pure in descent as any then in existence. He may be termed one of the principal progen- itors of the Short-horn race, as they stand recorded in the Herd Book from its first volume down to the present, although not the only one, as numerous others, no doubt, existed contemporary with him, sires to many noted tribes of a later day. We speak of him only as more is known of him than of them, he having a Herd Book record, and they not. Another noted bull may be named into whose blood probably more of the later pedigrees can be traced to, and ending in him, than to any other, viz.: James Brown’s red bull (97). The date of his birth is not recorded, but it was probably between 1765 and 1770. He was bred by John Thompson, of Girlington Hall, and got by William Barker’s bull (51), which is all the Herd Book says of him. On the side of his sire, he was a great grandson of Studley bull. His dam is not named, and we have no record of his blood on her side. Indeed, there seems to have been but little care taken in those days 30 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. to give the names of dams if they had names at all. We are to pre- sume, however, that they were pure Short-horns, as there is no prob- ability of bulls being recorded by the discriminating breeders of the time unless their lineage, as well as forms, was of the best standard; therefore the purity of their blood may remain unquestioned. From all the accounts we have been able to gather, the cows of that day were good milkers, and capable, when retired from breeding, and the dairy, of yielding heavy carcasses of beef. These qualities were, of course, imparted to their descendants, and perpetuated as we find many of them at the present day. We note many bulls in the first volume of the English Herd Book that lived anterior to the year 1780, but aside from their names and that of a sire, and sometimes a grandsire, little or nothing seems to have been recorded of their ancestry, and nothing beyond can now be known of them. Among these, in addition to those already named, are Alcock’s (Ralph) bull (19), Allison’s gray bull (26), Bartle (63), J. Brown’s white bull (98), Dalton Duke (188), Danby (190), Davison’s bull (192), Dobson’s bull (218), Harrison’s bull (292) [his record only says, “bred by Mr. Waistell;” the late Mr. Thomas Bates, in a private note to the record of Harrison’s bull, states that he was got by Studley bull (626), dam Mr. Waistell’s cow Barforth], Hill’s red bull (310), Hollon’s bull (313), Hubback (319) [of which more hereafter], Jolly’s bull (337) [nothing but his name is recorded], Kitt (357) [nothing but his name is recorded], Ladykirk (355), Manfield (404), Masterman’s bull (422) [got by Studley bull], Pad- dock’s bull (477), Robson’s (William) bull (538), Signior (588), Sir James Pennyman’s bull (601), Smith’s (Jacob) bull (608), Smith’s (T.) bull (609), Snowdon’s bull (612) [sire of Hubback (319)], Studley White bull (627) [got by Studley bull (626)], Waistell’s bull (669) [the same as Robson’s bull (558)], Walker’s bull (670) [the same as Masterman’s bull (422)]. The above named, of the 710 recorded bulls in Vol. 1, E. H. B., are all, probably, as near as can be ascertained (of record), that lived previous to, or about the year 1780, and a few years afterwards, and probably a great majority of the pedigrees of the present time, if their lineage could be traced, might run back into the blood of one, or the other, or several of them. Of the cows, contemporary with the bulls we have named, few, if any, are recorded in either the first, or subsequent volumes. We can, therefore, only infer that the cows were equally as well and carefully bred as the bulls. Cattle fairs, (not sows, as'our modern DWE COLEING BROTHERS. 31 exhibitions are improperly called fazrs,) where beasts were taken to market for sale, were then common in England, as now, and prob- ably many well-bred cows and heifers were brought there by their breeders, and owners, and the breeders of choice cattle bought them, when their blood and quality were considered worthy of such use, and bred to their choice bulls. From such market cows descended the more immediate ancestors of many celebrated Short-horns since. It is no disparagement to those nameless cows that such is the fact, as very few pedigrees can now be traced by zame, on the female side, beyond the year 1780, and but comparatively few, among a great majority of them, beyond the year 1800. To show what was the general character of the Short-horns of the time above written, we quote Bailey, who made an agricultural sur- vey of Durham, and wrote in the year 1810: “The cattle on both sides of the Tees have been known by the appellation of the Tees- water breed. About 1740, their color was red and white, and white, with a little red about the neck, or roan.” In “Thornton’s Circular,” of January, 1869, published in London, in an account of “ Ancient Short-horns,” the writer remarks: “Mr. John Wright, born at Low- fields, near Catterick, in 1784, a well-known judge, and who was originally proposed as the author of the Herd Book, says, that his earliest recollections of the Short-horns were large, massive, expan- sive cows, with great width and substance, hardy constitutions, mostly red and white spotted, white bodies, necks spotted with red or roan, ears red and head white, frequently black noses, and rather long, waxy horns.” Although these recollections may run down near or quite to the year 1800, it is probable that they give the features generally prevailing among the Short-horns of the time. Although we might give further accounts from different sources— meager, however, at the best—of the Short-horns as they existed anterior to, or about the period of 1780, it is hardly worth while to cumber our pages with simply collateral testimony, (for that is all there would be of it,) and we proceed to a new era in. their history, from which we are able to gather decided particulars of fact, irre- spective of tradition, or common rumor. THE SHORT-HORNS AT AND AFTER THE YEAR 1780—ROBERT AND CHARLES COLLING. The reason why, in our previous remarks, we have made, and now again make, a point of the year 1780, or thereabouts, is, that near that period an era commenced by the action of a new class of men, 32 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. or rather by a more intelligent appreciation of the value of Short- horns by those interested in their propagation. This change of sentiment and action was partially introduced by two young men, brothers, just beginning active business life on their own account, Robert and Charles Colling. They were sons of a substantial farmer living in the valley of the Tees, who had many years been a Short-horn cattle breeder. He brought up his sons in his own pursuit, and no doubt aided them with an outfit, for it appears that they were each enabled to occupy a good farm in the year 1783, not a far distance apart, stock it with the necessary appli- ances, and commence in a spirited way the breeding of Short-horns. That they were intelligent, sagacious, enterprising, there can be little doubt, as their subsequent career was altogether successful. In writing what follows, and saying much of the operations of the Colling brothers, it is not that we feel any partiality for them over other breeders of their time, but because more historical matter has been given relating to them and their proceedings than of other breeders contemporary with them, and further, that their course of breeding has been more freely commented upon during and since the time they were on the stage of action. It has been asserted that they were the chief and real zmprovers of the Short-horn race, and to them has been ascribed the great merit and glory of raising them from an obscure breed in a narrow locality, into the peerless excel- lence and popularity they have since enjoyed wherever they have obtained a foothold, and proved successful in their breeding. We say such has been asserted—sometimes by those who know nothing about it, other than by information through partial publications of incidents in the Collings’ career, and sometimes by others who had a particular partiality for them through the stock descended from their herds; and the assertion has been as strongly denied by others. This question of their improvement of the Short-horns will be dis- cussed hereafter. We propose to state all the facts which have come within our knowledge relating to the Collings in their course of cattle breeding, and the results which have followed it. From such facts the reader may draw his own conclusions of their correctness, or otherwise. The results determined by the extended practice in breeding by the Collings have been too long discussed, both in England and the United States, by those who have considered themselves masters in the studies of natural history and physiology, to set up our own judg- ment in decision, either one way or the other. We have opinions, THE COLLING BROTHERS. 33 however, and may give them at a proper time as different subjects of discussion may arise, but knowing that different opinions may be as honestly held, and as freely discussed as our own, we do not choose to bias the judgment of others, or rule their conclusions. We aim to write /zstory, and nothing else, in what relates to Short-horn progress and improvement. Robert Colling, the elder brother, settled on a farm at Barmpton, and Charles, the younger, on another farm at Ketton, which latter one had been for many previous years occupied by their father, within a short distance of the Tees, and but a short way apart from each other, in the neighborhood of Darlington. Practical farming among the higher classes of nobility had become respectable. His Majesty, the third George, the first of the Guelph dynasty born in England, had become much interested in the cultivation of his royal acres at Windsor. He was a stock breeder too, as well asafarmer. Although intractable and pertinacious, as were his Guelph progenitors, in affairs of state, he was a sober prince, fond of country life, and a lover of fine farm stock. Placable in domestic life, with his cousin-German Queen, quite as domestic as himself, and their large family of chil- dren, he spent much of his time at the palace of Windsor, supervising and directing his farm. In his various attentions to stock breeding His Majesty had made the acquaintance of the celebrated Robert Bakewell, a stock raiser and farmer in Leicestershire, who had acquired a wide reputation in breeding up the “Long-horned” cattle of his district into an excellence of quality hitherto unknown. Bakewell had also given a new variety of Jong-wooled sheep to the kingdom, by a careful course of breeding from the rather scraggy-bodied, long- wools then prevalent in his vicinity. To such excellence and popu- larity had he raised these sheep that they afterwards assumed the several names of New Leicester, Dishley, (the name of his farm,) and Bakewell, as those who purchased from him and bred them chose to call the zmproved variety. Bakewell was born in the year 1726, and died in 1795. He had pursued his vocation as a breeder long and successfully, became wealthy, was a man of large hospitality—for a farmer of those days— received many visits from noblemen of rank, who sought his advice in improving their farm stock, and among others George the Third had made him visits on the same errand, consulting him freely, and buying of his stock. Bakewell’s system of breeding was his own, widely different from the usual practice of the English stock breeders of his day, and with him entirely original, as then considered. He 3 34 HISDORY OF LH E SHOR T-1OR NS: was a good animal physiologist. He cut up and dissected various carcasses of his sheep and cattle, examined their flesh, bones and sinews, put them in pickle, and afterwards hung them up in his lab- oratory for further observation. He was a profound master of his business, and perhaps the originator of a new system of breeding by which, in his own hands, his success was triumphantly acknowledged over any other stock breeder of his time. It is probable that to his efforts and example England at this day owes her unrivaled breed of long-wooled sheep. His selection of the breed of cattle on which to exercise his skill was not so happy. Although of an ancient race, they were not generally popular with the farmers in and beyond the counties immediately surrounding Leicestershire; yet he raised them to a capacity for acquiring flesh never before equaled. Although now existing, and of excellent quality in limited herds—perhaps quite equal to those which Bakewell improved—the Long-horns have not attained wide popularity as a race. Bakewell also bred the common cart or dray horse of England into enormous size and symmetry, which they hold to the present time; and all by one persistent course of breeding, good food, and watchful care. His system with all these animals was, first to select, wherever he could find them, and of the best blood, those as near a proper form for the purposes he needed as was possible, and then by breeding them to their own family blood alone, only going out of it for other selections when he could find a better, which was seldom, until he brought them to the points of excellence in form and quality that he wanted. This was “in-and-in breeding;” and although not concurred in by the common sentiment of humanity, so far as its own race is concerned, Bakewell and others who have since followed his example most closely, have decided, indeed proved, that wnder proper selections of the animals so paired together, the practice has resulted in the highest success. Such was Bakewell’s practice. He may be said to have zutroduced the modern system of zmproved stock breed- ing—whatever may have been known to the ancients, and since lost— and as such improver, his name will go down to posterity with grati- tude and honor. The young Collings were sagacious men, Charles the more active and enterprising, although Robert was equally sound in judgment as a breeder; and they were admirably fitted to work in unison so far as their views in breeding were concerned. Forecasting, as well as thoughtful in laying their plans for future action, they had heard of Bakewell and his improvements—for he had been at work thirty THE COLLING BROTHERS. 35 years before the Collings began—his fame was abroad through the chief stock-breeding counties of England, and had long before reached the precincts of the Tees. At the outset of the brothers’ career in breeding, they paid Bakewell repeated visits, closely exam- ined his stock, saw the improvements he had made in them over the faulty originals from which he had reared them, and took many shrewd lessons in his manner of proceeding. They bought improved sheep of him, divided them with each other, and followed his prac- tice in breeding them. ‘The system adopted by Bakewell the Collings determined to pursue with their Short-horns, which they had now selected for their own breeding. About the year 1780—perhaps a year or two earlier, or later, for we have not the exact date of their beginning—the Collings became stock breeders before settling at Barmpton and Ketton. “The best specimens of Short-horns of that time, generally, were wide-backed, well-framed cows, deep in their fore quarters, soft and mellow in their hair and ‘handling,’ and possessing, with average milking qual- ities, a remarkable disposition to fatten. ‘Their horns were rather longer than those of their descendants of the present day, and widen- ing upwards. The faults were those of an undue prominence of the hip and shoulder joints, a want of length in the hind quarters, of width in the floor of the chest, of fullness generally before and behind the shoulders, as well as upon the shoulder itself. They had a somewhat disproportionate abdomen [large bellies], too long in the legs, and a want of substance, indicative of delicacy in the hide. They failed also in the essential requisite of taking on their flesh evenly and firmly over the whole frame, which frequently gave them an unlevel appearance. There was, moreover, a general want of compactness in their conformation.”* Of such material, mainly— although some of the Tees breeders had cattle with more of the good qualities, and less faulty than others—the Collings found the Teeswater, or Short-horn cattle, when they began their course as breeders. It is evident that the animals needed improvement, and that of a radical kind. We have already recited the weights of some of the cattle anterior to the Collings. From them we know that they could be fed to an extraordinary weight, whatever the precisé quality of their flesh might prove, or the amount of offal they threw off. Culley, after many years earlier Short-horn experience and observation, writing * Mr. Carr, of Stackhouse, in his history of the Booth Short-horns. 36 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. in the year 1803, says: “The great obstacle to improvement was that no bull should be used to the same stock more than three years; if kept longer the breed would be too near akin, and produce tender, diminutive stock, liable to disorders.” Bakewell, however, had upset all this nonsense by persistently breeding in-and-in his own cattle and sheep through all possible degrees of consanguinity, and the Collings adopting his theory at the outset, determined to put Bakewell’s course into practice. Here, then, were the two young breeders—Robert about the age of thirty, living a bachelor, and Charles a year or two younger, and married—settled in their vocation in the very home of the Short- horns, surrounded by a wide neighborhood of veteran breeders, life- long engaged in the business, in which their capital, pride and ambition were all enlisted. From the herds of those breeders the Collings ‘could select at pleasure, without a heavy drainage on their purses, for prices in fine cattle had not yet taken a fancy altitude in that locality. The depression of agricultural values then caused by the late French and American wars had reduced them to their minimum. A pleas- ant time the young men must have had in ranging over the country, examining the herds and selecting their stock, with ample means in their pockets to command the best of them, and embark in a business so full of interest, expectation and profit. Educated to the pursuit by a shrewd, managing father, though possessing the same notions in breeding as were held by his neighbors, the sons had the sagacity to believe that improvement was within their reach, and their visits to Bakewell had confirmed it. What were the earliest purchases they made, who from, or the names of the cattle, history has given no record. Robert and Charles were at first in partnership, but separated when going to their separate farms at Barmpton and Ketton, which took place some time about the year 1783. Still, they bred more or less in conjunction, frequently using the same bulls, alternating as they either chose, or agreed, but each having his own cows, and they drawn from the different herds around them. HUBBACK. Having early begun their course of breeding by obtaining several good cows, we now introduce another distinguished animal into the Colling herds, whose blood, coursing through the descendants of those cows and others in their hands, constituted an era in the Short- horn breeding of that day. This was no less than the famous bull HUBBACK. 37 Huppack, in the hands of Mr. Waistell, of Ali-hill, and Robert Col- ling, about whose history there has been more controversy, guess- work, inference, and error, probably, than in that of any early Short-horn bull whatever; and for a part of this error the world is indebted to the Rev. Henry Berry, who wrote the brief Short-horn history in Youatt’s “British Cattle,” in the year 1834, and, as we think, from interested motives of his own, being a Short-horn breeder himself, and having an object in prejudicing the public against the purity of Hubback’s blood. Of Mr. Berry and his history, more will be said hereafter. We haye investigated the subject of Hubback exhaustively, looked through all the authorities and controversies relating to him, which it would be tiresome and unprofitable to repeat at length, besides lead- ing the reader into a labyrinth of statements and counter-statements, out of which he might not arrive, after all, at a very accurate con- clusion.* His pedigree in Vol. 1, E. H. B., is here given: “(319.) Husspack.—Yellow red and white, calved in 1777, bred by Mr. John Hunter of Hurworth, got by Snowdon’s bull (612), dam from the stock of Sir James Pennyman, and these from the stock of Sir William St. Quintin, of Scampston.” This is all there is of the pedigree proper, although appended to it are references to the pedigree of Snowdon’s bull through his differ- ent sires. That Snowdon’s bull may be understood, his pedigree (all there is of it) is recorded in E. H. B., Vol. 1, as follows: “(612.) Snowdon’s bull (cite of Hubback), got by Wm. Robson’s bull (558).” All the pedigree which Robson’s bull has is, “got by James Mas- terman’s bull (422),” and all that is said of Masterman’s bull is, “ got by Studley bull (626).” Accompanying the pedigree of Hubback is also a certificate, as follows: “T remember the cow which my father bred, that was the dam of Hubback; there was no idea then that she had any mixed or Kyloe blood in her. Much has been lately said, that she was descended from a Kyloe; but I have no reason to believe, nor do I believe, that she had any Kyloe blood in her. Joun HUNTER. HuRWoRTH, NEAR DARLINGTON, Fetly 6, 1822.” * For a full and exhaustive discussion of the question see ‘‘ Youatt’s Cattle,’’? American Edi- tion; also its account of Hubback, by the American Editor, extracted and printed in Vol. 2, American Short-horn Herd Book. 38 HISTORY O87 Dib SiH O REO RINS: This certificate was made by the son of Hubback’s breeder, forty- five years after the bull’s birth, and at the time he was recorded in the Herd Book. Mr. Hunter’s recollection of the charge of Kyloe* blood in the cow was probably quite distinct. He had undoubtedly heard it talked over at the time when the bull’s merits were ascer- tained and discussed, and from the very accurate description we have of the cow, there is little probability that she was any other than a pure Short-horn. At all events, the conceded merits attached to the bull as a getter of superior stock, in none of which do we find a cropping out of any other than Short-horn blood, (which would occa- sionally have been the case had he much of the Kyloe in him,) we may safely conclude that Hubback was as pure in blood as any other Short-horn of his time. On the sire’s side of Hubback all appears fair, and only on the side of his dam were circulated, by some parties, a suspicion of Kyloe, or Scotch blood in his veins, which seems to be fully set at rest by the certificate of Mr. Hunter. A like innuendo was circulated by others, that Dutch blood had crept into Hubback by the rumor (without anything like froof, however), that Sir William St. Quintin had, many years before, imported a bull or bulls, from Holland, and crossed them into his cows to improve their quality, and which blood had gone by descent into the stock of Sir James Pennyman. But, as in a previous page has been conclusively shown, we think, that no such Dutch importations had been made, these innuendoes, surmises and charges, all fall to the ground. The history of the cow—Hubback’s dam—is simply this: She was bred by Mr. Stephenson, who had lived at Ketton before Charles Colling’s day, and the ancestors of the cow had been in Mr. Stephen- son’s possession for more than forty years, as he had long been a Short-horn breeder of the Pennyman and Studley stock. She was a small cow, of remarkably smooth and even qualities, and an excel- lent feeder. She had fine hair, a bright look, was a good milker, as were all the cows of her tribe, and no doubt imparted much of her good quality to her son, Hubback. How so much controversy could exist about her being of Ay/oe descent, and thus damaging the integrity of Hubback—for it was only on fer side that his blood could be assailed—-is only to be accounted for in the jealousies and party spirit which was rife among the breeders of the time. The very fact, admitted by all authorities, that Hubback’s begettings were * The Kyloes are the ‘‘ West Highland”’ cattle of Scotland.—L. F. A. HUBBACK. 39 of superior quality—although from poor cows they were inferior to those of good ones—should be conclusive proof of his good descent, for if he had bad blood in him, it would, to a certainty, crop out in some of his progeny. Yet, aside from his meager pedigree, Hub- back had a personal history—a plain, straightforward one, attested by several different accounts, all agreeing in the main, and as such we give it. John Hunter, the breeder of Hubback; was a bricklayer, and lived in Hurworth. He had once been a tenant farmer, and bred Short-horn cattle, which, when leaving his farm to live in Hurworth, he sold all off, excepting one choice little cow, which he took with him, and as he had no pasture of his own for her to graze in, she run in the Janes of the town. While there she was put to George “Snowdon’s bull,” also in Hurworth. From him the cow dropped a bull calf. Soon afterwards the cow and calf were driven to Darling- ton market, and there sold to a Mr. Bassnett, a timber merchant. Bassnett retained the cow, but sold the calf to a blacksmith at Hornby, five miles out from Darlington. The dam of the calf taking on flesh readily, would not again breed, and after some months was fattened and slaughtered. Growing to a useful age, the young bull, in 1783, was found at six years old, in the hands of a Mr. Fawcett, living at Haughton-hill, not far from Darlington. “Mr. Wright (a noted Short-horn breeder) says that Charles Col- ling going into Darlington market weekly, used to notice some excellent veal, and upon inquiry ascertained that the calves were got by a bull belonging to a Mr. Fawcett of Haughton-hill. This bull, then known as Fawcett’s bull, and some years afterwards called Hub- back, was, at the time, serving cows at a shilling each (about 22 cents). Charles Colling, however, as the merits of the beast were talked over between himself and others, did not appear particularly im- pressed with them. But Robert Colling and his neighbor, Mr. Wais- tell, of Ali-hill, who had also seen the bull, thought better of him, and more accurately measured his value. The two, soon after Good Friday, in April, 1783, bought him of Mr. Fawcett for ten guineas (about $52), and took him home, where he was jointly owned and used to their separate herds, Colling having seventeen and Waistell eleven cows, served by him during the season. In the following November (1783), Charles Colling having changed his opinion of the merits of the bull, offered his owners eight guineas (about $42) for him, and they sold him. Waistell had reserved, on his part of the sale, that Charles should let all his cows be served to the bull as long 40 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. as the latter owned him, but Waistell sending a cow the following year, Colling refused the service unless paid five guineas for it.* The cow was driven home unserved, and Waistell had no cows sent to the bull afterwards. Charles Colling kept the bull two years, using him freely in his herd, and then sold him late in 1785, at ten years old, to a Mr. Hubback, at North Seton, in Northumberland. “The bull had no name when Colling sold him. Mr. Hubback used him (the bull then being called Hubback’s bull) until the year 1791, when he was fourteen years old, and he was vigorous to the last. Mr. Thomas Bates saw him, and calves got by him, in 1790.” f Thus, the story, written by Mr. Berry, that “Hubback was partly of Dutch blood, bought—when a calf, running by his mother’s side in the lanes—by Waistell and Robert Colling, and both, including Charles Colling, using him but three years, when, by taking on so much flesh he became impotent, and was slaughtered,” is all, but the three years’ use, the sheerest invention. The facts, undoubtedly were, that neither Waistell nor either of the Collings, truly appreci- ated the merits of Hubback until after they had parted with him, and saw the excellence of his stock as they grew up and developed. He was a small bull; his dam was small—for a Short-horn—but a very handsome cow, of fine symmetry, with a nice touch, and fine, long, mossy hair. All these choice qualities Hubback took from her, and his hair remained unusually late in the spring before shedding. As good size was a meritorious point in Short-horns at that time, it is highly probable that the Collings discarded him for that deficiency more than any other. Yet the subsequent reputation of Hubback, among the breeders, stood higher than that of any bull of his time, and it was considered a great merit in any Short-horn which could trace its pedigree back into his blood, which, no doubt, could be easily done, as he was, both before and after the Collings owned him, open to the public at a cheap rate of service. Other animals than those of Waistell and the Collings, recorded in the English Herd Book, trace their pedigrees back to Hubback. One more, and as we think, conclusive evidence may be added to the integrity of Hubback’s Short-horn blood: “Mr. Charge, as well as Mr. Coates, and Charles Colling, always deemed Hubback a pure Short-horn; and neither he nor his descendants when put on cows * From various transactions we have heard of him, with all his cleverness as a breeder, w2 ‘incline to the opinion that Charles Colling had an especial eye to Zzs own interests. + American Edition of Youatt’s British Cattle. RES LAN WICK OR ORIGINAL DUCHES'S. 4l _of the pure blood, bégot any calves which denoted in their features or color any other breed than the pure Short-horn. His stock had capacious chests, prominent bosoms, thick, mossy coats, mellow skins, with a great deal of fine flesh, spread equally over the whole carcass, and were either red and white, yellow roans, or white.” * It is said that in the year 1784, after coming into possession of Hubback (or Fawcett’s bull), Charles Colling picked up several good cows, among them some got by Fawcett’s bull; but one of the most noted, as afterwards known in her descendants, was the “Stanwick cow” (the original of the “Duchess” tribe), which in June, 1784, was driven from the Stanwick estate of the Duke of Northumber- land,} in Yorkshire, to be sold in the Darlington market, and Colling being present when the cow was driven in, took an especial fancy to her fair qualities, and bought her at the low price of £13 ($65). “She was a massive, short-legged beast, breast near the ground, a great grower, with wide back, and of a beautiful yellowish-red flaked color.” { Colling called her Duchess. She was got by J. Brown’s red bull (97), and no further pedigree of her was known. She was bred to Hubback, and through the produce of that coupling descended the since famous (through Mr. Bates’ breeding on the female side) “Duchess” tribe of Short-horns.$ During the two seasons that Charles Colling possessed Hubback we may suppose that he made diligent use of him in his herd, but we do not learn that the bull made a strong impression of his value, or he would not so soon have parted with him. At all events, the merits of his stock were not fully appreciated until some time after he had dis- posed of him, and Colling had become in possession, through ‘other parties, of cows of his get anterior to his own use of the bull. * Thornton’s Circular. + We have since heard it asserted that the ‘‘Stanwick’”’ cow was zo¢ from the Stanwick estate, but from the neighboring one of Aldbrough, also belonging to the Northumberland domain; but it matters little which of the farms produced the cow. She was of the Northumberland Short- horn blood, unquestionably. t+ Mr. Bates. § The Stanwick estate was said to have then been in the occupancy of Earl Percy, a son of Sir Hugh Smithson, before related as being raised to the peerage with the title of Duke of North- umberland, under the Percy succession. This Earl Percy held a commission in the British army, and was one of the party who attacked the American Provincial troops at Lexington, Mass., in the beginning of our Revolutionary War, and was for some years absent from home. He after- wards succeeded his father to the estates and title of second Duke of Northumberland. The late Mr. Smithson, of England, who bequeathed the generous donation of $500,000 to found our National ** Smithsonian Institution,’”’ at Washington, was a natural son of that second Duke of Northumberland, and grandson to Sir Hugh Smithson, the first Duke, previously mentioned. In his inimitable poem, ‘‘Alnwick Castle,” our American Halleck alludes to Earl Percy, as having ‘“‘ Fought for King George at Lexington, A major of dragoons.” 42 HTS ORY Oh i SOUR eI @eRINIS: “Gabriel Thornton, in 1786, went to live with Chanles, as farm man- ager, having previously lived, since 1774, with Mr. Maynard, at Eryholme. Some remarks of Mr. Thornton concerning Mr. May- nard’s cattle, led Mr. and Mrs. Colling* to ride over to Eryholme that same year. When they arrived, a handsome cow, called ‘ Favor- ’ that Miss Maynard was milking, attracted their notice, and Mr. Colling offered to buy the cow and her heifer. After some haggling on both sides, the purchase was made, and the cows, ‘Favorite,’ and her daughter, ‘ Young Strawberry,’ went to Ketton.” As these two cows, “Favorite” (afterwards Lady Maynard, in Colling’s hands), and her daughter, ‘“ Young Strawberry,” mark the foundation of another distinguished family of Short-horns (aside from the Duchess already named), through the joint interbreeding of their own bull and heifer progenies, from which the bull “ Favorite” (252) descended, and on which Colling’s chief celebrity as an zm- prover is based, a full history of the cows will be given. Lapy MAYNARD AND YOUNG STRAWBERRY. Mr. Maynard had long been a distinguished breeder of Short- horns at his farm of Eryholme, then occupied by him, and for many years since by his descendants, who have continuously bred until a recent day first-class cattle. At the time of Charles Colling’s visit to him for the purchase of the two cows, Maynard was in possession of an excellent herd, and Colling finding the things he wanted, bought them of him at the low price of £40 ($200) for the cow and heifer.t The pedigree of the cow Lady Maynard is thus given under the name of “Favorite, or Lady Maynard,” in the first edition of Vol. 1, Coates 1h. Epa. “Red roan, bred by Mr. Maynard, got by Mr. Ralph Alcock’s} bull (19), d. by Jacob Smith’s§ bull (608), gr. d. (Strawberry) by Mr. Jolly’s bull (337).” | * It is said Mrs. Colling was quite as much interested in cattle breeding as her husband, and having no children she had abundant leisure to devote to the stock, + Mr. Bates’ History. + All the record pedigree of Alcock’s bull is, ‘bred by Mr. Michael Jackson, of Hutton-Bon- ville, near North Allerton.”’ A note of Mr. Bates’ says: ‘‘A good bull.”’ § Smith’s bull has no pedigree whatever. His name only is recorded, A note to his pedigree, in manuscript, written by Mr. Bates, says: ‘' Yellow red, white face, white back, and white legs to the knees.” | Jolly’s bull has no pedigree ; recorded. by name only. Mr. Bates said, ‘‘he was bred by Mr. Waistell, of Great Burdon.” Mr. Bates afterwards wrote that Mr. Maynard gave him a long pedigree of the cow ‘ Favor- ite,’’ running back to the ** Murrain”’ year, 1745, LADY MAYNARD. 43 Lady Maynard’s produce is thus recorded : SEX AND COLOR. NAME. SIRE. BREEDER. 178-, cow calf, Young Strawberry, Dalton Duke (188), Mr. Maynard. 178-, cow calf, red roan,! Miss Lax, Dalton Duke (188), Mr. Maynard. 178-, cow calf, r. & w., | Phenix, Foljambe (263), Charles Colling. 178-, bull calf, r. & w., | Lady Maynard’s bull (356),] Lame bull (357), Charles Colling. 1796, bull calf, white, Mason’s white bull (421), ; Becca or | Charles Colling. _and another cow calf which did not breed. Thus it appears that Young Strawberry, which Colling purchased with the cow, was her first calf, and she was bred by Maynard. As the pedigree of the cow Young Strawberry is already given under the produce of Lady Maynard, the pedigree of her (Young Strawberry’s) son Bolingbroke (86) is found as her produce, under her record in Vol. 1, E. H. B., as calved November 12, 1788, red and white, bred by Mr. Colling, and got by Foljambe (263). Foljambe is entered in the Herd Book as bred by Colling; other authorities contend that he was bred by Mr. Hall, of Haughton-hill, got by Richard Barker’s bull (52), out of the cow Haughton, by Hubback. Colling afterwards bought the cow Haughton of Mr. Hall. The pedigree of the cow Haughton runs thus: “Got by Hubback (319), dam by a bull of the late Charles Col- ling’s (which he bought of Mr. John Bamlet), gr.d. by Mr. Waistell’s bull (669), g. gr. d. Tripes, bred by Mr. C. Pickering.” By other authority Tripes is said to be by Studley bull (626), and her dam bred by Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton, in 1739. So it will be seen that Foljambe was of stranger blood to the Lady Maynard family. Thus, with Foljambe, and his Lady Maynard, and other tribes, Colling went on with his new course of breeding; but we do not find that Foljambe was directly used to any of the Colling- Duchess, or Stanwick family, as their pedigrees enter into the first volume of E. H. B. only in Mr. Bates’ Duchess rst, calved in 1810, got by Comet (155), and the fifth in descent from the Stanwick cow. Yet as Duchess rst was descended through Comet and Favor- ite, who had the blood of Foljambe in them, the Duchess tribe had his blood also. With the basis of the two tribes, Duchess, and Lady Maynard, in his hands, as well as with other cows which he had selected, Charles Colling began his remarkable in-and-in system of breeding, and pursued it with untiring pertinacity to the end of his Short-horn career in 1810. He bred comparatively few animals of his Duchess tribe, although equally in-and-in bred as the Lady Maynards. Fol- jambe, as an early sire, begat the bull Bolingbroke (86), in the cow 44. HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Young Strawberry, and also begat the cow Pheenix, in the dam of Young Strawberry (Lady Maynard), so that Bolingbroke was closely related to Phoenix in other ways than being her half brother. Then in Pheenix, his half sister and aunt, Bolingbroke begat Favorite (252), and Favorite in his own mother and sister (Phoenix) begat Young Phoenix, and in Young Phcenix (his own daughter as well as sister) he begat Comet (155), the famous 1000 guinea bull in the final sale of Colling’s herd in 1810. In addition to this intensely close breeding, Favorite was used to his own heifers without stint in Colling’s herd even to, in one instance (Robert Colling’s Clarissa), the sixth genera- tion, producing in every case sound, healthy offspring. No bull in Short-horn history has so many animals which trace back to him as Favorite. Not only to his own immediate family relations, but to the Duchesses and other tribes does his blood extend, so that running back to Favorite, in thousands of bulls and cows, from that day to this, his blood has been commingled in near and remote relationship. Concurrent with Charles, his brother Robert had been equally vig- ilant. He had selected, probably, quite as good animals from the herds of Messrs. Milbank of Barningham, Hill of Blackwell, Best, Watson, Wright of Manfield, and Sir William St. Quintin of Scamp- ston, all of whom were celebrated breeders of Short-horn or Tees- water cattle.* Hubback had been used by Robert one year, and by Charles two years, as before stated, and sold by the latter at ten years of age, without a name, to go into the hands of Mr. Hubback, in Northum- berland, who gave his own name to the bull, and in whose possession he died. After leaving Colling, little is known of Hubback’s produce or to what classes of cows he was bred. The name of Mr. Hubback, the last owner of the bull, does not appear as a breeder in the early volumes of the Herd Book. Let it be borne in mind that while the Collings were thus vigor- ously busy in working up their herds, the older breeders around them had not been idle. ‘The selections of the Collings were made from among the cattle of those breeders, and it may well be supposed that they still retained in their hands animals probably equal in quality to any with which they had parted; but wanting the dash and enterprise of the later established Barmpton and Ketton breed- ers, they failed to bring their own herds into equally prominent notice. * Thorntoz s Circular, FOLJAMBE, 45 Succeeding Hubback, in Charles Colling’s herd, we recall and notice Foljambe (263) [Hubback’s grandson on the dam’s side], by Richard Barker’s bull (52), already mentioned. “ Barker’s bull was of good size and symmetry, but rather a hard handler, the winner of a premium, as a calf, in the year 1784, at Darlington, and generally known as ‘Dicky Barker’s black nose.’”” Foljambe also had a dark nose, so said Mr. Bates. Foljambe’s dam was Mr. Hall’s cow Haugh- ton (by Hubback), before named, and “Colling considered that Fol- jambe left him the best stock which he had.* He is described as a useful, thick beast, handle good, wide back, dark face, and was sold by Mr. Coates to Mr. Foljambe,t as a yearling for 50 guineas”’ { ($260). Another description says that “he was a large, strong bull, a useful, big, bony beast, of great substance.” Thus the brothers Colling progressed. The prices of the Tees- waters at that day were low. ‘The country, outside the counties where they were bred, knew little either of the cattle or their value. Wais- tell and Robert Colling had bought Hubback for ten guineas (about $52), and Charles paid them only eight guineas ($42) for him; and no wonder that they so bought him, when he had been serving cows indiscriminately at one shilling (or 22 cents) each! “Mrs. Charles Colling ridiculed her husband’s niggardliness in giving Mr. Maynard only 30 guineas for the cow Favorite (Lady Maynard) and ro guineas ($52) for her heifer, Young Strawberry, although he bid 50 guineas ($260) to Mr. Scott for ‘Sockburn Sall,’ the ancestress of the pres- ent Blanche tribe. The cows lay out in the fields, having a little hay taken out to them in bad weather, but always calved in a warm place. The calves had new milk till they were two or three weeks old, then for a month they got half and half (new and skim), afterwards skim milk with linseed bran, or other meal, or porridge; they were then turned out to grass, getting nothing else. Nurse cows were kept for the bull calves, going out on hire.” [ The Collings are the first mentioned Short-horn breeders who let bulls out on hire. Mr. John Hutchinson, in a letter dated in 1821, says: “Charles Colling, being an established breeder, exhibited in the spring of 1790, his first two yearling bulls for sale, and succeeded * That Colling so sazd, we have no doubt. But from all collateral testimony we have as little doubt that it wes the result of his chagrin at having so prematurely parted with Hubback, before he knew the intrinsic value of his blood and stock.—L. F. A. + There appears to be some discrepancy as to the different transfers and ownerships, as well as to which—Hall or Colling—really bred Foljambe.—L. F. A + Thornton’s Circular, 46 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS., in selling them both. Mr. Coates, of Smeaton, was the purchaser of one for £26 ($130), and Mr. R. Thomas of the other, for £23 ($115).” Mr. Bailey, the Durham historian, writes in 1810, that “Messrs. Colling and Mason let bulls out by the year at fifty ($260) to one hundred guineas ($520) each, and these celebrated breeders cannot supply the demand for the pure blood, which they are cautious of preserving, and which takers of bulls are become so well acquainted with that the prices they give are in proportion to the good qualities of the individuals, and merits of thetr progenitors, more regard being paid to their pedigree than to anything else. Messrs. Colling have fre- quently sold cows and heifers for £100 ($500) each, and bull calves at the same. Charles Colling has refused £500 ($2,500) for a cow, and in the year 1807, Mr. Mason refused £700 ($3,500) for a cow.” * “The most noted breeders who hired Charles Colling’s bulls, were John Charge, of Newton, who used Favorite (252); Mr. Mason, of Chilton; Mr. Jobling, of Styford; Mr. Gibson, of Corbridge; Sir George Strickland; Mr. Robertson, of Ladykirk; and Mr. Ostler, of Aylesby and Audley. Windsor (696) was used by Mr. Hustler in 1808-9; Mr. Parker, of Malton, had him five years, and George III. had him for three years, at £40 ($200) a year, for service on the royal farm at Windsor, whence he was named.’’t THe MopeE oF CHARLES COLLING’S BREEDING. To keep a run of Charles Colling’s system of breeding: after Hubback (319) he used Foljambe (263), who got Bolingbroke (86), and Bolingbroke got Favorite (252), calved in 1793. He succes- sively used Favorite, with occasional interims, for thirteen years, beginning his services at two years old. At ten years old Favorite begat Comet (155), calved in 1804; and the next year, at eleven years old he begat North Star (458), full brother to Comet, calved in 1805. These two bulls, celebrated in their day, were out of Young Phoenix, his daughter and sister (she out of Phoenix, mother to Favorite, the sire of Young Phoenix), as close interbreeding, perhaps, as could be made. * Mr. Mason was contemporary with the Collings, a distinguished Short-horn breeder, and many animals of his herds were probably equal in excellence to those of the Collings, as he had early used the Colling bulls. His ‘‘ Mason’s white bull”’ (421), was got by either Bolingbroke or Favorite, out of Colling’s Lady Maynard. Many descendants of his stock are found in the Herd Books.—L. F. A. + Thornton’s Circular. COLLING’S MODE OF BREEDING. 47 That Colling bred his cattle with one persistent object in view there can be no question. It was to obtain the greatest concentration of good blood possible in his herd. His original cows he had selected from among the best at his command, and in order to cement that blood in its greatest strength, worked the blood of each into the descendants of others, as far as is possible, so that it should be com- mon to all. His original animals were not alike, differimg much in their various qualities, yet all having more or less good and sterling points of character. Those different points will be more fully no- ticed hereafter. In Favorite (252), Colling judged that the best blood could be transmitted more successfully than through the veins of any other bull. Nor was he mistaken. He used him for two, three, four, and in one recorded instance five successive crosses in his own heifers, with decided success and no deterioration of consti- tution or quality in the very last cross he made in their production. At the final sale of his herd in 1810, there were more of his animals running back into the blood of Favorite than in all the other bulls he had used, put together. The follwing analysis is so well expressed that I quote it from the Rev. J. Storer, in Mr. Carr’s late History of the Booth Short-horns: “Few people have any idea of the amazing extent to wnicn in- and-in breeding was carried on by the Brothers Colling; and so great was the complication it involved, that few of those who know the outline of the circumstances, can adequately realize all their intrica- cies. It is almost impossible to describe even proximately in some of its stronger features the system they pursued. But the attempt ought to be made; for the Messrs. Colling’s system of in-and-in breed- ing, is not only one of the most remarkable and authentic cases in the history of the reproduction of animals with which we are acquainted, but the earlier Booth bulls were amongst those most strongly sub- jected to its influence. “Mr. C. Colling’s bull Bolingbroke, and his cow Phcenix, were brother and sister on the sire’s side, and nearly so on the dam’s. They were of the same family; and the only difference in descent was, that Bolingbroke was a grandson of Dalton Duke, while Phcenix was not. But this apparent difference, slight as it is, was not all real; for Dalton Duke also contained some portion of their common blood. Arithmetically stated, the blood of the two being taken and divided into thirty-two parts, twenty-nine of those parts were of blood common to both, rather differently proportioned between them. Phoenix had sixteen of those parts, Bolingbroke ¢/rteen ; the latter having also 48 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. three fresh parts derived from Dalton Duke, which made up the thirty-two. “ Being thus very nearly own brother and sister, they were the joint parents of the bull Favorite. That bull was next put to his own mother Phoenix, so nearly related to him on his sire’s side also; and the produce was Young Phoenix. To this heifer Favorite was once more put, she being at once his daughter and more than own stster too. For their two sires, Bolingbroke and Favorite, were not only as nearly as possible consanguineous with each other, but also with the cow Phoenix, to which they were both put. The result was—Comet (155). “Nor was this all. The system was carried much further. The celebrated Booth bull Albion (14) was not only a son of the in-and- in Favorite bred Comet, but his dam was a granddaughter of Favorite on both sides, and descended besides from both the sire and the dam of Favorite. “Tt is not so possible to make an exact statement with regard to Pilot (496), for it is not known whether he was by Major (398), or Wellington (680). Nor does it much matter; for five-eighths of Major’s and three-quarters of Wellington’s blood were derived from Favorite, by repeated inter crossings; and Pilot’s dam was not only by Favorite, but she was also the granddaughter of Foljambe, the sire of both the parents of Favorite. “Marshal Beresford (415) was, like Albion, a son of Comet (155); and his dam was by a grandson of Favorite, out of a daughter of Favorite. ‘“‘Suworrow (636) was by a son of Favorite; and his dam was a daughter of Favorite; and Twin Brother to Ben (660) was from a cow by Foljambe, the double grandsire of Favorite. “Even this does not exhaust the subject. Many of the above mentioned animals were otherwise related to each other by a common descent from Hubback, and from other progenitors. ‘Albion has been called ‘The Alloy Bull.’ I think with very little reason. When it is remembered that he is the seventh in descent from that blood, and that therefore only ove part of his blood came from ‘The Alloy,’* against ove hundred and twenty-seven parts which were not derived from it, the chances against either good or evil resulting therefrom were infinitesimally small; and so no doubt such an acute observer as Mr. Booth well knew.” * Through Washington (674). These bulls will be more particularly noticed hereafter in our remarks upon the Booth herds.—L. F. A. COLLING’S MODE OF BREEDING. 49 To further illustrate Colling’s in-and-in breeding, we give two dia- grams of descent first published in Vol. 1, American Herd Book: EXPLANATION OF FIGURES. x. Bull, Hubback. 5. Bull, Foljambe. rr. Cow, Phenix. 2. Dam of Haughton. 6. Cow, Young Strawberry. iz. Cow, Young Pheenix. 3. Richard Barker’s bull. 7. Bull Dalton Duke. 13. Bull, Favorite. 4. Cow, Haughton, 8 and 10. Cow, Lady Maynard. 14. Bull, Comet. g. Bull, Bolingbroke. While on this subject we give a diagram of another animal, the cow Clarissa, which we find on record, bred by Robert Colling, to show the depth of a particular strain of blood which he acquired. This cow, it appears, has six consecutive crosses or 63-64ths parts of the blood of Favorite. Her pedigree (Vol. 1, E. H. B.) runs thus: “Clarissa, roan, calved in 1814, bred by Mr. R. Colling, got by Wel- lington (680), out of , by Favorite (252),—by Favorite,—by Favorite,—by Favorite-——by Favorite,—by Favorite,—by a son of Hubback.” (See diagram on next page.) In addition to the pedigree of Clarissa, we have run out that of Wellington, her sire, which also goes back to Favorite, showing that although Clarissa’s dam had six crosses of Favorite’s blood, Clarissa is met on the other side by a bull deeply impregnated with the blood of Favorite also. Clarissa proved a good breeder, and was the dam of several excellent animals. After saying so much of the Collings, it may be asked, why they so rapidly achieved a reputation as Short-horn breeders, so young in 4 50 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. the business, and outstripped their older neighbors to whom they were indebted for the origznal excellence in their herds, and had adopted a course of breeding opposed to the common opinions of the breeders around them, viz.: the in-and-in system of Bakewell. EXPLANATION OF FIGURES. N Au AW DN A OC ti ‘de Gea Bull, Hubback. 8. 4th Cow by Favorite, 15s. Cow, Young Pheenix. Son of Hubback. g. 5th Cow by Favorite. 16. Cow, Phoenix. Cow, by son of Hubback. 10. 6th Cow by Favorite. 4. Same bull Favorite on the Bull, Favorite. ist Cow by Favorite. . 2d Cow by Favorite. . 3d Cow by Favorite. Cow, Clarissa. Bull, Wellington, sire of Clarissa. 17. Bull, Comet. 18. side of Clarissa’s sire, as on the sire of her dam. Bull, Bolingbroke. Granddaughter of Hubback. 14. Cow, Wildair. They bred their stock intensely and pertinaciously in-and-in, as has been seen by the crosses and diagrams we have given, to the closest relationship. They had selected from the herds of other breeders not only as good blood as they could obtain, but as good animals, and by their course of close breeding had concentrated that blood into its utmost compactness in their stock, thus enabling their bulls to transmit it with nearly absolute certainty into the thor- oughbred animals of their get. Of course their herds had acquired a character and type of their own, measurably distinct from those of other breeders, who, in following the old idea that near relations should not be crossed in stock breeding, possessed herds of miscella- neous character, although, perhaps, in many points of excellence quite equal to the Collings. We do not aver that the Collings’ stock was better than that of some of the other careful, painstaking DURHAM OX. 51 breeders around them, other than in their fixed and undeviating characteristics, and their thus acquired power of transmitting those characteristics into their progeny, when put upon cows of blood not related to them. ‘This the deeply in-and-in bred Colling bulls did, beyond a question, and hence their rapidly acquired popularity. Still, the Short-horns were a local breed of cattle, confined chiefly to the counties of ancient Northumbria, and the best of them were to be found in and about the valley of the Tees. The Collings, in the exercise of their usual foresight and sagacity, determined to give their cattle a wide reputation through the kingdom, and for that pur- pose Charles prepared the DuRHAM Ox for public exhibition. As this ox achieved a wide reputation and successfully drew the merits of the Short-horns to the attention of the cattle breeding public, although it has been frequently published, a full account of him will be repeated. He was among the earliest calves got by Favorite (252), “bred in the year 1796, and out of a common black and white cow, bought for Charles Colling by John Simpson, at Durham Fair, for £14 ($70).”* Although the dam of the Durham Ox was said to have been “a common cow,” from the price which Colling paid for her, and the marvellous excellence and beauty of the ox descended from her, it is altogether probable she possessed much of the “common” Short-horn blood of the vicinity.t Yet, from the “black” in her she may not have been highly bred, but of remark- ably good quality. ‘This calf, made a steer, Colling fed up to his greatest flesh-taking capacity until nearly five years old, when he had attained a weight of 3024 pounds. He was then purchased to be exhibited, by Mr. Bulmer of Harmby, in February, 1801, for £140 ($700). Bulmer had a traveling carriage made to carry him through the country, and after traveling and exhibiting him five weeks, sold the carriage and ox at Rotherham to John Day, for £250 ($1,250). On the r4th of May ensuing, Mr. Day could have sold him for £525 ($2,625); on the 13th of June, for 41,000 ($5,000), and on the 8th of July, for £2,000 ($10,000), but he refused all these offers, which were strong proofs of the excellence of the ox, as well as his exhibiting * Thornton’s Circular. + The ox, like his sire, Favorite, was light roan in color. Did not that color, like the wonder- ful excellence he otherwise possessed, demonstrate the certainty with which the highly concen- trated blood of Favorite was capable of being thrown into his produce? 52 HISTORY OF DHE SHORM- THORNS: value. Mr. Day traveled with him nearly six years, through the principal parts of England and Scotland, till at Oxford, on the 19th of February, the ox dislocated his hip bone, and continued in that state till the r5th of April, when he was killed, and notwithstanding he must have lost considerable flesh during these eight weeks of illness, yet his dead weight was: JOLiiy GEMINI oC oncobobOonOOObOn OO Go GdOOD 2322 pounds. Maho wiricsteneesc cies horeie otele cette tater cpeverateceraredeveters Ti Ovens ese ce uik e Searce He, nogertias ital ciate ahaa Resraue aires Cauebete TAD eae 2620 pounds. This was at the age of eleven years, under all the disadvantages of six years traveling in a jolting carriage, and eight weeks of painful lameness. At ten years old Mr. Day stated his live weight to have been nearly 3400 pounds. About the year 1806, Robert Colling reared a thoroughbred heifer, afterwards called the “White Heifer that Traveled,” which he sent out through the principal agricultural counties for exhibition; the date of her birth is not given in the first volume E. H. B., where her pedigree is recorded. She was also got by Favorite (252), her dam called “Favorite Cow,” also bred by R. Colling; the name of “Favorite Cow’s” sire is not given. Her gr. dam, “Yellow Cow,” was by Punch (531), and her g. gr. dam was by Anthony Reed’s bull (538), and bred by Mr. Best, of Manfield. The “White Heifer” being twinned with a bull, and herself not breeding, she was no doubt fed up to her greatest flesh-taking capacity during her life. Her age, when slaughtered, is not given, but the account states that her live weight could not have been less than 2300 pounds, and her dead (profitable) weight was estimated at 1820 pounds. There were other extraordinary large and heavy cattle bred and fed by the Short-horn breeders contemporary with the Collings, whose recorded weights we might give, but as they all run in about the same scale, it is not important to record them here. It is suffi- cient to say that the great reputation which the Collings and their animals acquired was through the wider knowledge which the public abroad obtained of them by these public exhibitions. Thus the Collings became conspicuously known, and were considered by those not intimately acquainted with the other breeders around them, as, if not the founders, at least the great improvers of that newly adver- tised and meritorious race. ROBERT COLLING’S BREEDING. 53 ROBERT COLLING AND HIS SHORT-HORN BREEDING. Although he has been frequently mentioned in the account of his brother Charles, as they often bred their stock through an interchange of bulls, yet Robert had a herd in blood distinctly his own, and bred many cattle as highly distinguished in their merits as were those of Charles. Previous to his taking the farm at Barmpton in the year 1783, he lived at Hurworth, a short distance away. When a youth he had been apprenticed to a grocer, but his health declining, he embraced farming. He had often visited Mr. Culley, a noted farmer, stock breeder, and agricultural writer, and took lessons from him in farm- ing, turnip growing, and stock feeding. He had obtained Leicester sheep from Bakewell, and for many years bred and sold them with great success, simultaneous with his pursuit of Short-horn cattle breeding. His annual ram-lettings were extensive and profitable. Some of his earliest stock he obtained from Mr. Milbank, of Barningham. They were considered as among the best of the Tees- water cattle, and noted for their excellent grazing properties. He also selected the best cows to be obtained from other breeders, and having the bull Hubback (319), as previously stated, in the year 1783, by which he had seventeen cows served, it may well be supposed that he made a ready and sure start through the best blood and the best animals he could obtain in the foundation of his herd. He bred with skill and judgment, and founded several different families, or tribes of females, as the Wildair, the Red Rose, the Princess, the Bright Eyes, and others, which became in future hands, as well as his own, widely noted as the bases of superior herds. He also bred many noted bulls. Among the earliest of them were “Broken- horn ” (95), by Hubback (319), etc.; “ Punch” (513) by Broken-horn; Ben (70), and “Twin Brother to Ben” (660), by Punch; “Colling’s (Robert) white bull” (151), by Favorite (252); “Marske” (418), by Favorite [his dam and grand dam also by Favorite; great grand dam by Hubback (319),—by Snowdon’s bull (612),—by Master- man’s bull (422),—by Harrison’s bull (292),—by Studley bull (626) ; Marske was a noted bull, useful thirteen years, and died at fifteen years old]; “ North Star” (459), by Favorite [and full brother to the “White Heifer that Traveled”’]; “ Phenomenon” (491), by Favorite; “Styford” (629), by Favorite; besides many later bulls which were sold, or occasionally used by him, or let for service to other breeders. 54 HES MOR Voy OR aes SH Omen = TsO sRINiS: Among the cows bred by Robert Colling was one which has ob- tained celebrity through her descendants as “The American Cow;” and it has been a subject of inquiry during late years, both in Eng- land and America, why a cow so ancient in lineage should have been called by a name so foreign to her birth-place, and after a country where the Short-horns at that time were almost unknown. We first find her name in the pedigree of Red Rose, in first edition of Vol. 1, D: 457, ts Bs as, follows: Ned, calved in) ann, bredi by, Mir Hustler, property of Mr. T. Bates, got by Yarborough (705), dam (bred by R. Colling, and called The American Cow), by Favorite (252), gr. d. by Punch (531), g. gr. d. by Foljambe (263), g. g. gr. d. by Hubback (319).” In the above pedigree The American Cow is originally identified. In Vol. 2, p. 497, first edition E. H. B., the same Red Rose is again recorded as Red Rose 1st, her dam being “The American Cow,” as before. In a conversation with Mr. John Thornton, of London, when in this country in the winter of 1870-71, (who is as well versed in English Short-horn pedigrees, perhaps, as any other,) he remarked that he had never learned why the American Cow was so called, although he had made diligent inquiries in England for the reason. The American history of the cow, as we have been informed on authority which we deem good, is this: In some year, not long after 1801, a son of Mr. Hustler, who was a Short-horn cattle breeder in Yorkshire, emigrated to New York, and brought with him some Short- horn cattle, among which was this nameless cow, or then heifer, afterwards dam of the Red Rose tst, which his father bought of Robert Colling. The younger Hustler went into business in New York City, and put his cattle into the adjoining county of Westchester. After a few years stay in America, he returned to England, and not finding his Short-horns appreciated on this side the ocean, (as we find no record of them or their produce in this country,) Mr. Hustler took this cow back with him, as she was a remarkably good beast, and put her into his father’s herd. Then, on being put to Yarborough, she became the dam of Red Rose, afterwards purchased by Mr. Bates, he calling her Red Rose 1st, which, in his hands, was the original of the tribe of Red Rose, from whom many excellent animals have descended. The only Zuglish account we have of The American Cow, aside from her pedigree, which we have quoted, is, that “she was sent to America, and taken back to England.” It is hardly necessary to follow Robert Colling through the various particulars of his breeding, as we have done more closely with ROBERT COLLING’S BREEDING. 55 Charles, for, as has been previously remarked, they bred much in concert, followed the same system of intercrossing their blood, and in fact were almost identical in their practice. To sum up the results of their joint action, it may be said that they, in the midst of older and more experienced breeders, combatted the ancient prejudices of the day, and through their in-and-in system, established a new school in breeding. 56 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS, CRAP EE Rh WERE THE COQLLINGS THE EARLIEST AND CHIEF IMPROVERS OF THE SHORT-HORNS? In the discussion of this question a wider range of observation may be necessary than has usually been taken from hearsay, tradi- tion, or even what in some cases has been written by men claiming a personal knowledge of the subject. Assertion is one thing; proof is another thing; and sometimes widely different, in the settlement of facts. It has long been so commonly reported among those who have never gone into an investigation of the matter, that to the Collings—especially Charles—was due the great merit of transform- ing the ancient, coarse, ungainly race of Short-horns, which had long existed anterior to their coming upon the stage, into the stately and more highly perfected condition in which they left them, that it may seem, if not an act of audacity, at least a bootless task to combat a belief which has heretofore been so commonly entertained. We shall, however, carefully examine all the facts at command and strive to place the subject in as true a light as possible. To the first question: ‘Were the Collings the earliest improv- ers” of the Short-horn race? our previous narrative has clearly shown they were not. At the outset of their career as breeders they found the Short-horns, or Teeswaters, a valuable, profitable, and highly approved, as well as established breed, in three or four differ- ent counties of England, where, time immemorial, they had lived and flourished; and in whatever state of improvement over that of their ancient progenitors they then existed, their improvement was zof made by the Collings. Therefore their claims to the early improve- ment may be dismissed without further discussion. The next question: ‘Were they the chief improvers” of the Short- horns of their own day? If improved at all during their career is now the question to be examined. We have seen that when the Collings commenced business various breeders in their vicinity had excellent cattle. All, or nearly all, the bulls anterior to their time THE COLLINGS AS IMPROVERS. 57 which the English Herd Book has recorded have been mentioned, and many of the chief points and excellencies, as well as defects of their animals, have been noticed, and every bull and every cow to which the Collings traced their best or choicest blood in animals of their own breeding were bred by others, and not by themselves. That it was a master stroke of sagacity, as well as policy, in their collecting some of the best cattle to be found on which to base their herds will be conceded; for having the tools in their hands the value of their workmanship in the use of them could best be judged. Let us follow (although it may be repeating a portion of what we have already stated) the course of the Collings somewhat in detail, for it is only in details that accurate results can be gathered. In the year 1784 Charles bought the Stanwick, or original Duchess cow, from the estate of the Duke of Northumberland in Yorkshire. The cow Haughton (by Hubback) he soon afterwards bought from Mr. Hall; and in 1786 or ’87, he bought “Favorite, or Lady Maynard,” and her daughter, “Young Strawberry,” from Mr. Maynard. Here were four prime cows to start with, and from which most of his animals on which his chief reputation was acquired descended. In 1784 he bought the bull Hubback from his brother Robert and Mr. Waistell, neither of whom dred him. In the pages of Vol. 1, E. H. B., are found some animals bred by Colling having a double cross of Hubback; but as he did not keep the bull more than two years, not giving time enough to put him to his own daughters, except as the latter were yearlings, it is not probable that he had that double cross in his own breeding. Aside from this we have the authority of the late Thomas Bates, who was familiar with Colling’s whole course of breeding, that he made no such second cross in any heifer bred by himself. Of course, if he had cows with a double cross of Hubback in their blood he must have obtained them from other parties, of which we may suppose there may have been several in the neighbor- hood, as the bull had been freely used in getting calves, as before stated, at a shilling each. Thus he had an early infusion of Hubback blood. Next to Hubback he used Foljambe,* out of the cow Haugh- ton, and she by Hubback, thus combining the Hubback blood through Foljambe more closely in his herd. Colling bred a heifer, by Hub- back, out of the Duchess (Stanwick) cow, but we have no record of a female by Hubback out of either Lady Maynard or her daughter, Young Strawberry; but out of Lady Maynard he bred the cow * Got by Barker’s (Richard) bull (52), ‘* Dickey Barker’s black nose,’’ previously mentioned. 58 Hist ORY (OF) (rs JS EEO RE © RINGS: Phoenix, by Foljambe, and out of Young Strawberry (daughter to Lady Maynard, and half sister to Phoenix) he bred the bull Boling- broke (88), also by Foljambe. Then Bolingbroke was bred to his more than half sister, and aunt, Phoenix, producing Favorite (252), and then this Favorite put to Phoenix (his own mother, and more closely related, if possible), produced the cow Young Phoenix, and she in turn being bred to Favorite, her own sire (brother and all other sorts of close relationship), produced Comet (155), a bull individually more admired than any other one of his day. This system of interbreeding Charles Colling pursued, or as closely to it as possible, with all the best families in his herd. He had selected his original animals with an eye to particular models of excellence. He could not find a finished model in any one animal of his original selections. ‘They had various points of excellence, as well as some defects, and his object was to get rid of their defects and combine their excellencies into the younger stock so as to create a uniformity of character as near his own standard of perfection as possible. _He had in the bull Favorite, got as much of the blood of his cow Lady Maynard, and through Foljambe of Hubback’s, as was probably possible to obtain, and he bred from Favorite. more or less for thirteen years, as long as he was useful. Let it be borne in mind that Colling acted’on the axiom that blood, in order to be most useful in perpetuating its good qualities in breed- ing, must be concentrated as closely as possible in the veins of the breeding animals, as only through such concentration of blood could its individual properties and character be transmitted with absolute certainty to their progeny. Thus the choicest of the Colling cattle had a untformity of type which so far, provided their qualities were good, was a decided improvement in them, beyond those animals which had been miscellaneously bred from different bulls having no blood relations with each other, or with the cows to which they were bred, thus striking out into various incongruities of character, and transmitting their own qualities, even if of the best kind, with no certainty to their offspring. Robert bred under the same system as did Charles; but it is unnecessary to follow his herd with the same particularity of detail, as several of his best have already been noticed. Many pages of Vol. 1, E. H. B., would have to be quoted to illustrate their breeding. As both the Collings were considerable breeders, it is not to be supposed that a@// their cattle were so closely interbred. They fre- quently bought good cows from other breeders, even after their own 0 tn THE COLLINGS EARLY CATTLE: 59 choice tribes were established; these cows they bred to their best bulls, and sold their produce to different breeders, so that the Herd Book, not originating until 1822, some years after they had both given up cattle breeding, does not represent all the animals of their herds. Their stock, outside of the choicest families, were not uni- form in either their several qualities, or individual merits. But having prime animals of their best families, those gave them their reputation as leading breeders, or improvers of the Short-horn race. Comparing the various characteristics of the most noted cattle in the Colling herds let us see what was said of them by their con- temporaries : Lady Maynard, red roan, is described as a beautiful cow, and her daughter, Young Sy ay color not given, as having much of her character. Hubback was yellow red with little white, a smooth, small bull, and the quality of his flesh, hide and hair, seldom equaled; head good; horns small and fine; breast forward; handling firm; shoulders rather upright; girth good; loins, body and sides fair; rumps and hips extraordinary; flank and twist wonderful. His dam a beautiful little cow, and became so fat by running in the lanes of Darlington that she would not afterwards breed and was slaughtered. She—the dam of Hubback—was got by Banks’ bull, of Hurworth (not in the Herd Books), and he, Banks’ bull, had a great belly. The grand dam of Hubback, on the dam’s side, was bred by Mr. Stephenson, of Ketton. Snowdon’s bull (626), sire of Hubback, was out of a daughter of a cow bought from the same Mr. Stephenson. The cow Haughton (dam of Foljambe), yellow red and white (got by Hubback), her dam by John Bamlet’s bull (not in Herd Book), gr. d. by Waistell’s bull (669), g. gr. d. Tripes, bred by C. Pickering. We find no description of her. Charles Colling afterwards bought Bamlet’s bull, from which fact we presume he was possessed of excel- lent qualities. Foljambe, “white, with a few red spots, and a dark nose; handle good; wide back; dark face; a large, strong bull; a useful, big, bony, thick beast of great substance.” Duchess (the Stanwick cow), “Charles Colling bought 14th June, 1784, for £13 ($65), a massive, short-legged cow; breast near the ground; a great grower, with wide back, and of a beautiful yellowish flaked red color.”* Colling himself said that “she was better than * Mr. Bates, in Bell’s History. 60 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. any he ever produced from her, though put to his best bulls, which ° improved all other cattle.” She was bred to Hubback. The pro- duce was a heifer, and from her the present tribe of (Bates’) Duchesses, on the female side, are descended. Cherry, a fine cow, bought at Yarm Fair, by his father, also came into Charles Colling’s possession, and from her he bred his “Cherry ” tribe. We have no description of her. It was conceded by a company of old breeders in 1812, in discuss- ing the question of the improvement of Short-horns, that no stock of Mr. Colling’s breeding ever equaled Lady Maynard,* the dam of Phoenix, and grand dam of Favorite (252). Robert Colling told Mr. Wiley that his brother’s and his own cattle were never better than anybody else’s until his brother Charles got Maynard’s two cows. From the above descriptions and opinions of breeders at the time, it will be seen that there was little uniformity in the character of the Collings’ orzginal stock, and if they afterwards acquired a wm7- form excellence in their several herds—which, no doubt, to a con- siderable extent they did—it was by persistence in their course of in-and-in breeding, which has been described. So much has been said of the bull Favorite (252), into whose blood more good Short-horns of the present time trace a portion of their lineage than any other bull of his day, that we give his description. His color was light roan. “Mr. Coates thought him a large beast, with a fine, bold eye, body down, low back, and other parts very good. Mr. Waistell said Favorite was a grand beast, very large and open, had a fine brisket, with a good coat, and as good a handler as ever was felt.” “His (Favorite’s) dam Phoenix was a large, open-boned cow, and coarser than her dam—‘the beautiful Lady Maynard ’—partaking more of her sire’s (Foljambe) character. Favorite, the son, partook more of his dam’s (Phoenix) character, and possessed remarkably good loins, long and level hind quarters; his shoulder points stood wide, and were somewhat too coarse, and too forward in the neck, and his horns, in comparison with Hubback’s, were long and strong. His sire, Bolingbroke (86), was by Foljambe, out of Young Straw- berry (daughter of Lady Maynard). In color he was red, with a little white, and the best bull George Coates ever saw. Favorite * The judgments of men are sometimes fallible. We think there must be some error in this statement, for it is evident that the stock produced from her would not have held so high a reputation had they not exhibited some particular qualities above those which their ancestry possessed.—L, F. A. THE GALLOWAY CROSS. 61 (252), born in 1793, died in 1809, was used indiscriminately upon his own offspring, even in the third generation.” Yes, even to the fifth and sixth generations in some one or two prominent instances. As Phoenix, the dam of Favorite, has been partially described ‘in connection with her son, her measurement is here given: PLCIC Ut cielo) sie ajeis'a'« siele/cle > er 102 24. CAROLINE, calyed in 1817, by Young Barmpton, dam Wildair, lot 7 in the sale, 1818. Dinning, Newlands, near Belford. Bulled by Barmp- UGTie cb opho acoso cond Os po Coan dno AO6 do rp oo UsoUCoD GUOUbOOC oor 53 25. DAMSEL, by Barmpton, dam lot 2. R. Jobson, Turvelaws, near Wooler, Northumberland. ~Bulled) by Barmpton. <6 2 (G. Alderson’ staisc. \«:0's ss s0 2s es,0\s) 0/5 10.0 10” 35. SPRIGHTLY, a light roan. by Lancaster. Dinning. ............eesee00 25 6 82 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. HEIFER CALVES, IN 1820. Lot. Guineas, 36. Miss COLLING, a roan, by Barmpton, dam lot 6. J. Claridge, Jerveaux AND LENA MOINS, GoscodbsasonbdooBDGaOdbOROGOUROOCOUdDONdOOdd 19 37. A LicHT ROAN, by Barmpton. Major Rudd............+sseeeeeeeee li 38. BARMPTON STRAWBERRY, a red fleck, calved April 1, by Barmpton, dam LOE EE. oni e Ba SumpsOmiie eis ste) cielciclers) sherele jeleiel sie (eieleleiclal sicis eleiele 30 39. A ROAN, by Barmpton. W. Harrison, Neasham Lane, near Darlington, 6 40. A ROAN, by Barmpton. Major Rudd.......... sss eee ee eee ee ce ee eee 4s 41. A Licut ROAN, by Barmpton. Major Rudd...........-...2eeeeeeee 4 2. DINSDALE, fleck red and white, by Barmpton, dam lot 2. W. Smith, DIishley ae repels a ctefete evel etovedsl oles fare iorevonsious foteleuetetsieislouslal-anbeynfesole\cPe\cnotcls 22 43. Miss CoLLine, a light roan, by Barmpton, dam lot 5. 5S, Wiley........ 20 44. A RED RoAn, by Barmpton, dam lot 9. Major Rudd................ 25 45. A FLECK, by Barmpton, dam lot 3. S. Wiley...........--seeeeeeeees 17, BULLS. 46. BARMPTON (54), Io years old, by George, dam Moss Rose, lot 2 in the 49. 50. BT 52. 53- sale, 1818. R. Thomas, Airy Holme, near Darlington.............. II5 . BARONET (62), 5 years old, by Wellington, dam Red Rose, lot 1 in the sale, 1818. Sir C. Loraine, Bart., Kirk Harle, Northumberland..... 350 . YouNG BARMPTON (55), 3 years old, by Wellington, dam a daughter of Juno; lot"3) in the) sale, 1818.7) J: Gralamy ee /. e iick2 ia\ejsieie/ehe/suct- <'s) s)he 130 BULLS ONE YEAR OLD. YouneG LANCASTER (361), by Lancaster, dam lot 3. J. Pearson, Acklam, Cleveland: oe Nees See US Ge era keene ns lee leyetencne Ine eee nee sien cc arey ae 73 Aponis (8), by Lancaster. H. Vansittart, Kirkleatham, Yorkshire...... 50 BULL CALVES. A Licut RoAN, by Barmpton, dam lot 4. M. Culley, Fowberry, North- UnladbbNGl, o\oooadoosdsougdodDo Onde UAH ObOUadD ON DUbOODGOUGOuDO aE 16 EcripsE (238), a light roan, calved in July, 1820, by Barmpton, dam lot Pre) dhs (Cheeigas, Nite, Werden, sob bacloodedapooooddGqabodsedd 100 A Licut Roan, by Barmpton, dam lot 1. Clayton, Halnaby, Yorkshire. 10 SUMMARY. 38 Cows and Heifers, average,......... 4 36 Ios. 4d. £1387 11s. 6d. 8 Bulls and Calves, Sr at sag ti Ria eels II0 15 6 886 4 oO 46 averaged £409 8s. 7d. Total, Shope) si 6 Total of the two sales, £10,126 14s. 6d. Average of 107 head, £94 12s. Iod. Following this last sale we find a running summary of Robert Colling’s herd and breeding in Thornton’s Circular. Although in some parts it has been already given in previous pages, it is so full of connected interest that we insert it entire: ROBERT COLRLING S CATTLE. 83 “ Robert Colling, the elder of the two brothers, was born at Sker- ningham, and when a youth was apprenticed to a large grocer; his health being delicate he returned home and joined his brother Charles in partnership, until Charles went to Ketton, and Robert took the Barmpton farm in the spring of 1783, having previously resided at Hurworth; he often visited Mr. Culley, and imitated many of his principles of farming, more especially turnip growing, and in later years his own farming at Barmpton became high and excellent in every degree. For many years his Leicester sheep, which were obained from Bakewell, were more successful than his Short-horns, and his Ram shows or lettings were continued for many years. Mr. Wiley, of Brandsby, took sheep of him for fourteen years in succes- sion, and upon one particular occasion asked him what a good Short-horn should be like. Pointing to one of his finest tups, called Shoulders (from the excellence of that point), Mr. Colling advised him to breed his cattle like that. B a ‘ch 7 hs? isin ohn i Ate lg Te 2 ‘4 yes Aga} ou (ATHOIVEL LIM GANNIAL..)‘S2ry WA I LV (Gb%) ‘INVIUd AD ‘TOVIMOUN } 1 ag FORMS Pay “LiL aseg Fe THE SRILLERBY HERD: IIl bred laay that she was. Mrs. Booth’s sister, Miss Wright, had an equally keen appreciation of the merits of a good Short-horn, and would stop any one of kindred tastes, who happened to be passing through Cleasby, to have a chat on her favorite topic, or to lead them to the Garth (since known by his name), where in the fullness of his days and honors repose the remains of Comet (155).”* At Killerby the herd was carefully bred, and many fine animals reared, which are duly mentioned and exalted as prize-takers at the shows, truly, no doubt, by Mr. Carr, but which we have not space to record—all being represented in the volumes of the English Herd Books of the times. Among the cows, very deep milkers are occa- sionally named. Mr. Carr remarks: “It does not appear that Mr. John Booth was a very frequent competitor in the show-fields until the establishment of the Royal and Yorkshire Shows in 1839. Before this time Short-horn cattle were kept chiefly for dairy and grazing purposes; the majority of the male stock were steered, and many a fine heifer that took the butcher’s eye was converted into Christmas beef. Necklace and Bracelet [twin heifer calves of Toy, before named] shared the pas- ture and the straw-yard with the ordinary stock of the farm until nearly two years old. As calves they never had more milk than their dam, who suckled them both, supplied; and, throughout the whole of their victorious career, they derived their chief support from the pasture, with a daily feed of corn meal and [oil] cake. Yet Bracelet won seventeen prizes at the various meetings of the Royal Agricul- tural Society of England, the Highland Society of Scotland, the Yorkshire Society, and other local shows; and at the Yorkshire Show in 1841, where she won the first prize for extra stock, the sweepstakes for the best lot of cattle not less than four in number, was awarded to Bracelet, Necklace, Mantalini, and Ladythorn. Necklace won sixteen prizes and one gold and three silver medals at the various meetings above mentioned, as well as at the Smithfield Club, t where she finished her career as a prize-taker in 1846, by winning the first prize of her class and the gold medal (for which there were thirty- seven competitors) as the best animal exhibited in any of the cow or heifer classes.” After relating at some length the practice of Mr. Booth’s close breeding, (for the brothers seldom bred any bulls of strange blood into their herds after they had become permanently established, unless * Vide page 75, ante.—L. F. A. + The Smithfield Show at London, is for fu#, and not breeding animals.—L. F. A. = 112 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. to take a single cross, and then at once to return to the blood of their own stock,) and the names of sundry prize animals of the herd, Mr. Carr remarks: “Jt has been asserted by over-zealous advocates of the system of close interbreeding, that the crosses of Mussulman, Lord Lieutenant, Matchem, and others, introduced scarcely any fresh blood into the Booth herds; for inasmuch as no alien bulls were used but those whose veins were surcharged with the blood of Favorite, the recourse to them was nothing more than a recurrence to, or renewal of, the old family strain; but this is really only what is true of every well- bred Short-horn of the period, and therefore proves nothing. Take any one of them, and trace back the pedigree of each of its progeni- tors (whose numbers of course increase each generation back in a geometrical progression), and this bull Favorite will be found to recur directly and indirectly a surprising number of times. The following elaborate calculations, for which I am indebted to the Rev. J. Storer, of Hellidon, may be quoted in illustration of this: Mussulman is 64 times descended from Favorite; namely, through Magnum Bonum 30, through Pirate 22, through Houghton g, through Marshal Blucher 3; total, 64 times. Lord Lieutenant was 106 times descended from Favorite, and Matchem 52 times. Crown Prince is 1,055 times descended from Favorite, and Red Rose by Harbinger 1,344 times. So the produce of the two are descended from him 2,399 times. But work out the Duchesses or any Short-horns of good blood, and the result will be found very much the same. It will not do, there- fore, to claim bulls as of kindred blood on this ground only. Moreover, it must in candor be admitted by the advocates of in-and- in breeding that a careful consideration of the above facts leads to one unavoidable conclusion. Very strong in-and-in breeding is a totally different thing in our case from what it was in the case of the earlier breeders, the Collings and Mr. Thomas Booth—so different that there can be but little analogy between the two cases. They bred in-and-in from animals which had little or no previous affinity. We breed in-and-in from animals full of the same blood to begin with. In our case the via media, and therefore the wa salutis, would seem to lie in the adoption of two apparently opposite principles— in-and-in breeding, and fresh blood. It is manifest, however, that this latter principle should be acted upon with extreme caution, or to a very limited extent, when it is desirable to preserve and perpetuate the distinctive type of any particular tribe, especially when, as in the Warlaby herd, there is no visible deterioration in symmetry, sub- THE WARLABY. HERD. 302) stance, or stamina, or any want of fertility traceable to in-and-in breeding. Yet even in such cases it is doubtless advisable to have occasional recourse to remote alliances, taking care to have as many removes as possible between members of the same family; or, where using bulls nearly related to the cows, giving preference to such as have been subjected to different conditions of life, it being a well- known physiological fact that a change of soil and climate effects perhaps almost as great a change in the constitution as would result from an infusion of other blood.” * These remarks would, perhaps, be more in place when on the sub- ject of breeding, but finding them here in connection with the Booth system, now under discussion, they will be duly considered by the reader. In July, 1852, the Killerby herd was sold at auction. The sale was largely attended by breeders from all parts of the kingdom. At that time there was an unusual depression in all agricultural values; the prices at which the cattle sold were comparatively low, and did not realize at all what their several merits and celebrity demanded. Some of them afterwards changed hands and sold for thrice the prices they brought at the Booth sale. Mr. J. Booth retained a few choice cows from the general sale, which Mr. Carr says were of “distinguished lineage, and if more recent in their origin, have given rise to other families proved to trace that origin to the herds of the Booths, and the quiet meadows of Killerby.” Mr. J. Booth continued at Killerby until his death, in 1857, when his sons, Thomas C. and John, came into possession of his herd. THE WaARLABY HERD. “Tt is now necessary to take a retrospect of the herd at Warlaby, commencing with the year 1835, when Mr. Richard Booth, inheriting the estate, went to reside there. Mr. Booth’s residence at Warlaby is a modest, unassuming, country house. It stands environed by well-timbered paddocks, in a rich meadowy tract of country, bounded by distant hills, and known as the Vale of the Wiske. It is one mile from the village of Ainderby, of which it is a hamlet, and about three from Northallerton, the central town of the North-Riding, in Yorkshire. The farm, as occupied by Mr. Booth, consisted of 310 acres, about half in pasture; other farms then let off, have since his * Sound physiological principle that should be heeded by all careful breeders.—L. F. A. 8 114 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. ‘death been added to it. The land is better in character than that at Killerby; it is chiefly clayey loam, and grows fine wheat and turnips, and long hay. The pastures are well adapted for cows, but unsuited for sheep, because liable to be flooded. The River Wiske, which still retains its Gaelic name, Uisg (water), being the most sluggish of all the North Yorkshire brooks, and having the shallowest stream- channel, frequently overflows the lower pastures, and large, deep ditches, which have been fatal to many a good cow, intersect the fields to carry off the water. “The house was everything that an old bachelor or his friends could require; and many a visitor there can bear testimony that within its walls reigned supreme the open-hearted northern hospi- tality to an extent that Southrons know not. Many a valuable cup and hard-won medal may there be seen; the portrait of many a prize-taker decorates its rooms; and many a pleasant hour has been spent and ancient story told in that quiet Short-horn home, while the genuine old Squire Refilled his pipe, ‘and showed how fields were won.’ “Shortly after settling at Warlaby, Mr. Richard Booth had quite made up his mind to give up the breeding of Short-horns, and had already sold individual animals from the Strawberry and Moss Rose tribes, when a bantering remark made by a gentleman in the neigh- borhood, to the effect that ‘the Booths had lost their Blood,’ incited him to change his purpose, and put his friend’s assertion to the proof. The Warlaby herd had for some years past been kept very much in the shade, Mr. Thomas Booth having been latterly intent only on breeding useful animals, without aspiring to the honors, or courting the notoriety of public exhibition; but Mr. Richard Booth felt assured that it contained ample materials to enable him to guard the laurels that had been bequeathed to him.” After giving with such luxury of description the home of Richard Booth and its hospitable occupant, Mr. Carr goes into an enumera- tion of most of the animals adopted as the bases of his productive herd, for he had now made up his mind again to heartily enter the list in competition with the other breeders of his vicinity for new laurels and honors. He was an enthusiast in his love of Short-horns, and as we before remarked having no domestic cares to withdraw his attention, his whole mind was directed (as a Short-horn breeder’s should be, if he means to excel) to the propagation and improvement of his herd, and in it he eminently succeeded. THE WARLABY HERD. II5 In glowing rhapsody of almost indiscriminate praise—and we do not say that any portion of his descriptions are untruthful—Mr. Carr occupies fifty further pages with the names of animals which Richard Booth bred, the tribes to which they belonged, the prizes he won, and the applause he drew as a successful breeder. One author relates: “Tt has been reported that Mr. Booth refused for his cow Queen of the May, an offer of 1500 guineas,* the highest price ever bidden for a Short-horn. The circumstances—which are given on the late Mr. R. Booth’s authority—are these: Two gentlemen from America, apparently agents for an American company, came to see the herd, and when they saw Queen of the May were completely riveted by the fascination of her beauty. After dwelling for some time upon her perfections, they inquired of Mr. Booth whether he would part with her. He replied that he ‘would not sell her for the highest price ever given for a Short-horn.’ ‘That, sir,’ said one of them, ‘was, I believe, 1200 guineas?’ Mr. Booth answered in the affirma- tive. They consulted together, and asked him whether he would take 1500 guineas, which Mr. Booth declined to do, remarking that if she bred a living calf, and he had the luck to rear it, she was worth more to him to keep, and they relinquished her with regret, leaving on Mr. Booth’s mind the impression that, if he had enter- tained the idea, even that large amount might possibly not have been their final offer.” It appears, among other things, that Mr. Booth had fallen into the recently growing absurd and destructive practice of “training” his animals for the annual “Royal” and district exhibitions. This was no less than loading them with excessive fat in order to win prizes. This mode of “training” injured them for months, or years, and in frequent instances for life, as breeders, bulls and cows alike, and him- self, in common with others, severely suffered in consequence. Yet knowing the ill effects of such practice, it is still kept up in England, and we fear that it will yet leap across the ocean, to some extent, in America. We trust not, but there is no knowing to what extremes of rivalry our spirited breeders may venture to win the honors so eagerly sought at our public exhibitions. This system, Mr. Carr says, Mr. Booth “strongly deprecated,” but was obliged to fall into it or give up showing his animals in competition at the exhibitions. At Warlaby, in the enjoyment of an ample estate, surrounded by faithful servants, happy in the fidelity of his old herdsman, “Cuddy,” * A higher price has been offered and refused in the United States fora cow. Both offer and refusal were dona fide, as we know.—L. F. A. 116 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. who was frequently assisted in his minor duties by his equally faithful and brave-hearted old wife, “ Nanny;” his trusty fac totum, John White, living on the farm from his boyhood, “who was butler, waiting servant, and valet to him, as well as registrar-general of the births, deaths, and marriages, and all else that transpired in the Warlaby herd,” Richard Booth lived, dispensing a wide hospitality to his friends and acquaintances, and, in his charities, ever mindful of the needy. “When illness had confined Mr. Booth to the house, and Cuddy had become less active, John made it his business, in addition to his household duties, to keep a watchful eye on the cattle—especially the young or ailing ones—in the neighborhood of the house. So admirably did he discharge this self-imposed duty, so methodical were his habits, so retentive his memory, and so scrupulous his observance of his master’s orders, that the ac#ve management of the herd mainly devolved upon his shoulders, and Mr. Booth found him an invaluable auxiliary. “Last, not least, came doughty Willie Jacques, the farm-bailiff, who had been upwards of forty years in the family. He first lived with Mr. R. Booth at Studley, who sent him to Warlaby in the old master’s time, to take the management of the arable land and work people. Willie Jacques’ pride was rather in the nameless nonde- scripts of the farm, the bullocks and half-bred heifers, which converted his marvelous root and clover crops into goodly rounds and lordly barons of marbled beef, than in the pampered aristocrats of the herd, born to consume the fruits of the soil whether earned or not. Proud as Willie was of their triumphs in the show-field, nothing exasperated him like the failure on the part of any of them to contribute their yearly quota towards the increase of the herd. Willie Jacques had a capital head for tillage and general farming, and was always at his post, from which nothing could move him but the Christmas Fat Show at Smithfield. ‘I’se seea thrang I canna gang,’ was his answer to all invitations. Curt of speech and unceremonious in bearing was Willie Jacques in his sturdy northern independence; but get him upon the subject of his kind old master, and all the frost of his nature melted away, and you found that under that dry, almost blunt manner, a heart as kindly as a child’s was hidden. In one of the rooms at Warlaby hung an admirable portrait of this highly respecta- ble and respected steward of the Warlaby estate. “But there was one other personage, to forget whom in a sketch of Warlaby would be fatal to the character of any historian—a person- age who, though seldom visible, has contributed to the visitor, perhaps THE. WARLABY HERD. Ty, not the least comfortable reminiscence which an Englishman carries away with him from any place of passing interest; and that is Ann, faithful Ann, that white-bibbed paragon of natty spruceness—the housekeeper. She came, nobody knows how many years ago, to nurse the, former housekeeper, an old friend of hers, who was ill, and who died at Warlaby; and Ann continued until Master could find one to suit him, which he never did, and so Ann remained still; and many are the visitors who can testify to the excellence of the pigeon ples, apricot tarts, and other delectable cates, which those brisk and clever hands have fabricated.” This is a delightful picture, and we are happy to chronicle it in such happy connection. “The good old man” died with the resig- nation of a Christian, October 31, 1864, at the ripe age of seventy-six years, and was buried “beneath the shade of the old gray tower of Ainderby, which looks down upon the scene of his useful and quiet labors. But Warlaby is there still, and his kith and kin retain its hall and herd.” We here take our leave of Mr. Carr and his interesting history, and can only refer those wishing further particulars relating to the recent breeding of the Booth stock, to the book itself. The present Thomas C. Booth succeeded to the Warlaby estate, and a considera- ble part of the herd, on the death of his uncle Richard. The labors and sagacity of the Booth family—father and sons—whatever merits may be truthfully given to their contemporaries, place them, with the Collings, in the roll of benefactors. As to the improvements made by the Booths in the style or merits of their stock we have little, if anything to say, as so many of their cattle, and their direct descend- ants, are now alive, both in England and America, that every observer can form his own individual opinion. In their practice of breeding they followed the Collings; that is, breeding chiefly within the blood of their own herds, only going beyond them when they supposed by such course they could supply a deficiency of quality, and that object achieved, returning to their own blood as the polar star of their progress. ‘That they bred eminently fine cattle no one will dispute; but whether they have proved preéminent in a@// the fine qualities which ferfect a Short-horn, those conversant with them will judge. They have a style, in some respects, peculiarly their own, and as with all other animals of prominent mark, have their warm advocates, as well as those who look upon them with less favor. 118 HISTORY OPEL EE SHOR i OR Nis: GiCAGP dE Revave Tuomas BATES—HiIs SHORT-HORNS AND THEIR BREEDING. PARTIALLY contemporary in time, but much younger in years, Mr. Bates came onto the stage during the full career of the Collings and the elder Booth. He established himself as a breeder in the later days of the Collings, and obtained his earliest Short-horns directly from Charles, and afterwards from the herds of Robert, which formed the foundation for his ultimate success in breeding. We have recently been favored with a book entitled “ Zhe History of the Improved Short-horn or Durham Cattle, and of the Kirkleaving- ton Herd, from the Notes of the late Thomas Bates, with a Memotr by Thomas Bell, Brockton House, Eccleshall, Staffordshire.” ‘The book contains 375 pages, small octavo, compiled by one who intimately knew Mr. Bates, and for many years was a tenant and herdsman on a portion of the very considerable farm which Mr. Bates occupied at Kirkleavington, not far from Darlington. Of Mr. Bates, we have for more than thirty years past known somewhat, both in his various writings, from what other Englishmen have written about him, and from men on both sides of the Atlantic, who were personally acquainted with him and his herds of cattle, so much as to learn his personal character, his manner of breeding, and the extent of success which he achieved in the long course of his action. From Mr. A. B. Allen, of New York City, who visited Eng- land in the year 1841, and for some time was a guest of Mr. Bates, we obtained the first particulars of him as a Short-horn breeder, and through Mr. A., as editor of the “American Agriculturist,”’ he was first prominently introduced to the acquaintance of the Short-horn breeders of the United States. A few of his animals had previ- ously—in the year 1834—come to America through the purchases of an importing company formed in the Scioto Valley, Ohio. Not long afterwards he sent over, as a present, to Kenyon College, in Ohio, two or three animals. In 1840 he sold to Mr. George Vail, of Troy, N. Y., a bull and cow, which will be hereafter noticed. THOMAS BATES’ BREEDING. 12 ge) While at his home in 1841, Mr. Bates told Mr. Allen that he intended to write a history of the Short-horns for publication, and had already made many notes for that purpose. That history, how- ever, he never wrote out, nor published. From those notes and various letters and other publications left by him, at a period of twenty years after his decease Mr. Bell has compiled his book, together with various collateral matter drawn from the writings of others, and inter- spersed with occasional notes of his own, some few of which are original with himself. Of Mr. Bell’s book, its matter and compilation, we have but little to say, as a Zterary labor. It lacks methodical arrangement. It has not even an index, other than the discursive titles at the heads of its several parts, or chapters, and they in no consecutive order of sub- ject, time, or place. Its chronology is deficient, few dates being given, and what there are of them playing hither and thither in ambuscade, as may happen during a period of sixty years, disjointed and difficult to connect. In the absence of quotation marks in the text, we hardly know what is the composition of Mr. Bates, and what the compiler’s, except by guess, while the various letters and public addresses of Mr. Bates and others are appropriately marked, but in the same disordered arrangement of time as the other parts of the work; yet, by close examination, we can understand them. The book is not, in fact, a lucid history of either the Short-horns, or even of Mr. Bates, or his cattle breeding, but rather loose memoranda and sketches of history left by Mr. Bates and others. We exceedingly regret that during his life time Mr. Bates himself could not have written out his memoranda—for he was capable of doing it—and left to the world an intelligible general Azstory of the Short-horns, as well as those of his own breeding. Such a work should have been done by an Englishman, capable of performing it. To obtain a continuous narrative of Mr. Bates’ proceedings one is obliged to skip over numer- ous pages, and then turn back to keep a thread of his “history,” and arrive at a clear understanding of his action. Still, there is much valuable matter scattered throughout the book which, by diligent research, the reader may appropriate and digest into important information. Yet, bating its deficiencies, we are thankful for the work Mr. Bell has given us, as some new facts, through Mr. Bates’ version of them, are stated in his memoranda, containing important information, which, if not hitherto secret, or but partially known, throw light on disputed questions, setting previous inaccuracies at rest. 120 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Although from what we had previously learned of Mr. Bates, we deemed him a man addicted to controversy, prejudices, and crotchets, his writings now show him actually to be such, for his biographer has covered nothing of these foibles, although his compilations truthfully illustrate him as of unexceptionable private character, and decided moral worth. The crowning ambition of his life to breed and furnish the world a herd of Short-horns that should exhibit to posterity his skill as a breeder is fully developed. So much for the book.’ We propose to give from this and other authorities a synopsis of Mr. Bates’ life and proceedings in all that is important to be known relat- ing to him and his stock-breeding career, without either partiality or prejudice, and if in the course of our remarks we sometimes touch on his inconsistencies, or censure his assertions, it will only be in the cause of truth and accuracy of historical facts. With all his partialities and prejudices, Mr. Bates was sound in heart and morals; he blurted out his opinions irrespective of whom they pleased or offended, and if he sometimes made enemies, he had also his warm, attached friends. He was rather tory in his politics, a decided “ protectionist,” and an advocate of the “corn laws” in prin-. ciple; a statesman to some extent, in his teachings, which his early good education, together with his naturally broad and clear observa- tion of the times, had helped him to become. He was kind to the poor, liberal in his charities, both private and public, a sound adhe- rent of the established church—rather of the “low” order—a com- panion and associate among the most intelligent classes of men, and like others of generous sympathies, loved the distinction and honors that were frequently conferred upon him. His personal habits were abstemious and temperate; his hospitality was open, genial, and lib- eral, to peer, or peasant; his hand ever free to the claims of distress ; his conversation winning, and open-hearted, abounding in well-told anecdote, and sparkles of wit; his affections kindly, and although a life-long bachelor, he loved children, whose companionship was always a source of pleasure to him. In short, bating his minor eccentricities of character, like very many Short-horn breeders of his own and the present day, Mr. Bates was—a GENTLEMAN—with some oddities. Thomas Bates was born on one of the estates belonging to the Dukedom of Northumberland, in the year 1775, in the valley of the river Tyne, on a place called Tyneside, at Ovington Hall, of a respect- able family, among the elder branches of which had been a Member of Parliament, a Professor in the Colleges, and a Divine of the Church. In his boyhood he was early sent to a grammar school; afterwards THOMAS BATES’ BREEDING. 21 spent a considerable time in the University at Edinburgh, and received a good education. Being of rather a slender constitution, and studious in habit, he was intended for the Church; but that calling not suiting his more active temperament, he chose agriculture as a profession. He began his agricultural education at Aydon Castle, in the neighborhood of which lived George Culley, an emi- nent stock breeder and agricultural writer, from whom young Bates in his frequent intimacies took sound lessons in his newly-chosen pursuit. This period of his life must have been at about sixteen or seventeen years of age; but according to some of his own remarks in later years, he speaks of knowing the Collings and their stock as early as 1782. So early a day, however, we think a mistake, as in that year he could only have been five or six years old. There are other anachronisms of date in some of his narrations of events, inad- vertent, possibly, but which, if true, would make him many years older than he is stated. In an article written by him in 1842, he says: “Tt is zow above sixty years since I became impressed with the im- portance of selecting the very best animals to breed from, and for twenty-five years afterwards lost no opportunity of ascertaining the merits of the various tribes of Short-horns.” This would put his birth back some years anterior to 1775, the date given by his biogra- pher, as he could scarcely be expected to have much judgment in the way of cattle before he was at least twelve or fifteen years old. There may possibly be an error as to his birth in 1775, as we have heard it remarked by several persons who knew him not long previ- ous to his death in 1849, that he must, from appearances and his own statements, have been at the time of their conversations with him, although active and vigorous, quite eighty years of age. The fact, is now of little consequence; but that at a very early age he had imbibed a passionate love of farm stock, there can be no question. After a few years at Aydon Castle, and under his majority, he became a tenant farmer under his father on the estate of Park End, in the vale of North Tyne, where he showed his aptitude for farming and improving land, fencing, and various other economies in agricul- ture. There he remained until the year 1800, when he took the extensive farm and estate of Halton Castle, also in Northumberland, where he began stock rearing and grazing on his own account. It appears that he first adopted the Kyloes, or West Highland cattle, which it was the custom to drive in large numbers from the rougher lands in Scotland down to the richer farms of the north of England, to fatten for market. Soon afterwards, these not altogether suiting 122 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. his purpose, he made a visit to the Collings, and was attracted by the superior qualities of the Short-horns of their several herds. He saw the “Durham Ox,” bred and reared by Charles, and the peerless “White Heifer that Traveled,” bred by Robert, and immediately concluded to adopt that blood for his future breeding. At this point it may be well to mention that Mr. Bates had by gifts from his father and his own earnings come into possession of several thousand pounds, with which to commence and prosecute farming and stock breeding on a considerable scale, and although a “tenant farmer,” a comparatively large amount of capital was necessary to. establish himself in that branch of business. “At entering on the farm at Halton Castle he received from his father many excellent cattle, and also the improved Leicester sheep. He also obtained some Cleveland bay horses, which at that time had been bred to great perfection on Tyneside. ‘The swine, and even poultry, did not escape his attention; but it was to his herds of cattle that he devoted his greatest attention. He bought cows of Messrs. Colling in 1800, but I can find no record of them.”* It appears that so far as the Short-horns were concerned he soon made a determination to obtain the very best animals which his purse would command, of unimpeach- able blood, and without regard to the profits he should make from them, establish a herd second to none other, and found an enduring reputation as a breeder. ‘This determination, therefore, may be the key to the various controversies in which he was afterwards engaged, and the acrimony with which some of his future correspondence with other breeders was tainted, and into which he was probably goaded by their accusations upon him. Of positive convictions, and deter- mined purposes, he had the pecuniary means to prosecute his plans, and hesitated at nothing which should honestly accomplish them. On looking over the Colling herds his attention was peculiarly attracted to the stock descended from the “Stanwick,” or first “Duchess” cow (of which Charles had become possessed in 1784), and the bull Hubback, which it did not appear that Colling himself so highly appreciated as to retain it solely to his own use. In a letter written by Mr. Bates to “ Zhe New Farmer's Journal,” in November, 1842, he gives this account: “Having purchased my original cow Duchess [calved in 1800, got by Daisy bull (186)], of this tribe of cattle, of the late Charles Colling thirty-eight years ago.” With some notes on several remarkable animals which he had seen * Bell’s History, pp. 119-20. THOMAS BATES’ BREEDING. 123 of this stock, he continues: “TI selected “his ¢ride of Short-horns as superior to all other cattle, not only as small consumers, but as great growers, and quick grazers, with the finest quality of beef. My first Duchess calved at Halton Castle, June 7, 1807. She was kept on grass only, in a pasture with nineteen other cows, and made in butter and milk for some months above two guineas per week.” Not know- ing the prices of either milk by the gallon, or butter by the pound, at that time, a statement of the quantity of each, which the cow made, would be more satisfactory to readers of the present day. The pedigree of his original cow, above named, of the Duchess tribe, runs thus: Got by Daisy Bull (186) [Daisy Bull was by Favor- ite (252), dam by Punch (531), gr. d. by Hubback (319)], out of Duchess, by Favorite (252),—Duchess, by Hubback (319),—(Stan- wick) Duchess, by James Brown's red bull (97). This cow Mr. Bates took to his farm at Halton Castle. Finding by the use of Short-horn bulls on his Highland cows how wonderfully it improved their size and quality as feeding animals, he was now fully confirmed of their superior value when in their purity of blood. The cow “Duchess, by Daisy Bull,” had produced Charles Colling a heifer, by Favorite (252), before, and in the same year that Bates purchased her, which heifer Colling retained. The year succeeding that in which Mr. Bates purchased the cow, she produced the bull Ketton (709), also by Favorite, which he retained for his subsequent breeding. Producing no heifer calves to him, Bates sold the cow in the year 1809, to a Mr. Donkin. While in the latter hands she bred several calves, but her heifers, if she had any, left no produce. At seventeen years of age, having done breeding, she was fed off and made an excellent carcass of beef. She was always a great milker. Having his eye continually on this Duchess blood, at the final sale of Charles Colling’s herd in 1810, a two-year-old heifer, “Young Duchess,” by Comet (155), dam by Favorite (252), gr. d. by Daisy Bull (186), etc. [this gr. d. being the same “ Duchess, by Daisy Bull,” previously purchased of Colling by Mr. Bates], was advertised in the herd to be sold. She was a granddaughter of “Duchess, by Daisy Bull,” and as will be seen by the pedigree above mentioned, closely interbred to the blood of Favorite (252). This heifer Bates deter- mined to possess, but fearing to openly bid for her himself, (as AZrs. Colling, who was as shrewd and knowing a manager in the cattle line as her husband, and had well known of Bates’ predilections for that blood, might covertly run her up to an exorbitant price,) he got another party to do the bidding, and the heifer was struck off to him at 183 124 HWISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. guineas (a trifle over $900).* Much chagrin was afterwards mani- fested by the Collings when they found that Bates was the purchaser, and Mrs. C. declared to him that had they known it was his bid that was made, the heifer would have been run up to twice or thrice the amount before he could have taken her! So it appears there was some chicanery practiced in those early days of cattle sales. Bates, however, triumphed on the result of his bargain, as in this heifer he had secured, as it afterwards proved, his grand success and crowning . glory as a Short-horn breeder. He called the heifer Duchess rst, (the first one of her tribe recorded in the Herd Book,) and in his hands she became the founder, on the female side, of his Duchess tribe, which he exclusively bred for thirty-nine years afterwards, and which are continued in the hands of several owners in England and America to the present day. Mr. Colling had been in possession of the tribe since he bought the original Duchess (Stanwick) cow, in the year 1784, twenty-six years previous to this transfer of Duchess rst to Mr. Bates, so that the tribe on the side of their dams at the present time shows an unbroken lineage of eighty-eight years. In 1821 Mr. Bates left Halton, and removed to a farm of 300 acres, at Ridley Hall—whether in Northumberland or Durham, we are not informed—which he had purchased (tenant right, we suppose) in 1818, and remained nine years, until 1830; but the place not alto- gether suiting him, and being rather inconvenient of access, he purchased Kirkleavington, an estate of about rooo acres, in the valley of the Tees, and removed there in that year. He had now, by vari- ous manipulations and profitable trades in the disposition of his farms and otherwise, together with a legacy from an aunt, become possessed of about £20,000 ($100,000), which afforded him ample means with which to prosecute his cattle breeding and. other labors, and gave him leisure to take part in the political, as well as econom- ical questions of the day, touching the agricultural interests of the country. Kirkleavington is thus described: “It is pleasantly situated on rising ground in the vale of Cleveland, and mostly on the new red sandstone formation. It contains some excellent grass land. It had been the seat of the Percys, and afterwards belonged to the Strath- more family, and was many years occupied by the Maynards, well * The only bull of the pure Duchess blood in Colling’s possession at the 1810 sale—Duke (226)—was sold to Anthony Compton, Carham Hall, Northumberland, for ro5 guineas. | rit ie 7% i : nies an oy | * a & *, 1 aia Pos aaiel et ai} de se a REE (155). DUCHESS ist, BY COMET. THOMAS BATES’ BREEDING. 125 known in Short-horn history.”* To Kirkleavington, in the midst of the famed Short-horn localities, which surrounded it, he brought his cattle stock of the several families of which it was at the time com- posed. In possession of Duchess rst, by Comet (155), in the year 1810, he had worked industriously on by the use of the “ Ketton” bulls, with her breeding. Down to the year 1819 that cow had produced him four heifer calves, viz.: Duchess 2d and 34d, by Ketton rst (907); Duchess 4th and 5th, by Ketton 2d (710); and one bull [Cleveland (146) ], by Ketton 3d (349). These Kettons were solely of the Duchess tribe, and as closely interbred as may be imagined, which their pedi- grees will show. Yet it appears that Mr. Bates was not altogether satisfied with the exclusive use of the Duchess blood in his bulls. He once remarked to a gentleman who told us the fact, (and we have seen the same statement under his own name,f) that he at one time offered Robert Colling roo guineas ($500) to have his rst Duchess, by Comet (155), served by his “White bull” (151), whose dam and granddam were both by Favorite (252). “White bull” was of the “Princess” tribe, closely related to the Duchess, but strangers on the remote d m’s side to the blood of the latter, she running back several gen- erations to “Studley bull” (626). Colling refused the offer, and Bates was disappointed. Down to the year 1831 Mr. Bates had bred thirty-two Duchess cows, and in the production of all he had used his bulls of purely Duchess blood with the exceptions of Marske (418),{ which was sire to Duchess 7th, 8th and 9th, and Young Markse (419), § which was sire to Duchess 11th. Still, having no other resource that suited him for a bull outside of his own herd, and holding an abiding faith in the value of the Duchess blood beyond any other than what was contained in “Colling’s White bull” (151), and which latter blood, in the crosses that he particularly liked, had hitherto been out of his reach, he bred on with his Duchess bulls—after the Kettons—Cleve- land (146); The Earl (646); The 2d Earl (1511); The 3d Earl (1514); and 2d Hubback (1423),|| down to the year 1831, in which * Bell’s History, p. 131. + Bates’ letter to ‘‘ Mark Lane Express,”’ written in 1842. + Marske was bred by Robert Colling, calved in 1806, got by Favorite (252), dam by Favorite (252),—by Favorite (252),—by Punch (531),—by Hubback (319),—by Snowdon’s bull (612),—by Masterman’s bull (422),—by Harrison’s bull (292),—by Studley bull (626), a pedigree full of the best blood. § Young Marske was got by Marske (418), out of Duchess 4th, by Ketton 2d (710), etc. He was of thorough Duchess descent excepting the cross through Marske, his sire. | 2d Hubback was but half uve Duchess blood, being got by The Earl (646), out of Red Rese ast, by Yarborough (705),—The American Cow, etc. 126 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. his 32d Duchess (the last one begotten exclusively by the Duchess bulls, with the exception of the Marske and 2d Hubback crosses) was calved. With the production of Duchess 32d, Mr. Bates halted, and wisely. From the possession of his Duchess 1st, in 1810, for a period of twenty-two years, we find but thirty-one of her female descendants recorded in the Herd Books. Phere were, meantime, sundry bulls dropped from them, but mostly sold to other breeders, excepting those which he had used in breeding, and even they had been, during some seasons, let out for service to various parties. ‘The simple fact was, the Duchess cows, as a whole, had not been prolific, or constant breeders, through abortions or other causes, and whenever they passed a year or two without breeding, he fed off and slaughtered them.* ‘The bulls descended from them showed no lack of virility, and Bates still contended that the tribe had increased in their fineness of quality, were admirable feeders, and good milkers when breeding. He was at a stand how further to proceed, and was really—unhappy. He had little faith in the blood of his neighboring breeders, however good many of their ¢zzd@vidual animals might have been, (a crotchet of his own, perhaps,) and although he had tried one or two of their bulls on some of his other tribes of cows, he did not, except in two or three individual cases, risk his Duchesses with them. From his occasional attacks on their blood (for he was prone to speak his mind freely of what he either liked or disliked) he had somewhat aroused their ire, and could find no relief in anything they had to offer him, if indeed, any offer of their assistance was made. He would not go to the Booths, as they contended that four crosses of well-bred pedi- gree bulls, on good, well-bred cows, originally without recorded pedi- grees, were sufficient for the establishment of standard blood. Nor would he go to Mason, Wetherell, Maynard, or any other of the old breeders for a bull, as he found some flaw or other, more or less, in their pedigrees, or with being tainted late in the last century with the “Alloy” (Galloway) blood of Charles Colling, through the “Grandson of Bolingbroke” (280). Hearing that Mr. John Stephenson, living at Wolviston, about twelve miles distant, had some stock descended from the Princess tribe of Robert Colling (and of which Stephenson had become pos- sessed through Sir Henry Vane Tempest, and his wife, the Countess of Antrim, who had years before bought it from Colling), he rode * Bcll’s History. “eu! yy hid. wo we¥2 Ay wel 4 Lee a re 4 : 3 (1706). BELVEDERE. THOMAS BATES’ BREEDING. 127 over there one day to see whether he could find anything to suit him. In passing a stable on his way to the house, through a window Opening into it, he spied the fead of a bull which immediately excited his curiosity. He went in and there saw Belvedere (1706). He proceeded to the house, met Mr. Stephenson, and asked his price for the bull. He had used him several years, being then, in 1831, six years old, and not caring for further use of him, a bargain was struck. The next day Mr. S. drove the bull to Kirk- leavington, and Mr. Bates paid £50 (#250) for him. The bull’s pedigree was fully ascertained to the satisfaction of Mr. Bates, being essentially of the blood of Robert Colling’s White bull (151), through descents of the same character, and he thus became established for some years, as the future breeding bull of Mr. Bates’ herd. His pedigree is thus given in Vol. 3, English Herd Book: “(1706.) BELVEDERE.—Yellow roan, calved April 6, 1826, bred by Mr. Stephenson, the property of Mr. Bates, Kirkleavington, near Yarm, got by Waterloo (2816), dam Angelina 2d, by Young Wyn- yard (2858),—Angelina, by Phenomenon (491),—Anne Boleyn, by Favorite (252),—Princess, by Favorite (252) [bred by R. Colling, and own sister to his White bull (151)],—by Favorite (252),—by Hubback (319),—by Snowdon’s bull (612),—by James Masterman’s bull (422),—by Mr. Harrison’s bull [bred by Mr. Waistell, of Burdon] (292),* bought of Mr. Pickering, of Sedgefield, by Mr. Hall.” __ With the possession of Belvedere, in the next year he had by him two Duchess heifers—33d from Duchess rgth, and 34th from Duchess 29th. In 1833 he had one heifer, Duchess 35th, by Gambier (2046) [by Bertram (1716), bred by Mr. Whitaker, an outside cross alto- gether from his Duchess tribe]. In 1834 he had two Duchesses, 36th and 37th, by Belvedere. In 1835 he had 38th Duchess, by Norfolk (2377) [bred by Whitaker, got by 2d Hubback (1423), one-fourth part Duchess and the other three-fourths good blood, running back into the Colling stock], and Duchess 39th, 4oth and 4rst, by Belve- dere. In 1837 he had Duchess 42d and 43d, by Belvedere, which were the last heifers of the tribe got by him. On the introduction of Belvedere to his herd Mr. Bates used him freely on his other tribes in which his crosses will be found on exam- ination of their pedigrees in the Herd Books, up to the year 1837. Having had the use of him now six years, and needing him no * These figures, in the Herd Book, are a mistake, being (669), which we have corrected. (669) is Waistell’s bull, got by Masterman’s bull, in Belvedere’s Herd Book pedigree. (28 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. further, as he then had several young bulls got by him of Duchess and other families; and determining that his blood go no further directly into other hands than his own, he had him slaughtered. In the year 1838 we find three Duchess heifers, 44th, 45th and 46th, were produced by Short Tail (2621) (calved in 1835, by Belvedere, out of Duchess 32d), and in 1839 three more, 47th, 48th and 49th, (48th and 49th being twins), also by Short Tail. This bull, although fine in quality, was inferior in size and not commanding in appearance, yet Mr. Bates always said he was one of the best getters he had used. He bred him freely to many of his cows outside of the Duchess tribe. In the last named year (1839) he also had one Duchess, soth, by Duke of Northumberland (1940) (calved in 1835, by Belvedere, out of his own daughter, Duchess 34th, having two direct crosses of Belvedere in him). The crosses of Belvedere on the Duchess, as well as on the other tribes of cows belonging to Mr. Bates, as he had anticipated, proved eminently successful, as had also those of Short Tail and Duke of Northumberland. The fame of this last named bull has been so widely spread, both in tradition and history, that a further notice of him is scarcely necessary. His pedigree is fully shown in the Eng- lish Herd Book, and his qualities are familiarly known wherever the Short-horns are intelligently bred.* His dam, Duchess 34th,t was a remarkable cow, both as a milker and in the exceeding symmetry of her form. At a year old she broke one of her legs, and was con- fined in the stable, most of the time in slings, for the better part of a year. Yet, when recovered, she grew up a stately cow, although from her constant milking and continuous breeding, she was usually low in flesh. She was never but once exhibited at a show, and then at nine years old, took the first prize over one of—if not the very best show cows in England at the time—Mr. Booth’s famous Neck- lace, at four years old. DuCHESS 34TH OFFERED TO GO TO AMERICA. There is one fact which—years ago—we had publicly stated, and since repeated, relating to this cow, which was that Mr. Bates early * While Mr. Bates owned Duke of Northumberland (and he died his property) he was at vari- ous times offered almost fabulous prices for him, but would not listen to any of them, deter- mined that so good a bull should never go out of his own possession. + Duchess 34th produced six living calves, viz.: Duke of Northumberland (1940), 2d Duke © of Northumberland (3646), and Duchess 43d, all by Belvedere ; also Duchess 46th, and 3d and 4th Dukes of Northumberland (3647) and (3649), by Short Tail (2621). Duchess 34th also produced one premature birth, and another bull calf, which lived but two months, making eight calves in all. Page 128. DUCHESS 34th, BY BELVEDERE. (1701). THE MATCHEM COW. 129 in the year 1834 offered to sell her, then two years old, to Mr. Felix Renick, to be taken to the United States. This fact has been dis- puted here—but only on the wegative testimony of a party who went out with Mr. Renick, and did not personally hear either the offer or its refusal. To set the truth of the fact at rest, which we stated (as received in the year 1841, from Mr. A. B. Allen, of New York, to whom Mr. Bates himself told it), we quote from a letter of Mr. Bates to Mr. Renick, written a year or two after the latter was in England: “Broken Leg (Duchess 34th), I offered you at 100 guineas. If you were to send twenty times that sum for her and her produce, I would not take it now.” ‘The full letter is found in “ Bell’s History,” p. 227. She had, when the letter was written, produced the bull Duke of Northumberland (1940) to Mr. Bates, and it proved fortunate for him that Mr. Renick did not take her. We here temporarily leave the Duchess tribe to notice a new intro- duction into his herd, viz. : THE MATCHEM Cow, By which we arrive at another era in the choice breeding of Mr. Bates through the infusion of a new cross of blood into his Duchess tribe, and the history is too important to be omitted. We condense it from Mr. Bates’ own account, as given in “ Zhe Mew Farmers’ Journal” (English), dated August 6, 1841. “I purchased her in 1831, she then being four years old, at the sale of Mr. Brown, who had purchased her granddam at public sale many years before. The catalogue of Mr. Brown’s sale only stated that the cow was by Matchem (228r),* and her dam by Young Wynyard (2859). The pedigree then traced no further—the original owner of the stock being dead previous to the sale [at which Mr. Brown bought her|—but I have since learned from those who knew the stock for many years, that the greatest * The published pedigree of Matchem (2281), E. H. B., states that he was got by Bonny Face (807) or St. Albans (1412), but the fact has since been generally conceded among the older breed- ers that St. Albans was the true sire of Matchem. St. Albans was a pure Princess bull, being got by Wynyard (703), out of Nell Gwynn, by Phenomenon (491),—Princess, by Favorite (252),—by Favorite (252), etc., running back through Hubback (319) to Studley bull (626). An odd story, connected with St. Albans, is related by Mr. Dixon in “‘ Saddle and Sirloin.” The bull was at first called ‘ Prince,’ and fell into the hands of a Mr. Wood, who did not at all appreciate him, and sold him to a dutcher, whom Mr. Mason covertly engaged to buy him for #20 ($100). Three years afterwards Wood being at Chilton (Mr. Mason’s place), he caught a glimpse of St. Alban’s ead, then fifteen years old, and exclaimed: ‘' Why, this zs my old Prince; he was bought to kill.’ Mason, however, better knew the value of the bull. He had re-named him St. Albans, and bred him in his herd, and the bull thus became the sire of a noted progeny.—L. F. A. 9 130 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. attention had been paid to their breeding, and that the former owner had only used bulls of the Wynyard or Princess blood from the time the late Sir Henry Vane Tempest purchased that tribe from the late Robert Colling, now near forty years ago.” * To this Princess blood, as has already been observed, Mr. Bates had always been attached, and now, in this Matchem cow, from her appearance, and what he had learned of her breeding, he hoped for good results in her produce—a/fter his own manner of obtaining them. When he purchased her he put her into the hands of his tenants, Messrs. Bell, for whom, including those in Mr. Brown’s hands, she bred five, what Mr. Bates called, ¢zferior calves, from being put to what he, in his criticising temper, called inferior bulls. He took the cow from the Bells at the price he originally paid for her, £11 ($55), believing that if bred to his own bulls of the Duchess tribe, she would breed first class stock. Matchem Cow was white in color, of good size and symmetry, and a most excellent milker, to which latter quality Bates was always partial, and strived to promote through the whole course of his breed- ing. Her sire, Matchem, on his dam’s side, run back into the Favorite, Foljambe, Hubback and Maynard blood; so that the cow was considered by Mr. Bates to be a proper instrument to work a fresh infusion of blood into his own Duchess tribe, although the latter had been crossed but a few years before into the blood of Belvedere. The cow came into Bates’ herd early in 1833, and in November fol- lowing she produced a roan heifer calf to Gambier (2046), of which calf we have no account beyond her birth; but Matchem Cow being put to Duke of Cleveland (1937) (by Bertram (1716), out of his 26th Duchess), she produced in November, 1834, Oxford Premium Cow, so called from having afterwards taken the first premium at the “Royal” Show at Oxford in the year 1839. t * In the recorded pedigree of the bull Young Wynyard, he is stated to be bred by the Countess of Antrim. ‘This lady bore that title in her own right of descent, altogether independent of her then husband, Sir Henry Vane Tempest, who was only a Baronet in title, and of course less in rank than his wife, she having the legal right to retain her title irrespective of the name of her husband. It was on herestate of Wynyard that the bull Young Wynyard was bred ; and although both husband and wife bred Short-horn cattle, each had them as their own personal properties. The Wynyard bulls and the cows from which they were descended, were through three crosses by Favorite (252), bred back to Hubback (319), and for several generations beyond, to the original ““cow bought of Mr. Pickering,” about the year 1739, all of Robert Colling’s Princess tribe.— L.F. A. + Two of Oxford Premium Cow’s bulls afterwards came to America ; one, Locomotive 92 (4242) [by Duke of Northumberland (1940)], for Mr. J. C. Letton of Kentucky; the next, Duke of Wellington 55 (3654) [by Short Tail (2621)], for Mr. George Vail, Troy, N. Y. In January, 1836, Matchem Cow also produced a bull calf by Duke of Cleveland—made a steer ; in December of AMABLID; IDO) (lel sS) WIR eae 131 After growing up, fit for service, Mr. Bates bred the rst and 2d Cleveland Lads, and 2d Duke of Oxford (9046) (by Duke of North- umberland, out of Oxford 2d, above mentioned) to more or less of his Duchess cows, until the year of his death,in 1849. Thus the two families of Duchess and Oxford (Matchem Cow), became incorpo- rated, and the bulls of either tribe were severally used to both classes of the cows, not only during Mr. Bates’ life, but they have been, with few exceptional crosses by bulls of other good blood, so continued to the present day, under the more general term of “the Bates blood.” The female descendants have, however, always been kept separate in both name and classification of Duchess, or Oxford, running back in their own female genealogies; but now, after so long an interbreeding of nearly forty years, become almost of identical blood. RETURN TO THE DUCHESS TRIBE. Following the year in which Duchess 50th, by Duke of Northumber- land (1940), was calved, in 1840, came Duchess 51st, by Cleveland Lad (3407). In 1841 came Duchess 52d, by Holkar (4041) (mainly of Belvedere and Duchess blood). In 1842 came Duchess 53d, by Duke of Northumberland. In 1844, Duchess 54th, by 2d Cleveland Lad (3408), Duchess 55th, by 4th Duke of Northumberland (3649), and Duchess 56th, by 2d Duke of Northumberland (3646). In 1845, Duchess 57th, by 2d Cleveland Lad (3408). In 1846, Duchess 58th, by Lord Barrington (9308) (with three direct Bates crosses in him). In 1847, 59th Duchess, by 2d Duke of Oxford (9046), and 6oth, by 4th Duke of Northumberland (3649). In 1848 came 61st, 62d and 63d Duchess, by 2d Duke of Oxford; and in 1849, 64th Duchess, by 2d Duke of Oxford, being the last of the Duchess heifers calved in Mr. Bates’ possession. We have been thus minute in enumerating the Duchess tribe while in Mr. Bates’ hands, to show with what pertinacity he adhered to his own plans of breeding, and how he concentrated in them the strains of blood which he considered most valuable to effect his purposes. It was not, as he always remarked, simply to make money out of the same year she produced Cleveland Lad (3407) ; in March, 1838, 2d Cleveland Lad (3408) ; and in April, 1839, the heifer Oxford 2d, all three of them by Short Tail (2621). From this last calf of Matchem Cow, Oxford 2d, with the exception of Oxford 4th, calved in 1843, by Duke of Northumberland, which is the last calf Oxford Premium Cow produced, all the legitimate race of Oxford’s bulls and cows have proceeded. Having produced ten calves Matchem Cow was put dry, and after feeding, made a carcass of 850 pounds of beef. Mr, Bates described her as being remarkably healthy, hardy, and an extraordinary milker. 132 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. them—and which, in fact, he never did—but to achieve a success in breeding up a herd which should, in future hands, carry his name down to posterity. In this he succeeded after an anxious labor of forty years, as is fully evinced in the almost fabulous prices at which they have been sold and still sell—$3,o00 to $5,000 each, and even more than the latter price for bulls, and much higher prices for cows, when they can be purchased at all, which is seldom; in such close corporation do their owners hold them that such an event in Short- horn history is properly worth recording. Nor, need these prices be altogether called infatuation. Many noblemen, as well as common- ers in England, who can wield the purses, and intelligent, enterpris- ing men in America, who have the spirit and means at command, are eager to purchase and breed one or the other, or both the “Duchess” and “Oxfords,” and when they feel unable or unwill- ing to grapple with the “pure Bates” in its fullness, they strive to get all they can of the blood wherewith to cross their herds. Such is the fact, in the year 1872; and although a succeeding generation may call it a folly, yet the additional fact that the use of this blood on both sides of the Atlantic has improved the qualities of many of the Short-horn race, and increased their popularity with their breed- ers, proves that the result has been both good and profitable. Notwithstanding the above laudatory remarks, let it be understood by the reader that we take no sides in the question of the superior merit of the “Bates stock” over many others of different strains of blood and breeding. We only write Azstory. There no doubt may be, and are, individual animals of divergent blood, and miscellaneous breeding, of pure Short-horn stock equally good—possibly better than the average animals of the “Bates stock,” and perhaps equally valuable for practical uses. Of this each one will judge for himself; we wish, in our remarks, to prejudice nothing. Mr. BATES’ OTHER TRIBES. Of the Oxford tribe, from the year 1834 to the year 1849, inclusive, Mr. Bates had bred fourteen females. Of the Waterloo tribe (the first cow got by Waterloo (2816), dam by Waterloo (1816), being two crosses by that bull, as we find in her pedigree, Vol. 3, E. H. B., which he bought at Thorpe, Durham), Mr. Bell’s history gives the following account written by Mr. Bates: “T have seen the gentleman who bred the Waterloo cow, lately, and he stated to me that he and his father had had the breed for fifty BATES OTHER TRIBES. 133 years, and that they were well descended all that time, having had a Son of Comet (155), and other blood before the cross of Waterloo (2816).” Of these Mr. Bates bred, from 1832 to 1849, inclusive, from the original cow, twelve females. Of the Red Rose tribe, springing from the original one he bought of Mr. Hustler, (descended from the “American Cow,” previously mentioned,) from the year 1821 to the year 1833, inclusive, he bred eleven females. Taking a premium with the 13th of the.tribe, calved in 1834 (the 12th in descent from the original, Red Rose rst), at the Cambridge Exhibition, she was afterwards called Cambridge Rose, and the successive heifers of the Red Rose family were called Cam- bridge Rose down to the year 1849, inclusive, of which there were seven in number, making eighteen of the entire number of females descended from the original cow. Of the Wild Eyes tribe, Mr. Parrington, of the Middlesbro’ farm, near Stockton, on the river Tees, a good Short-horn breeder, sold his herd (Mr. Bell says in the year 1831, but this must be a mistake, as the birth of the calf which Mr. Bates bought there with her pedi- gree in the 3d and 5th Vols. E. H. B., is dated in 1832), and Mr. Bates bought a roan heifer calf called Wildair; but after going to his farm she obtained the name of Wild Eyes. She was got by Superior (1975), dam by Wonderful (700), etc. (This cow has, by some, been confounded with the famous cow Wildair, bred by Robert Colling, but not so, being of altogether different descent from her.) The full pedigree of the tribe is recorded in the cow Wild Eyes 26th, imported by Mr. Cochrane, of Canada, Vol. 9, p. 1008, A. H. B. Of this tribe Mr. Bates bred from his first calf bought of Mr. Parrington from the years 1835 to 1849, inclusive, twenty-nine females. Of the Foggathorpe tribe, Mr. Bates bought the original cow Fog- gathorpe, of Mr. Edwards, Market Weighton. She was then ten years old, got by Marlbro’ (1189), out of Rosebud, by Ebor (997), etc. Her full pedigree is in Vol. 5, p. 386, E. H. B. From her descended five females, bred by Mr. Bates from the year 1840 to 1850, inclusive—the last calf being dropped after Mr. B.’s death. Many bulls, and possibly some females, were sold from these tribes, but no females from the Duchess and Oxfords, during the years that Mr. Bates was breeding them. Of the latter two families we have seen no account in other hands previous to his decease. The females were all bred to Mr. Bates’ Duchess and Oxford bulls, with few exceptions, and the exceptions possessed much of their blood. 134 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. CoLors OF THE Bates HERDs. It may be of some interest to know the prevailing colors attached to the various tribes of Mr. Bates’ breeding; not that we deem any particular color or shades, ot admixtures of color, from deep red to pure white, objectionable—all being equally legitimate in Short-horn blood—but there was more uniformity in the colors of Mr. Bates’ herd probably than in any other large one of his time. To trace back the colors of the ancestry of Duchess rst, by Comet : The original one of the tribe—the Stanwick Cow—was a yellowish red roan; her sire, J. Brown’s ved bull, of course, was red in color. What was the color of her daughter, by Hubback (he was yellow-red and white), we are not informed; but the granddaughter, Duchess, by Daisy bull (his color not given), was red roan, with some patches of white intermixed. Of the other daughter, by Favorite (he was roan), we have no information; but her daughter, Bates’ Duchess 1st, by Comet (he was light roan), was red and white, the red largely predominating, The bulls, Ketton rst, 2d and 3d, which Mr. Bates used for the next seven years in the Duchess breeding, were mostly red, with some white. Marske (418), the next bull, was roan. The next bull, Cleveland, was red and white. Young Marske, red and white. The Earl, yellow-red, some white. The 2d and 3d Earls, both red and white; 2d Hubback, yellow-red and white. These were the bulls used down to the year 1832, when Belvedere was brought into the herd. All the Duchesses descended from these bulls down to the 32d, inclusive, were red and white (the red largely predominating over the white), excepting the 12th, red, and 19th, which latter was yellow-red. Belvedere was yellow-roan in color. Six of his Duchess heifers were roan; three red and white, and one red; the only Duchess heifer calf got by Gambier (red) was red also; the only one got by Norfolk (roan) was also roan. Short Tail (red and white) got five red and white, and one red, heifers. Duke of Northumberland (red roan) got the first and only pure white heifer ever bred by Mr. Bates of the Duchess family, and another roan heifer. Cleveland Lad (red roan) got one Duchess heifer, roan. Holkar (deep red with little white) got one Duchess heifer, red and white; 2d Cleveland Lad (roan) got one red, one red and white, and one roan Duchess heifer; 2d Duke of Northumberland (red and white) got but one Duchess heifer, red and white; 4th Duke of Northumberland (red COLORS OF DHE BATES HER DIS: 135 and white) got two red heifers. Lord Barrington (red and white) got one Duchess heifer, red; 2d Duke of Oxford (roan) got two roans, one red roan, one red and white, and one red heifer, the last one finishing up all the Duchesses of Mr. Bates’ breeding. Matchem Cow, the original dam of the Oxford tribe, it will be recollected was white, and from her came the lighter colors which fol- lowed in her progeny, all of her seven calves, after coming into Mr. Bates’ possession, being roans, and red roans. Only one of the heifers of this tribe was white. She was Oxford 3d, by Duke of Northum- berland (red roan), out of Oxford Premium Cow, roan; another of them was red and white, by the same bull, and out of the same cow; another was red and white, and all the others roan. Of the Waterloo tribe, four were roans, four red, three red and white, and one yellow-red and white. Of the Red Roses, nine were red and white, and two roan, and of their successors, the Cambridge Roses, three were roans, one white, one red and white, and one red. Of the Wild Eyes, seventeen were roan, two red, six red and white, one yellow-red and white, and two white. Of the Foggathorpes, the original dam was roan, and of the pro- duce one was white, the next one red and white, and the remaining three roan. It will thus be seen that of all Mr. Bates’ chosen tribes the red and white largely prevailed in his Duchess and Red Roses; the roans in the others, and the whites were seldom found in either. We draw no inferences either of partiality or prejudice which Mr. Bates had “in the way of colors, only stating the fact as matter of history. To the present day red, and red and white, prevail in the Duchess, and red and white, and roans prevail in the Oxfords, with now and then a rare exception of white in either tribe, while the other tribes have been so widely scattered and crossed by other and divers bulls, that we can scarcely keep track of their colors as having any fixed peculiarity. It may be asked, Was Mr. Bates successful in winning prizes on his stock at the various exhibitions of Short-horns held in England during the time of his breeding? As we find among his numerous communications on that subject, he was, as a rule with himself, opposed to prize exhibitions of his stock at the various cattle shows, for the reason, as he remarked, that there were few men among the judges usually appointed on these occasions, fit for the duty. He once remarked that “there 136 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. were a hundred men fit for a Prime Minister where there was one competent to act as a proper judge of Short-horns.” He did occa- sionally exhibit, however, and won more or less first prizes; but in some cases afterwards, insisted that his inferior beasts did the win- ning, while his best ones were overlooked—one of his crotchets, possibly. He only exhibited his stock on a few occasions, and those, in time, a good way apart, except in the years of “The Royal” in 1839, ‘40 and ’41, when he was highly successful, mainly in his Duchess and Oxford animals. During his whole cattle breeding career Mr. Bates bought, bred and sold, many other good Short-horns, with an eye no doubt to profit, for we cannot well conceive his philanthropy, except in his Duchess tribe, to extend so far as not to turn his labors to the best advantage, while it is quite certain that in the long-continued breed- ing of his Duchess tribe, other than in the bulls he sold, he played a losing game in a financial way, and won only on the posthumous fame with which his name will long be remembered. One important item connected with Mr. Bates’ success as a breeder should not be omitted. Instead of turning his stock over to the exclusive care of herdsmen, as is the practice of many Short-horn breeders, he looked carefully over them himself—although he always had one or more herdsmen to do his bidding—fersonally saw to all their wants, and knew every small particular relating to them. He loved his cattle, and almost made companions of them. ‘They would follow him all around the fields and yards when he went in to look at them. He would fondle them lovingly, talk to and familiarly pat and caress them, while they in return would rub their heads along his body, legs, and arms, lick his hands, and playfully chew the skirts of his coat. So affectionately would they hang about him while he was among them that his herdsmen could not drive them. On one such occasion his cowman not being able to get the cattle away from Mr. Bates, and getting quite irritated, exclaimed: “I wish you’d keep out aft’ way. You do fa’ mair ill than good, for they won’t leave you, and there’s no driving them.” * Mr. Bates had another peculiarity which accounted for his usually having a superfluous number of bulls on hand which he did not use, or but seldom. He would neither sell, nor let bulls, except to parties who had first class cows to put to them, remarking that the bulls would do cm no justice when bred to inferior cows. “One day Mr. * Bell’s History. COLORS OF THE BATES HERDS. 137, Wetherell selected two of his bulls at Kirkleavington, which Mr. Bates said he would sell him. Mr. Bates inquired about the herd into which he, Wetherell, proposed to send the bulls. The latter asked, in reply, ‘of what consequence is that, so long as you get the money for them?’ Mr. Bates rejoined, ‘he would not sell any man a bull unless he knew the herd to which he was going, for if the cross did not answer, a@// the blame would be attributed to the bull.’ Mr. Weth- erell, on leaving, could not refrain from expressing his opinion in strong terms in regard to Mr. Bates for refusing to sell his cattle at high prices, so long as he got paid for them.”* There have been few breeders, we fancy, so fastidious. When a good bargain is offered for a beast they wish to sell, little regard is paid to its destiny. Much more might be here related of Mr. Bates and his Short-horn career, as we find a great deal written by him, and of him, in sundry English magazines and journals, some of which is copied into Mr. Bell’s history. Another pleasant, gossipy writer, “ Druid,” whose real name was Dixon, now deceased, related much of him in his “Saddle and Sirlgin,” a book containing various desultory information about cattle and horse breeders in England within the last thirty years. But they would add little to the substantial fund of information which we have already given, or may yet give, touching the Short-horns and their breeders; and we have no space for repetition of what does not immediately concern our history; nor do we wish to overload our pages with matter tending to an undue exaltation of Mr. Bates and his stock over other breeders and their stocks—equally meritorious in their exertions to improve the quality and blood of their herds. But, it is time we close with Mr. Bates. His character has been sketched, faithfully, as we trust, as a man of unflinching integrity and stern honesty of purpose, and if he sometimes indulged in undue partialities towards his own, and unjust prejudices towards the stock of rival breeders, in which the fallibility of his judgment was exposed, we must remember that both he and his herds were also subjected to the attacks and criticisms of others, which may have tried his patience and vexed his temper. In a brief memoir of Mr. Bates, highly creditable to his character, in the Harmers’ Magazine for the year 1850, the writer thus closes: “ Active in mind, temperate in his habits, nay, I may say abstemious, for he tasted no intoxicating liquors for some years before his death, and living almost in the open air, he knew little of disease, and seldom, * Bell’s History. It is not so stated, but we infer that the bulls were not taken.—L. F. A. 138 HUS TORY (OR (RIE VS HOR TARO RIN'S. if ever, consulted a physician. A month before death, however, his health began to fail, a disease of the kidneys became painful and harassing, and he went to Redcar to try the effects of the sea air, but which, so far from removing, seemed only to increase the malady. It was sometime before he could be prevailed on to consult a med- ical adviser, and when he did he refused the greater part of his medicine. “He gradually sunk and died on the 26th day of July, 1849, and was buried in the church-yard at Kirkleavington. A monument was erected to his memory by a few friends and admirers of his exertions in stock breeding, with the following inscription: THIS MEMORIAL OF THOMAS BATES, OF KIRKLEAVINGTON, ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED BREEDERS OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE, IS RAISED BY A FEW FRIENDS WHO APPRECIATE HIS LABORS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF BRITISH STOCK, AND RESPECT HIS CHARACTER, BORN 21ST JUNE, 1776—DIED 26TH JULY, 1849.” * s THE SALE OF Mr. Bates’ HERD AND THEIR ENGLISH SUCCESSORS. Mr. Bates left a will bequeathing a considerable estate principally to two or three nephews. The only one of these engaged in agri- culture was settled in Germany, and had no time or opportunity of attending to a herd, so that it came to be sold on the goth of May, 1850. One of the nephews of Mr. Bates, living at Heddon, in North- umberland, but then residing in London, who we understand was a lawyer, was made his executor, and wound up the estate, a valuable portion of which lay in his cattle and other farm stock. There were some other difficulties we have learned, arising out of the conditions of the will, with a threat by some of the dissatisfied heirs, to throw it into chancery. The stock was expensive to keep, and troublesome, for one not acquainted with it, to manage. Added to these embar- rassments, Short-horn cattle generally were low in price at the time. Rival breeders also had their eyes upon them, and hoped to drive good bargains at the sale; and it is stated that Lord Ducie, who, in the event, became a considerable purchaser, tried an underhanded scheme for a part of it, which, however, the executor detected and foiled. The sale had been widely advertised, and as might be sup- posed, the final disposition of the herd of such a noted breeder drew * Bell’s History. SALES OF THE BATES HERDS. 139 alarge attendance. The animals were arranged in their several tribes, and sold as follows: DucHESS TRIBE. AM GOW Sis acta sicicaicte care savele ols Hite) Gk SPELOHELS Rota rains ainsi der oaieletstans 442 0 Tebveiter’ Califia cere crejaveverctensto 162 15 ZI il EA Gloess OOD AD CED ODA HOG 625 16 7 VWU (CalhieS ag coe ocodenacoT 75 12 I4 41627 10 Averaging $581 each, Of the Duchess females, Lord Ducie bought Duchess 55th, 5 years old, at $551; 59th, 2 years old, at $1,050; and 64th, 9 months old, at $813. ; Of the bulls, the same gentleman bought 4th Duke of York (10167), 3 years old, at $1,050. Grand Duke (10284), 2 years old, was also sold for $1,076. The other animals of the tribe were sold at lesser prices to different English breeders. OXFORD TRIBE, AY COWS od scscraietsttiesie reise cists £288 15s. A InISWMS, 6 Sasbooob00 COO boNC 95 II Amideiter Calves cteet- is eee sie < 303 9 SMB USA eis crave esis e ares. cisinieee, ws 206 17 13 ; 4894 12 Averaging $313 each. Of the Oxford females, Col. Lewis G. Morris of Mt. Fordham, N. Y., U.S. A., bought Oxford 5th, 5 years old, got by Duke of Northumberland (1940), for $370; also Oxford roth, 16 months old (daughter to Oxford 5th), by 3d Duke of York (10166), for $267; and Mr. Noel J. Becar, of New York, bought Oxford 13th, a 4 months’ calf of Oxford 5th, by 3d Duke of York (10166), for $330. These cows came to America, and proved successful breeders. No other animals at the sale were then purchased by any Americans. WATERLOO TRIBE. DNGOWSy Serge cereeleccuie were. 4101 17s. BRILEULCES sya xe erercjes, we Seto erent I80 12 Mylverten Calfvas tistes sc cores 74 II 6 435700 Averaging $297.50 each. 140 HISTORY OF LE SHORT OR NIS. CAMBRIDGE ROSE TRIBE, Ti COW eae ease iormeesike 447 58 TREVEILED, sisi oenatn steven ciel sees teve 73 10 Tebleifers Galina iei-rervereve se 26 5 3 4147 0 Averaging $245 each. WILD Eves TRIBE. OQRCOWS Ree eer rete custehe sistss £328 138 PMT ITOTS wee perets pane (clisteialiozes ctoke 430 10 Oueletfera Calves emi taieusel one: (Gyre Zi ly Sig naoooe ue polO Ups Ook 254 2 SB all @allvies ile cy altel steele eles 126 oO 25 £1203 6 Averaging $241 each. Of the bulls of the Wild Eyes tribe, Balco (9918) [by 4th Duke of York (16167)], then 15 months old, sold for $813. He was after- wards purchased by Col. Morris, of Mt. Fordham, N. Y., and brought to America. FOGGATHORPE TRIBE. QUSOWS HAA ese ener eien ore 4 74 IIs Tt Pleifers ality; aya sicvelenteresere: 31 10 Ag Bulls Memvaereeee atc cicisierens 222 12 7 £328 13 Averaging $235 each. Total amount of sale, 68 animals, £4,558 1s.—$22,240—average $327 each. What a paltry price compared with what their descendants would bring now, in 1872! For a herd sustaining the reputation which it had acquired under the long-continued management of Mr. Bates, aside from the adverse circumstances which we have related, the above prices will be con- sidered remarkably low; but it must be remembered that all agricul- tural values were at a low ebb in England, and cattle of the better breeds had sunk to their minimum depression. Mr. Bates’ executor was also but little practiced in cattle management, and the herd had been measurably neglected, both in care and appearance, from what they would have been had their old master been living. Yet most of the animals fell into good hands, who well appreciated their value, and in the space of a few years rose to a reputation, and brought prices never before reached in England. LORD DUCIE’'S BREEDING AND SALES. I4I Lorp Ducier’s BREEDING AND SALES. While we have the herd of Mr. Bates in hand we will trace its history to a recent day, when a part of it fell into the hands of his American successors. We have seen that Earl Ducie bought three of the female Duchesses and one of the bulls at the Bates sale. He also bought two of the female Oxfords—6th, 4 years old, and 11th, 9 months old, at $656 each. These animals he added to a herd he had already established, of superior quality and excellence. He was a gentleman of liberal spirit in expenditure; enthusiastic in his love of good stock; and determined to maintain a herd of Short-horns equal to, if not the superior of, any other in England. He purchased good things at liberal prices, never balking at the money value when the creature suited him. His health, however, was delicate, and he lived but about two years after the sale of Mr. Bates’ herd. Mean- time he had bred his stock with marked judgment and success; the value of good Short-horns had rapidly advanced, and the reputation of the “Bates” stock—particularly the Duchess and Oxfords—had increased in public favor, so that when in the month of August, 1852, Lord Ducie’s executors made a sale of his entire herd, the occasion brought together an array of breeders such as had not been gathered in England on any like occasion since the days of the Collings. The sale had been for some time announced, and several American gen- tlemen crossed the ocean for the purpose of attending it and making purchases, expecting to compete with the elite of England’s breeders if successful in effecting them. Nor were the Americans mistaken. They did meet the English breeders on their own soil, outbid and outpurchased them of some of the best animals in the herd, as follows : Mr. Samuel Thorne, of Thorndale, New York, bought the cows Duchess 59th, by 2d Duke of Oxford (9046), 5 years old, for $1,837; Duchess 64th, by 2d Duke of Oxford (9046), 4 years old, for $3,150; Duchess 68th, by Duke of Gloster (11382), 1 year old, for $1,575. (Duchess 68th was killed by the falling of a mast on shipboard, while on her passage to America.) Messrs. L. G. Morris and N. J. Becar, of New York, purchased the cow Duchess 66th, 3 years old, for $3,675, and she (Duchess 66th) was the only one of the Duchess tribe coming to America which left any female descendants now living. These gentlemen also pur- chased the bull Duke of Gloster, 2763 (11382), 3 years old, for $3,412. 142 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Mr. Thorne also purchased of Mr. Bolden the bull Grand Duke, 545 (10284), formerly sold at Mr. Bates’ sale in 1850, for $5,000, and brought him to America with his other purchases. A few years after- wards Grand Duke becoming disabled, Mr. Thorne also purchased 2d Grand Duke, 2181 (112961), bred by Earl Ducie, at the price of $5,000, and brought him to America. Mr. George Vail, of Troy, N. Y., and Gen. George Cadwallader, of Philadelphia, purchased the bull 4th Duke of York (10167), 6 years old, at $2,625, but he unfortunately died on his passage across the ocean. The other animals of the Duchess, Oxford, and other tribes, passed into the hands of various English breeders. Several of the descend- ants of the Duchess have since come to America; among them one bull, Duke of Airdrie, 9798 (12730), and his dam, Duchess of Atholl, by 2d Duke of Oxford (9046), in the hands of Mr. R. A. Alexander, in Kentucky, and three heifers, Duchess 97th, rorst and 103d, to Mr. M. H. Cochrane, Compton, Province of Quebec, (Lower Canada.) Of the Oxfords, one, Grand Duke of Oxford, 3988 (16184), was imported by Mr. Sheldon, Geneva, N.Y. Of the Duchess and Oxford Semales, there are now in England and America, some scores in num- ber. The females are held in but few hands in England, and a less number in the United States and Canada. The bulls, however, have been widely scattered, and sold at prices commensurate with the values which breeders partial to their blood place upon their merits. The sale of Lord Ducie’s herd was the highest in price which had taken place since that of Charles Colling in the year 1810, but rela- tively to agricultural prices in England at the two periods (Colling’s at a time of great inflation, and Lord Ducie’s at a time of compara- tive depression), the latter sale was by far the highest, averaging $700 per head for 49 cows, heifers, and heifer calves, and $959 each for 13 bulls, making for the 62 animals the round sum of $46,809, an aver- age of $723 each, within a fraction. To follow in detail the result, separately, of the Duchess and Oxford tribes, at Lord Ducie’s sale, we give a synopsis of each: 8 Duchesses (females) sold for £3,212 1os. 5d. averaging nearly $2,008 each; 4 Oxfords (females) sold for £876 15s., averaging nearly $1,096 each. In addition to these were the before named Duke of Gloster, at £682 ros. ($3,412), and 4th Duke of York, at £523 ($2,625), and 5th Duke of Oxford to Lord Feversham, at £315 or $1,575. LORD DUCIE’S BREEDING AND SALES. 143 Mr. Bell tells a story of Lord Ducie after the purchase of 4th Duke of York (10167), at the Bates sale, which is so characteristic of the monopolizing spirit of some of the English Short-horn breed- ers, that we suppose it to be true. “He sent his agent out to buy the bull 3d Duke of York (10166) (a Duchess bull), then in other hands, that he might slaughter him [Bates fashion], and prevent his blood being used by other breeders, in which he succeeded, and had the bull remorselessly killed, thus supposing he had secured to himself, in his own 4th Duke of York, the only remaining one of the blood; but meeting Mr. Tanqueray shortly after, in London, his Lordship asked him what he was doing in the Short-horn line; to which Tan- queray replied, ‘I have just come into possession of 5th Duke of York (10168).’ With evident chagrin Ducie answered, ‘I had lost sight of Azm.’” So his barbarity, as well as selfishness, in sacrificing a noble beast was thus signally punished. 144 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. CE Ea Raa Mr. Bates’ INFLUENCE ON THE SHORT-HORNS—DID HE IMPROVE THEM? THAT a sagacious, intelligent man, devoting nearly sixty years of an active life to the breeding of a favorite race of animals, divested of family cares, enthusiastically attached to his stock, selecting his original herd from the best blood of the country, and concentrating all the energies and skill at his command to their highest develop- ment, should not succeed in improving their qualities to a greater or less extent, would prove him to be a dullard, or that he worked upon a race of animals incapable of any further development. Neither of these conclusions will be credited to the labors of Mr. Bates, or charged to the qualities of so fine a race of cattle as the Short-horns. During his life no one had greater opportunities to know the origin and lineage of every noted Short-horn in England. In his younger days he was contemporary, acquainted with, and on friendly terms with most, if not all, the substantial and reputable breeders of the country, and after the Collings had retired no one probably knew the pedigrees of the earlier herds of the country any better than, if so well as, himself. In his own private copy of the first volume of Coates’ Herd Book, he made extended notes of the ancestry of many of the earlier cattle therein recorded, beyond what the printed pedi- grees contained, and these notes, of the bulls, we have had the privi- lege of copying into our own. At the close of his life he probably knew more about Short-horns than any man in England. He had seen Hubback, Foljambe, Bolingbroke, Favorite, and Comet, and many of their contemporaries, male and female, together with the other most noted bulls and cows of his time. He had been intimate with the herds of the Maynards, the Wetherells, the Booths, the Wrights, the Charges, the Masons, the Hutchinsons, as well as their many younger contemporaries. He knew the superior as well as inferior qualities which their herds possessed. Probably no man in England was a better judge of cattle than he, and at his death he left THE BATES IMPROVEMENT. 145 a herd which challenged the admiration of numerous Short-horn breeders on both sides the Atlantic—and that admiration has not abated with the increasing generations of their progeny. In this assertion we know we are trenching on delicate, if not debatable ground. Yet the prices which they have brought for many years past, and still bring, bear indisputable evidence of the fact, whether those prices are based on sound judgment, or fancy only. We do not assert that for general practical uses the Bates stock are really better than very many animals of more miscellaneously, yet well-bred herds, but in their deeply concentrated blood giving it the power of transmission into others, they are much admired and widely sought. On Mr. Bates’ death the animals of his most cherished blood were quickly appropriated by a few who had long been partial to their merits, and wielded purses to command their possession. £200 to £300 ($1,000 to $1,500) would then buy any Short-horn in England. Three years afterwards it cost £600 to £1,000 ($3,000 to $5,000) as we have seen, to buy the same animals, or their produce, in close competition between Englishmen and Americans, and prices both in England and America have since ranged even higher for both bulls and cows of favorite strains of their blood. The above remarks are made with no invidious reflection upon the valuable stock of other breeders, or their herds. There are many herds, as well as individual animals, both in England and America, of the highest excellence; but with the exception of the Booths, there has been no herd of Short-horns so closely interbred as that of Mr. Bates, and containing so strong and deep a concentration of blood, and the bulls from which have stamped more strikingly their several individualities upon stranger herds. Not that these cattle in themselves shew such marked superiority over many others, but from their long compacted genealogy and careful breeding, they impress their own characteristics upon their progeny in a greater degree than others which, through their divergent crosses, have not been so com- pactly bred. Hence their highly estimated value, as certified by the auctioneer’s hammer, as well as in private sales. Let the public, if they will, call men fools, or enthusiasts, who pay those exhorbitant prices, but when we see veteran breeders, life-long in the pursuit, as well as those of less experience, doing so, it may well be supposed there is something in it beyond mere assumption, caprice or fancy. Who in England ever produced such bulls with their z”-and-in bred crosses as, early in this century, did Charles Colling in Comet (155), by Favorite; thirty years later, as did Bates in Duke of Northumber- IO 146 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. land (1940), by Belvedere; or, still thirty years afterwards, as did Richard Booth, culminating in Commander-in-Chief (21452), by Velasco—and all of them with cows to match? And yet, with all this emphasis, we do not say that there have not since been equally good bulls as these, and cows also, bred in both England and Amer- ica; but they have not yet achieved the wotoriety of the others, although a future day may prove that some of them do excel even Comet, Duke of Northumberland, or Commander-in-Chief. The critical reader may here make a note, and accuse us of writ- ing up the Bates and Booth blood of cattle. Not a word of it... We only state facts that cannot and will not, on mature examination, be contradicted. Almost every herd of note, in either England or America, has more or less of these bloods in their veins. In no well- bred Short-horns whatever can be traced so many crosses back as into the bull Favorite (252), bred by Charles Colling. His blood was the foundation of the bulls of the elder Booth, afterwards of Bates, in both bulls and cows, and also many other of the contemporary, and through them of numerous later English and American herds. Let the pedigrees be traced and the fact will so prove. If the brothers Colling, one in his thirty, and the other in his forty years’ career of breeding, were pronounced by their contemporaries to be “improvers,” why not the elder Booths and Bates, Mason, Lord Althorpe, and numerous others of the elder, and their younger fol- lowers, making their original selections from the Colling bloods, and appropriating the best cows they could secure from others, and breed- ing them with skill, adhering almost throughout to the original blood, and their better qualities have been improvers also? Charles Colling may not, during his life-time, have bred a finer one than the Stanwick Cow (his original Duchess), or the “beautiful Lady Maynard ”—as he himself acknowledged—which he bought of his elder contempo- rary, Mr. Maynard; but he had the sagacity to keep their blood as compact as possible by breeding in-and-in their progeny to a depth and endurance which stamped it almost in perpetuity through the successive bulls and heifers proceeding from them, thus transmitting their qualities down to present generations. ‘The elder Booth copy- ing from him, and procuring Colling bulls, which he used upon cows of his own selection for their superior merits from other breeders, did the same, and so following, did Bates, only that the latter had the good fortune to obtain some of the Colling cows, which Booth did not; the latter, as we have already stated, selecting his original cows from neighboring herds, looking only to their good qualities, without COMMANDER IN CHIEF (21451) Trea one ACR d ry cn Swabs OF BATES AND BOOTH CATTLE. 147 any regard to pedigree, other than the fact that they were true Short- horns. Thus his pedigrees ending in such cows are shorter than those of the Bates’ Duchesses, as well as of several other breeders whose pedigrees run back to the earliest Short-horn records. Still, with all their excellencies of quality, the styles of the Booth, and Bates, and some other herds have been and are still different in some of their valuable as well as fancy points. Each one adopted his own standard of excellence, each strived to attain it, and both of them succeeded to a greater or less extent. We do not propose to institute a comparison of their qualities. Rivalries and competitions ran high between the elder Booths, Bates, Mason, and other of the elder breeders while living, and it is not impossible that equal rivalries and competition may now exist among the admirers of their different bloods, as well as in the bloods of other distinguished breeders. It is a noble, a praiseworthy competition, and so long as honorably con- ducted, altogether commendable. 148 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. CHONG IDIN Wil Tue ELDER SHORT-HORN BREEDERS CONTEMPORARY WITH THE COLLINGS AND THEIR IMMEDIATE SUCCESSORS. Or the elder breeders, we regret that no clear history of their labors reach us ‘except incidentally, as we find occasional references to them in the scanty agricultural publications of their day, and trace the pedigrees of their stocks in the earlier volumes of the English Herd Books. John Maynard was the senior of the Collings in breed- ing, Charles having bought in 1786 or ’7, his cows Lady Maynard, and her daughter, Young Strawberry, from Maynard’s herd. ‘There were the Blackets, the Aislabies, the Milbanks, the Pennymans, the elder Stevenson, and others, anterior to the Collings, whose names have been incidentally mentioned in our previous pages, who bred famous cattle, but of them we have been able to glean few particu- lars. The first volume of the English Herd Book, published in 1822, contained the names of but about one hundred and forty breeders, including the Collings, Booths, and Thomas Bates. Among the immediate contemporaries of the Collings, and the elder Booth, was Christopher Mason, of Chilton. He bred largely, pos- sessed a valuable herd, purchased and used bulls from the Collings, and many noted animals of the present day are found descended from his stock. He was among the first class breeders of his time, and made a large, if not final sale of his herd in the year 1829, of which Lord Althorpe (afterwards Earl Spencer) purchased quite a number. The larger breeders, whose names are in the first Herd Book, aside from those already named, were Lord Althorpe, of Wiseton; Messrs. Alderson, of Ferrybridge; Bower, of Welham; Cham- pion, of Blythe; Charge, of Newton; Coates (first editor of the Herd Book), of Carlton; Compton, of Northumberland; Curwen, of Cum- berland; Earnshaw, of Ferrybridge; Gibson, of Northumberland; Hutchinson, of Stockton; Hustler, of Acklam; Ibetson, of Denton Park; William Jobling, of ; Anthony Maynard, of Morton-le- Moor; J. C. Maynard, of Harlsey; Col. Mellish, of “@stler.on THE EARLIER AND LATER BREEDERS. 149 Audley; Parker, of Sutton House; Parrington, of Middlesbro’; Rob- ertson, of Ladykirk; Rudd, of Marton; Seymour, of Woodhouse Close; Simpson, of Babworth; Smith, of Dishley; Spoors, of North- umberland; Sir Henry Vane Tempest, of Wynyard; Thomas, of Chesterfield; Col. Trotter, of ; Wiles, of Bearl; Wetherell, of Kirkby-Malery; Whitaker, of Greenholme; White, of Loughborough ; Wright, of , and Wright, of Cleasby. Aside from the above list appear the names of many small breed- ers, some with only one, and others representing only a few pedigrees each. All the breeders above named reared and sold animals of repute, and many of them of marked distinction. We can name but a few of the sales that were made and the prices their animals brought; and even those we can name are found only in fragmentary reports given in the agricultural journals of the time, or since recorded on the recollection of contemporary breeders. Some of the older ones of these breeders sold cattle to the Collings; other younger ones obtained some of their animals from the Collings, either directly, by purchase, or indirectly by hiring their bulls. At the time of Lord Althorpe’s death, in 184-, his herd numbered about one hundred and fifty. His legatee, Mr. Hall (the cattle hav- ing been left to him), soon afterwards disposed of them at public sale. One bull brought 400 guineas ($2,100), another 370 guineas ($1,942), and some of the cows 200 guineas ($1,050) each. Lord Althorpe (afterwards Earl Spencer) was a liberal breeder, and enthusiastic in his attachment to the Short-horns. He many years kept, and had at his decease, probably the largest herd in Eng- land. He was a bachelor, or if married, left no children, and his estate and title descended to his brother, who had no taste for cattle, which is probably the reason why the elder brother gave his herd to Mr. Hall. Lord Althorpe corresponded frequently with Mr. Bates, visited him at his home and bought some cattle of him. With how much skill his Lordship bred his animals we are not informed, although he paid much personal attention to them during the leisure time he could withdraw from state affairs. As we find many excellent Short- horns which trace their pedigrees into his herd, there can be little doubt that he bred many first class animals. Mr. Jonas Whitaker, of Greenholme, Otley, although a large cotton Manufacturer, was an extensive breeder, and had many fine cattle. All, or nearly all, of our American Col. Powel’s importations in the year 1824, and afterwards, came from Mr.Whitaker’s favorite tribes, together 150 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. with many others afterwards purchased by American breeders and brought to the United States. Sometime after the sale of Robert Colling, Col. Trotter, who was a purchaser there, sold three cows from that stock to Col. Mellish for £2,210, equal to $3,683 each. Col. Mellish afterwards sold one of them to Major Bower, of Welham, for 800 guineas ($4,200). In view of such authenticated sales we can have no doubt that many of the successors of the Collings, the elder Booth, Maynard, Wetherell, and their contemporaries, sold many choice animals at extraordinary prices, showing the right estimate still maintained of their excellence. We regret that we have been confined to sucha limited early account of individual sales. Yet if we had them it would hardly be necessary to multiply the many decided evidences of Short-horn values. Succeeding the efforts of the Collings and their contemporary breeders, the merits of the Short-horns gained widely in public esti- mation and popularity, not only in the counties comprising their ancient homes, but they were eagerly sought by the larger land-owners among the nobility and gentry of neighboring, and even distant coun- ties, as well as tenant farmers—the former to encourage the improve- ment of the breeds of neat cattle on their estates at large, and the latter to improve and render more valuable their own individual herds as the most profitable stock they could rear. ‘Thus the number of pure-bred animals increased in a more rapid ratio than ever before, while their crosses upon the common and baser breeds multi- plied indefinitely, both as grazing and dairy stock. It would be an exhausting, if not impossible labor, to enumerate all the various breeders of established Short-horn blood in Great Britain since the days of the Collings. The names of the most prom- inent among their contemporaries, and immediate successors, have already been given, and for those who have since entered the ranks the pages of the English Herd Book must be examined. But to show their extent, these breeders can be numbered by many hundreds, among them the Royal household, every order of nobility—titled women as well—and descending in rank through every intermediate class of ownership to the well-to-do tenant farmer. Not that we ignore other valuable breeds of cattle which, from time immemorial, have existed in Britain and elsewhere, and have maintained and still maintain their advocates and breeders; nor do we claim a wniver- sal favor towards the Short-horns beyond all others; but they have developed such prominent qualities of excellence as to render them DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHORT-HORNS. I5I beyond any other breed, both in pure bloods and grades, the now most widely predominating stock of any adstinct race of cattle. Never were the prices paid for choice animals in England so high as now, and never were animals of choice and fashionable blood so eagerly sought. For many years past they have, in large numbers, been exported to the neighboring continent and to various English colonies—in the latter, mostly to Australia and the Canadas—while men in the United States for fifty years past have purchased and brought out hundreds of their choicest breeding, and still are annually draw- ing from the British herds their most cherished blood. Strangest of all, English breeders are now almost annually sending to America to purchase and take home to the land of their ancestors some of the descendants of the cattle which years ago they parted with, declaring in such instances, a positive improvement over many of their own animals which they kept at home. And this improvement in the American cattle they consider derived from our fresher pastures and the skill with which they have been bred. Such a concession may be considered no mean tribute to the enterprise of our American breeders! ‘Thus, for the present, we take leave of the Short-horns in England, and proceed to their successors in America. Mideast)! (easel, OUR ssa (CLO UIN DY Mati i sta cn i ti) HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. (Cols IP NBR a PAVING THE SHORT-HORNS IN AMERICA. Tue date of the first arrival of puwrely-bred Short-horns in the United States is uncertain. Tradition has informed us that a few Short-horn cattle were introduced here from England soon after the Revolutionary War, which separated the American colonies from the mother country, the treaty of peace between the two countries being made in the year 1783. We have no recorded evidence of the fact from any printed chronicles of the time, although men not long ago living, and some still alive, have stated on what they believed good authority, that such was the fact. The best evidence at our command will be given, and if it be not such as will commend the purity of the blood of these animals to breeders of good Short-horns at the present day, they will at least have the benefit of what knowledge exists, and draw their conclusions as best they may from the material which we have gathered. We have also heard that about the year 1775 a Mr. Heaton emigrated from England to New York, then a provincial city, and followed for some years the occupation of a butcher. It is also said that in 1791 he returned to England and brought back with him sev- eral Short-horn cattle from the herd of George Culley, a cattle breeder living near Grindon, in Northumberland. He was probably induced to this enterprise by knowing the deficiencies of the common cattle then bred in the United States, which, in his mind, and truly so, much needed the improvement which the Short-horn blood could impart to them. What became of the cattle, neither tradition nor written his- tory of the day give us an account; but it may be supposed that the 155 156 HISTORY OF THE\SHORT-HORNS. males and females were bred to some extent among themselves, and that the bulls were also bred upon the common cows in the places where they were kept. In 1796 it is further stated that Mr. Heaton went again to England and brought out a bull and cow which he bought from one of the brothers Colling and took them to his farm in Westchester county, N. Y., where he then resided. It may be sup- posed that the Short-horns which he had previously imported had been taken to that place also, but of the fact we have no verified account. What finally became of the animals and their produce which Heaton brought out, nothing definite is known, only that some superior cattle were many years kept and known in Westchester county, N. Y., after the present century came in, but no pedigrees of them have been traced except in one or two instances through “Brisbane’s bull,” which was purchased of Mr. Heaton by the late Mr. James Brisbane, of Batavia, N. Y., and brought there by him in the early years of this century. The bull left much valuable stock in the vicinity of Batavia, and was supposed to be a thorough-bred Short-horn. Of the Heaton stock, retained in the vicinity of New York, nothing further is cer- tainly known. It is altogether probable that the people of that vicinity knowing httle of either breeds, or blood cattle in those days, let the stock “run out,” and they became lost in the common herds of the country. Tue Goucu (or Gorr) AND MILLER ImporTATIONS OF THE LAST CENTURY. We now enter on debatable ground—a subject which has elicited more controversy touching the blood of early American Short-horns than any other which has arisen in this country for the past fifty years by those interested, and the animals of whose herds have been more directly or remotely related to them. We do not suppose that anything we may introduce by way of testimony will decide the question to any exact degree of certainty. Yet the facts connected with them are important to be known by all Short-horn breeders who fake an interest in the matter; and from them every reader may draw his own conclusions. We do not propose to settle any question of blood by what we may submit, but simply to relate history so far as we have been able, by diligent search, to ascertain it. There have been several published accounts of these early impor- tations, differing somewhat in daze, which is of littlé consequence; GOUGH AND MILLER IMPORTATIONS. 157 but, of more consequence, differing in the breeds of the cattle so imported. As they took place nearly ninety, and down to about eighty years ago, the accounts given of them were for many years only of oral transmission, and perhaps of somewhat imperfect recol- lection by the several parties relating them. We find these accounts recorded in print only after the years 1835 to 1840, at a lapse of nearly or quite half a century after the importations occurred, when probably the importers of the original stock as well as some of the owners of a portion of the descendants of the originals had passed off the stage of action. Yet some of their survivors, venerable in age and character in Kentucky and Ohio, still remain, whose recol- lections run into the earlier years of the present century, and from these several accounts our history is drawn. According to these accounts in the year 1783 a Mr. Miller, of Vir- ginia, in connection with Mr. Gough, made an importation—into Baltimore (probably)—of some English cattle, of two different breeds. We infer that the cattle were taken into the fine grazing section of Northern Virginia, in the valley of the South branch of the Potomac tiver, where they were bred together, as well as the bulls bred to the native cows of the country. They were designated, one as the “Milk breed,” the other as the “Beef breed.” The former were described as having short horns, heavy carcasses, compact in shape, red, red and white, and roan in color, the cows excellent milkers—in all probability, Short-horns. The latter were longer horned, rangy in form, fatted well a¢ maturity, not so smoothly built as the others, and the cows producing less milk than the others. These were, prob- ably, the old fashioned, unimproved stock, coarser and rougher in appearance, but still of the Short-horn race then common in the Holderness district of Yorkshire. Sometime afterwards one, or both, of the previously named gentlemen—whether in conjunction, or sep- arately, is not related—about the years 1790 to 1795, made other importations of nearly the same classes of cattle, a part of, or all of which, probably went into the South branch valley, or elsewhere not far distant from the first importation. We hear nothing of these cattle or their descendants as Virginia stock; but two years after the first importation, in the year 1785, two sons, and a son-in-law (Mr Gay) of Mr. Matthew Patton, then a resident of Virginia, took into Clark county, Kentucky (as related by Dr. Samuel D. Mentin, still living there), one of its fine blue-grass localities, a young bull, and several heifers, half-blooded (and they could only have been calves, or less than yearlings), of their then called “English” cattle. These 158 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. animals were said to have been purchased of Mr. Gough. It is not necessary to further note these animals, as they were but grades, only to show the spirit of enterprise among some of the early cattle breed- ers of the State, in obtaining better stock than Kentucky then afforded for their improvement. In 1790, the elder Mr. Patton removed from Virginia to Clark county in Kentucky, and took with him a bull and cow directly descended from the Gough and Miller importation of the “Milk” breed, also some half-blooded cows of both the “ Milk” and “ Beef”’ breeds. The “Beef” breed were “long-haired, large, coarse, slowly coming to maturity, and fattening badly until fully grown, yet tolera- ble milkers.” The “Milk” breed (of which the bull and cow first named were of pure descent) were short-horned, coming early to maturity, and fattening kindly. Their milking qualities were extra- ordinary. It was not at all uncommon for cows of this breed to give thirty-two quarts of milk daily. The Short-horn bull, red in color, with white face, rather heavy horns, yet smooth and round in form, was called Mars. He is recorded by number 1850, American Herd Book. The cow was called Venus, white in color, with red ears, small, short horns, turning down. She bred two bull calves to Mars, and soon afterwards died. Mars got many calves on the native cows in Kentucky, which were said by the old breeders to be both excellent milkers and good fattening animals. Mars remained with Mr. Patton until the death of the latter in 1803, when the bull was sold to a Mr. Peeples in Montgomery county, Ky., in whose possession he died in 1806. Of the two bulls descended from Mars and Venus, one was taken to Jessamine county, Ky., the other to Ohio, probably the Scioto valley; but as all this breed, or breeds, in their various intermix- tures after their introduction into Kentucky, were called “ Patton stock,” they became commingled, the shorter horned, and refined ones, with the longer horned and coarser ones, and were, for many years afterwards, universally known by that name only. In the year 1803 Mr. Daniel Harrison, James Patton and James Gay, of Clark county, Ky., bought of Mr. Miller, the importer, liv- ing in Virginia, a two-year-old bull, descended from a bull and cow of his importation. This bull was called Pluto (825 A. H. B.), and said to be of the “Milk” breed. He is described as “dark roan or red in color, large in size, with small head and neck, light, short horns, small-boned, and heavily fleshed.” He was bred mostly to “ Patton” cows, and produced some fine milkers. He was taken to Ohio about the year 1812, and died soon afterwards. DHESPALLON STrock 159 In the year 1810 Capt. William Smith, of Fayette county, Ky., purchased of the before mentioned Mr. Miller, of Virginia, and brought to Kentucky a bull called Buzzard, 304 (3254). He was coarser, larger, and taller than Pluto, but not so heavy. He was bred in different herds many years, and also used by the Society of Shakers at Pleasant Hill, Mercer county, Ky., in 1821, and for some years afterwards. In the year 1811 the bull Shaker (2193 A. H. B.) was bought of Mr. Miller aforesaid, and used some years both by the Pleasant Hill, Ky., and Union Village, Ohio, Societies of Shakers. They after- wards sold him to Messrs. Welton and Hutchcraft, of Kentucky. He was of the “Milk” or Short-horn breed. This account we have from Messrs. Micajah Burnett, of the Pleasant Hill, and Peter Boyd, of the Union Village Societies, and although they each differ in some non-essential items, the identity of the bull is fully recognized. These four bulls, viz.: Mars, Pluto, Buzzard, and Shaker, appear to have been purely bred from the Gough and Miller importations previous to the year 1810. From these bulls, but not on egually pure bred cows of those importations, descended many animals whose pedigrees have been recognized and recorded as Short-horns in the earlier volumes of the English Herd Book, and of consequence, since in the American Herd Book, as the latter is founded on the English publication, as standard authority, in all matters of Short-horn gene- alogy. During the years above mentioned several other bulls from the Gough and Miller Virginia stock were brought into Kentucky and Ohio—some with names and some without names, other than those of their owners—as “ Inskip’s bull,” “ Peeple’s bull” (Mars, probably), “Witherspoon’s bull,” “Bluff,” and others. Some pedigrees in the Herd Books run back into several of those bulls, which, as many pure-bred crosses have since been made upon their descendants, and been recorded in the English Herd Book, must be classed in the family of Short-horns. From the above accounts it is understood where and how the “Patton stock” originated. There can be no doubt that some of the original importations of Gough and Miller were well-bred cattle of the Short-horn or Teeswater breed (which were identical in origi- nal blood), but without pedigrees; also that others of them may have been of the Holderness variety—coarser and less improved—of the same race. In the various accounts which we have gathered from different quarters in Ohio and Kentucky, some of them were rough 160 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. animals, tardy in arriving at maturity, others fine both in figure and quality, and most of the cows descended from them proved excellent milkers. Their colors were more or less red, white, and roan, which are true Short-horn colors. These accounts are about as accurate and as much to the point as — the English traditions relating to the ancient Short-horns, or Tees- waters in their native land, and may be received as a fair basis on which to found the genealogy of all the pedigrees which trace back into the “Patton” blood, and are found recorded in both the English and American Herd Books. We have had accounts of, and have seen many admirable animals of this descent, since crossed with well-bred Short-horn bulls, among the Kentucky and other Western herds, which, aside from their Patton origin, would be considered, by accu- rate breeders, equal in blood and quality to many cattle of later importation and unquestionable descent. With this meager and perhaps unsatisfactory narrative, we are obliged, to dismiss the Gough and Miller importation, and “Patton stock” of Kentucky. Besides what has been published in the agri- cultural and other papers regarding them, all of which are condensed in the above account, we have had the opportunity of conversing with several aged cattle breeders of the blue-grass region of Ken- tucky more than thirty years ago on the subject, and they clearly corroborated the accounts according to their recollection, as we have given them. A few of these venerable men are still living and have attested to the great excellence of one or more of those bulls as pos- sessing many strikingly good points of the well-bred bulls of the present day. VARIOUS OTHER IMPORTATIONS, Soon after the last American war with England, in the year 1815, it is stated that Mr. Samuel M. Hopkins, then a resident at Moscow, in the Genesee valley, N. Y., imported a Short-horn bull called Mar- quis (408), and a cow called Princess, said to be of the stock of Robert Colling. Mr. Hopkins also, in 1817, brought out a bull, Moscow (9413). A few descendants from these, afterwards crossed by Short- horn bulls from Col. Powel’s herd, purchased by the Holland Land Company for the benefit of the settlers on their lands in Western New York, were carefully bred many years at and near Batavia, in Western New York, some of the blood of which is still found in good herds. In 1815 or ’16 a Mr. Cox, an Englishman, brought into Rensselaer county, near Albany, N. Y., a Short-horn bull and two cows, which THE KENTUCKY IMPORTATION. 161 _ were placed upon the farm of Mr. Cadwallader Colden. They were there bred for several years, but had no recorded pedigrees. They were afterwards crossed with the later bulls imported in 1822, by a Mr. Wayne, viz.: Comet, 1383, and Nelson, 1914, A. H. B. Some of the descendants of the Cox cows and bulls became the property of Mr. Bullock, of Albany county, which were bred to these bulls, and many good animals sprung from them. ‘These latter were locally called the “Bullock stock.” We first saw several of them in the year 1833. ‘They were large, robust animals, good, although not remarkably five in quality, but compared with others of later impor- tation, true Short-horns. “THE KENTUCKY IMPORTATION OF 1817.” We now come onto fair ground in the introduction of genuine Short-horns in the United States; and although frequent debates and controversies have occurred touching the purity in blood of the Short- horns of that importation, to a candid mind there can be little doubt of their legitimate descent. The story of their purchase, arrival in Kentucky, and subsequent breeding, has been often told in various publications—among others, in the first and second volumes of the American Herd Book; but as these volumes may not be at the read- er’s hand, a full repetition of their history will be given. Col. Lewis Sanders, a gentleman of character, position, and engaged in active business, then in the prime of life, lived at Grass Hills, Ky., in the year 1816. We have had the pleasure of his personal acquaint- ance, having first met him about the year 1850, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and on two or three occasions afterwards—the last time in the city of New York, in the winter of 1859-60, he then being upwards of eighty years of age, and a few years previous to his decease. In our first interview he particularly related the account of his importation of cattle from England into Kentucky in the year 1817, of which we then made a memorandum. Of his truthfulness no one knowing him ever entertained a question. The best and most succinctly wvctten account of that importation was by Mr. Brutus J. Clay, of Bourbon county, Ky., a large farmer, Short-horn cattle breeder, and a gentle- man of unquestionable character, published February 1, 1855, in the Ohio Farmer, at Cleveland, Ohio. In prefacing his account Mr. Clay introduces a letter from Col. Sanders to Mr. Edwin G. Bedford, an extensive and experienced Short-horn cattle breeder of Bourbon county, Ky.: II 162 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. “JT was induced to send the order for the cattle (in the fall of 1816), by seeing an account of Charles Colling’s great sale in 1810. At this sale enormous prices were paid; one thousand guineas for the bull Comet. This induced me to think there was a value un- known to us in these cattle, and as I then had the control of means, determined to procure some of this breed. For some years previous I was in the regular receipt of English publications on agricultural improvements, and improvements in the various descriptions of stock. From the reported surveys of counties, I was pretty well posted as to the localities of the most esteemed breeds of cattle. My mind was made up, fixing on the Short-horns as most suitable for us. I had frequent conversations on this matter with my friend and neighbor, Capt. William Smith, then an éminent breeder of cattle. He was thoroughly impressed in favor of the old Long-horn breed. To gratify him, and to please some old South Branch feeders, I ordered a pair of Long-horns; and was more willing to do so from the fact, that this was the breed selected by the distinguished Mr. Bakewell for his experimental, yet most successful improvements. I forwarded to the house of Buchanan, Smith & Co., of Liverpool, $1,500 to make the purchase, expecting to get three pair only, with instructions to pro- cure a competent judge and suitable agent, to go into the cattle district and make the selection, the animals not to be over two years old, and no restriction as to price. At the time, the Holderness breed was in highest repute for milkers. I directed that the agent should be sent to Yorkshire to procure a pair of that breed, then to the river Tees, in Durham county, for a pair of Short-horn Durhams, then to the county of Westmoreland for a pair of the Long-horns, etc. “The agent sent from Liverpool, J. C. Etches, a celebrated butcher of that place, went as directed, and purchased six pair instead of three. It being soon after the war, all kinds of produce had much cheapened, and the stock sold lower than was expected. “After the cattle were shipped from Liverpool, on the vessel Mo- » hawk, bound to Baltimore, Md., where the cattle afterwards landed, I sold one-third interest in them to Capt. Wiliam Smith, and another third to Dr. Tegarden, of Kentucky.” ; It appears that there were twelve animals in all purchased and shipped—eight Short-horns, four bulls and four heifers; and four Long-horns, two bulls and two heifers. No pedigrees came with the cattle, as it was five years previous to the publication of the first volume of the English Short-horn Herd Book. ‘There was simply an DHE KENTUCKY IMPORTATION @OF 1817. 163 invoice of the cattle, which only partially described them. This invoice Col. Sanders gave, as follows: “No. 1. Bull from Mr. Clement Winston, on the river Tees, got by Mr. Constable’s bull, brother to Comet,” afterwards (155) E. H. B. The name of this bull was San Martin, afterwards (2599) in E. H. B. “No. 2. Bull, Holderness breed,:from Mr. Scott, out of a cow which gave 34 quarts of milk per day.” The name of this bull was Tecumseh, afterwards (5409) E. H. B. “No. 3. Bull from Mr. Reed, West-holme, of his own old breed.” This bull is probably the one called Comet, afterwards 1382, A. H. B. Said to have been got by either Comet (155), or his brother North Star (458), E. H. B. “No. 4. Bull, Holderness breed, from Mr. Humphreys, got by Mr. Mason’s bull, of Islington.” No Herd Book record appears to _ have since been made of this bull, and we know not what became of him. Mr. Clay states that one of the bulls “was sold to Capt. Fowler, who afterwards sold him to Gen. Fletcher, and was taken to Bath county, Ky., where he died.” Of the females, the invoice states that “No. 7, was a heifer from Mr. Wilson, Staindrop, Durham breed. “Nos. 8, 9, 10, were heifers from Mr. Shipman, on the river Tees, of his own breed. “In the division of the Short-horns above named, Col. Sanders became owner of the bulls San Martin and Tecumseh.” Col. San- ders states that Comet became the property of Dr. Tegarden. “Of the Shipman heifers, No. 7 became the property of Captain Smith, and was called the ‘Durham Cow.’ “Of the four remaining, two were retained by Col. Sanders. One of which was called ‘Mrs. Motte,’ and the other named the ‘ Teeswater Cow.” , The other fourth heifer died in Maryland, never having reached Kentucky. This disposes of the Short-horns of the importation. “Of the Long-horns, Capt. Smith was the owner of one of the bulls, called ‘Bright.’ Dr. Tegarden took the other, and called him ‘Ris- ing Sun,’ which, by some strange mistake, is recorded in the English Short-horn Herd Book as number (6386). “Of the Long-horn cows, No. 11 was called the ‘Long-horn Cow,’ and No. 12, ‘Georgia Ann,’ the property of the gentlemen who owned the Long-horn bulls.” 164 HST ORY OF (VEE SHOR D- WO RIN S: The Long-horns were bred together, and left some produce. A Long-horn bull, from Capt. Smith’s cow, was sold to Mr. George Renick, of the Scioto valley, in Ohio, where he was bred for some years. The original Long-horn bulls were bred to some extent to other cows than those which were imported with them, but they did not prove popular with the cattle breeders of Kentucky, and after a trial of some years they gradually run out, as many years ago no trace of them, in pure blood, could be found in the vicinity of their importa- tion. Through the bull taken to Ohio by Mr. Renick (but whether from pure Long-horn heifers or not we have no information), several cattle with marked characteristics of the blood were bred in the Scioto valley. We recollect, in 1821, when just verging into man- hood, taking a horseback journey from Columbus to Circleville, in the vicinity of which latter town the Renick brothers owned large landed estates, we saw a herd of a dozen or more Long-horned cattle grazing in a field by the side of the road. ‘Their singular appearance, grazing on the rich blue-grass, or lying under the shade of the majes- tic trees, attracted our attention. We rode up to the fence, hitched our horse, and went into the field to view them. ‘They had every appearance of being either thorough-bred, or high grades of the Long-horn breed, with long drooping horns, pushing forward beyond their noses, or falling below their jaws, light brindle in color, with white stripes along their backs, as we now see their portraits in the books. They were long-bodied, a little swayed in the back, not very compact in shape, but withal imposing animals to the eye. We made no inquiries about them at the time, as we then knew little of breeds of cattle. ‘Thirty years afterwards being again at Circle- ville, and having a better knowledge of breeds, on inquiry for cattle of that character, we could find no trace, nor even a recollection of them among the older farmers of the vicinity. ' We have diverged into this somewhat extended episode of the Long-horns to explain why and wherefore it has since become a sub- ject of more or less controversy with doubters of the integrity of the Short-horn blood of the 1817 importation, that the Long-horn blood became to some extent amalgamated with the true Short-horn blood of the stock which came into Kentucky with them. It is cer- tain that the bull “Rising Sun” got into the English Herd Book (6386), as “imported into the United States of America.” It is also certain that some pedigrees of crosses between the Long-horned and Short-horned cattle have crept into the Herd Books, both Eng- lish and American; but, as the Long-horns in England have for a Pie key N.UCKY IMPOR TATION, OF 1817. 165 long series of years been considered a valuable race, and their reputa- tion, through the skill and perseverance of Bakewell, their distinguished breeder, stood high, and many pure Short-horn crosses have since been made upon the Kentucky Long-horns, little, if any, injury can be imputed to animals now existing which may inherit the remote fraction of Long-horn blood traced into their veins. To return to the Short-horns of the 1817 importation, and the evidences, in absence of pedigrees to them, touching their purity of blood, which has been challenged. In addition to the testimony of Col. Sanders in the employment of his agent, Mr. Etches, the latter, in a letter to Mr. Affleck, published in the Western Farmer and Gar- dener, writes: “Ihave been a butcher twenty-eight years in Liver- pool, and am a breeder of fine stock. I was the purchaser of the Short-horn stock for Messrs. Buchanan, Smith & Co., which went to America in 1817—six in number, three bulls and three heifers [eight he ought to have said, as there were four of each sex, including the two Holderness, which were also Short-horns, in fact]. Avery animal was pure of tts kind.’ They were selected in Durham or Yorkshire— perhaps in both, near the river Tees, the ancient home of the race. Mr. Etches was afterwards the purchaser of Short-horns for other American importers—for Mr. Letton, of Kentucky, of the bull Loco- motive, 92 and (4242), also for Mr. Vail, of Troy, N. Y., of the bull Duke of Wellington, 55 and (5654), and the cow Duchess, page 172, Vol. 1, A. H. B., all three of them from the herd of Mr. Thomas Bates. . The late Gen. James Garrard, of Kentucky, whose word no one would question, states that “when in England many years ago, he saw Mr. Etches, who assured him that the Short-horns which he pur- chased for Col. Sanders were as good of their kind as were then to be had in England.” Further, we now quote from the second volume of the American Herd Book, edited in the year 1855: “Tn 1848, Mr. Stevens, of New York, was in England. He thus writes: ‘I saw Mr. J. C. Etches in York, and was introduced to him by Mr. Thomas Bates, the noted Short-horn breeder. In answer to my questions, Mr. Etches remarked: ‘I purchased for Mr. Sanders, of America, in 1817, some Short-horn cattle, of different persons, near the river Tees. These cattle were thought by myself and others to be very fine animals.’ In answer to the question by me if he knew the pedigrees of any of these cattle, Mr. Etches turned to Mr. Bates, and said: ‘Mr. Bates probably knows something about 166 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. the pedigree of the Shipman heifers, and I refer to him.’ Mr. Bates replied, that he well recollected of Mr. Shipman’s selling a heifer to go to America’ She was called ‘Mrs. Motte,’ after a sister of either Mr. or Mrs. Shipman. Mr. Maynard had a cow bya son of Hubback (319), which cow he called Starling. This cow (Starling) had three daughters. One of these daughters Mr. Maynard kept. One he sold to me (Mr. Bates), and the other he sold to Mr. Shipman, who called her ‘Starling,’ after her dam, and when he bought her she was in calf to ‘Adam’ (717). The produce was a heifer, which he called ‘Mrs. Motte,’ and afterwards sold to Mr. Etches.’ As Mr. Bates owned a sister of the dam of Mrs. Motte, he knew her pedigree, and as a sale to go to America was a remarkable thing in that day, the fact made a strong impression on Mr. Bates’ mind. See pedigree of ‘Young Star- ling,’ in page 543, Vol. 2, Coates’ Herd Book. Mr. Shipman’s ‘Star- ling’ (dam of Mrs. Motte), was fw/ sister to one of the Starlings named in said pedigree. (Of course her pedigree was the same.) “Mrs. Motte’s pedigree thus stands: “Mrs. Motte, got by Adam (717), dam Starling, by a son [by Favorite (252)| of Mr. Maynard’s old Yellow Favorite (cow); gr. d. by a son of Hubback (319), g. gr. d. by Manfield (404), g. g. gr. d. (Young Strawberry), by Dalton Duke (188). Here this pedigree, at page 543, Vol. 2, ends; but referring, in Vol. 1, page 508, to the ped- igree of Young Strawberry, the cow last named above, it will be seen that she goes further back, in carrying out the pedigree of Mrs, Motte, thus: g. g. g. gr. d. Favorite (bred by Mr. Maynard), by Mr. R. Alcock’s bull (19). Then, in pedigree of this cow, Favorite, Vol. I, page 308, it will be seen that Mrs. Motte’s pedigree continues further back, thus: g. g. g. g. gr. d. by Mr. Jacob Smith’s bull (608), g. g. g. g. g. er. d. by Mr. Jolly’s bull (337). There are few, if any, better pedigrees than Mrs. Motte’s—granting it to be correct—in the Englsh Herd Book. “As the other two heifers, and the bulls, were purchased in the same neighborhood, and at the same time, it may be inferred, that if their pedigrees were not equal in length, their blood may have been as good. But itis not proposed to argue the question. Facts are submitted. “In the succeeding importations, by Mr. Powel, of Philadelphia, some of which found their way into Kentucky, in 1824-’5 (the pedi- grees of which were unquestioned), the descendants of the 1817 importation were bred to these bulls, and were afterwards bred to the Ohio and Kentucky importations of later years; and as they have | THE KENTUCKY IMPORTATION OF 1817. 167 been bred upon by /vesher unquestionable Short-horn blood for more than thirty years, there is but a fractional part of the 1817 blood to be traced in any living animal claiming descent from it. These descendants stand upon record as having frequently been successful competitors among the prize cattle in the States, where they have been exhibited by the side of those possessing none else than pure Short-horn blood. “Since writing the above, I have been favored with a letter from Mr. H. H. Hankins, of Bloomington, Clinton county, Ohio, who was one of the agents sent by the Clinton County Cattle Company to England, for the purchase of Short-horns, in 1854. It is thus: ‘DEAR Str—Yours, asking for information relative to the Sanders cattle importation of 1817, is at hand. I was, when in England, in the immediate neighborbood of the river Tees, where Mr. Etches purchased the cattle, z. ¢., the Short-horns. Before I left Ohio, I had learned the names of the persons of whom the stock had been bought, and also their locality. I made inquiry of many who are now breed- ing Short-horns on the Tees, respecting the persons of whom the cattle were bought. I found several who knew them from character, but were not personally acquainted with them; but was recommended to call on an old gentleman, of good character, living near Darling- ton, who had been a breeder of Short-horns at the time Mr. Etches bought them for Col. Sanders. His name is Timothy Lanchester. He told me that he had been an intimate friend of Messrs. Robert and Charles Colling, and most of the other old breeders in Durham. I gave him the names of the men of whom Mr. Etches bought the cattle for Mr. Sanders. He at once said that he knew them well, and gave me a certificate, a copy of which I send you. I was recom- mended to this old gentleman by the Messrs. Emerson, Harrison, and others, who spoke highly of his integrity and knowledge of the old breeders in that vicinity. The certificate is as follows: ‘I, Timothy Lanchester, of Haughton Leskeine, near Darlington, Durham, Eng- land, born in the year 1771, do hereby certify, that I was well acquainted with Matthew Shipman, Clement Winston, Thomas Reed, and Mr. Wilson, who were cattle breeders on the river Tees, and who, it is’said, sold some Short-horns to a Mr. Etches, of Liverpool, which were to be shipped to the United States, in the year 1817. “They were gentlemen of the highest character, and their fine Short-horns were considered equal to any in the country at that day. The importance of keeping pedigrees was not so much thought of at that day as at the present; since which time there has been-a public record of the Short-horns kept in England, by which may be traced, some of them, to the herds of the above-named gentlemen. I was engaged in breeding Short-horns at the date above alluded to, and have been more 168 HISTORY OR HE, sO RD =r ORNs: or less interested in Short-horns up to the present, and have been familiar with most of the breeders of Short-horns in England, from the days of the Collings down to the present time, and I have never heard any one doubt that the Messrs. Shipman, Winston, Reed and Wilson, possessed as pure Short-horns as existed at that day. ‘Given under my hand, at Darlington, England, the 6th day of March, 1854. (Signed) TIMOTHY LANCHESTER.’ ‘T could have had a number of other certificates from younger breeders, but I preferred to take one from this old and much esteemed gentleman, who had personally known those old breeders. (Signed) H. H. Hankins. “BLOOMINGTON, OHI0, March 25, 1855. x,” To pursue the 1817 importation exhaustively, we quote further from Vol. 4, American Herd Book, edited in the year 1859: “TJ herewith publish a list of the produce, by name, of the three cows of Col. Sanders’ Kentucky importation of 1817, together with the produce of some of their daughters. The record will be gratify- ing to many who are interested in that blood, and valuable for future reference. For these papers I am indebted to Mr. H. H. Hankins, of Clinton county, Ohio, who received them from Dr. S. D. Martin, of Clark county, Ky. They are as follows: “Produce of Mrs. Motte, Kentucky importation 1817. Pane ee Name. Sire. | Owner. 1818, B.| Paul Jones (4661), Imp. Tecumseh (5409), 1819, Red H.| Lady Munday, Imp. San Martin (2599) | Gen. Garrard. TS 20) eo sel. Meady skate; Imp. Tecumseh (5409), | T. P. Dudley. 1823, * ‘EL.) Miss) Motte; Imp. San Martin (2599) | Col. Sanders. TG24) e) kAeSylvaial do. Gen. Garrard. 1826, ‘“ B.} Den. dela Motte(1914) do. Dr. Martin. 1827, r.& w. B.| Stonehammer, do. Ohio Shakers. 1828, ‘ B.| Accommodation (2907)| Cornplanter (3492), Walter Dun. 1830, ‘ Bl! Partnership (6277), (?)' Accommodation (2907) 1818, — B.| Wickliffe’s bull, r0g9, | Got on passage,* Robert Wickliffe. 1819, — _ B.| Wellington, San Martin (2599), Mr. Carr. 1820, — H.} Smith Heifer, do. Gen. Garrard. 1821, — H.| Lady Durham, do. B.W. & E.Worthen. 1822, — B.| Lafayette, 1755, Paul Jones (4661), Col. Sanders. 1823, — B.| Napoleon, 1899, San Martin (2599), Major Gano. 1824, — H.} Beauty, Lafayette, 1755, Col. Sanders. 1825, — B.| DeKalb (steer), Napoleon, 1899, do. 1826, — _ B.} Dead, do. do. 1828, — H.|} Hadassah, do. do. 1829, — H.| No name, do. Major Gano. “Produce of the Durham Cow, Kentucky importation 1827. ““# The Herd Book pedigree of Wickliffe’s bull, says: ‘Got by San Martin (2599)’.—L. F. A. THE KENTUCKY IMPORTATION OF 1817. 169 “Produce of the Teeswater Cow, Kentucky importation 1817. ee een Name. Sire. Owner. 1818, Red B.| Mirandi (4488), Got on passage,* Judge Haggin. — H.| Miss Haggin, San Martin (2599), Dr. Warfield. — H.} Hetty (Haggin), do. W. R. Scott. — B.} Kentuckian (1733), do. : — H. : Mirandi (4488), Judge Haggin. — H.| Pink, Munday’s bull, 727, S. Smith. “Tn regard to the produce of this cow, Dr. Martin says: of their birth, nor do I suppose I have given name).—ED. ‘““* The Herd Book pedigree of Mirandi, says: ‘Got by San Martin (2599)’.—L. F. A. ‘T cannot give the dates them in their proper order’ (of sex or “Produce of Lady Munday, by San Martin (2599), out of Mrs. Motte. 182I, — 1823, — 1824, — 1825, — 1826, — 1827, — 1828, — 1829, — 1830, — 183I, — 1832, — B.| Cornplanter (3492), B.| Champion, 325, H.| Tulip, H.| Dead, H.| Beauty, B. B B B H B Denton (3583), .| Misfortune, 716, .| Comet, 355, .| Drone, .| Drucilla, .| Slider, 979, Tecumseh (5409), do. Mirandi (4488), do. Sportsman, 998, Champion, 325, Sportsman, 998, do.* do. Duroc, 454, do. Hector Lewis. Gen. Garrard. do. ‘“* The Herd Book pedigree of Comet, says: ‘Got by Cornplanter (3492)’.—L. F. A. “Produce of Lady Kate, by Tecumseh (5409), out of Mrs. Motte. 1824, — 1827, — 1829, — 1830, — 1831, — 1832, — 1833, a 1834, ra 1836, — Ly os 1838, — .| Duchess, .| Mohawk (4492), .| Nancy Dawson, .| Eleanor, .| Amanda, .| Oscar, .| Backway (?), Dan Webster, Southard, 994,74 Dead, .| Miss Biddle, Echo, San Martin (2599), do. do. Stonehammer, Accommodation (2907) do. do. Tariff, 1023, Pontiac (4734), Tariff, 1023, Nic Biddle, Geo. Reynolds, 1610, H. Blanton. James Munday. Mr. McClure. T. P. Dudley. T. G. Brent. T. P. Dudley. Mr. Goodloe. Mr. Dudley. do. do. T.P.&J.W. Dudley. do. “In 1838, Lady Kate broke her leg, and was slaughtered at 17 years old. “Produce of the Smith Heifer, by San Martin (2599), out of the Dur- 1824, — B|| Sportsman, 998, ham Cow. | Cornplanter (3492), | Gen. Garrard. “This cow had no other calf, being soon afterwards killed by the goring of an ox. 170 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. “Produce of Sylvia, by San Martin (2599), out of Mrs. Motte. eae eoee Name. Sire. Owner. 1826, — _ B.| Exchange, 482, Champion, 325, Gov. Trimble, Ohio. 1828, — _ B.| Duroc, 454, Sportsman, 998, Messrs. Renick, do. 1830, — H.| Nymph, do. Gen. Garrard. 1831, — _ B.| President, 2046, Cornplanter (3492), do. 1832, — B.| Proclamation (4838), Denton (3583), do. 1834, — H.} Octavia, do. do. 1835, — H.| Virginia, Exception (3746), do. “Produce of Lady Durham, by San Martin (2599), out of the Durham: Cow. 1833, — H.| Susan Munday, Mirandi (4488), James Haggin. 1834, — H.| Laura, Oliver (2387), Ben. Warfield. 1835, — H.} Lady Macallister, Pontiac (4734), J. N. Brown, IIL. 1836, — H.| Phcenix, Oliver (2387), Ben. Warfield. 1837, — H.| Lily, Alonzo, 209, E. Worthen. —, — B.| Commodore (3448), Mirandi (4488), —, — B.} Daniel Boone, Son of Mirandi (4488), | ——— ——, — B.| Kentucky, 1734, Tariff, 1023, = “(A part of the numbers attached to the bulls in the above tables, I have looked up and placed there myself.—L. F. A.) “Dr. Martin, in a note, adds: ‘I have no list of the produce of the Durham Cow’s heifer Beauty, by Lafayette, 1755, except one heifer called Beauty, by Prince Regent, 877.’ “Thus it will be seen that the three imported cows produced thir- teen heifers, besides sundry bulls, and that four of those heifers produced fifteen heifer calves, besides bulls—twenty-eight known females. Supposing the eight other heifers (for the ‘Smith heifer’ only produced one calf, and that a bull) had produced three heifer calves each, making twenty-four, there would be in the second gen- eration of the imported cows, including ‘Beauty, by Prince Regent,’ forty breeding cows—and those well cultivated in their breeding faculties during their lives, as their liberal proprietors, both in Ken- tucky and Ohio, would be sure to do, we can well imagine that their numbers, at the present time, would swell to an extent much beyond what the pages of the Herd Books represent. “Had all the names of the heifer descendants of the 1817 impor- tation been preserved by the breeders of their produce, many of the uncertainties resting upon some of their recorded pedigrees would be explained. The same remarks may be applied to the produce of some other importations of well-bred Short-horns many years ago. Die ekoR IN t Ui Cie Ve TMP OR TAT LON) (OF 1807: 171 occasional pedigrees or memorandums of which have been hunted up and recorded in the present volume. “With these tables of produce of the three cows of the original Kentucky importation in 1817, and some of their heifers, it is to be hoped that those breeders interested in their blood, whose cattle ped- igrees do not trace back, dy zame, on the dam’s side, will be able to substantiate their claim to an undisputed genealogy.” It will thus be seen that all Short-horns tracing their pedigrees back through well-bred bulls into animals of both sexes named in the foregoing tables, may be called pure Short-horns, admitting that the 1817 importation were such. Alluding back to Mr. B. J. Clay’s letter from which we have so largely quoted, he remarks: “In 1817 [other accounts say 1818] Mr. James Prentice, of Lexington, Ky., imported two bulls, John Bull, 598, and Prince Regent, 877, A. H. B., one of the celebrated Durham improved breed, and the other of the im- proved ‘AZ77/k’ breed. John Bull was a deep red, fine size, good form, with delicate down-pointed horns. Prince Regent was pied, white, with some red spots. ‘They were purchased by Nathaniel Hart, of Woodford, and John Hart, of Fayette counties, for $1,500, and pro- duced some good stock.” These bulls were considered good Short-horns, but like the impor- tation of 1817, they had no written pedigrees. Many excellent Herd Book animals now trace their genealogy into John Bull and Prince Regent, of the Prentice importation. Those pedigrees which trace through well-bred bulls since the Gough and Miller importation, or Patton tribe, may have a slight fraction of unknown blood; but it may possibly be doubted whether they now have more outside blood in their composition than some other Short-horns of English birth and Herd Book pedigrees which have since been imported. As intimated, there may be some trivial errors in the foregoing accounts of the early Kentucky Short-horn herds, caused by the various sources from which they are derived, but in the main they may be considered correct. Many years ago, between 1830 and 1840, a committee for the purpose of compiling and issuing a Short- horn Herd Book in Kentucky was appointed, consisting of the late Messrs. Benjamin Warfield of Fayette, Samuel D. Martin of Clark, and Robert W. Scott of Franklin counties—the two last mentioned still living. They obtained probably all the information then in existence relative to the subject in hand. We understood that Dr. Martin was charged with the possession of the documentary matter 172 ; HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. pertaining to their proposed labors, but the project was never carried out. It is chiefly from such material that our information, at second hand, has been derived. In November, 1817, Mr. Samuel Williams, of Massachusetts, then a merchant, residing in London, England, purchased of the cele- brated breeder, Mr. Wetherell, and sent to his brother, Stephen Williams, of Northboro’, Mass., the bull “ Young Denton” (963), 16 months old. (This pedigree in Vol. 2, E. H. B., says Mr. Wetherell sold him to Col. Powel, near Philadelphia, Pa., but that is an error.) The bull arrived in. Boston, Mass. He remained in that State until the year 1827 or ’28, when he was taken to Maine, where he died April 16, 1830. We saw the bull in Massachusetts in the year 1822, then owned by Mr. Williams. He was a fine animal. In 1818 Mr. Cornelius Coolidge, of Boston, imported the bull Celebs, 349, and cow Flora, by Son of Comet (155), both bred by Mr. Mason, of Chilton. From them descended many good animals whose pedigrees are in the American Herd Book. About the year 1820-21, Mr. Law, of Baltimore, or Washington, D. C., imported the cow Rosemary, by Flash (261), bred by Mr. Curwen. Rosemary afterwards passed into the possession of Col. Powel, of Philadelphia, Pa., and from her many distinguished ani- mals of Kentucky and other States are descended. Mr. Law may at the same time have imported another animal or two. If so, we have no account of their names. In 1821 the late Colonel John S. Skinner, of Baltimore, imported for Governor Lloyd, of Maryland, the bull Champion (864), the cows Shepherdess, by Magnet (302), and White Rose, by Warrior (673); all these were bred by Mr. Coates, the first editor of the E. H. B. Shepherdess afterwards became the property of Colonel Powel. What became of White Rose is not known. She was the dam of Wye Comet (1591), by Blaize (76), got in England, but born in America, the property of Mr. Law. He was afterwards owned and used by Col. Powel, and finally by Mr. Watson, of Connecticut. In 1822 Mr. Williams, of London, before named, also sent to his brother the cow Arabella, by North Star (460), bred by Mr. Weth- erell. From her came numerous descendants whose pedigrees are found in the several volumes of the American Herd Book. In or about the year 1822 several cows were imported into Boston by Messrs. Lee, Orr, Monson, and perhaps others, chiefly from the stock of Mr. Wetherell, before mentioned; among these were Tube- rose, by North Star (460), owned by Mr. Monson, and Harriet, by VAST OUS ODMH R siM POR TAT LOANS: 173 Denton (198), owned by Mr. Orr. Both these cows had full pedi- grees, and left several good descendants. ‘The writer purchased Harriet in the year 1834, then 14 years old, and unfortunately, past breeding. She was a fine cow, mostly white in color. In 1823 Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the British Navy (Massachu- setts born), sent out to the Massachusetts Agricultural Society the bull Admiral (1608), and cow Annabella, by Major (398), from the herd of Mr. Wetherell. Both animals left many descendants. In 1823 Gen. Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, N. Y.—through Col. Skinner, as we understood—imported from the herd of Mr. Champion, the bull Washington (1566), and the cows Pansy, by Blaize (76), and Conquest. The latter of these cows never bred, but Pansy had several descendants by Washington, whose produce have since been bred and distributed into many States of the Union. In the year 1822, and during some years afterwards, the late Mr. Charles Henry Hall, a merchant of New York, who had previously lived and done business in different countries of Europe, imported several Short-horns, selected from some of the best herds in England, and among them the cow Princess, by Lancaster (360), bred in 1816, by Robert Colling. Mr. Hall resided on a small farm at Harlem, then a village, just out of New York city, on Manhattan Island. He kept and bred a few of his Short-horns there, but the larger portion of them were taken to his farm in Greenbush, near Albany, where they were for several years kept and bred. This gentleman was not particularly mindful of keeping the pedigrees of his stock, although ° purely bred, and through this inattention much of the correct lineage of his herd was lost. We knew Mr. Hall personally for some years while breeding his cattle, and after he had disposed of his herds. In answer to our inquiries of their blood relations, his answers were only that “they were all purely bred,” but, preserving few memoranda of their breeding, he could not give particulars. Some of them—the Princess family, for instance—have been registered correctly in the American Herd Book; others as only tracing to his imported cows and bulls. This much, however, is certain: Mr. Hall assured us at different times that he had his animals selected with great care in England, and he paid liberal prices for them. We saw many of their descendants between the years 1833 and 1840, and they had every appearance of well-bred Short-horns, with high milking qualities. During the above years of Mr. Hall’s importations, several gentle- men of New York, chiefly through his influence, imported some valuable Short-horns, selected as were Mr. Hall’s, chiefly, as we 174 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. understood, through the agency of Mr. Ashcroft. These were bred in the neighborhood of the city, on Long Island, and in Westchester county; but their pedigrees, on account of their owners not knowing their importance, were sadly neglected. ‘There can be no doubt, however, of the integrity of their blood. Some of their descendants are in the American Herd Book, tracing to the original importations. In the year 1824, the late Col. John H. Powel, of Powelton, near Philadelphia, Pa., a gentleman of large wealth and public spirit in agricultural improvement, began the importation of Short-horns, and continued it for some years. His selections were mainly, if not altogether, from the herd of Mr. Jonas Whitaker, already mentioned, of Otley, in Yorkshire. He bred them with great attention and care on his home estate, and sold many of their descendants into neigh- boring districts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Some also went into New England, others into Kentucky and Ohio. In the cows, he aimed at securing large milkers, for dairy purposes, in which one of his families, the Belinas, were famous for their yields of both milk and butter. In 1831 he imported the bull Bertram (1716), bred by Mr. Whitaker. We saw him in his stable at Powelton, in August of that year, then 3 years old, a few months after his arrival. In color he was red, with a little white, a compact, massive form, short in the leg, of fine touch, good hair, and altogether an imposing animal. Many distinguished animals of our American herds trace into his blood. Col. Powel bred him for some years in his herd. We saw at the same time several of his imported cows, among them Belina, by Barmpton (54), a famous milker, which yielded at the rate of 20% pounds of butter per week. ‘These cows struck us as being of excel- lent quality, with indications of giving large quantities of milk, and were in rather low condition. They were good in form, long in body, straight on the back, broad in the hips, with fine heads and horns, excellent coats of hair, with large, well-shaped udders and teats. In the year 1828, Mr. Francis Rotch, of New Bedford, Mass., then in England, sent out to his brother-in-law, Mr. Benjamin Rodman, also of New Bedford, the bull Devonshire (966), and the cows Ade- liza, Dulcibella-and Galatea, all by Frederick (1060), from the herd of Mr. Whitaker, and with good pedigrees. Descendants from all of them are now found in several good American herds. In 1834, ourself became the owner of “Devonshire,” at 8 years old, which we purchased of Mr. Rotch, then his possessor. He was red roan in color, good size, excellent points, and left us, as well as his previous owners, some excellent stock. He died at 11 years old. MR. ROTCH’S IMPORTATIONS. 175 The cows, Adeliza and Dulcibella, both roan in color, we have also seen. They were good cows, prolific breeders, excellent milkers, and lived to be aged animals. As Mr. Rotch is the only survivor of the enterprising class of American gentlemen who introduced the Short-horns into the United States previous to the year 1834, we may be pardoned for a further brief mention of him. Contemplating this present work, we wrote to him about three years ago at his rural home in Morris, Otsego county, N. Y., asking for some reminiscences of the early American Short-horns to aid us in the undertaking. In his answer, a brief extract from which we give, it will be seen that at the age of more than four-score years, “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” ‘The letter is written in a clear, round hand, unshaken, and legible as when in the prime of his life: “And now, my dear friend, having poured out the fullness of my heart [his previous sentences were on personal matters only], I must not expose the emptiness of my head, and incapacity of my mind by attempting to render you much assistance in the interesting labor you are about to undertake. Samuel Williams, who was bred a farm- er’s boy in Massachusetts, and became a leading merchant on the Exchange of London, in his prosperity thought of his brother at home, and presuming no present would be more acceptable than some fine stock, sent him over some Short-horns from one of the best herds—Mr. Wetherell’s, in England. I think with them came out one or two heifers for a Boston gentleman. It seemed to me they were not appreciated, and but for me and an old friend whom I interested in the affair, their pedigrees would have been irrecoverably lost. “When in England, in 1828, and making an importation for my brother-in-law, Mr. Rodman, I arrived at Otley just in time to attend the exhibition of stock, which was then the great and leading show of the North for Short-horns. My sudden arrival as an American, created much interest and kindly feeling which showed itself in the strong wish that I should not go away without obtaining the animals I selected, though not intended for sale. aI EEO 8 fag Sa Ml as “How I would work for you were I ten years younger! How I should enjoy it! But it is too late. The decay of intellect, judg- ment, and memory in old age is sad, and much more sad when it is recognized by the individual himself. I do but cumber the earth.” Mr. Rotch still survives, at the venerable age of eighty-five years, still hale and vigorous, enjoying the temperate pleasures of his quiet home in the valley of “The Butternuts,” and although retired from 176 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. breeding his favorite blooded stock, takes a lively interest in what- ever appertains to their prosperity and value. In the year 1830 Mr. Enoch Silsbey, of Boston, Mass., imported the bull Boston (1735), and cow Agatha (a/ias Boston Cow), by Sir Charles (1440), both bred by Mr. Curry, of Northumberland, Eng. These animals left many descendants, now in several good herds. The foregoing memoranda completes the earlier era of Short-horn importations to the United States. The prices for which they could be sold was low compared with their actual value. ‘The spirit in cultivating improved breeds of cattle pervaded few districts of coun- try, and those districts widely separated. Communications between the different breeders were few, and inconvenient, and little of a common, or of rival interests, existed. New England, with a lean soil, for the most part, a rigid climate, and a popular opinion generally prevailing among her farmers that Short-horns were great consumers of food, and tender in constitution (both egregious mistakes, when the proper treatment and early maturity of the race were considered), looked upon them as interlopers, and introduced by “fancy gentle- men” only, to have something on their farms more extraordinary than their humbler, harder-working neighbors. The Kentuckians, and some few stock breeders in Ohio, most of them large landholders, with a rich soil, a mild climate, and abund- ant forage, had readily ascertained their worth, and breeding on the early “Patton” blood with the 1817 bulls, and cows exclusively with their own bloods, and afterwards with purchases from the later Balti- more and Philadelphia importations, not only held their own, and carefully kept records of their pedigrees, but industriously increased both in blood and quality their cherished herds. Still, for several years there was a comparative interregnum in Short-horn progress, and aside from the few New England and New York breeders, as- sisted east of the Alleganies by the persistent efforts of Col. Powel, with his fine herd at Powelton, who kept their pedigrees intact, their efforts would have succumbed but for the occasional demand for stock from Kentucky and Ohio. ‘The cattle going westward then had to be traveled on foot, over hilly and mountainous roads for hundreds of miles’ distance, and through a period of several weeks’ journey to reach their new homes. There were no railways, and hardly a canal by which cattle could be transported, except the Erie, through the interior of New York, which was distant and out of thought for a Kentuckian or southern Ohioan to traverse. SUBSEQUENT NEGLECT OF THEM. 17. Down to the year, say 1832-3, most of the Short-horn breeders of the States north of Pennsylvania, understanding the importance of true lineage in their stock, had kept correct records of their pedi- grees, and registered many of them in the English Herd Books. Col. Powel had done the same. Yet several parties to whom some of these breeders had sold more or less of their stock, deplorably neglected to keep correct pedigrees of either them or their increase, and through such neglect they were irrecoverably lost. After the first interest in their possession had passed away some of the cows were crossed with mean, or native bulls, their descendants became grades, devoted only to common uses, and ultimately even thorough- bred cows, in common with grades, were fed off and driven to the shambles. 12 178 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. CHAP ER: She THe LATER SHORT-HORN IMPORTATIONS, WE now arrive at a new era in American Short-horns, dating in the year 1833; many of the Kentucky breeders being convinced by a thirty years’ trial, first on the Gough and Miller, or “Patton” stock, and again on the importation of 1817, and their better known successors, that there was a decided improvement in the neat cattle they were rearing, they felt the necessity of still further progress, and also that the material needed should be obtained from a source where the best specimens then existed. The late Mr. Walter Dun, an enterprising Scotch gentleman, residing near Lexington, Ky., in 1833, sent out a commission to a friend, Mr. Wiliam Douglass, living in the south of Scotland, with ample funds at command, to go into Yorkshire and purchase several Short-horn cattle, the animals to be of the best quality, without regard to any reasonable price to be paid for them. The entire correspondence between the parties connected with this transaction has been submitted to us for examination. The instructions were faithfully executed, and six animals sent out in accordance with them. The importation consisted of the bull Symmetry (5382), and cows Caroline, Daisy, Multiflora, Red Rose, and White Rose. The cows are recorded in Vols. 2 and 7, A. H. B. Some of the bulls occur- ring in their pedigrees were not recorded in the English Herd Book at the time of their purchase, but we have carefully examined the original certificates sent to this country with, and relating to them. The lineage of that importation, may be found in Vols. 2 to 1o, inclusive, of the American Herd Book. There need be no question of the purity of their descent. ‘The cattle were shipped at Liverpool, Eng., September 5, 1833, bound to Philadelphia, Pa., and safely arrived in Kentucky on the 26th November following, where they were heartily welcomed both by the owner and the Short-horn breed- ers generally. They were there bred successfully. Their produce, in the course of years, became widely disseminated, and are now MR. WALTER DUN’S IMPORTATIONS. 179 numerously found in many of the good herds of Kentucky, Ohio, and other States. Although later in point of time the efforts of Mr. Dun did not cease with the importation of 1833. Breaking through the chrono- logical order of dates, in order to complete his introduction of Short- horn stock to America, we follow out his transactions. In the year 1836 Mr. Dun in connection with Mr. Samuel Smith, of Fayette county, Ky. (son of Mr. William Smith, who was con- nected with the Kentucky importations of 1817, previously men- tioned), sent another order to England for Short-horns. In compliance with the order the bulls George (2059), Comet, 356 (1854), and bull calf Otley (4632), together with the cows Adelaide, by Magnum Bonum (2243), Beauty of Wharfdale, by Brutus (1752), Jewess, and Mary Ann (dam of Otley), by Middlesbro (1234), arrived in Ken- tucky. These animals were also selected in England by Mr. Douglass, before mentioned. They were placed on the separate farms of the proprietors and successfully bred. In the year 1838 Mr. Dun on his own account made another im- portation, consisting of the cows Premium, by Maximus (2284), with her bull calf Otho, 794, and Young Charlotte, by Thorp (2757), with her bull calf Tarick, 1022. These animals did not arrive in Ken- tucky until the fall of the year, after the death of Mr. Dun, which occurred August 4, 1838. Mr. Smith, the partner of Mr. Dun, had died a few months before the latter gentleman’s death occurred. His entire herd was sold at public auction a few months afterwards, and the jocw¢ remaining stock of the two were sold with them under the orders of their several executors, September 11, 1838. The list of the partnership animals, their purchasers and prices, were as follows: Cows. Adelaide, sold to R. T. Dillard and C. R. Ferguson,............. $1,375 Beauty of Wiharfdale) sold’ to B.S: Read)... .. 5. ce sc ween 755 Adeline, sold to J. Kinnard and Thomas Wallace,............... 1,030 MONI Ose elINESOlGNLO Ene zs) KETIMEY) (ay alala: olelele (eleielerarelctelercieichotsicl =) 440 Mary Ann and calf Otley, 10 days old, sold to R. G, Jackson and B, INGA YM stossrstenatevctetaveinvere avers Sicha tere volelsic ie sioieveleojetehaercats istietat eis 2,100 erUdence; Sold tOpeia Se VV ASMINOTON) «| ocjo)e cre cvelcereleieloicl iclejeisloiaic ofnie 755 Jewess (barren), sold to J. Matson and J. Spear,................- 276 At the same sale many other thorough-bred Short-horns and grade animals, upwards of thirty in number, belonging to the estate of Mr. 180 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Smith, were disposed of, all the animals bringing good prices. Among the former were Cow, Cleopatra; isoldito;Cx@s Morcan ton). cio ate $1,230 Cow Ellen, sold to R. T. Dillard and C. R. Ferguson, for........ 1,235 Bull Oliver Keen, 5 months old, sold to W. S. Hume, for......... 1,000 For the imported bull Comet, 356, which had, previous to the sale, become the sole property of Mr. Dun, $3,000 was offered by Mr. Gray, one of the purchasers of Mary Ann. The offer was refused, the herd of Mr. Dun remaining in the possession of his family under charge of his executor, Mr. John G. Dun. The young imported bull Otley (4632) had been. previously sold for $2,100 to Messrs. Wasson and Shropshire, of Bourbon county, Ky. “THE OHIO COMPANY FOR IMPORTING ENGLISH CATTLE.” Excited somewhat, probably, by the recent Dun importation, in the year 1834 several spirited cattle breeders of the Scioto valley and neighboring counties in Ohio, associated and selected an agent— the late Mr. Felix Renick, of Chillicothe—who, with two assistants, Edwin J. Harness and Josiah Renick, proceeded to England early in that year for the purchase of a herd of Short-horns. It was a pro- pitious time. The prices for good stock of the kind in England were then low. Mr. Renick bought some from Mr, Whitaker, at Otley, Yorkshire, who had previously sent out many cattle to Col. Powel. He had a large herd of his own, his acquaintance with other breeders was extensive, and Mr. Renick had good facilities for making selec- tions from some of the best herds, and at prices within the means at his disposal.. During Mr. Renick’s stay in England he purchased nineteen Short-horns—bulls and heifers. ‘They were from various eminent breeders living in or near the valley of the Tees. All the. animals*were thorough-bred, and, with one or two exceptions, which could not be then readily obtained, had excellent pedigrees. They were duly shipped and arrived in Philadelphia during the summer, and driven over the mountains into Ohio, where they were kept on Mr. Renick’s farm, near Chillicothe, and bred as the joint property of the Association. In the succeeding years, 1835 and ’36, two further importations, selected from equally good herds as the previous importation of 1834, were made by the same Association. These animals arrived in New York, and were transported to Ohio, v/a Erie Canal to Buffalo, OHIO IMPORTING COMPANY’S SALES. I8I thence by Lake to Cleveland, and from there to Chillicothe, where they joined the earlier importation. The cattle were thus kept until October, 1836, when the entire herd, consisting of the several impor- tations and their produce, were sold at public auction. ‘There were seventy-five bulls and cows comprised in the entire herd, according to the printed catalogue at the time. The number of produce was not large, as many of the females were only young heifers when im- ported, and the limited increase in but two years is thus readily accounted for. At the sale a large attendance congregated, chiefly from Ohio, with some from Kentucky, and a few breeders from other States. The bidding was eager and spirited; prices went high, as many of the bidders were stockholders, buying their own goods, yet several out- side parties made purchases at equal prices with the others. As this was the most important and numerous sale ever made in America, down to that time, a full account, copied from Zhe Scioto Gazette, October 26, 1836, is herewith given, with purchasers names and some other items added: BULLs. Matchem (2283), Abm. Renick, Clark county, Ky.,.............. $1,200 Earl of Darlington (1944), Batteal Harrison, Fayette county, Ohio, 710 Young Waterloo (2817), R. D. Lilly, Highland county, Ohio,..... 1,250 Duke of York (1941), R. R. Seymour, Ross county, Ohio,........ 1,120 Greenholme Experiment (2075), J. M. Trimble, Highland county, O. 1,150 Comet Halley (1855), R. R. Seymour, Ross county, Ohio,........ 1,505 Goldfinder (2066), Isaac Cunningham, Bourbon county, Ky.,...... 1,095 Whitaker (2836), William M. Anderson, Ross county, Ohio,...... 855 Nimrod (2371), Elias Florence, Pickaway county, Ohio,.......... 1,040 Duke of Norfolk (1939), Robert Stewart, Ross county, Ohio,..... 1,225 Duke of Leeds (1938), John Crouse, Jr., Ross county, Ohio,...... 575 Windham (2845), Charles Davis, Ross county, Ohio,............. 500 Davy Crocket (3571), Peter L. Ayers, Ohio;............-------- 490 Snowdrop (2654), Stewart & McNiel, Ross county, Ohio,......... 480 Independence (2152), Hagler & Peterson, Ross county, Ohio,..... 400 Perry (not recorded), by Reformer (2505), out of Teeswater, W. H. Creighton, Madison county, Ohio,.........-++eeeer ee eee cere 400 Goliah (2068), Isaac Cunningham, Bourbon county, Ky.,........- 300 Logan (2218), Elias Florence, Pickaway county, Ohio,........... 750 John Bull (2161), William Renick, Jr., Pickaway county, Ohio,.... 615 Paragon of the West (4649), presented by the company to their agent, Felix Renick, Ross county, Ohio. Powhatan, 828%, with his dam Flora, Geo. Renick, Ross county, O. Rantipole, 885 (2478), Arthur Watts, Ross county, Ohio,........-. 810 Reformer (2505), unsound, J. T. Webb, Ross county, Ohio ses 48 182 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Cows. Gaudy, by a son of Young Albion (15), J. M. Trimble, Highland oA A O) MORE Sima sUsuS Haus cou anoeacndn cogoon enddadoduan - $810 Blossom, by Fitz Favorite (1042), R. R. Seymour, Ross county, O. 1,000 Flora, by a son of Young Albion (15), and her bull calf Powhatan, 828%, George Renick, Ross county, Ohio,................2006. 1,205 Lily of the Valley of the Tees, by Young Rockingham (2547), Thos. Huston whickawayy county. OnioN neice rise = rons cetera eietsiodeletelsnclioe 950 Matilda, by Imperial (2151), Arthur Watts, Ross county, Ohio,.... 1,000 Calypso, by Bertram (1716), Strawder McNeill, Ross county, Ohio, 325 Young Mary, by Jupiter (2170), and cow calf Pocahontas, E. J. PlannesssmRoss (couriby@MiOsas a clers walelarcis co aneneinaereueiarsral eveietel I,500 Lady Blanche, by Prince William (1344), not a breeder, Charles IDENEH os Gouna, Olen, Socccasdoocuasucdsaboddudouud0 cue 250 Teeswater, by Belvedere (1706), and her cow calf Countess, by Comet Halley (1855), John J. Vanmeter, Pike county, Ohio,.......... 2,225 Duchess of Liverpool (pedigree not obtained), Wm. M. Anderson, Less Com, OM odo. Goda podgcoodas ooguooudGoudUs Oooo bo 570 Lady Colling, by Magnum Bonum (2243), not a breeder, J. T.Webb, IRIs oboe, OMI GoaonivoudoorcadeohosoccoodudoaconoDGaNS 205 Beauty of the West (pedigree not given), Asahel Renick, Pickaway ontg4, Olio ne cuocouscdosuuon4ogadbuodbudsen odd oobdongodc goo Lilac, by Rantipole, 885 (2478), Elias Florence, Pickaway county,O. 425 Lady of the Lake, by Reformer (2505), R. R. Seymour, Ross Co., O. Lady Paley, by Rantipole, 885 (2478), Alex. Renick, Ross county, O. 510 Poppy, by Rantipole, 885 (2478), Harness Renick, Pickaway Co., O. 610 Pink, by Duke of York (1941), Wm. Trimble, Highland county, O. 575 Mayflower, by Duke of York (1941), Batteal Harrison, Fayette 405 Couns, Olio Se ouodcuenssvdogddconvovcdooqaoddodsodoH 0008 405 Lucy, by Duke of York (1941), Geo. Ratcliff, Pickaway county, O. 505 Moss Rose, by Stapleton (2698), Jonathan Renick, Pickaway Co.,O. 1,200 Calestina, by Atlas (1660), T. Huston, Pickaway county, Ohio,.... 930 Malina, by Atlas (1660), Isaac Cunningham, Bourbon county, Ky. 1,005 Tllustrious, by Emperor (1974), Abm. Renick, Clark county, Ky... 775 Lady Abernethy, by Physician (2426), Thomas Huston, Pickaway Gouin Olu coSosoas susadccvovcodecugh boon odloudcudc00d 815 On the rst April, 1837, a meeting of the company was held at Chillicothe to close up their affairs and dispose of some remaining animals, which were not taken at the sale, and others not then offered. The following were thus sold on 15th April, 1837: BULLS. Acmon (1606), M. L. Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio,..............-- $2,500 Comet Halley (1855), George Renick & Co., Ross county, Ohio,... 2,500 Hazlewood (2098), A. Trimble and R. R. Seymour,............. .700 OHIO IMPORTING COMPANY’S SALES. 183 Bouncer, 13209, John Walke, Pickaway county, Ohio,........... $453 Powhatan, 828, Harness Renick, Pickaway county, Ohio,........ 500 Santa Anna (34 months old, not recorded), C. Vance, Ohio Co., Va. 425 Cows. Flora, by a son of Young Albion (15), M. L. Sullivant, Columbus, O. 1,300 Matilda, by Imperial (2151), Allen Trimble, Highland county, Ohio, 1,220 Fidella, by Comet Halley (1855), 73s months old, Allen Trimble, Ene EMGh Carina ONO sci66 ote conga c dodo neeceabosbobobod Slee 610 Elizabeth, by , and calf, J. & W. Vance, Champaign Co., O. 1,450 Charlotte, by , Joseph G. White, Ross county, Ohio,..... . 630 Arabella, by Victory (5566), and calf, Arthur Watts, Ross county, O. 1,200 Blush, by Se IRE Jenner, Whaoene, Onions Se hasadsassooaac I,0I5 Emily, by , Asahel Renick, Pickaway county, Ohio,....... 875 Victoress, by Norfolk (2377), M. L. Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio,.... 700 Thus closed the sales of these memorable importations. The com- pany reaped a large profit on their investment, and conferred a lasting benefit on the neat stock interests of the country, as well as awakened a spirit through various other States for forming associa- tions of like character and results. At a period of thirty-five years, from the time of the Chillicothe sales, the pedigrees of hundreds of the descendants of most of those animals can be found recorded in the American Herd Book, while others, through various causes, so far as public records are con- cerned, have become almost, if not wholly, extinct. After the sales of the Ohio Company, importations multiplied apace. Agricultural prices in products had been gradually strength- ening for the few past years, and meats bore good rates in both our home and foreign markets. Money had been unusually abundant for two years past, owing to the rival and conflicting measures of political parties in the general government, and a consequent false estimate of the ability of the people to extend their credits and plunge into all sorts of speculation. ‘The farmers throughout the country felt rich, and among other items of speculative value it is no wonder that the noble race of Short-horn cattle became an attractive object with portions of the agricultural community as well as many men of means whose tastes sympathized in their pursuits. Thus importations of them were sought, commissions were sent to England, and several new purchasers went out to select and bring cattle here where prices ruled high and sales were rapidly made, particularly in Kentucky and Ohio. 184 HISTORY OF DHE SHOR T-1.O RNS: It is difficult at this space of time (now thirty-five years since, with the notices and dates of their arrival only chronicled in the scat- tered agricultural periodicals of the day, and the memories of living men not exact), to enumerate the names of all the animals imported, or the parties owning them from the year 1836 to 1842. It is suffi- cient to say, however, that the importing parties were many, and their animals numerous. ‘The accounts, so far as we have been en- abled to gather them, (but perhaps not in exact chronological order,) will be given. About the year 1835 or 36, Mr. Thomas Weddle an Englishman, emigrated with his family from Yorkshire, Eng., into Western New York, and brought with him a dozen or more good Short-horns, all having good pedigrees, and chiefly from the herd of Major Bower, a well-known breeder of Welham, Yorkshire. Among them were the bull Charles (1816); Welland 1084¥, and one or two others. Among the cows were Crocus, by Romulus (2563); Primrose, by Pioneer (1321); Daisy, by Ebor (3681), and several more. Mr. Weddle bred his herd several years, selling as opportunity presented, at good prices; yet, not accustomed to the business, he was careless in the records of his herd, and although he had the ability, from the pedigrees of his originals, to perpetuate the genealogy of their increase, the lineage of many of them was irrecoverably lost, or if not entirely so, they could enly be traced to the importation in general terms. In the course of a few years, Mr. Weddle going into other pursuits than farming, his herd was sold and dispersed; some of them going into Kentucky, and others remaining in New York. In the year 1835 or ’36, possibly a year or two earlier, Mr. Ezra P. Prentice, of Albany, N. Y., began breeding at his villa farm, near the city, a small herd of Short-horns selected chiefly from the stock of Gen. Van Rensselaer, already noticed. In 1838, ’39, ’40, ’41, he im- ported a number of choice Short-horns from various herds in England. Among them were the bulls Fairfax, 61 (3754); O’Connell, 118; and cows Appolonia, by Albion (2965); Aurora, by William (2839); Catherine, by Sir Robert (5181); Esterville, by Alfred (2987); Flora, by Imperial (2151); Moss Rose, by Barden (1674); Princess, by Henry (4008); Splendor, by Symmetry (2723); Susan, by Dutchman (3669); and Violanta, by Charles (1815). He bred his stock, both of American birth and imported, with great skill and decided suc- cess, selling many animals into New York, and several other States, until the year 1850, when at a public sale he disposed of his entire herd. Mr. Prentice was greatly attached to his stock, but the city GEORGE VAIL’S IMPORTATION. 185 had encroached upon him, rendering the necessary accommodations for his cattle stock impossible, and with reluctance he parted with his herd, then nearly forty in number, and one of the best, at the time, in the country. About the same time, 1835 or ’36, or soon after Mr. Prentice, Mr. George Vail, of Troy, N. Y., began breeding Short-horns at his villa farm, near that city. He purchased some imported animals, and others, selecting them with care and judgment. In the year 1839 he imported direct from Mr. Thomas Bates, of Durham, Eng., the bull Duke of Wellington, 55 (3654), got by Short Tail (2621), out of Oxford Premium Cow, by Duke of Cleveland (1937); the first one of the Duchess and Oxford crosses combined, which had been brought into America. With him came the cow Duchess, by Duke of Northumberland (1940). Although called Duchess, she was not, on the dam’s side, of tie Duchess tribe so long identified with Mr. Bates’ breeding, but running, after her dam, by Belvedere (1706), into another family. This cow, after producing the bulls Meteor, 104, and Symmetry, 166, (both by Duke of Wellington, 55,) died, leaving no female progeny. During several successive years Mr. Vail made importations from Mr. Bates’ and Mr. Bell’s herds, of crosses with the Duchess and Oxford bulls, and various families of their well-bred cows, down to the year 1851. Among them were the bull Earl Derby, 456; and the cows, Cecelia, by 3d Duke of Northumberland (3647); Hilpa, by Cleveland Lad (3407); Lady Barrington 3d, by Cleveland Lad (3407); Arabella, by 4th Duke of Northumberland (3649); Yarm Lass, by 4th Duke of York (10167); Yorkshire Countess, by 3d Duke of York (10166); Agate, by 3d Duke of York (10166); Boukie, by 4th Duke of York (10167; Bright Eyes 3d, by Earl of Derby (10177); Frantic, by 4th Duke of York (10167). To the above named were added some from other importations. Mr. Vail was enthusiastic in the love he bore to his cattle; he bred successfully, making many and frequent sales until the month of October, 1852, when he disposed of his entire herd. About the year 1836, Mr. Erastus Corning, of Albany, imported the cow Wildair, by Anthony (1640). She bred successfully, and her descendants are now found in the American Herd Book. There may have been another or two heifers, and possibly a bull in the importation, but of them we have no particular account. Sometime between the years 1835-40, Messrs. James Gowen, Dennis Kelley, and perhaps another or two associates in the neigh- 186 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. borhood of Philadelphia, Pa., either jointly or severally imported from England, or purchased from Mr. Whitaker’s importation in some of those years, some Short-horn bulls and cows, which were said to be of good quality and full pedigrees. Several progeny descended from these animals, and a few stray ones, through the hands of other parties whose stock run into them, have been hunted up, and their pedigrees recorded in the American Herd Book. But from the neglect or indifference of their proper owners, many of their pedi- grees, together with the cattle themselves, have been lost, and only occasional traces can now be found of them. A striking instance of the self-sufficiency of some men, in their own pretensions in one of these cases, as well as in some others of past days in the matter of pedigrees may be given. When a certain party was asked if he put the pedigrees of his cattle in the Herd Book, he scornfully answered: “No! if my word is not good enough evidence of their pure breeding, no Herd Book record can make it any better.” We fancy that most cattle breeders would rather have a clean Herd Book record than the bare assertion, from the imperfect memory of azy man. ‘Through such lofty assumptions many other- wise valuable pedigrees of good Short-horns in this country have been lost. In the year 1836 Messrs. Edward A. Le Roy and Thomas H. New- bould, at Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., imported from England the bull Windle, 185 (5667), and the cows Dione, by Monarch (4494); Lady Morris, by Priam (4758); Netherby, by Gambier (2047); and Venus, by Magnum Bonum (2244)—a choice selection. The stock was carefully bred for eight or ten years, occasional sales during the time being made from them. Soon afterwards these gentlemen mak- ing sale of their farms the stock was likewise sold, and the herds scattered. About the same time as the above, the late Mr. Peter A. Remson, of Alexander, Genesee county, N. Y., imported the bull Alexander, 4, and the cows Adelaide, by Cupid (1894); Lavinia, by a son of Scipio (1421); and Prettyface, by Henwood (2114). Mr. Remson bred them for some years, and sold several of them and their produce while at Alexander. On selling his farm in 184-, he soon afterwards removed the few remaining ones to another farm, which he occupied in Maryland, where, within two or three years, they were finally sold, and further traces of them lost, except as some of the pedigrees of their descendants have since appeared in the American Herd Book. WHITAKER’S AND OTHER IMPORTATIONS. 187 In August, 1837, Mr. Jonas Whitaker, of Yorkshire, Eng., before named, imported a herd of 15 bulls and 19 cows and heifers into Philadelphia, Pa., and placed them on the farm of Col. Powel, at Powelton, near the city. They were a good herd, and in high condi- tion, with good pedigrees, as we saw them a few days previous to the sale. They had been widely advertised, and at the day of sale drew a numerous attendance of Short-horn breeders from the surrounding States, and some from the more distant States of Ohio and Kentucky. The prices for the bulls averaged $353, and for the cows $480, amounting in the aggregate to $14,215. Several of the cattle went to Kentucky, some to Ohio, and others to Pennsylvania, and the States adjoining. Mr. Whitaker repeated his importations to some extent in 1838-9, but the average prices falling off in the latter year he made no further importations. The late Mr. William Neff, of Cincinnati, Ohio, pur- chased several animals at Mr. Whitaker’s sales, and successfully bred them. Many American recorded pedigrees trace to his herd. At the last sale, in 1839, eight cows sold for $3,672, being an aver- age of $459 each. The bull Sir Robert (we have not his pedigree number, if recorded) sold for $700. Several other animals were sold at the same time, but we have not seen any report of their prices. In 1837 to 1839, Messrs. James Shelby and Henry Clay, Jr., of Kentucky, made importations of several fine cattle, some of which they kept and bred for a time, and others were sold soon after their arrival in Kentucky. In 1837 they imported ten cows and one bull, Don John, 426. At a sale of Mr. Clay, Jr., in Lexington, in the autumn of 1839, the following females were sold at a public auction with prices attached: WRIT aE err Tt Se ee eos nenes ss eR eae $835 “EPP Tee Ge ie 8 Be ae ea Se nee ip eee 745 Venus, 5 “ UE ee RNS Be oe eA Se 210 RaCERIN DA ES Wet Te Eee sin clea wicio wee malariae Yael 520 PMCnESS AIDS - Oo) SL eoiaiss ac ask) woe Sepia enleeu men Jo wttte 340 Dr ee eS eee oon oe eee 300 Daphne,5 “ “ (Sick,)..-...----- 222-2 ee eee eens eee eee 230 Beauty, 2 years “, (doubtful breeder,).......-......-.-...-- 176 Average, $419% each. About the year 1837 or ’38, the late Mr. Henry Whitney, of Mor- ristown, N. J., imported two Short-horns. We have no account of the individual animals or their names, but from the records of their produce in Vol. 1, A. H. B., we infer that one of them was the bull 188 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Birmingham (3152), and the other was the cow Ringlet, by Belshaz- zar (1704). Whether any other cattle were imported by Mr. Whitney we have no information. About the same time as the above, the late Mr. William Gibbons, of Madison, N. J., imported the bull Majestic (2249), and the cow Volage (bred by Mr. Whitaker), by Charles (878). The cow bred the bull Zero 190 (by Majestic). Of her and her breeding we have no further account, as Mr. Gibbons took little fancy to cattle of any kind, his taste running to blooded horses, of which he bred several of high repute in the turf annals of his time. Dr. Samuel D. Martin, Pine Grove, Clark county, Ky., in addition to a herd of Short-horns which he had some years before established, in the year 1839, in conjunction with Messrs. Hubbard and J. P. Taylor, sent an order to England and imported four cows and a heifer calf, viz.: Beauty, by Laurel (2181), bred by Mr. Parker; Jessy, by Plenipo (4724), bred by A. L. Maynard; Leonida, by Red Simon (2499), bred by Mr. Peacock; Sprightly, by Fitz Roslyn (2026), bred by Mr. Paley; and the calf Rosalie, by Cadet (1770), bred by Mr. Paley. ‘Three of the cows were in calf before leaving England. Sprightly produced twin bulls: Specie (5289), and Speculation (5263), by Mendoza (4456); Beauty produced Bullion (3240), by Lofty (2217); and Jessy produced the heifer Jessamine, by Leonidas (4211). These cows all proved good animals, and excellent milkers. Many of the produce are recorded in the American Herd Book. It is probable that about those years some other importations of a few Short-horns were made by gentlemen living in our Eastern cities, which were placed on their country places in their several vicinities, but as they were simply amateurs, caring little or nothing for pedi- grees, and the novelty of their possession soon abating, the cattle themselves, and their produce, pedigrees, and history, were ultimately absorbed, or lost in the common stock of the country. In the year 1837 or 38, Mr. John F. Sheaffe established a choice herd at his farm and country residence at New Hamburgh, Dutchess county, N. Y., on the Hudson. They were chiefly descendants from the New England importations. To them in 1843 he added several cows which he imported, among which was Seraphina, by Wharfdale (1578). The other names are not now recollected. In 1848 Mr. Sheaffe imported the bull Duke of Exeter, 449 (10152), then a calf, bred by Mr. John Stephenson, Wolviston, Eng., a valuable animal, chiefly of the Princess tribe of blood. This bull made a marked impression by way of improvement on his produce. He was SHEAFFE’S AND OTHER IMPORTATIONS. 189 mainly yellow-red in color, and a remarkably fine handler. At two and a half years old, at the final sale of Mr. Sheaffe’s herd, he became the property of the writer, and for two years longer bred with signal success. He died at six years old of inflammation in the kidneys. Mr. Sheaffe bred his herd successfully until 1850, when, going on a prolonged absence to Europe, the stock were sold, and distributed into several hands, who have since placed the pedigrees of their descend- ants in many pages of the American Herd Book. In 1838 the late Dr. John A. Poole, of New Brunswick, N. J., imported the cows Fanny, by Charley (1817); Maria, by Henwood (2114), and possibly others. Dr. Poole’s house was burned in 1842, and his Short-horn papers were destroyed. In 1843, and partially contemporary with Mr. Sheaffe, Mr. James Lenox, of New York, owning a fine country residence and farm adjoining Mr. Sheaffe, imported several good Short-horns. Among them were the bulls King Charles 2d, 84 (4154); Prince Albert, 133 (4809); and cows Daffodil, by Sampson (5081); Gayly, by Sir Thomas Fairfax (5196); and Red Lady, by Hubback (2142); all from the herd of Jonas Whitaker, of Yorkshire. He bred them for several years. Although managing his stock by proxy, they were skillfully and successfully bred, but selling the estate and removing altogether to the city, his herd was dispersed into different hands, who still keep their pedigrees in the Herd Books. In the spring of 1839, Rev. R. T. Dillard and Mr. Nelson Dudley, of Kentucky, went to England and selected for the Fayette, Kentucky, Importing Company, a superior lot of Short-horns. After their ar- rival home they were placed on the farm of David Sutton, near Lexington, and in July, 1840, were sold at auction, as follows: BULLS. Carcase, 312 (3285), calved in 1837, sold to B. Gratz,.............. $725 fEolus, 200 (2938), calved in 1836, sold to R. Fisher,.............. 610 Eclipse (9069), calved in 1837, sold to R. Fisher,..............+26- 1,050 Crofton (3523), calved in 1839, sold to J. Downing, ............... I55 Prince Albert, 2065, (calf of Victoria,) 2 mos. old, sold to J. Flournoy, 350 Wiashinoton) notirecorded), Galtier) sia cele e olsieivnersieieieieteiekelale clei tellers 85 Nelsony- 741s: SOlditoy bay hodhunter: «sc <)os o's) celeruseithvisieieisltis/s}s1s.0\0.6 5.6 610 Orlando, 3225, (calf of Lady Eliza,) sold to H. Clay, Jr., Bourbon Co., 305 Trojan, 11080, (calf of Lily,) sold to Wheeland & Co.,............- I50 Bruce, 289, (calf of Avarilda,) sold to M. Williams,................ 315 Milton, 713, (calf of Miss Maynard,) sold to James Gaines,......... 285 Average, $422 each. $4,640 190 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Cows. Victoria (dam of Prince Albert), sold to R. Fisher,.............4. $1,750 Miss Hopper, sold to Thomas Calmes,....-..-2.005 seeeeees S600 2 PUf0) BlizabethisoldiitovAcyMic Glin eye cscicieieie clo lojelsie rencyehcielciayeserejehsioneysiclons 505 Maria (calf of Elizabeth), sold to J. B. Ford,................45- 310 Miss Luck, sold to H. Clay, Jr., Bourbon county,................ 800 BashionsoldstoxGawWeawfalliam siti. <1. cr. lel erelelele/ ete oreys clelaicusictene) ovens 440 Zela (calf of Fashion), sold to G. W. Williams,.............0000- 445 Splendor, sold: to B>\Gratzye cies cs « wtee oe einietele ole os sielnie ele es ciel 650 APwUbhoyy rolkel (wo) AN IMIG Ohint oa oda noudouboedod be nodeooKdbasDodoN 700 Britannia, and heifer calf Dido, sold to H. T. Duncan,........... 375 Tsabellasol dgtomReshnisSWe rye rani lelelets cleaner orehereie sinus ieleteloneiedee sero eke 355 Lady Eliza, sold to H. Clay, Jr., Bourbon county,....... fie ee 660 Ibsihys Solel wo) 10, (Cabinesis coiccon colon ndodusino nad poogdgouUdooodude 390 INFheveng oN Gl Ho) Cor] [Ieee 5 Good onodba goucopudacoscoc0oDodaded 730 Avarildaysoldeto gobi Adlein sy. fsycisttvevetelefoleret shee isteteieds seeistehier-teners 920 Beauty, sold to H. Clay, Fayette county. ............cce08 wees 700 Flora (calf of Beauty), sold to H. Clay, Fayette county,.......... 410 Miss; Maynard; solditorAciMic lure; sie...) sie)s/a ele ieeiels arelehei ell atesel Be 1,005 Jessica, Sol dito a oel Wbig sins) ry. rene te sreze lies ts) eo) ieyausienelienese AO Dea we 330 Rosabella, sold'to: Walliamy Av Warner wel. cii. sles ej-s siete siereree aietole 465 Average, $610 each. $12,210 Of these animals Mercer county took 5; Scott county 5; Fayette county 8; Jessamine county 4; Clark county 2; Bourbon county 5. Where the remaining 2 went the account does not state. Under the depression of the money market of the country at the time, although at lower prices than paid at some previous sales of the kind, the result may be considered a good one. In the Franklin (Ky.) Farmer of June, 1839, it is stated that Lewis Shirley, of Louisville, Ky., imported from England, and brought there the bulls General Chasse, calved in 1834; Liverpool, calved in 1838; and another, called Young Matchem, all having good pedigrees. Only a few pedigrees in A. H. B. trace their lineage to these bulls. It is also stated in the same paper, that Mr. Shirley in the autumn of 1839, sold the bull Velocipede (imported in 1836) to Kendall & Co., Elkton, Ky., for $1,500; and the bull Liverpool to a company in Nelson county, Ky., for $1,000. In February, 1840, Messrs. Wait & Bagg brought to New York from England, seven Short-horns, bulls and cows. One of the cows, Empress, by Cyrus (3538), was sold to Mr. George Vail, Troy, N. Y., and in the succeeding year they took others of the importation to DECLENSION OF SHORT-HORN PRICES. IgI Kentucky. Pedigrees of their descendants are frequently recorded in the pages of the American Herd Book. With the year 1840, under the continued depression of the finan- cial interests of the country at large, the spirit so active during several previous years in cultivating the Short-horns gradually waned, and further importations ceased. For several succeeding years the prices of meats were unprecedentedly low. Mess pork fell to ro, and even less, per barrel, in our principal markets, and the dressed car- casses of swine were dull of sale at $2.50 to $3.00 per hundred pounds, while beef of good quality was worth even less, and a drug throughout. As a consequence, there was little or no encouragement for breeding Short-horns. Under this depressed condition of affairs hundreds of well-bred bull calves were castrated for steers, and many cow calves spayed and reared for the shambles. Prices for even the best blooded animals were merely nominal; public sales were scarcely made at all as in past years, and private sales infrequent. Nor was the depression for a few years only, but continuous down to nearly or quite the year 1850. One hundred to two hundred dollars per head would buy the choice of almost any herd, bull or cow, in the country. As a specimen of the times, the writer received a commission from the firm of A. B. Allen & Co., Agricultural Merchants in New York city, in October, 1850, to select fifteen or twenty good breeding Short- horns, bulls and heifers, to fill an order for the Island of Cuba, where an experiment was to be tried with them on the high ranges of coun- try near its eastern coast. We went into the Scioto valley of Ohio, and from the herds of some of its best breeders purchased several beautiful (in calf) heifers, of two to three years old past, red, red and white, and roan in color—as all white was objected to—for $50 to $100 each, and several bulls at like prices. Some of them were descend- ants of the Kentucky importation of 1817, with several crosses of the Ohio Company bulls and their descendants of the 1834 impor- tation in their pedigrees, and others, pure descendants from the latter. Every animal was of our own selection. We paid the full price asked for them, and could have quadrupled the number, or even more, at the same prices. In Kentucky, New York and New Eng- land, Short-horn values were no better, and many breeders who had begun rearing them but a few years before became disgusted with their stock, turned their choice bred cows into the dairies, put them to common bulls, and sold off their calves remorselessly to the butcher. During this depressing period numerous good pedigrees were lost, as not being worth preserving, and many valuable families of this lordly 192 WISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. race became almost, if not wholly, extinct. A newly imported ani- mal, although Short-horns were then suffering under depressed prices in Kngland, would hardly pay the expenses of transportation across the ocean from any sale which could be made of it here. Still, the low prices of meats in the markets were not all the diffi- culty. ‘The taste of our stock breeders had at the time been but scantily cultivated. Shrewd, discriminating men knew the value of Short-horns, and the immense improvement they were capable of giving to the common herds of the country; but when the great mass of farmers were either too dull or too ignorant to buy, there was little or no encouragement to breed them. ‘Thus the choice herds so highly prized but a few years before lay dormant. It was but a repetition of the result of many valuable enterprises in the agricultural world— a spasm, an excitement incident to the trial of a new thing, followed by an indifference, a mistaken and culpable neglect on the part of the many; but still kept alive by the hopeful foresight of the few who held persistently on to their herds, anticipating a brighter day when their anxious efforts would be amply rewarded, as the sequel will show. THEIR REVIVAL IN AMERICA, 193 GHeArP TER X: REVIVAL OF THE SHORT-HORNS IN AMERICA. THE year 1852 dawned upon a more cheerful prospect in agricul- tural pursuits than that of the last ten or twelve years preceding it. Meats had gradually increased in price, as a foreign demand to a con- siderable extent had opened for our surplus provisions; our farmers had measurably recovered from their depressed condition, and a spirit of improvement in their neat stock now gradually revived among the cattle growers of the country, particularly in the States of New York, Ohio and Kentucky. Those Short-horn breeders who had tenaciously held on to and cherished the blood of their favorite herds—and taken in the aggregate, there were quite a number of them—gathered their choice things together with renewed care, and with cheerful hope of better times in the future, set themselves about their improvement both by accelerated increase and painstaking in their breeding. Had not the Short-horn race, by their inherent qual- ities of excellence, borne up against the neglect under which many of them for years past had suffered, some of them in their depressed appearance and careless breeding would scarcely be recognized as high-bred cattle at all, although the aristocratic blood of many genera- tions still coursed through their veins and remained intact as ever, Yet by the still hopeful interest, and care of their breeders under _ the exercise of a discriminating judgment, the neglected herds rap- idly resumed their wonted comeliness of form and robustness of condition, and showed their excellence as of old. About the year 1852 a demand for them gradually sprung up, and on a deliberate survey of the situation a new impulse was directed to further importations from abroad. Anticipating a movement of this kind, in the year 1849 Mr. Ambrose Stevens, of Batavia, N. Y., went to England and purchased the valuable bull 3d Duke of Cambridge, 1034 - (5941), by Duke of Northumberland (1940), then eight years old, of his breeder, Mr. Thomas Bates, of Kirkleavington. This bull was of the Duchess, Princess, and Waterloo tribes combined. After his 13 . =) — oe. 194 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. arrival in America he became the joint property of Col. J. M. Sher- wood, of Auburn, N. Y., and Mr. Stevens, and was kept several years, until he died on Col. Sherwood’s farm. He did much valuable ser- vice as a sire. At the same time with 3d Duke of Cambridge came the bull calf Duke of Exeter, 449 (10152), bred by Mr. John Stephenson, for Mr. J. F. Sheaffe. New Hamburgh, Dutchess county, N.Y., previ- ously mentioned. With the above named bulls were brought out from the herd of Mr. Stephenson the yearling heifers Princess 2d, by General Sale (S099); Princess 3d, by Napier (6238); and Red Rose 2d, by Napier (6238). The latter was sold to Col. Sherwood, and soon afterwards Red Rose 2d gave birth to Red Rose 4th, by Earl of Chatham (10176). Red Rose 2d was a remarkable milker (a small cow, from her early breeding, and thin in flesh from heavy milking), having made 49 pounds of butter in 25 successive days in May and June, 1851, when 4 years old, with her second calf. To the above may be added Red Rose 3d, by General Sale. This heifer died without produce. With these also came out the bull Lord Vane Tempest, 669% (10469), sold to Col. Sherwood. In the year 1850 were imported the bull Earl of Seaham, 1499 (10181), the joint property of Mr. Stevens and Col. Sherwood, after- wards purchased by Rev. John A. Gano, of Bourbon county, Ky., in whose possession he died, leaving some valuable descendants. With Earl of Seaham came also the bull Wolviston, 1109, after- wards sold by Mr. Stevens to Mr. Ashton, of Canada West. With the above bulls were imported the cow Princess 4th, by Napier (6238); Waterloo sth (bred by Thomas Bates), by Duke of Northumberland (1940); Wild Eyes 5th (bred by Mr. Bates), by Short Tail (2621). The two last named cows died after their arrival in America, without issue. In 1851 Mr. Stevens imported the bull calf Earl Vane, 464, by Earl of Chatham (10176), and the cow Princess 1st (5 years old), by Napier (6238); and in 1852 came out the cow Lady Sale 2d, by Earl of Chatham (10176). Sold to Col. Sherwood. In the same year Col. Sherwood imported the cow Tuberose 2d, by Earl of Antrim (10174). All the above animals of the Stevens-Sherwood importation (ex- cepting the three bred by Mr. Bates) were bred by Mr. Stephenson, Wolviston, Eng., and of his Princess tribe. SUCCESSIVE IMPORTATIONS. 195 In some year, shortly previous to 1848, a Mr. Oliver, of Westchester county, N. Y., imported the bull Marius, 684, bred by Earl Spencer, England. He was exhibited at the New York State Agricultural Show, in Buffalo, 1848, by Colonel L. G. Morris, and there sold to Mr. David Harrold, of South Charleston, Clark county, Ohio, into which State he went and did good service for some years. Our impression is that one or two heifers were brought out with the bull, but of the fact we have no particular account. About the year 1851 or ’52, Mr. Lorillard Spencer, of New York, im- ported the young bull Augustus, 225 (1125), bred by G. D. Trotter, Middlesex, Eng.; Duke of Atholl, 44 (10150), bred by Thos. Bates; and Woldsman, 1rro8 (11056), bred by Mr. Topham, Spilsby, Eng., and the heifers Faraway, by 3d Duke of Oxford (9047); Jean, by Chevalier (10050); Sonsie 8th, by 2d Cleveland Lad (3408), and possibly one or two others. These he bred for a few years with some others acquired at home, when he finally gees of his herd, and gave up further Short-horn breeding. In the month of May, 1850, the sale .of thie late Mr. Bates’ herd was held in England, by his executors, as related in a previous chapter, at which Messrs. Morris and Becar, of New York, were present, and bought three Oxford cows and heifers, viz.: Oxford 5th, by Duke of Northumberland (1940); Oxford 6th, by 2d Duke of Northumber- land (3646); Oxford 13th, by 3d Duke of York (10166). Of these, Oxford 5th and roth, were taken by Col. Morris, and Oxford 13th by Mr. Becar. Col. Morris also bought of another party the bull Balco, 227 (9918), bred by Mr. Bates. These gentlemen also purchased of another party in England, the bull Romeo (13619) on joint account. Col. Morris further purchased of various others the bulls Marquis of Carrabas (11789); The Lord of Eryholme (12205), and Billy Pitt (9967); also the cows Beauty of Brawith, by Emperor (6973); Bloom, by Sir Leonard (10827); and Romelia, by Flageolet (9130). Mr. Becar also bought of other parties the cows Actress, by Hark- away (9184); Apricot, by 3d Duke of York (10166); Garland, by Pestalozzi (10603); Lady Barrington 12th, by 4th Duke of York (10167); and Lady Booth, by Chilton (10054). ‘These animals were all shipped to America, where they were established on the farms of their respective owners, and most, if not all the females bred success- fully, producing a numerous progeny. At the great Tortworth Court sale of the herd of the late Earl Ducie, in the year 1853, noticed in a preceding chapter, Messrs. 196 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Morris and Becar bought the bull Duke of Gloster, 2763 (11382), and the cow Duchess 66th, by 4th Duke of York (10167), which they brought home and bred with their previously established herd, until the death of Mr. Becar, which most unfortunately occurred in the year 1854, in the full maturity of his vigor and usefulness. Mr. Becar was a native of France, and emigrating when a young man to the city of New York, he established himself as a merchant, which occupation he for many years successfully pursued. He married an American wife, whose family held large possessions of land on Long Island, and were among its most intelligent farmers. In possession of one of those attractive farms Mr. Becar cultivated alike its acres and his Short-horns with assiduity and success, during the few years which he devoted to the pursuit. Soon after his death, his late partner, Col. Morris, purchased his interest in the herd, and a few months afterwards (selling out meantime many valuable young bulls to various breeders in different States) he transferred them in one entire sale to Mr. Samuel Thorne, at Thorndale, Dutchess county, N.Y. Anticipating a year or two of time, we follow the herd of Messrs. Morris and Becar into the hands of Mr. Thorne, and merging them in his own recently well-selected herd, we must pass to an account of that gentleman’s Short-horn importations and breeding. In the year 1850 Mr. Jonathan Thorne, of the city of New York, having on his extensive farm, at Thorndale, a couple of Short-horn cows recently bought of Mr. Vail, at Troy, sent out to his son, Edwin Thorne, then in England, to purchase and send him a Short-horn bull. The order was filled by the importation of St. Lawrence, 1005 (12037), bred by Capt. Pelham, of the Isle of Wight. The young bull, calved only in the previous November, arrived in America early in the spring of 1851, and was taken to Mr. Thorne’s farm, where he remained until of breeding age. He was afterwards sold to the late Dr. Elisha Warfield, near Lexington, Ky., where he did good service in his herd for some years. In the summer of 1852, Mr. Thorne received, on an order which he sent to Mr. Robert Bell, of England, two heifers, Forget-me-not 2d, by 4th Duke of York (10167), and Countess, by 3d Duke of Oxford (9047); also from J. S. Tanqueray the young cow Ellen Gwynne, by Sir Harry (10819). This last named cow (pregnant before shipped), after her arrival in America, produced the bull calf Young Balco, 1124, got by Balco (9918), and soon afterwards died from a quantity of nails found in her stomach, after death. MR. THORNE’S IMPORTATIONS. 197 In the spring of 1853, Mr. Samuel Thorne (son of Jonathan)— having assumed charge of the farm and Short-horn stock—in com- pany with the late Mr. F. M. Rotch, residing in Morris, Otsego county, N. Y., sailed for England in quest of some Short-horns, “as good as could be found, without regard to the prices to be paid for them.” In the ensuing October Mr. Thorne brought out the bul: Grand Duke, 545 (10284), bought of Mr. Bolden, and two cows. Duchess 59th and 68th, bought at Lord Ducie’s sale, previously no- ticed; also the cows Peri, by Grand Duke (10284), bought of Mr. Bolden; Frederika, by Upstart (9760), and Lalla Rookh, by The Squire (12217), bred by Mr. Townley; Aurora, by 3d Duke of York (10166); Mystery, by Usurer (9763); and Darling, by Grand Duke (10284). The vessel on which the cattle were shipped for America had a tempestuous passage. Duchess 68th was killed outright by the falling of a mast, and Peri had one hip knocked down, two ribs broken, and lost one horn. This accident, however, did not prevent her from breeding successfully after her arrival in America. The bull Harry Lorequer, bred by Mr. Fawkes, also purchased by Mr. Thorne, and embarked on the same ship, was lost by stress of weather. The cow Duchess 64th, which was purchased by Mr. Thorne at the same (Lord Ducie’s) sale, with the before named Duchesses, was left in England until the succeeding year, having meantime dropped her calf, 2d Grand Duke, 2181 (12961), which, by previous arrange- ment, was the property of Mr. Bolden. She soon after came to America. Her calf, 2d Grand Duke, became the property of Mr. Thorne, afterwards, in the year 1855, soon after the accident, which rendered his previous Grand Duke (10284) useless, at the price of 1000 guineas, the same which Mr. Thorne paid for the latter at the time of the Ducie sale. All efforts to restore the usefulness of Grand Duke having failed, he was slaughtered in the year 1857, and made upwards of 1400 pounds, net weight, although in only moderate condition. The ten animals (exclusive of 2d Grand Duke) of Mr. Thorne’s first purchase in 1853, comprising Grand Duke and the three Duch- esses, cost 3,600 guineas—upwards of $18,000o—probably the most costly purchase ever made by an American down to that time, though several purchases of cows have since been made at higher prices. Mr. Thorne’s next importation was made in the year 1854, con- sisting of nine cows and heifers, viz.: Lady Millicent, by Laud- able (9282); Sylphide, by Pestalozzi (10603); Cypress, by Lord of 198 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Brawith (10465); Agnes, by Lord of Brawith (10465); Cherry, by Lord of Brawith (10465); Constantia, by Lord of Brawith (10465); Diana Gwynne, by Duke of Lancaster (10929); Lady of Atholl, by Duke of Atholl (10150); and Dinah Gwynne, by Balco, 227 (9918). These all came out in good condition and proved successful breeders, with the exception of Sylphide, which produced nothing after leaving England. In November, 1855, as before mentioned, Mr. Thorne brought out the young bull 2d Grand Duke, also the bull Neptune, 1917 (11847), bred by Mr. John Booth. The bull Duke of Dorset, bred by Lord Feversham, was also bought by Mr. Thorne, but not shipped until the summer of 1856. He unfortunately died on the voyage to America. In the summer of 1856 Mr. Thorne purchased at the sale of Sir Charles Knightly, in England, the cows Blouzelind, by Earl of Dublin (10178); Elgitha, by Balco (9918); and Mrs. Flathers, by Earl of Dublin (10178); also heifers Buttercup 2d, by Horatio (10335), and Miss Buttercup, by Master Butterfly (13311), both bred by and purchased of Col. Townley, at the price of 1,000 guineas— over $5,000 for the five; also the cows Dewdrop, .by Financier (9122); Darlington 6th, by 4th Duke of Oxford (11387); and Maria Louisa, by Hopewell (10332), bred by and purchased of other parties. These animals all arrived safely at Mr. Thorne’s farm, bred success- fully, and left many descendants. In 1857, Mr. Edwin Thorne, then in England, purchased and sent out to his brother Samuel, the bull Grand Turk, 2935 (12969), bred by Mr. Bolden, Lancashire. In the spring of the same year Mr. Thorne purchased, as previ- ously mentioned, of Col. Morris, Mt. Fordham, N. Y., the combined herds of Messrs. Morris and Becar—who had imported largely from England—numbering 53 animals, including the Duchesses 66th, 71st, and Duchess ( ) (afterwards recorded in E. H. B. as Duch- ess of Fordham); the cows Oxfords 5th, 6th, 13th, 17th and 2oth; Maid of Oxford, Bride of Oxford, Romeo’s Oxford, Gloster’s Oxford, and Beauty of Oxford, together with bulls imported Duke of Gloster, 2763 (11382); Fordham Duke of Oxford, 2863, and Baron of Ox- ford, 2525. In the year 1854, 2d Grand Duke, 2181 (12961), having become useless, was slaughtered at Mr. Thorne’s farm, being then eleven years old. Having some years previous sold some of his Duchess and Oxfords, bulls and females, to Mr. James O. Sheldon, of Geneva, N. Y., which the latter had successfully bred, in the year 1867 Mr. Thorne made R. A. ALEXANDER’S IMPORTATIONS. 199 a final sale of his entire herd, about forty in number, to Mr. James O. Sheldon, Geneva, N. Y., at the gross sum of $42,300. About the years 1850 to 1853, inclusive, (for we have been unable to obtain the exact dates of his importations,) the late Mr. R. A. Alexander, of Woodford county, Ky., who had for some years, then past, been a breeder of Short-horns, obtained from different herds in that State, began an extensive importation of Short-horns from Eng- land onto his farm, and extending through several successive years. His imported animals were selected from several different prominent breeders. Of these importations, on referring to his catalogue of the year 1856, we find there were eleven bulls, and a much larger number of cows. He was aided in his selections by Mr. Strafford, editor of the English Herd Book, and with the ample means at his command, a choice assortment from some noted tribes was obtained. Among them we find, from the somewhat incomplete catalogues which we have been able to obtain, the following: Butis.—Lord John (11728); 2d Duke of Atholl (11376); Grand Master (12968); Baron Martin (12444); Fantachini (12862); Mickey Free, 8626 (A. H. B.); Doctor Buckingham (14405); Duke of Air- drie, 9798 (12730); El Hakim, 2814 (A. H. B.). To these he added some other bulls by purchases from late imported herds into Kentucky. Cows.—Sweet Mary, by Rufus (6428); Peeress, by Lord Marmion (8244); Nightingale, by Prince Alfred (8422); Victoria, by Diamond (5918); Filbert, by 2d Cleveland Lad (3408); Jubilee, by Lycurgus (7180); Lady Laura, by Laudable (9282); Maid Marion, by Robin Hood (9555); Vellum, by Abraham Parker (9856); Forget-me-not, by 2d Cleveland Lad (3408); Princess 4th, by Revolution (10713); Tizzy, by Robin Hood (9555); Beatrice, by Attraction (9912); Alice Wiley, by Rumor (7456); Lady Barrington 13th, by 4th Duke of York (10167); Duchess of Atholl, by 2d Duke of Oxford (9046); Graceful, by Earl of Dublin (10178); Pearlette, by Benedict (7828); Rose, by Puritan (9523); Buttercup, by Puritan (9523); Victoria 2oth, by Broken Horn (12500); Joyful, by Lycurgus (7180); Emma, by Fair Eclipse (11456); Bonny Lass, by Earl of Dublin (10178); Jubilee 2d, by Marquis of Rockingham (10506); Filligree, by Abra- ham Parker (9856); Lady Gulnare, by Senator (8548); Prune, by Lord Lieutenant (11734); Ferella, by Grand Duke (10284); Grisi, by Grand Duke (10284); Kathleen Bawn, by Holcombe (10384); Bessy Howard, by Fitzwalter (10232); Miss Wiley 2d, by Prince Royal (8428); Jessy 3d, by Duke of Albany (10149); Miss Townley, 200 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. by Brunel (9999); Coquette, by Monk (11824); Doria Picola, by Duke of Albany (10149); Mary Cattley, by Puritan (9523); Alberta, by Holcomb (10324); Christine Cattley, by De Grey (11346); Lydia Languish, by Duke of Gloster (11382); Sally-in-our-Alley, by Bride- groom (11203); Rosabelle, by Bridegroom (11203) ; Sunrise, by Abra- ham Parker (9856); Canny, by Will Watch (12307); Lady Valentine, by Harbinger (10207); Frances Fairfax, by Crusade (7938); Zara, by Bridegroom (11203); Constance, by Bridegroom (11203); Scotia, by Lancaster Comet (11663); Minna, by Bridegroom (11203); Pru- nella, by Duke of Bolton (12738). To these numerous selections were added several more pur- chases from other herds imported into Kentucky, which, with his native bred Short-horns he had for some years previous been cultiva- ting, comprised the largest Short-horn herd then in the United States. Neither money nor pains were spared in the selection of his stock, or in their subsequent propagation. Many sales were made from it, both in Kentucky and other States, and its reputation was among the best in the country. : Mr. Alexander died, unmarried, in the year 1867, in the prime of his life and usefulness. His large Woodburn estate of some 3,000 acres, together with his cattle, sheep, swine, and valuable stud of blood and trotting horses, fell into the possession of his brother, Mr. A. J. Alexander, who still maintains, if not in numbers, yet in their integrity of blood and quality, the descendants of the valuable stock which the earlier proprietor had so carefully collected. In the year 1852 a number of gentlemen in the Scioto valley, in Ohio, formed an association, sent out one or more agents and made an importation of near 20 Short-horns, bulls and cows. Most of them, 16 in number, were sold at the farm of the late Dr. Arthur Watts, near Chillicothe, at public auction, under the attendance of a numerous company, as follows: BULLS, Nobleman, 1932, sold to John J. Vanmeter, Pike county, Ohio,.... $2,510 Master Bellville (11795), sold to Abram Maypool, George Renick, Harness Renick, and Alexander Renick, Ross and Pickaway Cotnties Ohio 665 ce aa eee ova es INe NLS) Sik AE Ee Ni Res aa 2,005 Lord Nelson, 664, sold to John L. Myers, Fayette county, Ohio,... 1,825 Alderman, 204, sold to Alex. Waddle, Clark county, Ohio,........ I,150 Gam-boy (11503), sold to M. L. Sullivant, Columbus, Ohio,....... 1,400 Count Fashion, 381, sold to N. Perrill, Clinton county, Ohio,...... 2,075 Young Whittington, 1165, sold to Arthur Watts, Chillicothe, Ohio, 450 Rising Sun, 5130, sold to G. M. Herodh, Scioto county, Ohio,..... I,300 Isaac, 589, sold to G. M. Gregg, Pickaway county, Ohio,.......... 600 NORTHERN KENTUCKY IMPORTATIONS. 201 Cows. Moss Rose, by Stapleton (2698), sold to Alex. Waddle, Clark Co., O. $1,200 Strawberry,* by , sold to Geo, W, Renick, Ross county, Ohio, 1,000 Raspberry,* by , sold to Geo. W. Gregg, Pickaway county, O. I,1I0 Sunrise,* by , sold to John J. Vanmeter, Pike county, Ohio,... 1,230 Mary, by Lord of the Manor (10466), sold to Alex. Waddle, Clark LE aya OI ssa ey shal aver Ssa¥at oi cin) slic Sak ave’isces oray oval ve Sat dre: sialon as atavshaveisvonceete 1,650 Enchantress, by Leopold, son of D’Israeli (7967), sold to Harness and Alexander Renick, Pickaway county, Ohio,............... goo Blue Bonnet, by Earl of Antrim (10174), sold to Felix W. Renick, bicicawayacounty; (OHIO! a1oye! eeleie ial #1 600 Pine Apple, by Lord Morpeth (13205), sold to W. F. Jones, ...... 510 Ruby, by Gen. Fairfax (11519), sold to R. A. Gano, Bourbon Co., = 215 Commerce, by Concord (11302), sold to J. McMeekin, Scott Co., Ky., 415 Peeress, by Treasurer (13899), sold to Gainesia. cee nn ae 275 Winny, by Crusade (7938), sold to Albert Allen, Fayette Co., Ky., 300 Mary, by Sweet William (9701), sold to W. Simms,............-- 240 Welcome, by Beaufort (9943), sold to J. McMeekin, Scott Co., Ky., 505 Shepherdess, by Bridegroom (11203), sold to R. Innes, Fayette Co., 505 Matilda, by Villiers (13959), sold to S. Corbin, Bourbon Co., Ky., 205 Downhorn, by Liberator (7140), sold to J. McClelland,........... 405 In the same year, a number of wealthy farmers and cattle breeders of the Genesee valley, N. Y., known as “The Livingston County Stock Association,” through their agents, Messrs. David Brooks and S. L. Fuller, purchased in England 24 well-selected Short-horns. They were shipped for America, but during a stormy passage 12 of them were lost, and only one-half the original number arrived at their destination. Among the surviving animals were the bulls Blet- soe, 2548, purchased by Sackett, Barber & Co., and Usurper, 3522, owned by the late Judge Carroll, of Groveland. Also the cows Australia, by Lord Foppington (10437); Hopeless, by Horatio (10335); Lady Ellington, by Broughton Hero (6811); and Music, by Balco (9918). These four cows became the property of the late General James S. Wadsworth, of Geneseo. Also Pheenix 2d, by Horatio (10335), which was owned by J. H. Bennett, of Avon. 208 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. Shortly after this importation came out to the same parties the bull Governor, 2922, owned by Messrs. Brooks, Bennett & Co., and two cows, the names of which are not now recollected. Like some other importers, these parties were negligent in keeping records of the names of their animals, or pedigrees. We have been unable to obtain further particulars of these importations. Many of their pro- duce are recorded in the American Herd Book. In the year 1856, an importation of Short-horns was made by the ‘““Mason and Bracken Counties Importing Company” into Kentucky, of 4 bulls and 12 cows. They were kept and bred by the importers, and sold near Germantown, Ky., on the rst October, 1859; the herd then consisted of the original importations and their increase, 12 bulls and 17 cows and heifers. ‘The imported ones were: BuLis.—Vatican (12260) (bred by Earl Ducie), by Usurer (9763) ; Blandimar (bred by Sir Charles Knightly), by Earl of Dublin (16178); Emperor Napoleon (bred by Mr. Fawkes), by Bridegroom (11203); and Grisset (bred by Mr. Christy), by Duke of Beauford (11377). Cows.—Julia, by Young Grant; Duenna, by Duke of Cambridge (12742); Light of the Harem, by Nabob (11834); Granny Light, by Bridegroom (11203); Alice, by Harbinger (10297); Diana, by Bren- ~ nus (8902); Lady Laura, by Grand Duke (12973); High Bank, by Horatio (10335); Hasty, by Horatio (10335); Violet, by Duke of Beauford (11377); Jennie Deans, by Duke of Beauford (11377); Lady Bariscourt, by Jasper (11069). Several of these animals were selected from choice herds in pine: land and Ireland, and they were, no doubt, valuable cattle. The catalogue from which the above list is taken gives no names of the purchasers, nor prices at which the cattle or their produce were sold. We have made inquiries at the proper quarter for particulars, but have not been able to obtain them. Few of their descendants have found their way into the Herd Books, and we infer that the calamitous financial times during which the sale was made, swallowed many of them in the common ruin, or run them into the shambles of the butcher. In the year 1857, a number of substantial farmers and stock breed- ers in the central part of Illinois came together and formed “The Illinois Importing Association.” The late Capt. James N. Brown, who, in 1833, had removed from Kentucky into Sangamon county, Ill., brought with him the first established herd of Short-horns known in the State of his adoption. He had bred them assiduously and successfully but recognizing the advantage of an infusion of more ILLINOIS IMPORTING ASSOCIATION. 209 popular blood, he induced several others to join him in the enterprise of obtaining it. Himself, together with Messrs. H. C. Johns and Henry Jacoby went abroad as agents, and purchased 1o bulls and 21 cows and heifers, well selected from standard herds in England, Ire- land and Scotland. Of these, three bulls and one heifer died on their passage. The remainder, twenty-seven in number, safely arrived in Illinois. They were sold by auction at Springfield, August 27, 1857, as follows: BULLS. Defender, 2704 (12687), sold to A. G. Carle, Champaign Co., Ill... $2,500 King Alfred, 3053, sold to Brown, Jacoby & Co., Sangamon Co.,.. 1,300 Admiral, 2473, sold to S. Dunlap & Co., Sangamon county,....... 2,500 Master Lownds, 3140%, sold to J. H. Spears, Menard county,..... 725 Argus, 2502, sold to George Barnet, Will county,................ 2,058 Doubloon, 3833%, sold to Wash. Iles, Sangamon county, ......... I,075 Goldfinder, 2920%, sold to J. C. Bone, Sangamon county,......... 725 Cows. Bella, by California (10017), sold to J. Ogle, St. Clair county,...... $750 Caroline, by Arrow (9906), sold to J. M. Hill, Morgan county, .... 500 Stella, by Snowstorm (12119), sold to Mr. Bohnman, St. Clair Co., 925 Lady Harriet, by Procurator (10657), sold to J. H. Jacoby, Sanga- DUO COMILUY ele lcholalclaj tel oiedclelcisialoie'sl-) eje/ele)leil als) *!=i2).«)«/6) ole /e\e|ei «/-¥siels 1,300 Cassandra 2d, by Master Charlie (13312), sold to H. Ormsby, San- PATON QU Zon cco owas do dob Heo de Hp cco oodD ane eeu oUOCOOS 675 Western Lady, by Grand Turk, 2935 (12969), sold to J. N. Brown, SORTA COUNTS eco cob acoooopadncodco DU CoO OUODaCbuOOUb GS 1,325 Empress Eugenie, by Bridegroom (11203), sold to J. Ogle, St. Clair RIN oh Bones taceoon moe bbe5 000 co on doso.do Go be ncodoooUdd 675 Pomegranate, by Master Charlie (13312), sold to T. Simpkins, Pike COTTIGY Kelme) wieialesaivia's 44 Pau chtones nice vceccicieiccsccrc tee es 57 Duchess, by Daisy bull}..-.....<.3. 123 PDUGHESS) ISH seis cess else wewis.e