Shorthorn cattle; a series of historical sketches, memoirs and records of the breed and its development in the United States and Canada

Front matter

ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

New York State Colleges

OF

Chapter I— The Old Short-horn Country And Its Cattle

Some Short-horn shrines — A farmer's cow — Grass a prime factor in cattle-gi-owing — Birtliplace and origin of the tireed — Earliest known breeders — Some foundation stocl^ . . . . 15-28

CHAPTER n — DEVELOPMENT OP THE IMPROVED TYPE.

Faults of the old Teeswater stock — The Bakewell experiments — Ketton and Barmpton — The original Duchess cow — "The Beautiful Lady Maynard" — The bull Hvibback — Foljambe and inbreeding — Favorite (252) an extraordinary sire — "The Durham Ox" — "The Wliite Heifer That Traveled" — The "alloy" blood — As to Robert Colling — "The American Cow" — The Ketton Dispersion — The Barmpton sales — Pre-eminence of the CoUings 29-56

Chapter III — Foundations Of The Booth Herds

The elder Booth — The Faii'holme experiment — Some foundation sires — The Halnaby or Strawberry ti'ibe — Tlie Bracelets — Richard Booth at Studley — The Isabellas — John Booth at Killerby 57-68

Chapter Iv— Thomas Bates And The Duchesses

Early studies in cattle-breeding — Original investments — The Duchess blood — Student, experimenter and exliibitor — Bulls first used on the Duchesses — From Halton to Ridley Hall — Removal to Kirklevington — Belvedere (1706) of the Princess blood — The cross of Whitaker's Norfolk — The Matchem cow and the Oxfords — A show-yard disappointment — The Oxford Royal of 1839 — Prizes at Cambridge — A "brush" witli tlie Booths — Duke of Northumberland (1940)^ — Importance of tabulated pedigrees — Tlie Waterloos — Wild Eyes Tribe — The Cambridge (Red) Roses — Foggathorpe family — Blanche or Roan Duchess sort — The Secret.? — So-called Bell- Bates tribes — Last appearance in show-j-ard — Dispersion of the herd — Sixty-four Duchess females — Individual ' character of the cattle 69-113 b TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter V — Palmy Days At Killerby And War- Laby

Bracelet and Necklace — Buckingham — John Booth's sale — Warlaby and its show-yard wonders — Faith, Hope and Charity — Crown Prince (100S7) — :Isabella Buckingham and other celebrities — The Blossoms and Windsor (4013) — Bride, Bridesmaid and Bride Elect — The quartette of "Queens" — Vivandiere, Campfollower and Soldier's Bride — Death of Richard Booth — The Booth method of bleeding . . . . 119-137

Chapter VI — Other Eminent English Breeders

Lord Althorpe (Earl Spencer) — Jonas Whitaker — Wetherell, the "Xestor" of the trade — Wiley of Brandsby — The Knightley "Fillpails" — Fawkes of Farnley Hall — William Torr — The long roll of honor 138-156

Chapter VII — First Importations To America

Character of the Gough & Miller cattle — Kentucky and the Patton stock — An early New York impoitation — The Cox importation— The first pedigreed bulls — The "Seventeens" — Massachusetts impoitations — Early New York importations — Col Powel's purcha.se.s — Ancestress of the Louans — Walter Dun's importations 1.57-180

Chapter VIII — Development Of Ohio Valley Herds

Feeding for seaboard markets — Oliio Importing Company — Felix Renick and confreres in England — Whitaker's selections of 1835 and 1836 — Sale of Oct. 29, 1836 — Final sale in 1837 — Thos. Bates to Felix Renick — Mr. Clay's importations to Kentucky — Dr. Martin's importation of 1839 — R. Hutchcraft's importation — Fayette County Importing Co. — Importations into Tennessee — William Neff's importation — Wait and other importations — First Bates bull for Kentucky 181-214

CHAPTER IX — EASTERN IMPORTATIONS — 1830 to 1850

New York importations — Vail's purchases of Bates cattle — Whitaker's shipments to America — Introduction of Princess blood — Miscellaneous importations. .. .. 215-226

Chapter X— Second Period Of Activity In America

The first "Dulie" foi' America — Moi-ris and Becar — Tlie Earl Ducie sale in England — Tliorndale and the Duchesses — Revival of interest In the West — Scioto Valley Importing Co,

TABLE OF CONTENTS 7

— Madison Co. (O.) Co. — Northern Kentucky Association — Scott Co. (Ky.) Importing Co. — Clinton Co. (O.) Association— Clarli Co. (O.) Co. — R. A. Alexander of Woodburn — First of the Airdrie Duchesses — The Alexander importation of July, 1853 — Subsequent shipments to Woodburn Farm — Importations by the Shakers — James S. Matson (Kentucky) — Wilson & Seawrlght (Ohio) — Mason and Bracken (Kentucky) Association — Livingston Co. (N. Y. ) Association — Thomas Richardson (New York) — Dr. H. Wendell (New York) — J. O. Sheldon (New York) — R. F. Nichols (Louisiana)— First importations into Indiana — An early Importation to Wisconsin — The Illinois Importing Co. — Founding of the American Herd Book 227-273

Chapter Xi— Some Historic Kentucky Stock

A new era dawns — Duke of Airdrie (12730) — George M. Bedford's lease of "The Duke" — Jere Duncan and Duke of Airdrie 2743 — Abram Renick and Airdrie 2478 — Airdrie a bull-breeder — Inbreeding of the Roses of Sharon — The Vanmeters — Young Phyllis — Young Mary — The Warfields — Renick 903 — Muscatoon 7057 — The Loudon Duchesse.s — Adoption of Bates type and methods 274-315

Chapter XII — Progress In The Central West

First Illinois herds — Early Indiana breeders — Pioneer breeders of Michigan — First Short-horns west of the Mississippi — Foundation stock in Iowa — Early Wisconsin herds — Activity in the show-yard — Wm. R. Duncan and Minister 6363 — J. M. Hill's sale — J. H. Pickrell — Sweepstakes 6 230 — Gen. Grant 4825 — Baron Booth of Lancaster 316-356

Chapter XIII — The Birth Of A "boom."

"Royal" honors for Bates cattle — Duchesses €xported to England— The Grand Duchesses — Havering Park sale — Sheldon of Geneva — Geneva cattle abroad — Walcott & Campbell — First HiUhurst Importations — Gibson buys Booths for New York Mills — Sensational transfer of the Sheldon herd — "Duke" bulls in demand — The McMillan sale — Col. William S. King — The Lyndale show herd — Tycoon 73 39 — King's victory at St. Louis — W. R. Duncan's sale — The beginning of live-stock journalism 357-394

Chapter XIV — An Era Of Expansion

Hillhurst and Lyndale operations — Exportatlons to England — Clark Co. (Ky.) Importing Co. — High prices in Illinois — The great trade of 1872 — Oakland Favorite 10546 and Loudon Duke 6th 10399 — The first National convention — Opposition to prevailing "fashion" developed 395-409

O TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter XV — The Sensation Op Seventy-three

Spring sales of 1873 — Dunmore's big deal — Summer sales — New York Mills dispersion — Kello's mistake — Sources of deterioration— 4th Duke of Geneva — English sales of 1873 . . 410-433

Chapter XVI — A Golden Age

Spring sales of 1871 — Lyndale sale at Dexter Park — Other Western events — Kentucky summer sales — Closing e\'ents of 1874 — The sales of 1875 — Glen Flora dispersion — Kissinger's sale — Elliott cS: Kent — Spears and the Nelly Blys — Pickrell's great sale — Jacobs' sale at West Liberty — Dexter Park auctions — The Avery & Murphy sale — Long prices at Meredith's — Airdrie Duchesses at $18,000 each — Big sales in the Blue Grass — Pushing the Princesses — The Trans- Mississippi trade — $3,500 for a Scotch heifer — Groom importations and sale — Other iirtportant transactions — All records broken at Dunmore — Torr's Triumph — Additional importations— Another Renick exportation — North Elkhorn (Ky.) importation — Closing events of 1875 434-480

Chapter XVII — The Turn Of The Tide

Hon. George Brown and Bow Park — 4th Duke of Clarence — Opening sales of 1876 — Potts buys imp. Duke of Richmond — Col. HoUoway's big average — Albert Crane pays $23,600 for an Airdrie Duchess — $17,900 for 14th Duke of Thorndale — Closing events of 1876 — Pickrell and Kissinger — Spring sales of 1877 — Cochrane at Windermere — Sale summary for 1877 — A falling market — Top prices in England for 1878 — Dark days of 1879 — The rally of 1880 — The Vaile and Rumsey importations — Sales of 1881 — A new era at hand — Injudicious breeding — Evils of speculation — The spur of opposition — Scotch cattle to the fore. . . . . 4S1-516

Chapter XVIII — Scotland's Searching Test

"Caledonia stern and wild" — Science, "roots" and Short-horns — Feed-lot considerations paramount — Crossing the border — Robertson of Ladykirk — Rennie of Phantasie — Barclay of Ury — Hutcheson of Monyruy — Grant Duff of Eden — Brawith Bud — Simpson and Buchan Hero — Hay of Shethin. 517-540

Chapter XIX — Amos Cruickshank Of Sittyton

A new type sought — The brothers Cruickshank — The farm at Sittyton — General plan pursued — The first of the Violets — Venus tribe — The family of Mimulus — Picotee and her progeny — The Matchless sort — The Eroadhooks-— Origin of

TABLE OF CONTENTS y

the Lady tribe — The Nonpareils — Sittyton Butterfiys — Orange Blossoms — Admah, Kilmeny 3d, and Eliza by Brutus — Clipper tribe — The Victorias — The Lancasters — The Brawith Buds — Duchesses of Gloster — The Secrets — The Cicely sort — Avalanche — Violette — The Lovelys — Barmpton Roses — The Spicys — The Lavenders — First Sittyton bulls — Fairfax Royal (6987) — Hudson (9228), Report (10704) and Velvet Jacket (10998) — Matadore (11800) — Plantagenet (11906) — Doctor Buckingham (14405) — The Baron (13833) — Lord Bathurst (15173) — Master Butterfly 2d (14918) — John Bull (11618) — Lord Raglan (13244)— The Czar (20947) — Lancaster Comet (11663) — Champion of England (17526) — Windsor Augustus (19157) — Forth (17866) — Lord Privy Seal (16444) — Prince 'Alfred (27107) — Other outside bulls — Concentration of the Champion of England blood — Scotland's Pride and Pride of the Isles — C^sar Augustus— Royal Duke of Gloster — Roan Gauntlet — Barmpton — Cumberland 541-602

Chapter XX — Other North Country Herds

Douglas of Athelstaneford — Campbell of Kinellar — The Nonpareils, Miss Rarasdens and Golden Drops — Early Kinellar sires — Booth cross disappointing — Marr of Uppermill — The Maudes — The Missies — The Princess Royals — The Alexandrinas — The Roan or Red Ladys — The Bessies — The Claras — The Emmas — The Goldies — Sittyton sorts — Early sires at Uppermill — Heir of Englishman (24122) — Cherub 4th (83359) — Athabasca (47359) — William of Orange (50694) — Later Sittyton sires at LTppermill — Lethcnty — Collynie. 603-625

Chapter XXI — Rise Of Scotch Power In America

Early importations into Ontario — First Sittyton cattle in Canada — The Athelstane blood — Cruickshank cattle at the shows — Violet's Forth — The Golden Drop.s — Thompson's other importations— John Miller's flrst shipment — James I. Davidson— Hon. John Dr>'den — Arthur Johnston — Miscellaneous Canadian importations — The lies importation into Illinois — Robt. Milne of Kelvin Gi'ove — Lowman and Smith's importation— Scotch success at the shows — Potts and the Duke of Richmond — The Fanny Airdrie "nick" — Frederick William and "the twins" — A line of Cruickshank sires — Twenty years in the .show-yard — The Wilhoit herd. . . 626-662

Chapter XXII — Closing Events Of The Century

Sale of the Hillhurst Duchesses — Richard Gibson's sale of 1882 — Woodburn sale of 1882 — The PIuston-Gibson sale — Palmer's sale of Scotch cattle — Kentucky Importing Co. of 1SS3 — Sale of Pickrell, Thomas & Smith — Kentucky sum-

10 TABLE OF COXTENTS

mer sales of 1SS3 — Sale of the Holford Duchesses — The Hamiltons — Col. W. A. Harris of Linwood — Success of Baron Victor — The Linwood Golden Drops — Laron Lavender 2d — Imp. Craven Knight — A search for sires — Princess Alice — Linwood's salutary influence — J. J. Hill of North Oaks — Hope's show herds of 1S87 and 1889 — Luther Adams' importations — The shipment of 1887 — Cupbearer bought — West Liberty sale — The memorable purchase of 1887 — ■ Lakeside's show herd of 1888 — Third and last lot — Last successful Duchess sale — Sale of the Sittyton herd — The Cruickshank cows at CoUynie — Field Marshal and Mario — Scottish Archer and Count Lavender — Argentine and the shambles — Summary of Sittyton sales — Moberley and Young' Abbottsburn — Mary Abbott'sburn 7th — Forest Grove sale — ■\Voodburn dispersion — Columbian Exposition awards — Recent importations — Herd-book consolidation. . . 603-743

Chapter XXIII — A Dual-purpose Breed

LTniversal adaptability — Feed -lot favorites — "Prime Scots" — Smithfleld Club — American Fat-Stock Show — On the range — Dairy capacity — State fair tests — The Columbian records — The "Wisconsin experiment — Official records in Iowa — Figures from New York — Polled Durhams 744-7S0

Chapter XXIV — The Lamp Of Experience

What constitutes success? — Inbreeding — Herd-book registration — Color — Handling quality — Constitution, character and conformation — Primary points in management — Does showing pay? — Selling the surplus — About animal portraiture — Tribal designation — Dignity of the breeder's calling — The future . . 7S1-S11

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Home of Thomas Bates at Kirkli- Charles and Robert Collixg.

Ketton Hall

"White Heieer That Traveled"

Comet (155)

Thomas Booth

Thomas Bates,

Duchess by Daisy Bull (186;.

Ketton 1st (709)

Cleveland Lad (3407)

Norfolk (2377)

"Pet" Duchess 3 4th

Duke op Northumberland (19 40) .

Duchess 42d and Duchess 43d.

Warlaby House

Necklace.

Bracelet

Birthday.

ViVANDIERE

Commander-in-Chief (21451;

Lady Fragrant

At The Gates of Woodburx.

Felix Renick

Capt. James N. Brown.

Gen. Sol Meredith.

Thomas Wilhoit.

Aeram Renick

B. F. Vanmeter.

George JI. Bedford.

William Warfield

Imp. Duke of Airdrie (12730).

Loudon Duchess 2d and Daughter. . .

J. H. PiCKRELL

Col. William S. King

J, H. Kissinger

J. H. Spears

Baron Booth of Lancaster 7535. . .

Col. William S. King's Prize Herd.

Simon Beattie,

Richard Gibson

John R. Page

U

Frontispiece.

facing page 29

LIST OF ILLLTSTKATIONS

John Thornton

14th Duke of Thorndale (2S459). 4th Duke of Geneva (30958).

George W. Rust

Hon. T. C. Jones

Col. James W. Judy.

Letvis F. Allen

William Tore

T. C. Booth

Highland FL0"n-ER.

10th Duchess of Aibdrie.

Imp. Maid of Honor.

Hon. H. M. Cochrane' s Sale.

Amos Cruickshank.

Sitttton House.

The "Steading" at Uppermill.

A Glimpse of Collynie.

J. H. Potts & Sox's Show Herd.

Young Abeottsburn 110679.

Col. W. a. Harris.

T. S. Mobeelet.

William Miller. . .

J. H. Potts.

Royal Hero 113611.

James I. Davidson. .

John Dryden.

Hon. M. H. Cochrane.

John Hope

William Duthie.

J. Deane Willis. . .

S. Campbell.

W. S. Marr

New Tear's Gift (37796).

Field Marshal (47S70).

Residence of Deane Willis of Bapton ^Ianor.

Elvira of Browndale 3d and Calf

St. Valentine 121014

Imp. Baron Cruickshank 106297

Ruberta and Rose O'Grady

Wild Queen 2d.

Whiskers.

John D. Gillett. . .

Do'^ager 3d. . .

JIOLLY JNIILLICEXT.

Jewel 2d.

Kitty Clay 4tii.

Schooler.

College j\Ioore. . .

College Belle 2d.

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIO>TS 13

RowENA 2d 777

Bapton Pearl 789

Cicely 7S9

Breed Types Shown by Photography 798

Show Herd of George Harrison S02

Champion Aged Herd 1904 S04

Fair Queen Sli7

CHAPTER I THEl OLD SHORTHORN COUNTRY AND ITS CATTLE

One bright morning in tlie montli of June a few years since tlie writer was a passenger in a vehicle that emerged from the environs of the comfortable little city of Darlington, England — once the Shorthorn capital — into the open country so familiar a century ago to those rare old worthies who gave to the world the breed that forms the subject of our stoiy. Rural England at this season of the year will stir the blood of any human being who has any capacity whatever for the appreciation of pastoral panoramas. When to the natural beauty of the landscape is added the charm of historic association and congenial companionship, it is indeed not difficult for a lover of Short-horns to while away a summer holiday in the peaceful valley of the river Tees and contiguous territory in York and Durham, the ancestral home of the breed.

Some Short-horn shrines. — Here are the grassy lanes of Hurworth, where the dam of Hubback grazed; there the farms once occupied by Charles and Robert Colling; yonder Yarm with its quaint old market-place and Black Bull Inn. This cluster of cottages, nestling amidst sheltering vines and flowis

16 A HISTORY OF SHOET-TTORX CATTLE

ering laburnums, holds the unpretentious roof of Thomas Bates, and marks also the historic little church-yard of Kirklevington with the tomb of the man to whom Short-horn history is primarily indebted for the most dramatic event ever registered in the annals of agriculture.* AVe try to recall the figure of the keen old bachelor, but we seek in vain through the now-deserted fields for Belvedere, the Duke of Northumberland or Duchess 34th. That typical English hamlet of ye olden time— Great Smeaton — shows the house where Coates, the father of Short-horn pedigree records, compiled his earliest notes. Away over the hills is Eryholme, with its memories of "the beautiful Lady Maynard," and nearing the Tees at Croft a portrait of the $5,000 Comet still greets the eye on the sign-board of a wayside inn; while over the way is Stapleton, the farm where the famous old bull was buried.

Passing from the train at Northallerton and mounting a trap in waiting we are soon on a perfect English roadway bound for one of the most celebrated seats of Short-horn power. Wending our way between vine-clad walls and hawthorn hedges we traverse a gently-rolling Yorkshire landscape having for a background the distant Cleveland hills. Lost in admiration at the moving picture, not wholly unlike the fairest portions of the Blue-Grass region of Central Kentucky, we presently sight "red, white

*The International contest for the possession of the Bates Duchesses at New York Mills in 1873. when 108 head of Short-horn cattle sold for the astonishing total of $380,490.

THE OLD SHORT-HORN COUNTRY 17

and roans" in all their glory, np to their knees in richest grass, on a sod that represents the growth of centuries. A Short-horn enthusiast's heart beats hig-h as he here approaches Warlaby and passingthrough a velvety lawn stands at the threshold so sacred to the house of Booth. There is a word to conjure with! Eedolent with its recollections of Crown Prince, Queen of the May, Nectarine Blossom, Bride Elect and other names that hold a place in the great galaxy of Short-horn "immortals"! "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 this quiet Shorthorn home, while the genuine old squire 'refilled his pipe and showed how fields were won.' "

Away in the bleaker Northland, far beyond those beauteous English scenes bounded by "Tweed's fair river, broad and deep," is a Caledonian cottage hid away in one of the prettiest little gardens fancy can portray. So cosily does it seem ensconced that the wintry blasts from the neighboring German ocean surely lose a part of their hyperborean rigor before they reach that quiet fireside. We are in far-off Aberdeen. A white-haired octogenarian, Amos Cruickshank, there awaited the peaceful ending of a life that proved eminently useful to his fellow men, pure and elevating in its character, and fruitful of results to the Short-horn world. Modestly the Nestoi' of the North Country cattle-breeding told us some-

18 A UlSTOKV OF SHORT-HOllX CATTLE

tiling of liis life and work. We left liim, the sage of Sittyton, standing tliere amidst the greenery of his shrubs and flowers, and as we looked around upon the fields and paddocks that once held Champion of England, Pride of the Isles, Eoan Gauntlet and Eoyal A'orthern, and Highland winners by the score, we felt tlie spell of a wondrous story brooding over those silent Scottish "braes."

"What have these men, their colleagues and their followers, accomplished ? What is the nature of their legacy ? Let us first turn for partial answer to the world's greatest exhibition of live stock and agricultural products. We are under the medieval walls of Castle Warwick. The flower of British Short-horn herds is assembled in the joark. The meeting of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England is in progress. The ripe fruit of generations of careful breeding is before us. We note the size and excellence of the various classes as they came forward upon that occasion to be judged; the "bloom" and the wealth of flesh and hair! We turn to our catalogue. All trace at last to that same little valley of the Tees; some through Kirklevington, some through Warlaby, some through Sittyton, and some through other channels found in the broad-flowing currents of the breed. The crowds throng about the arena, where prince and peasant, great land-owners and tenant farmers and visitors from every clime meet to do honor to England's most widely-disseminated race of domesticated animals, and, indirectly,

THE OLD SHORT-HORN COUNTRY 19

to bear testimony to the noble service rendered to the cause of agriculture by the builders of this breed.

A farmer's cow. — The average farmer, as distinguished from the dairyman and professional feeder, maintaining cattle as an incidental, albeit necessary, feature of a well-ordered system of mixed husbandry, requires not only milk, cream and butter in good supply for domestic consumption, but the cows that provide him with these products are also expected to raise a calf each year that can be profitably utilized in consuming the grass and "roughness" of the farm; so that the males will command a fair price as yearlings and two-year-olds for feeding purposes and the heifers possess the requisite size and quality fitting them for retention in the breeding herd. Hence the necessity for a combined beefand-milk-producing breed for general farm purposes.

It is claimed by those who support its contentions that the Short-horn blood produces "the fanner's cow" par excellence of the world. The females often reach in full flesh 1,800 lbs. in weight, occasionally making 2,000 lbs., and with good farm keep at maturity should average say 1,400 lbs. in working condition. Aged bulls in high flesh occasionally weigh up to 2,800 lbs., but experienced breeders prefer sires that average from 2,000 lbs. to 2,400 lbs., extreme weights not being generally favored. In color they are red, roan, red with white markings or white. In Great Britain, the home of the breed, the roans pre-

20 A IIISTOEY OF SHORT-IIOKX CATTLE

dominate. This is indeed the one distinctive Shorthorn color, ne\'er produced except by tlie jn'esence of the blood of this breed. In America reds have been in special demand for some years i^ast purely as a matter of fancy, although the other colors — save perhajDS the pure whites — are also seen in nearly every herd. Good Short-horn cows should yield a fair flow of milk as well as fatten readily when dry. The steers possess smooth, level frames, mature ciuickly on the ordinary foods of the farm and are in great demand for feeding purposes. The bulls "cross" well ui^on cows of other types, being especially valued for leveling and refining the form of stock lacking size, finish and cjuality.

Grass a prime factor in cattle-growing. — England, the home of the Short-horn, with its moist, equitable climate, is a veritable paradise for herbivorous animals. During those ti7T.ng months when Ameriean i^astures lie brown and bare under a fierce midsummer sun those of England still afford green feed. Our blue-grass fields in June are luxuriant beyond compare, and in late autumnal days usually regain for a time much of their earlier splendor, but the season of uninterrupted grazing in England is longer and the pastures carry a greater variety of plants. While John Bull, therefore, owes much of his fame as a producer of the flesh-bearing breeds to the persistency of the island verdure it has remained, nevertheless, for an American to furnish agricultural literature with a fitting tribute to "the universal

THE OLD SHOET-HOHN COUNTEY 21

beneficence of grass. ' ' Not in the midst of the peerless pastures of old England, but on the rolling prairies of our own breezy "Sunflower State" of, Kansas Senator Ingalls found his inspiration. "It yields no fruit in earth or air, yet should its harvest fail for a single year famine would depopulate the world."*

From time immemorial it has been the mission of the herd and flock to convert this rich fruitage of the earth to the use of man, and one of the crowning triumplis of modern agriculture is found in the perfection to which domestic animals especially adapted to this end have been brought. England has

'Readers of The Breeder's Gazette have often expressed the wish that this rhetorical gem might be given permanent setting in some form. It was originally a part of a magazine article written by Mr. Ingalls many years ago. The much-admired passage is accordingly given a place here ;

"Next in profusion to the divine profusion of water, light and air, those three physical facts which render existence possible, may be I'eckoned the universal beneficence of grass. Lying in the svmshine among the buttercups and dandelions of May. scarcely higher in intelligence than those minute tenants of that mimic wilderness, our earliest recollections are of grass ; and when the fitful fever is ended, and the foolish wrangle of the market and the forum is closed, grass heals over the scar which our descent into the bosom of the earth has made, and the carpet of the infant becomes the blanket of the dead.

"Grass is the forgiveness of Nature — her constant benediction. Fields trampled with battle, saturated with blood, torn with the ruts of cannon, grow green again with grass, and carnage is forgotten. Streets abandoned by traffic become grass-grown, like rural lanes, and are obliterated. Forests decay, harvests perish, flowers vanish, but grass is immortal. Beleaguered by the sullen hosts of winter it withdraws into the impregnable fortress of its subterranean vitality and emerges upon the solicitation of spring. Sown by the winds, by wandering birds, propagated by the subtle horticulture of the elements which are its ministers and servants, it softens the rude outlines of the world. It evades the solitude of deserts, climbs the inaccessible slopes and pinnacles of mountains and modifies the history, character and destiny of nations. Unobtrusive and patient, it has immortal vigor and aggression. Banislied from the thoroughfare and fieUls, it bides its time to return, and when vigilance is relaxed or the dynasty has perished it silently resumes the throne from which it has been expelled but which it never abdicates. It bears no blazonry of bloom to charm the senses witli fragrance or splendor, but its homely hue is more enchanting than the lily or the rose. It yields no fruit in earth or air, yet should its harvest fail for a single year famine would depopulate the world."

__ A HISTORY OF SIIOKT-HORN CATTLE

easily taken the lead of all other nations in this fascinating and eminently practical pursuit, and in the Short-horn breed of cattle has given to the world a variety of farm stock that has probably been more widely distributed than any other known type. It has not onlj^ received by reason of its dual-jDurpose character more attention at the hands of the tenant farmers and landed proprietors of Great Britain and Ireland than any other British breed, but has a firm hold upon the affections of the farmers of the United States and Canada under varying environments. It has been extensively introduced into Australia and Argentina and has a foothold in the grazing regions about the South African Cape. Continental Europe with all its conservatism has drawn frequently upon British Short-horn herds — France in particular maintaining good collections of registered stock. It has peculiar claims, therefore, to the title sometimes bestowed upon it as being "the one great cosmopolitan breed."

Birthplace and origin of the breed. — The Shorthorn— or "Durham" as formerly called by many farmers in the United States — is of composite origin, representing the result of generations of skillful blending of various original tjqies. While its long period of incubation is shrouded in more or less uncertainty there is no question either as to its original lialiitat or its ancient lineage. Tradition, as well as authentic records, recognized the progenitors of the modern type in the Counties of Northumberland,

THE OLD SHOET-HORX COUNTRY 23

Durham, York and Lincoln for several centuries prior to the final crystallization of the breed in and about the Teeswater Valley. Ho much of a speculative character has been published relating to the gradual evolution in Northeastern England of the 3stablished type of which we write that it is not essential, nor would it be of any special ijrolit, for us to undertake to travel extensively over that uncertain ground in this volume. For centuries it is said that Northern England was the home of a horned black breed, and black cattle predominated in Yorkshire and adjacent counties until the seventeenth century. At this date two other well-known types existed in England, the "pied" cattle of Lincolnshire, with "more white than other colors," and the red stock of Somerset and Gloucestershire. By the middle of the eighteenth century, although the Yorkshire cattle were still largely black, mixed colors began to make their appearance. "But of all the cows in England," wrote William Ellis, in 1744, "I think none comes up to the Holderness breed for their wide bags, short homs and large bodies, whicli render them (whether black or red) the most profitable beasts for the dairyman, grazier and butcher. Some of them have yielded two or three gallons at a meal." This type took its name from the district of Holderness in Southeastern Yorkshire. About this time cattle were imported from continental Europe into the Eastern counties. These consisted chiefly of large white Dutch or Flanders cows. It

24 A HISTORY OF SHOKT-IIORX CATTLE

is also said that bulls ^vere brouglit in from Holland and used on some of the herds of York and Durham. These Dutch cattle should not, however, be confused with the modern Holstein-Friesians. It is said that Michael Dobinson and Sir William St. Quintin — both of whom were among the earliest possessors of old-time short-horned herds — imported and used Dutch bulls. These various types were all of a very crude sort when contrasted with the breed finally evolved from them, and as we are more interested in the result than in speculation as to the remote origin of the race we need not dwell upon them.