152 ox THE AGKICULTURE OF 



got by "Pat" (29), was a noted showyard wmcer. In 1852 he 

 was purchased by Lord Southesk at £60, and at Kinnaird he 

 produced many meritorious animals, including the celebrated 

 showyard bull "Druid" 225. '' Hanton," also got by "Pat" 

 and out of " Lizzie " (227), was purchased in 1854 by the late Mr 

 M'Combie of Tillyfour for £105, and he too was the sire of many 

 excellent animals. Indeed, Mr M'Combie says that " Hanton " 

 with Mr Watson's " Angus " (45), and with " Panmure " (51) 

 was, in the male line, his " herd's fortunes." " Hanton " won 

 several showy ard honours, including the first prize at Paris in 

 1856, where he was placed before " Cupbearer," who was the 

 older by two years. By rinderpest and pleuro-pneumonia, Mr 

 Bowie's herd was reduced from ninety-three to twenty-one, 

 but since then it has almost regained its wonted strength, and 

 numbers over fifty head. The Victorias, a branch of the 

 Queens of Ardovie, are the most famous tribe now in the herd, 

 the other leading strains being the Jennets, the Marthas, and 

 the Lizzies. 



In seniority, Mr Whyte's herd at Spott comes next. Mr 

 Whyte has been breeding polled cattle for about thirty years, 

 and many of his animals have in reality a longer line of dis- 

 tinguished ancestry than their recorded pedigrees indicate. 

 A careful judge and enthusiastic admirer of polled cattle, he 

 has done a great deal in an unostentatious way to improve 

 the properties of the breed and to add to its popularity. 

 Most of his stock trace back on the male side to " Othello " 

 (319), bred by Mr Lyell, Shiellhill, and got by " Tom Pipes," 

 the winner of the first prize at the Highland Show at Perth 

 in 1861. 



Lord Airlie commenced the breeding of polled cattle about 

 twenty years ago, but it was not till about 1865 that he began to 

 devote his attention to the subject in thorough earnest. Deeply 

 interested in all matters affecting agriculture, his lordship de- 

 votes special attention to the breeding of polled cattle, and in a 

 comparatively short time he has succeeded in bringing his herd 

 to the front. Among his fir^t purchases were " Victoria of 

 Kelly" (345) from Mr Bowie, "New Year'fi Day" (1124), and 

 " Jessica 2d," and several heifers from ]\Ir Whyte, Spott ; while 

 in 1870 and the following year his herd was largely augmented 

 by important purchases at Mulben, Aldbar, The Burn, Spott, 

 Thorn, and Mains of Kelly. Subsequently he made selections 

 from the Easter Tulloch and Johnston Lodge, the Gavenwood, 

 Ballindalloch, and Tillyfour herds. At the late Mr M'Combie's 

 sale at Alford, in 1874, he secured at high figures four of the best 

 bred cows and heifers sold, some of them being of the famous 

 Pride tribe, while at the dispersion of the Tillyfour sale last 



