220 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



rack (a patt of Galloway) are oxen of large size, whose flesh is 

 tender, sweet and juicy." The fame of these cattle gradually 

 reached out into England and Scotland, and they soon became known 

 as the Galloway cattle. After England and Scotland became united 

 the farmers of Galloway found a market for their cattle among the 

 feeders and graziers of England. This trade grew until toward 

 the end of the eighteenth century as many as thirty thousand head 

 were sent annually to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, where 

 they were fitted for the London market. Smith, in his agricul- 

 tural survey of Galloway, says : "What above all may be regarded 

 as decisive of the merits of the Galloway breed is the uniform testi- 

 mony of the Norfolk graziers, who have long given them the pref- 

 erence to every other breed of cattle. Their average price is two 

 pounds per head above that of any other breed the same weight." 

 Aiton, speaking of these cattle, says: "It is well known that the 

 Galloway breed of cattle have, by the attention of the inhabitants, 

 been brought to a degree of perfection for feeding equal or superior 

 to any breed in Great Britain. They possess all the excellences of 

 shape, size, constitution and qualities that can recommend them 

 to the English graziers. They are of a tolerable size and very 

 handsome. They are spirited, strong, very healthy and hardy, and 

 no cattle whatever feed better or yield beef that is more relished 

 at table, as can be well attested in all parts of South Britain." 

 The object of the breeder at that time was to raise as many 

 good animals as he could for the market. The best heifers were 

 retained in the herd and the rest sent south with the steers. Thus 

 the breed was improved by the systematic mating of the best speci- 

 mens of each sex, and not by the crossing of any other breed. In 

 winter the cattle ran out, much as they do here on our western 

 ranches. This improved the hardiness of the breed. With the 

 introduction of turnips and modern methods of farming into Gal- 

 loway, improvement became more rapid, and after the advent of 

 railways many of the cattle were fattened at home. About this 

 time a trade sprang up with the farmers of Scotland and England 

 for bulls to cross on other breeds, mostly Shorthorn and Ayrshire 

 cows. This was the birth of the pure bred business, and it became 

 apparent that to maintain the purity of the breed some kind of a 

 record must be kept. Unfortunately, all early records and docu- 

 ments were lost in the fire that destroyed the Highland Agricultural 

 Society's museum and records in Edinburgh in 1851. In 1862 the 

 Polled Herd Book was published, and it contained the records of the 

 Aberdeen Angus and the Galloways. In 1877 the present Gallo- 



