226 Missouri Agricultural Hevort. 



they took up the subject of improved cattle and horses, and it is 

 simply wonderful to go away back — as far as we can — in the old 

 records and find that for thousands of years those old monks, by 

 careful selection of grades, built up new standards in live stock, 

 and to study the elements that were to be found at the beginning in 

 the herds of large white cattle which were to be found in Chilling- 

 ham Park, and one or tw^o other places in England. They are typ- 

 ical shorthorns in many respects — white, with red ears and white 

 noses ; straight hind leg and quarter ; and, except for their diminu- 

 tive size, one would think they were more or less of the shorthorn 

 blood of today. 



Probably some importations from Holland were made a good 

 many centuries ago, and thus additional milking quality infused in 

 the strain. They went on century after century, but all the way 

 through we can trace their growth. The cathedral at Durham 

 was founded in the year 1099, nearly a thousand years ago. The 

 present structure is a reproduction of the original or old build- 

 ing, and yet on the walls of the main entrance there is a cow, with 

 two dairy maids by her side, and she is to all intents and pur- 

 poses of shorthorn type. This shows that at that early day they 

 had a conception of the same qualities that we note as desirable. 

 It has the old double udder, but seems to lack size and scale. The 

 illustration shows it was not as large as we would have cattle to- 

 day. But there was, nevertheless, the beginning of this wonder- 

 ful progress, the beginning of this wonderful change, and as I 

 spoke awhile ago of the tastes of those old monks for good roast 

 beef and the good things of this life, it seems to me the most perfect 

 hotel, so far as comfort is concerned, I ever saw in my life is the 

 station hotel at York, the center of the clergy in England. The 

 Archbishop of York is the great ecclesiastical agent of the king, 

 and there attend upon him clergy of all ranks, and I find the 

 clergy of today equally as fond of the many comforts of this life 

 as the monks of the olden day must have been. That is a most 

 delightful hotel; it is most beautifully furnished; it is quiet; at- 

 tentive servants with limp slippers attend them; beautiful wax 

 candles complete the effect of the scene at night. They feast upon 

 the finest wines and the finest meats it is possible to produce or 

 obtain. So I imagine this love of luxuries has been handed on 

 down from the old monastic orders in the years five and six hun- 

 dred. Was this not a fitting birthplace for the greatest of beef ani- 

 mals? 



The work of carefully selecting and breeding these animals 



