The Ashford Herd of Shorthorns 



445 



whose daughter Maiden bred the renowned Mantalini. 

 Again, it was Raine's Lord Lieutenant 4260 which 

 got Leonard 4210, a famous bull, whose s.on Fitz- 

 Leonard 7010 was the sire of Crown Prince 10087, 

 one of the most successful getters bred at Warlaby. 

 It is also worthy of note that the dam of Crown Prince 

 was by Buckingham 3239. Lord Stanley 4269, too 

 <bred by the Earl of Carlisle, and, although of the 

 Isabella family, crossed with other blood), was used 

 at Killerby, and to him must be accred iled the great 

 Royal and Yorkshire winners, Birthday, Ladythorn, 

 Modish, and Alba. 



The cross of Exquisite 8048 was not as successful as 

 others, because (as Mr William Sanday stated at 

 JSTewark) " Lord Spencer's stock, though neat in form, 

 were liiantiiig in flesh and robustness f and further, 

 the blood was infused too raw into the Booth herds 

 (Mr Carr's History, page 51). 



All other valuable shorthorn families, as well as 

 those of the Booth sort, have had fresh blood intro- 

 duced from time to time. Mr Bates crossed his 

 Duchesses with Belvedere 1706, also with Cleveland 

 Lad 3407 and Cleveland Lad 2d 3408. It was the 

 cross of Belvedere repeated that produced Duke of 

 Northumberland 1940, one of the best bulls ever seen. 

 Many of the Duchesses, too, have the cross of Norfolk 

 2377 and the cross of Usurer 9763 in their pedigrees. 

 The Grand Duchesses derive some of their blood 

 from Booth sources through Prince Imperial 15095 

 and Grand Duke 3d 16182 ; some also from the 

 Cherry tribe : while the Oxfords have, almost all, the 

 crosses of either Priam 18567, Earl of Warwick 1 1412, 

 The Lord of Eryholme 12205, Romeo 136 19, Marquis 

 of Carrabas 11789, Seventh Duke of Airdrie 23718, 

 or Lamartine 11662 ; and in many of the Oxford pedi- 

 grees two such crosses occur. 



The present fashion does not, however, accord with 

 the views and practice of the great breeders of former 

 years, because it imperatively demands that animals 

 shall be pure Booth or pure Bates in order to fetch 

 very long prices. 



The breeders of this day are, therefore, unable (un- 

 less possessed of considerable courage) to avail them- 

 selves to any great extent of their own judgment in 

 selecting sires to improve their stocks. 



This principle of selection, though its necessity is 

 more than ever admitted and insisted upon by Darwin 

 and other celebrated naturalists, is now, practically 

 almost ignored, because the number of animals— pure 

 Booth or pure Bates — from which breeders of the re- 

 spective strains can select, consistently with obeying 

 the fashion, is necessarily limited. That number is 

 still further circumscribed by reason of many such 

 animals being of inferior shape and delicate constitu- 

 tion, and also by the large amount of infecundity wliich 

 has been generated in many famous strains of cattle by 

 long continued in and in breeding and forcing for cx- 

 tiiliition. 



jNIr William Sanday, formerly of Ilolmepierrepont, 



whose experience and skill as a breeder are notorious, 

 spoke upon this subject last autumn at Newark as 

 follows : — " My own opinion is that the animals bred 

 in the present day are inferior both in size and in 

 quality to those bred twenty or thirty years ago. Now 

 if this be the case, surely there must be something 

 wrong in the present system of breeding. It is evi- 

 dent that but little common sense can have been 

 brought to bear upon the subject. I am convinced 

 that the cause of this deterioration is the principle on 

 which most herds are raised, namely, the fashion — or 

 rather infatuation — of collecting from certain families 

 without any regard to the qualifications necessary for 

 producing and perpetuating good animals. To follow 

 out this plan, in-breeding must to a great extent be 

 resorted to, and the number of families on which such 

 an experiment can be tried with the smallest chance of 

 success is so limited, that, in the majority of cases, 

 the consequences cannot fail to be ruinous. We all 

 know the difficulty of raising and keeping up a good 

 herd or flock. This can only be done by breeding 

 from the very best males and females, but the present 

 system seems to set this rule completely at defiance ; 

 if the animal be only of the fashionable strain it is sure 

 to make a fabulous price whatever its quality." 



Now, while we do not pretend to say that 

 there are any better sires than a first-class 

 pure Booth or Bates, still we are of opinion 

 that there is much truth in what Mr Downing 

 states, because there can be no manner of 

 doubt but first-class animals of either of the 

 families alluded to are becoming scarcer, and 

 several of the best judges of shorthorns are 

 beginning to think that the shorthorns of 

 this day could not compare with those of a 

 quarter of a century hence, fully bearing out 

 the remarks of the great breeder, who said, 

 " There are several men fit to be Prime 

 Ministers but very few indeed fit to be short- 

 horn breeders." "Mixers" no doubt have 

 often been "spoilers," but in the hands of 

 such parties a closely bred herd would be just 

 as likely to spoil. The mixtures which pro- 

 duced the Towneley Butterflies, Soubador, or 

 Bolivar, could not indeed be well despised, 

 neither could the Grand Dukes or Grand 

 Duchesses of the late Mr Bolden. The truth 

 is, although in-breeding was closely practised 

 by the early breeders, still such physiologists 

 were they that as soon as they found the 

 least symptom of deterioration in their stocks, 

 they unhesitatingly procured the sires from 

 other stocks calculated to restore the balance 



