THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



407 



landlord, Sir James Pennyman, of Oimsby Hall, in 

 Cleveland, which Sir Jaraes h'<d obtained from Sir Wm. 

 St. Quiniin, of Scampston, in the East- Hiding of 

 Yorkshire ; thiit he was fret by ii hull ht'k)nging to 

 Snowdon ; that Snowdon's hull was by William llohson's 

 bull, Rohsoii's hull beiii;^ by \Villi.\ui Masterman's 

 bull, and Masterman's bull being by the StuHIey 1 'lU. 

 As Hubback appears to have been calved in 1777, and 

 is said by Mr. Youatt, in his work on cattle, to have 

 served cows but a short time owing to hi' propensity 

 to fatten, there seems an inaccuracy in saying that Mr. 

 C. Colling, when he was beginning as a breeder, bought 

 the bull at fotir years old, both these dates beiilg 

 assigned to 1785. 



The following somewhat amusing account of the pur- 

 chase of Hubback by Messrs. R. Colling and Waistell 

 is given by Mr. Youatt in the work already alluded to. 

 Mr. Waistell (from whom Mr. Youatt had this in- 

 formation, in October, 1832) used to admire this calf 

 (Young Hubback) as he rode almost daily by the 

 meadow in which it grazed, and at length he attempted 

 to purchase it from the owner. The price asked, ,£8, 

 seemed much for a calf not a yor old ; and the reputa- 

 tion of the shorthorns not being yet established, the 

 bargain was not struck. Still he longed for the young 

 beast ; and happening to meet Mr. R. Colling near the 

 place, be asked his opinion of the animal. Mr. Colling 

 acknowledged that there were some good points about 

 him ; but there was something in his manner of ac- 

 knowledging this which induced Mr. Waistell to think 

 that Mr. Colling thought somewhat more highly of the 

 calf than his language expressed, and therefore he 

 hastened the next morning to conclude the bargain, and 

 paid the money. He had scarcely done so, before Mr. 

 Colling arrived for the same purpose ; and as the 

 farmers rode home together, they .-igreed that it should 

 be a joint speculation. Some months passed by, and 

 either Mr. Waistell's admiration of the calf a little 

 cooled, or his partner did not express himself very 

 warmly about the excellencies of the animal, and Messrs. 

 Waistell and R. Colling transferred Young Hubback to 

 Mr. C. Colling, who, with the quick eye of an ex- 

 perienced breeder, saw the value of the little beast. 



Foljambe was got by Mr. Richard Barker's bull, of 

 Oxenfield ; not Mr. Baker, of Oxneyffeld. 



Shortly after the Durham shorthorns had acquired 

 the name of "improved" Durham shorthorns, a 

 vehement controversy arose as to the origin of these 

 same improved shorthorns ; or rath.cr, as the Collings 

 had been the chief improvers, what the system was they 

 had pursued in their improvements or what, in short, 

 they had bred from. 



On the one hand it was maintained that this system 

 had been that alleged by the writer in I he Economist — 

 " Careful selection from the local breed of shorthorns, 

 which had already attained considerable prrfection," in 

 doing which they skilfully perpetuated e.vcellences and 

 obliterated defects. On the other, that it had been one 

 of crossing in the extreme sense of the term, namely, 

 the commixing of the bloods of totally different breeds 

 of cattle. 



The maintainers of the latter po.sition were two-fold, 

 who arrived from it at totally different conclusions. 

 The first of them, being owners of Herefords and other 

 rival breeds, asserted it to be a law of nature, that by 

 crossing from animals of distinct breeds, no third or 

 improved one could be obtained having the power of 

 perpetnatin[,'' itself; that the progeny always and shortly 

 reverted to one or other side of the parentage ; and that 

 the improved shorthorns, having been produced by this 

 kind of crossing, would speedily come to an end and 

 totally disappear. 



Upwards of fifty years have, however, elapsed ; nn 



the improved Durham shorthorns still hold their own, 

 still continue to propagate tlu'ir kind, their offspring 

 showing no deiiaiture from the long-established type 

 and character of their ancestry; and eitlier, therefore, 

 the theory of these objectors a.^ to the effect of crossing 

 was erroneous, Ihiir argumcnls fallacious, or they were 

 in error as to the fi>.c!s, iLe Utter being uixJonoteilly 

 our oiiiuioii. 



The other class of supporters of the doctrine of ex- 

 treme crossing were parties who, being owners of stock 

 having in it the Galloway cross or " alloy," contended 

 that this crossing was the system on which the Collings 

 had proceeded universally, and that it was, in truth, the 

 right mode of improving. 



It may be here not unnaturally asked, how came it to 

 pass that this suViject had become a matter of conjecture 

 and of controversy .' Was nothing known as to the 

 system the Collings had pursued .' What were the facts ? 

 The brothers Colling appear to have been retired, re- 

 served men, little thinking that their cattle-breeding 

 proceedings wi re to become matter of public curiosity, 

 or were to provoke controversy. They kept no record 

 of their proceedings while they were in operation, nor 

 did they leave any at the last; and seeing, as we have 

 said, that the interests, or supposed interests, of various 

 parties conspired to make it expedient to mystify the 

 facts, it is not surprising that they were so mystified to 

 a great extent. Now, however, that this mystification 

 is passing away, the facts are, in our opinion, abundantly 

 obvious. There had existed time out of mind, on 

 both sides of the river Tees, from Barnard Castle 

 downwards to Yarm, a peculiar breed of cattle— 

 the Teeswater or old-fashioned Durham shorihorns. 

 And long before the names of the Messrs. Colling had 

 betu heard, those of the following breeders and im- 

 provers of them had obtained celebrity, namely, Mil- 

 bank, Brown, dill, Wright, Charge, Maynard, Jolly, 

 Hutchinson, Sharter, and others. And long before 

 Ketton or Barmpton were known as shorthorn localities', 

 the following places were in repute, namely, B^irning- 

 ham, Aldborough, Barton, Cleasby, Manfield, Staple- 

 ton, Dalton, Newton, Morrell, Blackwell, Oxenfield, 

 Hurworlh, Eryholme, Worsel, Sockburn, &c. This 

 being so, where was it likely the Collings (living in this 

 immediate neighbourhood), when they had determined 

 on becoming breeders, went for their originals, but iu 

 the direction where a breed had long been in esteem, 

 and where they had ample material^ from which to make 

 their selections ? 



In reference to this, Mr. Hutchinson, the author of 

 the curious little history of the Sockburn shorthorns, 

 written nearly forty years ago, says, " The editor ot tho 

 Farmers' Journal, some time ago, asked whether the 

 improved shorthorns originated in select individuals, or 

 were obtained first by a cross ^ To which let me 

 here answer. From individuals (I can hardly say select 

 as regards Mr. C. CoUing's stock) picked up by that 

 gentleman at his own back-door, without trouble or ex- 

 pense : and no doubt he took the best he could come 

 at." Knowing, as we do, the skill and t ct of these 

 gentlemen, we may f' el assured that whatever this 

 author may say of the absence of trouble or expense, 

 what they " took " in this way—" the best ihey could 

 come at " — were by no means despicable animals. In- 

 deed, he says, as an instance of their judgment in such 

 matters, that at the time they succeeded in buying " Old 

 Favourite" and " Young Strawberry " of Mr. May- 

 nard, they tried to buy one of the Sockburn shorthorns ' 

 bred by his great uncle, IMr. J. Hutchinson, but could 

 not succeed. 



But though it may be fairly assumed that generally 

 they did go to their own back-doors — into their own 

 imrapdiatc neighbourhood — to get whnt they wanted ia 



