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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



followed on the same side : "There was one particular class of horses to which a noble lord at the head of 

 the table had called attention : the class of trotting horses, of which, as a south-countfyman — never having 

 acted as judge at any of the Norfolk shows before — he liad certainly expected to find some. If there were 

 any of that celebrated trotthig breed existing in some of the distant nooks of the county, let them not lie 

 dormant. He used the word ' dormant' advisedly, because if such an animal, having powers of propagation, 

 were not shown at the society's meetings, he was asleep, or, at any rate, his master was. He trusted that 

 the breed had not entirely disappeared. Such horses, which had been heard of elsewhere, had been greatly 

 prized ; and if those present would listen to a word of advice, he would say to them, ' Cherish what re- 

 mains of this breed as you would that you prize and value most highly ;' because, if the good fore-quarters, fore- 

 legs, and action of the Norfolk trotter were once lost, they could never)be restored. What remained of the 

 breed should be propagated to the utmost extent." 



This is good sound advice, especially in times when a clever hack is difScult to find. But we are at 

 any rate enabled to preserve a sample or two of the sort. Confidence is by Baldwin's well known Robin 

 Hood, a Norfolk hackney of the purest blood, out of a cob mare ridden for many years by Mr. Overman. 

 Confidence himself stands fourteen hands high, is quite up to sixteen stone, and, in addition to sundry 

 other recommendations, has that greatest of all for a hack, remarkably good action. His owner, IMr. 

 Henry Overman, one of the Holkham tenants, has been yet more famous for another description of stock — 

 his flock of Southdown sheep, which, however, was dispersed in the Autumn of last year. 



THE HERDS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



Chapter I. 



A GLANCE AT THE PAST. 



The period of Shorthorn memory may be said to date 

 back to about 1770 ; and it was to it, that Mr. Bates, of 

 Kirklevington, was wont to i-efer, when, ignoring " Sir 

 JamesPennyman'sbull,"&c., altogether, he maintained 

 that " the first bull was the best, and that was Jame 

 Brown's, of Aldborough." Whatever may have been 

 their comparative merits, he has long since faded into 

 space, and left to Hubback the undisputed title of the 

 Abraham of Shorthorns. The latter, wlio was calved 

 at Hurworth, near Darlington, in 1777, was one of the 

 yellow red-and-whites, which prevailed everywhere 

 until roan became orthodox. His first stock were 

 nearly two years old, when the quick eyes of Messrs. 

 Robert Colling and Waistell espied him grazing in the 

 midst of them. " Their quiet gig ride that day inaugu- 

 rated a great era for Shorthorns." Says Colling to 

 Waistell on that memorable afternoon. " Them's very 

 bonny beasts." " They are" was the rejoinder; " and 

 that bull of Robinson's, yonder, must be the sire of 

 them; let's you and I buy him ■"" Mr. Robinson was 

 nothing loth, and Hubback was sold for £&, with as 

 much unconcern as one of our best blood sires was 

 passed over to a winner seventy years afterwards, for a 

 stake of that amount at whist. Two or three more har- 

 vest moons waned, and Hubback passed out of Wais- 

 tell'p hands at the same price, to Charles Colling, and 

 the bargain was arranged over the tea-table at Robert's 

 house. The latter, no doubt, retained an interest in 

 him, and shared in the five-guinea fees Mhich were 

 forthwith charged to cow owners for his favours. Tliis 

 account difiers from that given by Mr. Yoiiatt, but we 

 have received it from one who also heard it from the 

 same lips. The low price in the second instance arose 



from Mr. Waistell's very natural idea that his cows were 

 to be bulled gratis. 



This purchase set the Brothers Colling fairly afloat; 

 and the new century dawned upon them as the most 

 successful breeders in Durham. Charles, who had 

 pitched his tent at Ketton, had the better herd ; but 

 Robert, as the fine print after Weaver fully indicates, 

 was the more original thinker of the two, and his pas- 

 tures at Barmpton were dotted with Leicesters even 

 still more choice than his Shorthorns. He was wont 

 to say, when speaking of his herd, that he and Charles 

 had nothing better than their neighbours, except the 

 Phoenix tribe, which they originally bought from the 

 Maynards, and from which Comet, the veritable founder 

 of shorthorns sprang. Mr. Mason, of Chilton, followed 

 hard on the same track. He had bought Lady May- 

 nard, the great grandam of Comet, from Charles Col- 

 ling, and before the sale of the Ketton herd, in 1810, 

 she had gone far towards making his own. Much as 

 he loved his Gaudy, by Favourite, he gradually got rid 

 of such " fool's fat" on the tail and rump ; and, as his 

 Portia in 18'29 proved, he wrought a great improve- 

 ment on the open shouldei'S, a defect which seems to 

 have caught Robert Ceiling's attention much more 

 than Charles's. The latter also reduced both the size 

 and symmetry of his stock, by a cross with a dun 

 Kyloe, which Coates bought for Col. O'Callaghan, from 

 a man at Northallerton. She was bulled by Lord Bol- 

 ingbroke, and her daughter and granddaughter were 

 crossed in succession with a pure Shorthorn bull; and 

 it was to prove that the alloy came in with tlic grand- 

 son, that Mason published his bulky pamphlet, after 

 the Ketton sale. Lady and her two daughters. Countess 

 and Laura, and some nine or ten of their tribe, were 

 included under his ban ; but his somewhat gratuitous 



