Rise and Progress of Shorthorns. 325 



and fine mellow handling ; and there is none of that Ayrshire 

 acumen at work which gives laws for the exact shape of a 

 "milking vessel," which likes a peculiar feather extending from 

 that "vessel" up the twist, and large veins from it under the 

 belly, and which will even reject "a dairy bull" if his false teats 

 are not of the proper shape and exactly in position. This test 

 may have been carried to an extreme, and cows with badly 

 formed "vessels" may have sometimes turned out good milkers ; 

 but still it is this strict attention to milking-points (which among 

 shorthorn men generally stops short at a light neck and a big 

 udder) combined with bean-meal, which makes the Ayrshire cow 

 such a perfect fill-pail for her size ; whereas, on this side of the 

 Border, we virtually make sure of the shambles, and too often 

 play at " hit or miss " with the dairy. 



Scotland also furnishes a most remarkable example of short- 

 horn beef development. Mr. Robertson, of Ladykirk, was 

 perhaps the earliest patron of the breed, when he bought "Broad- 

 hooks" from Robert Colling, and "Ladykirk" (355) from Charge. 

 General Simson established a small herd in Fife, — principally 

 by Charles Colling's "North Star" (458),— but sold it off the 

 week before the Barmpton sale, almost entirely to bidders from 

 the Border counties. Mr. Rennie, of Phantassie, also took a deci- 

 sive lead when the fine arable expanses of East Lothian were only 

 whin and heather. In 1810 he spoke of the breed as " wider 

 and thicker in their form, and therefore yielding the most weight 

 and the greatest quantity of tallow." Mr. Stirling, of Keir, and 

 Mr. Boswell, of Kingcausie, were also great improvers, and none 

 did more in the North of Scotland than Captain Barclay, with 

 his "shorthorns, not shorthorned," as he always made a point of 

 explaining. Cows and bulls were imported direct from Holland 

 to Banffshire very early in the century, and Mr. Rennie's white 

 bull, "Jerry," was turned to still better account in the Ellon 

 district. In 1830 some of the North Llighland farmers did not 

 even know a shorthorn by sight, whereas now no less than four 

 first-prize Royal English bulls are to be found between Caithness 

 and Stirling, and a small farmer within those limits, only 

 occupying a second-class farm of 130 acres, has been known to 

 give 75 guineas for an eight or nine months' bull-calf. Scottish 

 shorthorns have crossed the Border to some purpose in their turn. 

 The "Queens" and the "Roses" of Athelstaneford were often 

 foremost among the best at the shows of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society; and out of only 26 Scottish entries in the 167 at New- 

 castle, there came one third, four second, and three first prizes, 

 besides one high and two ordinary commendations. 



Wedded as the Scotch once were to the West Highlanders and 

 "the heavy blacks" of Angus and Galloway, it is to the short- 



