78 PROMINENT ANGUS BREEDERS. 



gun breeding a very superior class of cattle in 1833. Mr. 

 McCombie says of Mr. Fullerton: "It is to him that I owe 

 my success as a breeder. I shall always look up to him as 

 the founder of my stock." He was also a follower of the 

 great Hugh Watson, whom he declared to be the first great 

 improver of the breed, and it is known that he drew heavily 

 on the Watson stock. Like Watson, he bred for individual 

 merit, and was guided almost wholly by utilitarian motives; 

 and he also bred from close affinities when he deemed it 

 necessary in his policy of breeding "the best to the best." 

 McCombie also followed Watson's footsteps in the show ring, 

 and was even more successful. He exhibited from 1832 to 

 1878, and it is stated that in all probability he carried off 

 more prizes than any breeder ever known, no matter what 

 the breed. He won the championship in the fat classes at 

 Birmingham three times, and the grand championship at 

 Smithfield once, and was always regarded as a most dan- 

 gerous opponent in any show ring. In 1878, at the Universal 

 Exposition at Paris, he achieved his crowning triumph when 

 he won a Prize of Honor for the best beef-producing herd of 

 any breed, open to all cattle foreign to France, and later a 

 special prize of 2,500 francs for the best herd of any beef 

 breed, open to the world. Mr. McCombie's earnest efforts 

 did much to bring the merits of the breed before the world, 

 and so high was his standing as a breeder that the queen 

 saw fit to visit him at Tillyfour. 



Originating in a mixed class of polled cattle, modified 

 by outcrosses, and skillful selection for a definite purpose, 

 the Aberdeen Angus breed has developed into a breed of mar- 

 velous beef-producing capacity, and the credit for its devel- 

 opment and for its introduction to the world at large, must 

 rest in largest part on Hugh Watson, of Keillor, and Wm. 

 McCombie, of Tillyfour. 



