62 CATTLE SHORTHORNS 



best specimens of the old Teeswater stock from which the 

 Shorthorn sprang : 



" They were generally wide-backed, well-framed cows, 

 deep in their fore quarters, soft and mellow in their hair and 

 * handling,' and possessing, with average milking qualities, a 

 remarkable disposition to fatten. Their horns were rather 

 longer than those of their descendants of the present day, and 

 inclining upward. The defects were those of an undue pro- 

 minence of the hip and shoulder points, a want of length in 

 the hind quarters, of width in the floor of the chest, of fullness 

 generally before and behind the shoulder, as well as of flesh 

 upon the shoulder. They had a somewhat disproportionate 

 abdomen, were too long in the legs, and showed a want of 

 substance, indicative of delicacy, in the hide. They failed 

 also in the essential requisite of taking on their flesh evenly 

 and firmly over the whole frame, which frequently gave them 

 an unlevel appearance. There was, moreover, a general want 

 of compactness in their conformation." 



Nevertheless, it was from a common Darlington market 

 cow, no doubt of special merit, that Richard Booth, by three 

 crosses with quality bulls, produced at Studley the so-called 

 " perfect " cow " Isabella," which introduced " the massive yet 

 exquisitely moulded fore quarters into the herd, and the 

 straight underline of the belly, for which the Warlaby cattle 

 are remarkable." 



The hiring-out of bulls, an uncommon practice now, 

 though new and in favour at their time, kept the Collings in 

 communication with the best breeders. Intent upon the 

 improvement of the external form and the increase of 

 fattening powers in their stock, they were no doubt satisfied 

 with the results of the cross with the in-and-in-bred Colling 

 bulls, that had acquired, in virtue of consanguinity, an 

 intensified power of impressing their qualities upon the 

 ordinary Shorthorn cattle of the country. And, finally, the 

 sales 1 held respectively by the brothers circulated their 

 names and distributed their famous strains of blood among 

 the important breeders of Shorthorns. 



Though in-and-in breeding has admittedly done much to 

 raise the standard of the Shorthorn breed, there is a strong 



1 That by Charles, at Ketton in 1810, and that by Robert, at Barmpton 

 Farm in 1818, besides a displenishing sale at the latter place in 1820, after 

 Robert's death. (See Thornton's Circular^ vol. i., for prices.) 



