BOOTH AND BATES STRAINS 65 



" Foljambe " (263), " white, with a few red spots," the 

 sire of " Bolingbroke " (86), said by Coates to be " the best bull 

 he ever saw," was a grandson of " Hubback " by the cow 

 " Haughton," bred to a large, well-shaped, but coarse, wiry- 

 haired beast with a black nose." 



The two great branches of the Shorthorn breed which 

 originally possessed the highest order of merit, the Booth 

 and the Bates, 1 had a common ancestor in " Hubback." 

 This animal had a marvellous power of stamping his special 

 characteristics upon his offspring, and, moreover, was possessed 

 of certain qualities, now highly appreciated in Shorthorns, 

 which were not prominent features of Shorthorns before his 

 time, viz., low legs, compact form, and moderate size; 2 a 

 wonderful aptitude for laying on flesh, which he seems to 

 have inherited from his dam ; and, to the touch, a superior 

 quality of skin and hair. His stock had a reputation for : 

 "capacious chests, prominent bosoms, thick, mossy coats, 

 mellow skins, with a great deal oi fine flesh spread evenly 

 over the whole carcase." 



The name of Booth has been associated with the breeding 

 of Shorthorns since 1777 in the person and in the descendants 

 of Thomas Booth, of Killerby, the father of Richard and of 

 John Booth, and, through the latter, grandfather to Thomas 

 C. Booth, of Warlaby, Northallerton, and great-grandfather 

 of Richard Booth, the present representative in the direct 

 line. It was not till some time after the Collings' career 

 that the name assumed the importance which it ultimately 

 attained in the Shorthorn world. Killerby, Warlaby, and 

 in earlier times Studley, were the centres from which the 

 various members of the Booth family distributed near and 

 far their surplus stock. The Booths, like the Collings, con- 

 tinued the Bakewell system of in-and-in breeding, and also 



1 Though not here dealt with in detail, there are other important 

 branches of Shorthorn blood in the United Kingdom : for example, 

 Collings families of Shorthorns exist, which neither Bates nor Booth 

 ever possessed. There are also the Wilkinson Shorthorns, well known 

 in Scotland ; the Mason families, highly appreciated in Scotland, 

 England, and Ireland ; and the Knightley strains, famous for their 

 milking qualities ; and others which will be mentioned later. 



2 Various records of the weights of large-boned and coarse-fleshed 

 early Shorthorns, prior to the days of high pressure in feeding, put the 

 dressed carcases at over 150 imperial stones. 



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