OXFORD AND OTHER BATES TRIBES 71 



from the "Matchem Cow" by " Short Tail" (2621), were kept 

 as stud bulls, and " constituted the Oxford outcross upon the 

 Duchesses." The " Oxford Premium Cow " and " Oxford 2nd " 

 were kept as ancestresses of the tribe. The " Oxford Premium 

 Cow " was beaten by Thos. Booth's " Necklace " at the 

 Highland Society's Show at Berwick in 1841, being "deficient 

 in girth and gaudy behind " ; but in the following year the 

 honour of the Bates herd was retrieved at York by the dam of 

 the " Duke of Northumberland," " Duchess 34th," carrying 

 50 per cent, of Princess blood. Bates wrote of her merits : 



" As a proof that they have improved under my care, I 

 may mention that the 'Duke of Northumberland's' dam 

 consumes one-third less food than my first Duchess, purchased 

 in 1804, and that her milk yields one-third more butter for 

 each quart of milk, while there is also a greater growth of 

 carcase and an increased aptitude to fatten." 



It will be recognised from the foregoing references to 

 consanguinity that even a more perfect system of in-and-in 

 breeding was followed by Bates, and continued by his suc- 

 cessors, than in the case of the Colling or of the Booth cattle. 



Other Bates tribes that call for special mention are : 

 The Waterloos, distinguished for their thick mellow flesh 

 and furry coats, which contributed one female to the herd of 

 Amos Cruickshank when the Bates cattle were dispersed ; 

 Wild Eyes, descended from a roan heifer calf bought in 

 1832 for 3 the most numerously represented tribe at 

 the dispersion sale ; Cambridge (Red) Roses, from the 

 Cambridge Royal Premium Rose Cow; The Foggathorpe 

 family, descended from Charles Ceiling's "White Bull" 

 (151); Blanche or Roan Duchesses, a famous tribe; The 

 Secrets, creditably represented in the Sittyton herd; The 

 Bell-Bates tribe, bred by tenants of Bates from his stock. 

 At the Bates sale in 1850, the year after Bates' death a 

 very depressed period for British agriculture only five 

 families were represented. Fourteen Duchesses sold on an 

 average for i 1 6, 53.; thirteen Oxfords for 68, i6s,; twenty- 

 five Wild Eyes, 48, 2s. ; six Waterloos, 59, IDS. ; three 

 Cambridge Roses, 49 ; and seven Foggathorpes for 46, igs. 



The Bates cattle were described in the Fanners' Magazine 

 as follows : 



" Magnificent size, straight and broad back, arched and 



