50 A HISTORY OF SHOiiT-HORN CATTLE. 



The Barmpton sales. Eight years after the 

 sale of the Ketton herd Robert Colling, in the 

 year 1818, made a partial sale of his stock, and 



Mr. Kingston, the auctioneer, sold the cattle by the sand-glass, and in ac- 

 cordance with the custom of the time received about five guineas for the 

 business, the work of the sale falling more on the owner than the auction- 

 eer. The cattle were not fed up for the sale, but kept naturally, and sold 

 when they were in great condition from natural keep. 



"The Ketton stock at this time is described by Mr. Wright as of great 

 size and substance, with fine, long hind quarters; the space from the hip to 

 the rib was long and counteracted by a broad back and high, round ribs. 

 The shoulders of the males were upright, and the knuckles, or shoulder 

 points, large and coarse a defect not so apparent in the females. The gen- 

 eral contour, or side view, was stately and imposing, but their great superi- 

 ority consisted in their extraordinary inclination to fatten. On handling 

 the skin was loose and pliant, and the feel under it remarkably mellow and 

 kind. The color was greatly varied, red, red-and-white, roan, and also 

 white being found in the same kindred, while in all cases of close affinity 

 there was a tendency to white, with red ears and spots. 



"Many of the cows were excellent milkers, giving twelve full quarts at 

 a meal. Cherry, the first lot, was one of them, a plain cow in color, red and 

 a little white, whose descendants are now in existence in the neighborhood 

 of Stockton-on-Tees and Malton, Yorks. Countess [alloy] was undoubtedly 

 the finest cow in the sale, but she wanted hair and milk; in character she 

 came nearest to Mason'8 style, and her back and belly formed parallel 

 lines. She produced three heifers and the bull Constellation (163), in Maj. 

 Budd's possession, and died in 1816. Selina [alloy] had the style of her 

 dam, Countess, but not her magnificent appearance; she bred ten calves at 

 Denton Park, and her descendants in the ninth and tenth generations are 

 still In existence at Siddington, Gloucestershire. Lady lacked elegance, 

 but had great substance and good hair; in color she was red-and-white. 



"Lily, pure bred, sold to Maj. Budd for 400 guineas ($2,152), a splendid 

 white cow, was the highest-priced female, but did nothing in Maj. Budd's 

 possession. Daisy, a small roan cow, but a grand milker, was most fruit- 

 ful with Maj. Bower; her dam, Old Daisy, who gave thirty-two quarts of 

 milk a day, had been sold to Mr. Hustler, who bred Fairy from her, the an- 

 cestress of Bev. J. D. Jefferson's Lady Abbesses. This Fairy wae after- 

 ward bought by Mr. Bates, who reckoned her to be the finest specimen of 

 quality imaginable; she had a long, thick, downy coat, with a superb fles"h 

 underneath, which to a superficial observer appeared hard, the cow being 

 In a rapidly advancing condition. Cora [alloy], out of the 400-guineas 

 cow Countess, had a pretty red frame, but ugly cock horns, and was re- 

 sold to Maj. Bower, who bred ten calves from her. Magdalene was a little 

 red cow, with a large bag and belly and short quarters; although the dam 

 of the celebrated red-and-white bull Blyth Comet (85), her only produce be- 

 sides Ossian (476), she was not first rate, and wanted hair, yet when dry 

 had a great propensity to feed. 



" The only cow that Charles CoHing reserved was Magdalena [by Comet, 

 dam by Cupid], a great favorite and an extraordinary milker, giving six- 



