DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMPROVED TYPE. 51 



in 1820 the closing sale, which finished his 

 career as a breeder. At the time of his first 

 sale, in 1818, he had been before the public as 

 a leading and prominent breeder thirty-eight 

 years, and at his final sale, in 1820, forty years. 



teen quarts twice a day. Mr. Whitaker prevailed upon Charles Colling to 

 let him have her; the numerous and well-known ' Chaff ' tribe is descended 

 from this cow. 



" Comet (155) was the great attraction of the sale, and his close breeding 

 [by Favorite (252), dam by Favorite (252), out of Favorite's (252) dam], did 

 not detract from his value or appearance. Charles Colling declared him to 

 be the best bull he ever bred or saw. He was a beautiful light roan, dark 

 [red] neck, with a fine masculine head, broad and deep breast, shoulders 

 well laid back, crops and loins good, hind quarters long, straight, and well 

 packed, thighs thick, twist full and well let down, with nice straight hocks 

 and hind legs. He had fair-sized horns, ears large and hairy, and a gran- 

 deur of style and carriage that was indescribable. It was admitted that no 

 bull so good had ever before been seen, and eminent breeders have since 

 said that they never again saw his equal. In one point, however, opinions 

 differed. Some few objected to his shoulders as not being good, or a little 

 too strong in the knuckles; others asserted that he was there, as in every 

 other point, faultless. The near shoulder was slightly shrunk in, appar- 

 ently diseased, which may have arisen from a violent sprain that he re- 

 ceived when a calf. When brought into the ring he was put up at 600 

 guineas. Thomas Newton, a small dairyman at Bishop Auckland, bid 850 

 guineas, and Mr. John Wright, standing beside him, asked why he bid? 'To 

 take in cows at a good profit,' said he, and while talking the glass run out 

 at 1,000 guineas ($5,000). Mr John Hutton of Marske, who was unable to get 

 to the sale, bid 1,600 guineas for him, as well as Sir H. Vane Tempest, who 

 was delayed, and drove up just as the sale was finishing. Comet was 

 located at Cleasby, three miles from Darlington, and was kept in a small 

 paddock, with a loose box in the corner. The condition of purchase was 

 that the four buyers should send twelve cows each annually to him, and 

 Mr. Wright was to have one extra for his keep. Mr. Wright died in the 

 meantime, and Comet gradually sank, his body breaking oat into sores. 

 Remus (550) is supposed to have been his last calf. Miss Wright kept a 

 man expressly to attend to Comet, and when the bull died he was buried in 

 the center of the paddock, and a chestnut tree planted on his grave. The 

 paddock is known as ' Comet's garth ' [enclosure] to this day. Mr. Thorn- 

 ton of Stapleton purchased this field, and the tree having grown to an enor- 

 mous size was grubbed up on the 3d of February, 1865, and Comet's skeleton 

 laid bare; his rib bone measured two feet one inch, and the leg bone, knee 

 to ankle joint, nine inches to five inches circumference. Many of the other 

 bones were quite perfect, and the whole are preserved in a glass case as a 

 curiosity at Stapleton, near Darlington. 



"North Star (458), own brother to Comet, and a year younger, was used 

 and died at Gen. Simpson's in Fifeshire; he was a little lighter in color but 



