54 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



guineas), averaged 269 3s. 6d., and the thirteen 

 favorite Wildairs averaged 142 17s. 6d." 



Pre-eminence of the Ceilings, While the 

 Short-horn history of this particular period 

 must deal mainly with the operations of the 

 brothers Colling, it will of course be understood 

 that they had many intelligent contemporaries. 

 Whether the Collings really earned the right to 

 be called the first great improvers of the mod- 

 ern Short-horn, or whether they gained their 

 fame mainly by reason of the novelty of their 

 methods and their superior enterprise as adver- 

 tisers, the fact remains that more pedigrees in 

 the Short-horn herd books of England and 

 America trace to the Colling herds than to any 

 other dozen herds of the same period combined. 

 Manifestly there was some good reason for the 

 general adoption of Colling blood. That the 

 breeders of that day conceded leadership to the 

 breeder of Foljambe, Favorite and Comet is in- 

 dicated by a testimonial tendered Charles Col- 

 ling on his retirement from breeding in 1810 

 a valuable piece of plate bearing the following 

 inscription: 



PRESENTED TO 



MR. CHARLES COLLING, 



THE GREAT IMPROVER OF THE SHORT-HORNED BREED OF CATTLE, 

 BY THE BREEDERS 



( Upwards of fifty), 



WHOSE NAMES ARE ANNEXED, 



<S A TOKEN OF GRATITUDE DUE FOR THE BENEFIT THEY HAVE DERIVED 



FROM HIS JUDGMENT, AND ALSO AS A TESTIMONY OF 



THEIR ESTEEM FOR HIM AS A MAN. 



1810. 



