CHAPTER III. 



FOUNDATIONS OF THE BOOTH HERDS. 



Free use of the Colling blood was made in 

 every herd of any importance in the Short 

 horn breeding districts, but of all those who 

 availed themselves directly of the improve- 

 ment wrought at Ketton and Barmpton the 

 names of the elder (Thomas) Booth, Thomas 

 Bates, Christopher Mason, Earl Spencer and 

 Jonas Whitaker are among the most conspic- 

 uous. Indeed, one of the first things learned 

 by those who take up the study of the Short- 

 horn is the fact that for upward of half a cen- 

 tury the main question in the minds of a large 

 proportion of the breeders on both sides the 

 Atlantic seemed to have been whether to adopt 

 the Bates or the Booth line of breeding. As a 

 matter of fact, the cattle bequeathed originally 

 by the Messrs. Booth and Thomas Bates were 

 unquestionably of the highest order of merit, 

 the former representing a type distinguished 

 especially for substance and flesh and the latter 

 a class of cattle of the dual-purpose sort, pos- 

 sessing much refinement of character and un- 

 doubted quality. In each case the stock repre- 



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