CHAPTER IV. 



THOMAS BATES AND THE DUCHESSES. 



"A wonderful, wonderful man! He might 

 become anything even Prime Minister if he 

 would not talk so much." Such was Earl Spen- 

 cer's jocular but nevertheless close-fitting char- 

 acterization of Thomas Bates. Conspicuous 

 anjong all those who exercised powerful indi- 

 vidual influence upon the fortunes of the breed 

 after the dawn of the nineteenth century; par- 

 tially contemporary in time with the Collings, 

 although much younger in years, the unique 

 and interesting personality of Mr. Bates was 

 first projected into the field of Short-horn cat- 

 tle-breeding about the year 1800. From the 

 date of his death in 1849 for a period of about 

 a quarter of a century cattle bearing the Bates 

 blood were one of the great factors in the 

 Short-horn trade not only of England but of 

 the United States as well. During that period 

 so great was the demand for animals descend- 

 ing from his favorite Duchess tribe that a 

 range of speculative values unheard of before 

 or since was for a time established, the climax 



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