CHAPTER VII. 



FIRST IMPORTATIONS TO AMERICA. 



From the green pastures of Old England to 

 the Western shores of the stormy North At- 

 lantic was indeed "a far cry "to those enter- 

 prising pioneers who first conceived the idea of 

 transplanting Short-horns from these ancestral 

 herds to the virgin soil of the United States. 

 Ocean cables and fast "liners " were not at their 

 command. Three thousand miles of watery 

 waste had to be traversed by vessels sailing at 

 the mercy of JEolus, and the god of the winds 

 was not always in a propitious mood. How- 

 ever, this did not operate as a bar upon the 

 aspirations of those who, knowing the merit 

 of the newly-established Short-horn breed, de- 

 termined to introduce the blood in the seaboard 

 States. Unfortunately we have no verified rec- 

 ords as to earliest shipments. 



Virginia in the Van. The Republic is in- 

 debted to the Old Dominion for the primal im- 

 portation of Short-horn cattle. No sooner had 

 the war of the Revolution reached a trium- 

 phant termination under the masterly guidance 

 of the great Virginian than the work of pro- 



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