FIRST IMPORTATIONS TO AMERICA. 167 



Ohio Valley called into being an industry that 

 has not yet received its full credit in connec- 

 tion with " the winning of the West." Lewis 

 F. Allen tells the story of how the Pattons laid 

 the foundation for nearly all that follows in 

 this volume relating to the .extension of Short- 

 horn blood throughout the great agricultural 

 States in the following language: 



"Two years after the first importation, in the year 1785, two sons 

 and a son-in-law (Mr. Gay) of Mr. Matthew Patton, then a resi- 

 dent of Virginia, took into Clark Co., Ky., one of its fine blue- 

 grass localities, a young bull and several heifers, half blooded (and 

 they could only have been calves or less than yearlings) , of their 

 then-called ' English ' cattle. These animals were said to have 

 been purchased of Mr. Gough. It is not necessary to further note 

 these animals, as they were but grades, only to show the spirit of 

 enterprise among some of the early cattle-breeders of the State 

 in obtaining better stock than Kentucky then afforded for their 

 improvement. 



"In 1790 the elder Mr. Patton removed from Virginia to Clark 

 County, in Kentucky, and took with him a bull and cow directly 

 descended from the Gough & Miller importation of the ' milk ' 

 breed, also some half-blooded cows of both the 'milk' and 'beef 

 breeds. The 'beef breed were 'long-haired, large, coarse, 

 slowly coming to maturity and fattening badly until fully grown, 

 yet tolerable milkers.' The 'milk' breed (of which the bull 

 and cow first named were of pure descent) were short-horned, 

 coming early to maturity and fattening kindly. Their milking 

 qualities were extraordinary. It was not at all uncommon for 

 cows of this breed to give thirty-two quarts of milk daily. The 

 Short-horn bull, red in color, with white face, rather heavy horns 

 yet smooth and round in form, was called Mars. He is recorded 

 by number 1850, American Herd Book. The cow was called Venus, 

 white in color, with red ears, small short horns turning down. She 

 bred two bull calves to Mars and soon afterward died. Mars got 

 many calves on the native cows in Kentucky, which were said by 

 the old breeders to be both excellent milkers and good fattening 

 animals. Mars remained with Mr. Patton until the death of the 

 latter, in 1803, when the bull was sold to a Mr. Peeples, in Mont- 

 gomery Co., Ky., in whose possession he died in 1806. Of the two 



