DEVELOPMENT OF OHIO VALLEY HERDS. 199 



At this point in their inquiries it was ar- 

 ranged for Messrs. Harness and Josiali Renick 

 to go to London and thence into Hereford and 

 Devonshire as per Henry Clay's suggestion. If 

 pleased with those breeds Felix Renick was to 

 join them and decide as to what should be done. 

 The impression made upon these gentlemen was 

 evidently not favorable as against the Short- 

 horns as no purchases were made. Meantime 

 Felix Renick went with Mr. Whitaker and Mr. 

 Paley to Lord Althorpe's, and with Bates to 

 Lord Feversham's. Mr. Fawkes, Col. Cradock 

 and Mr. Raine were also visited. It thus ap- 

 pears that a very thorough examination of the 

 English herds of that date was made, and in a 

 letter to his friend, S. S. Denney of Ohio, Felix 

 Renick gave his impressions of the cattle as 

 follows: 



"From the appearance of many of the old bulls and cows we 

 have seen, which are now from twelve to twenty years of age, it is 

 very evident to me that their stocks here have been rather on the 

 decline for some years back owing to several causes, the principal 

 of which I believe to be the unbounded prejudices generally pre- 

 vailing among the breeders, each one thinking his own the best 

 and consequently breeding in-and-in too much, to the great injury 

 of their stock, although some of them are now partially convinced 

 of their error and in some measure changing their practice. 



"We have done the best we could and procured some that are 

 at least as good as the country affords, for which we have paid all 

 sorts of prices, from 30 guineas up to 175 guineas, such is the 

 disparity of prices. The value depends almost entirely upon the 

 purity of blood and high pedigree. If a breeder here goes to pur- 

 chase an animal for his own use to breed from he will not have it 

 at all if he cannot trace it back some 50 or 100 years and have it 

 descended from the famous bull Comet, that sold for 1,000 guineas, 



