432 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



horn lore, and as fond of a controversy as any 

 native of Erin. He was an experienced breeder, 

 and for a period of nearly twenty years was one 

 of the leading American writers on Short-horn 

 cattle. His ability, honesty of purpose, and 

 virile character commanded the respect even 

 of those who differed with him in relation to 

 the various controverted tenets of the Short- 

 horn faith. There was a sharp tilt in England 

 between Lord Dunmore and Mr. J. B. Booth, in 

 the course of which the latter challenged the 

 Earl to show twenty head of the Killerby Hec- 

 ubas against a like number of any one tribe at 

 Dunmore for $5,000 a side, to which His Lord- 

 ship responded that he did not have that num- 

 ber of any one tribe in his pastures. It is of 

 interest at this juncture, as reflecting a feeling 

 that was becoming very prevalent at this stage 

 of the proceedings, to note that the National 

 Live-Stock Journal in commenting upon the 

 Booth-Dun more controversy in its issue of Jan- 

 uary, 1873, used the following significant lan- 

 guage: 



" The Booth and Bates men usually profit by these discussions ; 

 they no doubt intended that this controversy should tend, as pre- 

 vious ones have, to attract public attention to those rival strains, 

 until purchasers should be. persuaded that the only question for 

 them to decide was which of the 'breeds,' to use the language of 

 Mr. Bates, should be selected. Hearing this perpetual contro- 

 versy it is not strange that amateurs should be willing to pay long 

 prices for a Booth or Bates pedigree, without regard to the excel- 

 lence of the animal. But that practical men, who have had ex- 

 perience in breeding, and especially that managers of publications 



