A GOLDEN AGE. 499 



tralia. Hence it came to pass that when the 

 dispersion of the herd was announced visitors 

 from far and near gathered literally by the 

 thousand. Luncheon had been set for 1,500 

 guests, a great canvas accommodating 2,000 

 people was provided, and yet the crowds over- 

 flowed all Aylesby and vicinity. Great landed 

 proprietors and peers of the realm mingled 

 with eminent breeders, all intent upon show- 

 ing their respect and love for the man who 

 had accomplished so much for his country's 

 good. Factors, herdsmen and agents mingled 

 with the throng, eagerly examining the cattle 

 and making notes on the various lots prepara- 

 tory to laying bids for absent principals. It 

 was, in brief, a scene that has had few paral- 

 lels in agricultural history; and the disposition 

 of eighty-five head of Torr's own production 

 for the great sum of $243,144.57 must be re- 

 garded, all things considered, as the most re- 

 markable result ever yet worked out by an 

 individual breeder of Short-horns or any other 

 class of cattle. 



Mr. Torr had once remarked, "It takes thirty 

 years to make a herd and bring it to one's no- 

 tion of perfection." Fortunately for himself 

 and for the breed he lived to exactly that limit 

 from the date when he first began his final 

 breeding operations with Booth bulls as sires. 

 He sought to produce animals combining supe- 



