500 A HISTORY OF SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 



rior quality, with faultless pedigree, uniformity 

 of character and "hard, nay, iron constitu- 

 tions." He bred for oblique shoulders, great 

 fore ribs, strong loins, and heavy flesh possess- 

 ing mellowness without softness, and covered 

 with abundance of furry hair; avoiding at all 

 times what is generally referred to as "loose 

 handling." To his sound^ judgment, his un- 

 equaled knowledge and experience, his un- 

 changeable determination to keep his best 

 "even when tempted by the golden hand of 

 fashion" may be attributed the fact that his 

 herd at the time of his death was called "the 

 best large herd in Britain." 



Torr's favorite family was the Flower sort, 

 descended in the maternal line from Robert 

 Colling's Wildair; whose own brother, Phe- 

 nomenon (491) the sire of Angelina, the dam 

 of Belvedere was counted at Barmpton a bet- 

 ter bull than Comet. The Aylesby Flowers 

 traced to Wildair through the famous roan 

 Nonpareil, the highest-priced cow at Robert 

 Colling's sale of 1818 sold to Earl Spencer at 

 370 guineas. The tribe came into Mr. Torr's 

 hands in 1841 through Flora of Farnsfield, by 

 Rinaldo (4949), a bull of Booth blood. The 

 great cow Highland Flower (see sale list be- 

 low) was of this family. The five head sold 

 averaged $2,880. , 



The Ribys and Brights went back to Booth's 



