CLOSING EVENTS OF THE CENTURY. 767 



sisting at that date of 154 head, had been sold 

 at private treaty to James Nelson & Sons of 

 Liverpool, Eng., for exportation to the Argen- 

 tine Republic, South America. Those who had 

 enjoyed intimate relations with Mr. Cruickshank 

 were aware that the old gentleman had long 

 contemplated retiring from the profession in 

 which he had gained world-wide fame. Indeed, 

 a proposition had been under consideration in 

 America looking toward the formation of a syn- 

 dicate for the purchase and importation to this 

 country of the entire herd. These negotiations, 

 however, were not carried to a successful issue, 

 and when the announcement was made that the 

 stock was to be shipped to Buenos Ayres ex- 

 pressions of keen regret were heard throughout 

 all Britain and North America. It is an old 

 saying that "it is an ill wind that blows nobody 

 good." To the failure of the great interna- 

 tional banking house of Baring Bros., which oc- 

 curred in England soon after Messrs. Nelson 

 had accomplished the purchase of the stock, 

 Short-horn breeders of Britain, Canada and the 

 States are indebted for the retention in the 

 motherland of the bulk of the Sittyton cattle. 

 Grave financial complications in the Argentine 

 rendered it inexpedient to carry out the origi- 

 nal project of shipping the entire herd to the 

 Southern Republic. 



Mr. Robert Bruce, then of Darlington and 



