A DUAL-PURPOSE BREED. 803 



registered cattle, as detailed in preceding chap- 

 ters, shifting their allegiance from time to 

 time from one strain of blood to another, the 

 farmers of Great Britain, Canada and the 

 States were all the while taking the surplus 

 bulls and grading up the common cattle of 

 their respective countries. They found that 

 each crop of calves from a good bull was worth 

 enough more than a crop from a " scrub " or a 

 grade sire to more than pay the difference in 

 the first cost of the bull. Feeders stood ready 

 to take the steers as fast as they approached 

 maturity, and such farmers as had the fore- 

 sight to use the pure-bred bulls soon obtained 

 a reputation for the quality of their cattle that 

 insured them a handsome premium for their 

 surplus stock. In this way the producers and 

 consumers of beef profited enormously by the 

 enterprise of those who spent their money so 

 lavishly in the importation, breeding and ex- 

 hibition of choice specimens of the breed, as 

 noted in preceding pages. 



"Prime Scots." Perhaps the most notable 

 illustration of the value of the blood for prac- 

 tical feeding purposes developed by the history 

 of the breed in Britain is afforded by the evo- 

 lution of the so-called "prime Scots" of the 

 English market. This particular brand of high- 

 priced beef represents the commingling of the 

 blood of the Short-horn with that of the black 



