THE LAMP OF EXPERIENCE. 841 



contemporary's success, or interested from sel- 

 fish motives in decrying the blood which his 

 neighbor has used. The Short-horn trade has 

 suffered incalculable damage from individuals 

 whose devotion to purely commercial consider- 

 ations was greater than their love for good 

 Short-horns. Frequently they knew little and 

 cared less about the individual merit of the 

 breed. A man possesses certain blood which 

 he insists is "bluer" than that flowing in the 

 veins of other Short-horns, and even while 

 loudest in his claims of superiority it often hap- 

 pens that the unfortunate animals in such mer- 

 cenary hands are descending to the lowest lev- 

 els of mediocrity from sheer neglect of the first 

 principles of good breeding and management. 

 Some years ago a few misguided individuals 

 undertook to "run a corner" on such repre- 

 sentatives as were then in existence of certain 

 so-called " pure " tribes. They made a pretense 

 of insisting that these few animals were the 

 real "salt" of the Short-horn earth, and, as 

 such, valuable beyond compare. It mattered 

 not that the originator of those very families 

 had himself inbred his stock to the limit of 

 safety before he died, and that he would doubt- 

 less have been the first to protest against the 

 absurdity of the present procedure. Neverthe- 

 less, people interested themselves in the pro- 

 ject as a speculation. One Western operator 



