884 APPENDIX. 



to Sittyton, or if not there then to Kinellar or Uppermill, 

 and a little later you were glad to have them trace to 

 Collynie. Now anything that looks like doing you good 

 and some things that do not look so promising coming 

 from any farm that lies between Berwick Bridge and In- 

 verness goes unquestioned to the head of your herds even 

 at four figures, no matter what its breeding. While I 

 claim some share in the credit of building the fame of 

 the Scotch Short-horn in the Central West, I also appeal 

 to you as men of sense and judgment to be sane and rea- 

 sonable. I appeal to you to extend that same catholic 

 spirit which you are now showing to Scotland, to the herds 

 of England, and above all to the herds of your own coun- 

 try. When this is done, and not until then, you will begin 

 to enter in my judgment upon another great chapter in 

 Short-horn history. 



Another lesson drawn from Short-horn records is that 

 a majority of all the greatest show and breeding cattle 

 account being taken of the breed on both sides the water 

 have been roans. I do not believe it possible to sustain 

 the true Shorn-horn thrift and character for many genera- 

 tions without resort to the roan cattle. Moreover a ma- 

 jority of the most impressive sires and show bulls known 

 to the American trade have either been imported or imme- 

 diately derived from old country herds in which roan is 

 the predominant color. Hence I am inclined to question 

 the wisdom of restrictive fees upon importations. 



William Torr of Aylesby, who has to his credit the great- 

 est sale of cattle of one man's breeding ever made, to-wit: 

 eighty-five head for $243,145, an average of $2,860, always 

 took the position that it required not less than thirty years 

 of persistent work to bring a herd up to one's ideas as to 

 what a Short-horn ought to be. It is one of the misfor- 

 tunes of the trade in the States that there are not more 

 men who are closely wedded to the production of high 

 class Short-horns regardless of the ups and downs of the 

 business. Of the buying and selling of cattle as mere 

 merchandise there is no end, but those who have left per- 

 manent impress upon the character of the breed were ani- 



