APPENDIX. 887 



pily these names for the most part relate to issues and 

 matters long since relegated to the limbo of things which 

 were but are not. The barriers that once reared their 

 bulk at almost every turn are falling before the light of 

 reason and common sense. There was a time when there 

 was much altogether too much in all these names; but a 

 new day is dawning. The banners of individual families 

 and leaders are being lowered and furled, and knives are 

 being returned to their sheaths, in the presence of the 

 broad tri-color of the breed itself that now floats trium- 

 phant over all. The hour is almost here when it will be 

 enough to know that an animal is simply a Short-horn, 

 and mere tribal or family derivations will no longer usurp 

 the place of honest worth. 



One great step towards a complete restoration of the 

 'reign of reason in Short-horn circles must be to forget 

 many of the names under which the old factional fights 

 were waged. There are thousands of cattle that served in 

 the ranks during the old wars under such names as Marys, 

 Phyllises, Louans, Desdemonas, Mrs. Motts, etc., that are 

 to this day told by some to stand in the presence of their 

 alleged superiors, on the assumption that they are still of 

 what was once frowned upon as plebeian blood. These 

 should have their commercial disabilities removed. The 

 war is over. A general amnesty is in order. Let me ex- 

 plain. 



Turning to the Short-horn Herd Book at random I find 

 the following entry: 



"Gem of Oakland 4th; red, calved March, 1884, bred by 

 J. H. Potts & Son, got by imp. Von Tromp 54160 out of 

 Gem of Oakland 3d (vol. 25, p. 1130) by Prince of Athel- 

 stane 40370 tracing to imp. Desdemona by Frederick 

 (1060)." 



We have been taught to rate this cow as belonging to 

 the Desdemona family, and yet it would take several yards 

 of paper to tabulate the full pedigree to the point where 

 imp. Desdemona would finally appear. She would then be 

 found at. the bottom of the last right-hand column buried 

 so deeply under other bloods that all the microscopes in 



