16 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



is so that great men have grown. In the record of the 

 earlier sales you will often find the name of a man, 

 who has since become famous and commands his 

 price, entered as the buyer of a cow at twenty to 

 thirty sovereigns each, which has since, under 

 judicious manipulation, been made the ancestress of 

 a distinguished family, the produce of which sell 

 readily for hundreds, — names it would be invidious to 

 mention, or I could support my position by a goodly 

 array. To quote an insignificant instance, we have 

 now a magnificent cow (the pride of our herd, and 

 superior to one for which three fifties were supposed 

 to be cheaply laid out at a great Lancashire sale), the 

 dam of which having accidentally come as a waif 

 from renowned stock into a common farmer's hands, 

 we picked up as a yearling amidst nondescripts for 

 £14, being about half a sovereign over butcher's 

 value. Having fixed in his mind's eye the type of 

 animal he likes, as combining to his idea the best 

 points for the butcher or the dairy (both, as a rule, 

 he must not look for in the same animal, although 

 he will find them together sometimes by rarest ex- 

 ception), he will then weed out all produce that does 

 not answer his expectation. This will be wholly a 

 matter of practical experience for him, since some- 

 times a cow of grandest shape and noble blood will 

 produce stock anything but resembling herself, in 

 either shape or quality ; whereas a common screw to 

 look at, but of exalted lineage, will throw back (as 

 the expression is), and present her owner with pro- 

 duce right worthy of her ancestral dignity and his 

 fondest hopes. There is, be it whispered sub rosd, 



