566 THE HOME, FARM AND BUSINESS CYCLOPEDIA. 



and so far back as the tenth century it is recorded that there was a law of 

 fixed compensation to be paid for injury done by one prince to another at 

 one hundred white cows with red ears and a bull of the same colour. And it 

 may be fairly considered to be proved that the Herefords of to-day have 

 sprung directly from the old breeds of the district, the old grey Hereford 

 coming from the white cattle with red ears, an occasional white Hereford 

 cropping up as an additional proof of this. 



There used to be three distinct kinds of Herefords : the mottle-faced, 

 the grey, and the red with white faces. The first-mentioned were usually 

 the largest, but with great quality and good touch ; the grey were good 

 feeders, and of a medium size ; while the red with white face usually 

 were the smaller cattle, finer in bone, and altogether more taking to the 

 eye; and these by degrees excluded the others, and now reign tri- 

 umphant. 



There is rather a prejudice against cattle of a light red colour ; although 

 the light red, as a rule, are of better quality and feed quicker than the 

 dark red ones. The late Lord Berwick's cattle were usually of this light 

 red colour, and they were always, as their descendants now are, celebrated 

 for their quality and aptitude to lay on flesh. The early records of the 

 breed show that they were carefully bred in 1766 by Mr. Toinpkins and 

 others. The Herefords of that period were of great size, and usually kept 

 for working on the land and fed off afterwards. 



One of the first who set to work to improve the Hereford type, and get 

 them to mature earlier, was the late Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle. The 

 Downton herd sprang from three of the best herds of that day Mr. 

 Tully's, Mr. Tompkirrs', and Mr. Skryme's. The last-named was charac- 

 terized by the light red colour mentioned before as being usually the 

 colour of Lord Berwick's tribe of cattle, which is descended in a distinct 

 line from the Knight herd. The darker colour and signs of the old tick 

 face come from the Tompkins blood, as his cattle were usually mottle- 

 faced ; and the Tully cross gave the greys for which Downton was so cele- 

 brated. 



Such is an outline of Hereford history from the latter half of the last 

 century up to about 1844. Most of the Hereford breeders of the present 

 day follow the type set by Lord Berwick and Mr.'Knight, and endeavour 

 to get their cattle deep-bodied, heavy-fleshed, on short legs, and small 

 bone. 



The chief points to be looked for in a good Hereford are, first, that the 

 colour should be a distinct red, not too dark or too light ; white face and 

 mane, also white face and belly end to tail and white legs as far as the 



