Bad Times and Recovery 



farming had lost its supremacy, or its high position, in some 

 things owing to the development of farming in British Colonies 

 and foreign countries. Australia had given herself up largely 

 to sheep-farming, and for yield and quality of wool nothing has 

 ever equalled the Merino breed of sheep evolved there since 

 1850. We may compete with, and excel, her in the production 

 of the best quality of mutton but not of wool. Again, for quality 

 of wheat Canada, the United States, and parts of Southern 

 Europe have long surpassed England. The causes which have 

 brought about these changes are permanent. 



But something is still left. Britain is pre-eminent in producing 

 certain breeds of cattle and horses, and of sheep which are sought 

 for their mutton. There is a large export trade in these. The 

 chief encouragement and support of enterprise in producing these 

 comes, however, from the home demand for milk and for the 

 best qualities of beef and mutton. The genius of the British 

 farmer, his inborn love for breeding live stock, together with 

 these economic conditions and, probably, the British climate 

 co-operated so that the work of the old breeders was continued 

 and improved. In the hands of many successful men after Bates 

 and the Booths the Shorthorn cattle became the outstanding and 

 typical English breed. After 1850 two types of the Shorthorn 

 gradually made their appearance. Amos Cruickshank of Sittyton, 

 Aberdeenshire, had founded a herd. He had paid frequent visits 

 to England and purchased the best bulls of a certain kind. He 

 worked quietly for many years, finding a market for his surplus 

 bulls and heifers in his own neighbourhood, in Canada, the 

 United States, and in the Argentine. The kind of work he had 

 done only became clear when his herd was sold in 1890. It- was 

 seen that he had evolved a type of Shorthorn which was almost 

 perfect as a producer of beef, but which had largely lost its 

 capacity for yielding milk. If all breeders had followed his 

 example, the shorthorns would now be in the same class as the 



