78 AT THE SIGN OF THE STOCK YARD INN 



when the herd in 1830 was driven across country 

 from Ridley Hall to Kirklevington, the cows, some 

 fifty in number, "alike as beans," left a great impres- 

 sion upon all who saw them pass. Up to this time, 

 Mr. BATES did little or nothing in a public way to 

 attract attention to his cattle. Others were still 

 breeding largely for size. The hundred-weight was 

 their chief measure of success. Refinement and 

 quality were not yet fully appreciated. Tallowy hulks 

 were at a premium. Heavy bone and grossness 

 generally were still esteemed in a land where no 

 joint or baron of beef was too ponderous for hearty 

 Anglo-Saxon squires and their retainers. With 

 ill-concealed contempt for the commonly-accepted 

 standards of his day, BATES, almost alone in all that 

 goodly company that builded up the breed that first 

 stocked our American feedlots with good cattle, 

 sought out the Hubback silkiness of hair and mellow- 

 ness of touch. To him these things clearly indicated 

 easy-keeping, quick-fattening characteristics, lightness 

 of offal and a finer -fibered flesh, and along with 

 this he never lost sight of dairy power as early 

 exemplified in Lady Maynard. The week's butter 

 ready for market was to him a source of pride as 

 well as profit. Others might stuff their favorite 

 breeding bulls to make a showyard holiday. He 



