152 FIELD AND FERN. 



fair, with the exception of the supply to the Aber- 

 deen market, and the few heavy-weights which went 

 to Glasgow. The cattle generally were about half- 

 fed, and only in fresh store condition. Mr. Ander- 

 son of Pitcarry, Kincardineshire (who is still alive and 

 managing his own farm at eighty-five), was the first 

 man who ever sent cattle by steam from Aberdeen, 

 and the first that were ever trucked by rail were a lot 

 of Highlanders belonging to Mr. Hay of Shethin, 

 This gentleman and Mr. Whitehead of Methlick had 

 once a great shorthorn-bull trade, but the latter re- 

 tired in '56, and when Mr. Hay died, his nephew, 

 Mr. Shepherd, carried on the herd, and sold 140 of 

 them by auction in '63. Shethin has no mean name 

 in shorthorn annals. First Grand Duke (10284) 

 was there for a time as a calf, and was then sold to 

 Mr. Bold en, who sold him to the Americans for 

 1,000 gs., and Bosquet (14183) and Second Cherry 

 Duke (14265) left their decisive mark. 



Red is the fancy colour of the county, and eight- 

 ninths of the beef come from shorthorn crosses, 

 nearly all of which, if their breeding were looked 

 into, could satisfy the "Herd Book" conditions. 

 The cracks are generally picked up as yearlings by the 

 " racing butchers" as quickly as the London horse- 

 dealers descend on to a young hunter in Lincoln- 

 shire or the Midlands, and kept by them for 2 or 2J 

 years for the Aberdeen Fat Cup and the English 

 Christmas prizes. One or two of the best have been 

 Shorthorn-Poll; but this hornless cross is not so com- 



