HEREFORDSHIRE PASTURES AND PIONEERS 33 



of this district have accomplished for themselves 

 through their steadfast devotion to the development 

 and maintenance of their favorite breed affords a 

 lesson that may be scanned with profit by stock- 

 growers of every clime, to-wit: determination by 

 experimentation as to the type of farm animal that 

 thrives best under a given environment, followed 

 by specialization in the direction thus indicated. 



Great Britain abounds in apt illustrations of what 

 individual localities can accomplish by adhering per- 

 sistently and intelligently to a type possessing spe- 

 cial adaptation to particular soils or climate. A 

 flood of American gold and a perennial tribute from 

 Smithfield market have indeed compensated these 

 West of England farmers and graziers in generous 

 measure for all the years of labor spent in the devel- 

 opment of their white-faced herds. 



Long Famous for Good Cattle. The history of 

 the modern Hereford, like that of the improved 

 Shorthorn, does not run back much beyond a cen- 

 tury. As in the case of the sister breed, all that 

 lies beyond the year 1800 rests largely on inci- 

 dental references by various pioneer writers on 

 British agriculture, and upon local traditions.* 



As early as 1627 the author of a description of 

 the British Islands, one John Speed, said in speak- 



*Some years ago a valuable volume on "Hereford Cattle," 

 which has recently been revised, was written in England jointly 

 by Messrs. James Macdonald and James Sinclair, the latter the 

 accomplished editor of the London "Live Stock Journal." It con- 

 tains an interesting account of the probable origin and evolution 

 of the breed, and the author herewith acknowledges his indebted- 

 ness to this work for the main facts as to the early English 

 history outlined in the opening chapters of this book. 



