EARLY ENGLISH IMPROVERS 57 



being 151/8s. on 47 head, and that at Barmpton 

 (1818) 127/17s. on 61 head. 



The Misses Tomkins with the assistance of a bail- 

 iff or herdsman carried on the herd for many years 

 with entire success. They took a lively personal in- 

 terest in everything affecting the type and character 

 of the cattle they had inherited.* However, this in- 

 stance of important breeding operations directed by 

 women is by no means exceptional in British agri- 

 cultural history. The practical work performed by 

 Lady Pigot, for example, in connection with Short- 

 horns and other farm animals was scarcely excelled 

 by any of her contemporaries. The Misses Tomkins 

 held many draft sales ; their herd was always a popu- 

 lar source of supply, and was not finally dispersed 

 until 1854, forty years after their father 's death. 



John Price. Chief among the followers of Tom- 

 kins was John Price, a Worcestershire farmer who 

 became enamored of the type about 1804. Born in 

 1776, he was from all accounts a man of rare mental 

 gifts. Early in life he is said to have become a 

 prime favorite with the Earl of Coventry, and en- 

 joyed the friendship and society of "gentlemen of 

 high respectability." Succeeding his father as ten- 

 ant of Earl's Croome, he soon turned his attention 

 to good cattle and bought his foundation cows from 

 the Tomkins herd. About 1811 he gave up Earl's 

 Croome and purchased a small property known as 



* Apropos of the color question: for many years the Misses 

 Tomkins directed that in the case of all bull calves born in the 

 herd those with white "purses" were to be saved for breeding 

 purposes and those with red were to be steered at once. 



