FOOTING GAINED IN MIDDLE WEST 339 



Mr. A. S. Harrington in a communication written to 

 the Nebraska ' ' State Journal ' ' during the year 1881 

 said: 



"The three breeds were treated alike as to food 

 and shelter. The grades grazed upon the same pas- 

 ture in summer and fed at the same racks in winter. 

 The first year sixty native heifers were procured 

 and served, twenty going to each bull, and this is 

 about the number of calves raised each year. The 

 result was that after twelve years ' experience with 

 these three noted and distinct breeds of beef cattle, 

 giving them all an equal chance from first to last, 

 Mr. Crapo adopted the Herefords, and bred the 

 Devons and their grades, and the Shorthorns and 

 their grades, to Hereford bulls. He was convinced 

 that for farmers in general the Herefords were more 

 profitable than the others because they mature 

 earlier, are more hardy, less liable to disease, are 

 better feeders and grazers, fatten on less food in 

 their stalls, and keep in flesh at all seasons of the 

 year, and when killed produce more dressed beef to 

 the hundredweight gross live weight, and alive or 

 dressed command a more ready sale where the quali- 

 ties of their meat are known. It must be borne in 

 mind that at the time the experiment was made the 

 Shorthorns were the fashionable breed, and brought 

 large and remunerative prices, as also did the 

 Devons, while the Herefords went begging for buy- 

 ers at mere nominal prices. Mr. Crapo 's foreman 

 and herdsman were both Shorthorn admirers, and 

 did not at first take kindly to the ' white faces,' but 

 the Herefords worked themselves up against all op- 

 position from every quarter." 



Mr. Edwin Phelps of Pontiac also fed Shorthorns 

 and Herefords side by side for several years, and 

 was led to the conclusion that Herefords could be 



