340 A HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



fattened on less feed than Shorthorns, and when 

 sold brought more money. He also testified that the 

 Hereford was hardier and more easily maintained. 

 Thomas Foster, of Flint, at one time a breeder of 

 Devon cattle in. Michigan, gave them up and adopt- 

 ed Herefords after having become convinced of their 

 superiority for his purposes. 



Humphries and Aldrich Active. Of the Ohio 

 breeders of this period one of the most enterprising 

 was the late William W. Aldrich. Born at Dover 

 in Cuyahoga county, he worked on his father's farm 

 until twenty-one years of age. He purchased from 

 Mr. Bassett, his father-in-law, a farm of 165 acres 

 near Dover, which he operated until 1870. In the 

 meantime he had become interested in the Here- 

 fords, and finally bought the Aston herd. As the 

 Bassett farm was then some 12 miles from the rail- 

 way, it was not a convenient point from which to 

 carry on the business of breeding, exhibiting and 

 selling cattle. For this reason Mr. Aldrich removed 

 to a place near Elyria about 1870. He at once be- 

 came active in the trade, among his purchases being 

 that of the bull Goldendrop from Frederick William 

 Stone. At the Ohio State Fair of 1870 he sold a bull 

 calf five months old and weighing 500 pounds for 

 $500. In reporting this sale to the press Mr. Aldrich 

 said: "I have one cow which has raised a calf 

 every year of the last four, and has not ceased to 

 give milk during the time." 



The Illinois and St. Louis Shows of 1871. 

 Mr. Aldrich was not slow to grasp the opportunity 



