FOOTING GAINED IN MIDDLE WEST 359 



ford, and the other half by a Shorthorn bull, and 

 the progeny to be cared for alike, and shown at our 

 state fair at 2,3, and 4 years old. We propose fur- 

 ther, to select, in Colorado, Kansas or Texas, from 

 500 to 2,000 cows, and serve one-half with Hereford 

 and the other half with Shorthorn bulls, and their 

 progeny to be kept alike, and a portion brought to 

 our state fair at 2, 3, and 4 years old, each year. 

 The choice as to how the stock shall be kept we will 

 give the Shorthorn breeders. All are to be kept 

 alike, and the experiment may be from one to five 

 years. " 



Needless to say this defiance caused a lot of com- 

 ment. In Shorthorn circles it was called a " bluff." 

 Nevertheless, it worried more or less that large 

 and somewhat arrogant contingent that was dis- 

 posed at that time, and for some years afterward, 

 to look down from the heights of its speculative 

 airship (the New York Mills sale with its $40,600 

 bid for a single cow had just occurred) with more 

 or less contempt upon any tribe or breed of im- 

 proved cattle of the beef -making sorts that did not 

 descend from the Shorthorn stock of T. Bates of 

 Kirklevington. Indeed during the years 1873-77 the 

 Shorthorn pace on both sides of the Atlantic was 

 so fast and furious that neither press nor .the cat- 

 tle-breeding public seemed to have willing eyes or 

 ears for Herefords. Nevertheless, they were slow- 

 ly but none the less surely working their way west- 

 ward. Mr. Miller protested vigorously against the 

 apathy of the public in regard to his favorites. He 

 extolled their merits in season and out, in good 

 temper and bad, and what was more to the point, 



