HEAVY BUYING IN ENGLAND BEGINS 449 



plated. The fairs being over, Mr. Clark took pas- 

 sage for Liverpool and was soon in the garden-land 

 of his fathers, armed with the biggest commission 

 of its kind ever fulfilled in Herefordshire up to that 

 time. Indeed it has been claimed, all things con- 

 sidered, that the resultant purchases as a lot had 

 a greater influence upon American Hereford breed- 

 ing than any other one shipment ever made to our 

 shores from the mother country. This, however, is 

 doubtful. It was rich in point of show cattle highly 

 fitted, but not all of these proved profitable. 



Sensational Shipment of 1882. Mr. Clark took 

 plenty of time in locating what he desired, and 

 when in March, 1882, he assembled his purchases 

 for export to America it was agreed by both press 

 and public that no such lot of cattle had ever before 

 left Herefordshire. It was a gaping crowd that 

 watched the long line of Royal winners and other 

 "top notchers," 125 in number, wend its way 

 through the streets on the first stages of the journey 

 to the New World. Not less than fifty leading 

 breeders came to see the aggregation headed for 

 America. 



It required capital to finance such buying, but Mr. 

 Earl had full faith both in his agent and in the re- 

 ception such cattle would receive in the west; his 

 confidence was in neither particular misplaced. 

 Some inkling of what was coming preceded the ar- 

 rival of this sensational purchase, and expectancy 

 was everywhere on tip-toe waiting with intense in- 

 terest to see the great importation on its way to 



