exhibited in 1861 at the Royal Agricul- 

 tural society of England show at Leeds, 

 but did not secure a place. This was 

 due to the fact that he was in the year- 

 ling class and had to compete against 

 2-year-olds. At Aberdeen, Scotland, he 

 succeeded in winning third place. The 

 fact was, Champion of England was nor 

 an outstanding show animal, and this 

 fact for a time led Cruickshank to con- 

 sider selling him. Yet his owner finally 

 decided that he was worth a trial, for 

 he had plenty of quality and thriftiness. 

 Robert Bruce, writing of him only two 

 years ago in the Breeder's Gazette, said: 

 "It has often been to me a matter of 

 regret that I did not look at this bull 

 more carefully when I saw him at Sitty- 

 ton. At that time I was deeply smitten 

 by the then fashionable 'pedigree belief,' 

 and such a bull as Champion of Eng- 

 land, an animal having no show yard 

 record, failed to interest me much. He 

 was passed over with the note: 'Good 

 animal; great covering of flesh; under- 

 line not so good; quarters wanting fin- 

 ish.' The thickness and substance of his 

 thighs appeared to me then to be le?s 

 desirable than the flat, wide thigh com- 

 mon to the English Shorthorns." 



In an article on "Recollections of Sit- 

 tyton Cattle," also in the Breeder's Ga- 

 zette, by A. Chalmers, who was person- 

 ally familiar with Cruickshank's herd, 

 writing of Champion of England, he 

 said: "Champion of England was a 

 production different from the original 

 stock at Sittyton, and his formidable 

 appearance was that of strength and 

 constitution more bone and less style, 

 heavy head, thick, smooth chine, stiff 

 loin, hook bones slightly down from line 

 of back, smooth, well-filled rumps, with 

 square hindquarter and heavy twist." 

 It may also be said additional to the 

 above that he was extremely strong in 

 his foreribs and showed in his develop- 

 ment great feeding capacity. His droop- 

 ing hindquarters he very likely inherited 

 from his dam, "a good-sized red animal 

 with plainish hindquarters," says Mr. 

 Jamieson. 



Champion of England not being a 

 strong candidate for the show ring, his 

 reputation must thus be due to his merit 

 as a breeder. And here lay his pre-' 

 eminent merit. It was soon seen that 

 he was getting calves of the broad- 

 chested, full-ribbed^ thick-fleshed, short- 

 legged class. As used in the Sittyton 



48 



