6 SHORTHORNS 



of the eighteenth century. Still its patrons had 

 great faith. Their general forecasts were of ultimate 

 victory. In a note to the 1801 edition of his book, 

 'Observations on Live Stock/ first published in 1786, 

 George Culley, for example, wrote: "I am glad to 

 find my hopes have been well-founded. A very rapid 

 improvement has taken place in the breeding of Short- 

 horn cattle, so that in a few years I have reason to 

 think they will surpass their rivals, the Longhorns." 

 By 1811 a broad-minded experimentalist like J. C- 

 Curwen, M.P., of Workington Hall, had come to the 

 conclusion that the Shorthorn was winning all along 

 the line. At that time Thos. Bates was submitting 

 the Shorthorn - Highland cross to repeated tests. 

 Curwen was watchful, and his conclusion was, "I am 

 strongly of opinion your cross will never rival the 

 Shorthorned." Further on he noted, " I am satisfied 

 we shall agree in the opinion that the Longhorned 

 cattle are the worst breed. Many of my farmers are 

 getting rid of them " (Bell's History). 



So far as I know, the earliest patrons of the Short- 

 horn in West Perthshire were Mr Thomas Graham of 

 Balgowan, M.P., afterwards Lord Lynedoch, the most 

 brilliant of Wellington's Generals, and Mr John 

 Ritchie, Cultmalundie, an enterprising tenant-farmer. 

 As a young man Graham was intensely interested in 

 agricultural experiments, and he never lost sight of 

 the practical. Between 1785 and 1788 he applied to 

 George Culley for a trainer in the art of turnip hus- 

 bandry on the improved lines of drilling and singling 

 instead of broadcasting, and Culley strongly re- 



