HERD NOTICES 211 



Thistle (73,584), probably the most impressive sire 

 ever used by the Messrs Law. 



KEIR. 



In the thirties and forties of last century Mr 

 Archibald Stirling of Keir won many prizes with 

 his Shorthorns at the Highland Society and Scottish 

 Central Shows. He kept good cattle, but evidently 

 he could not be troubled with registration. The 

 herd was sold off about 1848, and no record of its 

 breeding was preserved in the estate office. It was 

 Sir Wm. Stirling-Maxwell, Bart., who brought Keir 

 into world-wide fame for Shorthorns and Clydesdale 

 horses. Sir William and his expert agent, Mr Alex- 

 ander Young, were in touch with the owners of the 

 best herds and studs in the country, and they knew 

 their own minds. A generation ago Shorthorn breeders 

 and admirers in Stirling, Perth, and the Lothians 

 were wont to speak enthusiastically of such Keir 

 favourites as Grandiflora, Carrara, Young Carrara, 

 Drapery, Chemisette, Flora, Rosanna, Princess of 

 Cambridge, Miss Nightingale, Picotee, Laura Bell, 

 and Flower of the Rhine, the last named coming 

 from Aylesby at 510 gs. Such bulls as Blencow 

 (11,182), John o' Groat (13,090), Hiawatha (14,705), 

 Royal Butterfly llth (20,719), Allan, Fandango, and 

 Forth, were also passed in review by the older men 

 when Keir was the text. Among the cows the 

 Groats, also much associated with Cambushinnie, 

 were not excelled by any family. Sir William 



