HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



39 



Cherry 360 by Wellington (507) 290, grandam 

 Old Cherry 402 by Waxy (403) 356; Waxy 

 (403) 356, calved in 1811, by Wellington (507) 

 290, dam Strawberry; Alpha the Second (457) 

 528, calved in 1814, by Young Wellington (505) 

 294, dam Silk 529, by Young Wellington (505) 

 294, grandam Silky 362, by Waxy (403) 356, 

 great-grandam Silk 404 by Silver (540) 358. 



No doubt some of these pedigrees which we 

 have copied from the Herd Book are erroneous, 

 and mistakes have also crept into the entries 



MR. JOHN PRICE, 1776-1845. 

 (Prom an old lithograph.) 



of several of Mr. John Hewer's cattle, arising 

 partly from the evident desire of father and 

 son to acknowledge no connection between their 

 herds and other stocks. 



Both William and John Hewer were fond 

 of giving animals the same name and not dis- 

 tinguishing them by numbers, but merely stat- 

 ing that they were old and young an exceed- 

 ingly confusing system of nomenclature. Mis- 

 takes of identity therefore occurred, particularly 

 in the pre-Herd Book days, when records were 

 not carefully kept. There is little doubt, how- 

 ever, that both father and son carried out a sys- 

 tem of close breeding. 



In several of Mr. John Hewer's catalogues 

 the following note is made: "It may not be 

 unworthy, of remark that the celebrated and 

 justly admired bull Old Sovereign (404) 221, 

 (U 35), the sire of Cotmore (376) 150, the win- 



ner of the first premium for Herefords at the 

 first meeting of the English Royal Agricultural 

 Society, held at Oxford, July 17th, 1839, as 

 well as the sire of Wormlow, the property of 

 Sir H. Hoskins, Bart., Harewood and many 

 others of equal merit, was bred by Mr. Hewer; 

 his sire Favorite, grandsire Wellington, great- 

 grandsire Old Wellington, dam Countess by 

 Wellington, grandam Cherry by Waxy, great- 

 grandam Old Cherry. Much has been said and 

 written by most of the eminent breeders in the 

 Kingdom against the practice of breeding in- 

 and-in, as they termed it; but by referring to 

 the above pedigree it will be seen that Old Sov- 

 ereign was the offspring of an own brother and 

 sister and acknowledged by the first judges the 

 best bull ever bred in the county of Hereford, 

 and the sire and grandsire of more prize cattle 

 at Smithfield and elsewhere than any bull in 

 the Kingdom. Old Sovereign was used by the 

 following distinguished breeders, and died in 

 his fifteenth year, viz., Robert Tench, Brom- 

 field, Salop, three years; Lord Sherborne, Glou- 

 cestershire; Earl Ducie, ditto; Thomas Wells, 

 Hamnet, ditto; Richard Kilmister, The Grove, 

 ditto; Messrs. Hewer, Northleach, ditto; Sir H. 

 Hoskins, Bart., Harewood; Thos. Jeffries, The 

 Grove; Thos. Jeffries, Jr., Cotmore, ditto; Ed- 

 mund Jeffries, The Grove; Richard Yeomans, 

 Howton; John Turner, Noke; Messrs. Rogers, 

 Sternsbach, and by the breeder." The other 

 bulls bred by the Hewers were also let out in 

 many of the leading herds, and their influence 

 was thus widespread. 



Particulars we have obtained as to weights 

 and measurements on some of William Hewer's 

 cattle will be interesting: 



Weight of the bull Wellington (507) 290, 1 

 ton, 6 cwt. (2,912 Ibs.) in the year 1815. The 

 weight of the cow Silk 529, 1 ton, in the year 

 1820. Dimensions of the fat steer length 

 from the nose to the settings of the tail, 11 

 feet, 1 inch; girth, S^feet and 10 inches; across 

 the hips, 3 feet, 1 inch; weight, 1 ton and .6 

 cwt. (2,912 Ibs.). The document from which 

 these details are taken is dated April, 1822. 



Another paper gives the dimensions of the 

 bull Wellington, as follows: Length from the 

 setting on of the tail to the end of the nose, 11 

 feet, 4 inches; girth, 11 feet, 3 inches; across 

 the hips, 3 feet, 2 inches; length from the tail 

 to the hip bone, 3 feet and 2 inches. The di- 

 mensions of the bull Alpha are thus given: 

 Length from the setting on of the tail to the 

 end of the nose, 10 feet and 11 inches; length 

 from the tail to the hip bone, 2 feet and 9 

 inches; across the hips, 2 feet and 9 inches; 

 girth, 9 feet and eight inches. 



