AGRIC. 

 LIBBAfiY 



INTRODUCTION. 



"I have just returned from a trip to the 

 Pacific Coast, and everywhere on the western 

 plains found the Whitefaces conspicuous. And 

 they look well wherever they are to be seen. 

 I know they have a magnificent future. I am 

 not a boomer, but this is a great country and I 

 feel assured that our present prosperity will 

 continue. It has always been demonstrated 

 that Herefords are great cattle wherever grass 

 grows, and the settlement of this irrigation 

 problem now agitating the West will convert 

 the desert into pastures and open up vast 

 areas to cattle raising. The more grass, the 

 more Hereford cattle will be needed, and with 

 all due respect to other breeds, I venture the 

 assertion that Herefords will make more beef 

 on grass than any other breed of which I have 

 any knowledge/' 



When we consider where and by whom the 

 sentence above quoted was uttered, and the 

 unequalled sources of information and expe- 

 rience that led to this conclusion, we feel, that 

 at last, the Hereford breed of cattle is coming 

 into its own. 



The speaker was Mr. Alvin H. Sanders, 

 Managing Editor of the greatest live stock pub- 

 lication in the world, namely, the "Breeders' 

 Gazette," Chicago. The occasion was the reduc- 

 tion sale of the Weavergrace Herd, at which, 

 in Chicago, Tuesday, March 25th, 1902, was 

 gathered one of the largest representative com- 

 panies of Hereford breeders the country has 

 ever seen. With all due respect for the work 

 of individuals in popularizing pure breeds of 

 live stock, their work without the aid of the 

 agricultural press must of necessity be limited 

 in its influence. The leading advocates of 

 Hereford cattle in America ever fully realized 

 the influence of the agricultural press, and as 

 far as they could have endeavored to utilize it 

 in spreading a correct knowledge of the Here- 

 ford breed. 



The influence that utilized the power of the 

 agricultural press to propagate injurious theo- 

 ries, and their success in that direction, are 

 thoroughly set forth in the body of this work 

 and need not be discussed further here. We 

 are glad to say, however, that conditions and 

 influences, existent at the time the "Breeders' 

 Gazette" was founded, have largely disappeared. 



Nothing shows plainer the present unpreju- 

 diced position of the "Breeders' Gazette" than 

 the fact that it has been accused by prominent 

 speakers in important meetings of Shorthorn 

 breeders of being partial to the Herefords ; that 

 on several occasions adherents of other breeds 

 have asserted that the "Gazette" leaned toward 

 the Aberdeen-Angus "Doddies," while com- 

 plaints that the "Gazette" was a Shorthorn pa- 

 per have been frequent. Each breed in turn, 

 prompted by some activity of its rivals (fully 

 reported in the "Gazette"), exhibiting its in- 

 born jealousy. 



The statement that "Herefords will make 

 more beef on grass than any other breed," made 

 by Mr. Sanders, has been made repeatedly by 

 Col. F. M. Woods, the celebrated live stock 



WELLINGTON COURT, NEAR HEREFORD. 



auctioneer, whenever he has conducted a sale 

 of Herefords. Similar statements have been 

 made on hundreds of occasions by that other 

 favorite auctioneer, Col. K. E. Edmonson, who 

 for years was the idol of the Kentucky Short- 

 horn breeders. This "Kentuckian of Ken- 

 tuckians" not only makes this assertion in 

 words, but, backs it up in action, having be- 

 come an extensive breeder of Hereford cattle 

 on his Texas ranch. These are not to be 

 counted straws to show which way the wind 

 blows, but rather may be considered goodly- 

 sized weather-vanes, known and seen of all 

 men, for without commenting on the influence 

 of these two great auctioneers we can say of 

 the "Breeders' Gazette" under the management 



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