124 



render service, leaving prejudice out of the 

 question, and as many of them as the purse will 

 allow. A good start is half the battle, and now 

 is the time to make that start. Those who wish 

 to obtain glory and honor in warfare must not 

 come to the field when the battle is won, but 

 must share some part of the burden. Money 

 cannot pay a man for the care, anxiety, and 

 risk he is exposed to in importing stock. It is 

 a task that I shall be glad to see others under- 

 take, as I have done my share of the duty. I 

 must now do justice to those we have, which 

 is much the pleasantest part; there is no art, 

 no science, no study so pleasing, so substan- 

 tially gratifying to the mind of man, as to fully 

 develop the good points of animals, in his own 

 superior skill and management. It may be 

 made the theme of usefulness. My opinion of 

 securing good stock, with economy in view, is 



SWEETHEART 2ND, 602, AND VESTA 4TH, 1232A, AT 



18 MONTHS (1867). 

 (Bred by F. W. Stone, Guelph, Ont., Canada.) 



this : the farmer should procure two heifers and 

 a bull of the very best order of that breed his 

 taste directed, and let no price stop him, if the 

 purse will sanction it; what says Shakespeare 

 that 'purse is trash;' so say I, compared with 

 good animals. They were wealth of the first 

 people; why not continue that of the present? 



"With any ordinary luck the progeny of two 

 females will soon extend while the male im- 

 proves the inferior, and adds value to the whole ; 

 this consideration will sustain high prices, and 

 pure animals cannot be imported without pay- 

 ing high for them. 



"I am further of opinion that pure breeders 

 for sires that can be depended upon, should be 

 upheld in high prices, so as to enable them to 

 keep their stock without a stain, as I think the 

 most important part of breeding lies here. The 

 progeny always degenerates if the sire has the 

 lightest cross; it is not so with the dam; the 

 stock will improve if the sire is well selected. 



"Mr. H. talks of showing spirit in selecting 

 a breed of our own. I should like to hear his 

 suggestions in commencing the breed, without 

 having the best animals to resort to; even their 

 crossing with a bad breed will take a full cen- 

 tury to make anything out of it, if founded on 

 the best judgment. I will allow there are a 

 limited supply of the best Durhams, but not a 

 tenth part there should be. 



"No person can go to England and fetch the 

 best animals, unless he is favored in freight, for 

 less than $500 each. 



"I see our friend, Mr. A. B. Allen, says that 

 Ohio is the home of the lordly Shorthorns. I 

 hail their prominent name, and as ours are 

 principally of the feminine gender, will say 

 York State is the home of the ladylike Here- 

 fords. As ladies are considered the first race 

 of animals, I hope the Herefords will maintain 

 it. I am, dear sirs, yours sincerely, 



"WM. H. SOTHAM. 

 "Perch Lake Farm, Jefferson Co., Nov. 25, 



1840." 



The "Cultivator/' on page 16, Vol. 8, gives a 

 correspondence that was published in the 

 "Farmer's Magazine" of December, 1840, grow- 

 ing out of a challenge given by John Price, a 

 Hereford breeder of England, to show a bull 

 and twenty breeding cows of the Hereford breed 

 against a similar number of any other breed. 

 This challenge called out Mr. Bates, the noted 

 Shorthorn breeder of England, and in the cor- 

 respondence Mr. Bates says: "But I consider 

 now, and have for about forty years been con- 

 vinced, that the very best Shorthorns, of which 

 there are only a few, are capable of improving 

 all other breeds of cattle in the United King- 

 dom as well as the ordinary Shorthorns, which 

 are far from a good breed and inferior to Here- 

 fords, Devons and others." 



On page 19, same volume, Mr. Sanford How- 

 ard steps in and gives his testimony as follows : 



"Messrs. Editors 'Cultivator' : I recollect no- 

 ticing in your paper some time since a request 

 that those who have any knowledge of the 

 Hereford cattle would give their opinion of its 

 relative merits compared with the improved 

 Shorthorn and other varieties. In Mr. Bement's 

 communication, published in the August num- 

 ber, he says he thinks there has been no impor- 

 tation of Herefords excepting by Mr. Clay, 

 Messrs. Corning & Soth'am, and himself. This 

 is a mistake. In the year 1825, if my memory 

 serves me right, the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture received as a present 

 from Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the Eoyal 

 Navy, a bull and a cow of the true Hereford 

 breed, selected either by himself or his agent in 



