14-1 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Hereford herd book here. The breeders are so 

 satisfied of the superiority of their own breed 

 that they are at perfect ease on the subject. But 

 I advise you to have a well authenticated pedi- 

 gree with every beast you import, and com- 

 mence a herd book of your own. 



"Mr. Wm. Hewer's Major, the sire of most 

 of your heifers, won a prize at Farringdon, beat- 

 ing a nurnber of Shorthorns, and at Cirencester 

 he did the same. Major and a daughter of Sir 

 George and his (Major's) son won the prize for 

 bull, cow, and offspring, a daughter of Old 

 Sovereign winning another prize as the best 

 breeding cow. And a bull calf, ten months old, 

 by Major, won another prize as the best under 

 two years old, and here also they came in com- 

 petition with Shorthorns. Will it be asserted 

 again that 'on the bleak highlands of Glouces- 

 ter no breed has been cultivated with any very 

 marked success'? 



"I say it has been for twenty years, and can 

 prove it, and I say more : no man has a right to 



CASSIUS M. CLAY, WHITE HALL, LEXINGTON, KY. 



injure another by an assertion he cannot prove. 

 These may be considered hard words, but they 

 are just ones, used only for the purpose of cor- 

 rection, and not intended to give offense. 



"My three fat ewes, which you saw, were 

 killed at Oxford last month by Messrs. Green- 

 ing, Alden, and Barr, and weighed respectively 

 228, 185, and 184 pounds. 



"Your friends and acquaintances are well, 



many of whom speak anxiously of your success, 

 which I sincerely hope may exceed your most 

 sanguine expectations, nor do I doubt it, for I 

 consider you have fixed on the breeds of cattle 

 and sheep well suited to the rigor of your cli- 

 mate; recollect Devons are natives of a much 

 warmer country than the Herefords. 



"Yours truly, WM. COTHER." 



It will be remembered that Mr. Sotham, in 

 support of his claim for the Herefords as milk- 

 ers, gave in proof that the year before (1839) 

 at the first show of the Royal Society of Eng- 

 land the Hereford cow of Mr. Smythies took 

 the first prize for the best cow in milk. On 

 page 57 of the "Cultivator," Vol. 8, may be 

 found the following testimony, under the cap- 

 tion of "The Hereford Prize Cow :" 



"We have a letter from our friend, Joseph 

 Cope, of East Bradford, Pa., in relation to the 

 statement made by Mr. Sotham that 'a Here- 

 ford cow won the first prize, as the best cow 

 for dairy purposes of any breed at the great 

 show of the Royal Agricultural Society at Ox- 

 ford in 1839.' Mr. Cope doubts this fact, and 

 to show that such was not the case he gives a 

 detailed list of all the awards of prizes to cattle 

 at that show, quoting from a newspaper and 

 pamphlet account in his possession. We have 

 compared Mr. C.'s account with that published 

 in the 'Farmer's Magazine,' the organ of the 

 society, and find it all correct with the excep- 

 tion of so much as relates to the fifth class, in 

 which there is no notice of the animal- which 

 took first prize. The first prize of fifteen sov- 

 ereigns, 'for the best cow in milk, which shall, 

 in the opinion of the judges, be best calculated 

 for dairy purposes/ was awarded 'to the Rev. J. 

 R. Smythies, of Lynch Court, Hereford, for his 

 Hereford cow, aged nine years, six months.' 

 The second prize was awarded 'to Joseph Bad- 

 cock, of Pyrton, for his Durham cow, aged four- 

 teen years and two months.' ' ; 



With this array of testimony in favor of the 

 Herefords as brought before the public by Mr. 

 Sotham in 1840-41, the breeders .of to-day will 

 be surprised that they did not succeed in 1840, 

 and then become the dominant breed for this 

 country as they are now in the West and are 

 bound to become in the East as well. 



We find on page 125 of the "Albany Cultiva- 

 tor," for 1840, a letter from C. N. Bement, and 

 take the following extracts from the same: 



"In Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin, where 

 only beef is wanted, and where they have to be 

 driven great distances to a market, from what 

 I have seen and can learn, the Hereford cer- 

 tainly would be preferable, being hardy in con- 



