156 



Scotch. The crop of swedes, carrots, etc., etc., 

 grown by George, William (fl 97) and John 

 Miller in these two townships proved to me that 

 they had not forgotten their old Scotch cus- 

 toms. Their crops of swedes were equal to any- 

 thing I ever saw in England under a similar 

 season, and cultivated in a very workmanlike 

 manner, perfectly free from weeds and perfect, 

 straight drills. 



Messrs. George and William Miller have 

 twelve head of Shorthorns, which they imported 

 from Scotland. Ten of these heifers and a bull 

 were the best lot I ever saw come from one 

 man's herd; they were uniform in symmetry, 

 first quality, size and compactness, "straight 

 bottoms and large, straight tops," on short legs, 



NORTH HEREFORDSHIRE HOUNDS. 

 (From a photograph.) 



free from hollow crops and large paunches, most 

 of them long, beautiful "silky coats." My 

 "hand" was upon the whole of them ; and after 

 "a good examination" I pronounced the breeder 

 of those Shorthorns worthy of the name, al- 

 though I never before heard it, or ever saw it in 

 print. He would not sacrifice his herd for the 

 purpose of ruining them for "high shows." I 

 consider this a wise man and should very much 

 like to know how he bred them. I feel very 

 much inclined to say Scotland and Scotch coats 

 was the making of that herd. After examining 

 another bull that came out at the same time I 

 found him second-class. I then began to think 

 Shorthorns could not be bred uniformly in first- 

 class quality, imagining this a descent from it, . 

 but ultimately discovered that this bull was not 

 bred by the same person. He has searched far 

 and wide for similar quality to his own; not 

 succeeding, he sent the best he could. Here 

 lies the principal evil in breeding. Had the 

 Messrs. Miller used this second-class bull, in 

 what class would the offspring of these first- 

 class heifers have ranked ? Would they not have 



gone back to their sire generally? But the 

 Messrs. Miller concluded not to use him. I ad- 

 vised them to search the country through for a 

 first class, as their means were ample; recom- 

 mended them very strongly to get "Balco," im- 

 ported by L. G. Morris, or "New Year's Day," 

 imported by the Ohio Company the two best 

 bulls of that breed I ever put my hand upon. 

 Such Shorthorns as these, in a breeder's hands, 

 are very hard to be beaten by any breed, and 

 when I see them compare generally with this 

 herd, or a similar one, my pen shall cease to 

 complain of want of true uniformity in that 

 breed. 



On the other hand, suppose Messrs. Miller 

 used the one they had, or "Halton," "Meteor," 

 "Marquis of Carabus," "Locomotive" (which 

 Mr. Cassius M. Clay says "beat the world"), 

 and many others that I could name, most of 

 which have gained first prizes at our State 

 shows, how quickly this herd would go back into 

 second and third class, or mingling all these 

 qualities with it. Here the very secret lies: 

 "Judges" have not sufficiently studied all three 

 classes given prizes more to large size than 

 any other object; and purchasers have been in- 

 fluenced by the endorsement of these Societies. 

 So long as this principle is allowed to govern, 

 thus long shall we possess all qualities in Short- 

 horns, and more frequently third class. I will 

 call on all proper breeders to deny this if they 

 can. Mr. George Miller lived in a mud house 

 built by his own hands. I was much amused by 

 the description he gave me of the operation 

 while building it. A man chopped straw with 

 an ax, mixed it with the mud and served him 

 with this material while he laid up the walls 

 with a dung-fork, hewed them straight with a 

 broad-axe when sufficiently dry. It was after- 

 wards covered with lime mortar and small stone, 

 having the appearance of a stone house, costing 

 him 113 days for one man building. 



I am, dear sir, yours sincerely, 

 WM. HY. SOTHAM. 



A CHALLENGE ! W. H. SOTHAM. 

 HERD BOOKS. 



Written for the "Ohio Farmer," by Cassius M. 

 Clay. 



Whitehall, Madison Co., Ky., Dec. 18, '56. 



My Dear Brown : I was not a little aston- 

 ished at the article of a Mr. Sotham, which you 

 copied from an English paper. I make a few 

 remarks in response to his assertions about my 

 stock, not so much to repel his untruths as to 

 "vindicate history" for its own sake. 



Mr. Sotham seems to think that I ventured 



