HISTOBY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



Mr. Taft of Williston, Vt., writing to the 

 "Breeder's Journal," August 7, 1882, says: 



"The Albany 'Cultivator' in August/ 1846, 

 contained the following notice of some Here- 

 fords that were brought to this town: 



" 'Rev. L. G. Bingham of Williston, Vt., has 

 lately purchased of Messrs. Corning and So- 

 tham some fine Hereford cattle. The lot con- 

 sisted of the imported cow "Aston Beauty/' 

 two } r earling heifers, a yearling bull and heifer 

 calf. They were animals of excellent qualities, 

 and we think will prove particularly valuable 

 to that section of the country. Their vigorous 

 constitutions will adapt them to the climate, 

 and on the sweet pastures of the hills and moun- 

 tains they will easily and quickly thrive and 

 fatten, while in any fair trials in the yoke or 

 for the production of butter they will not be 

 'found wanting.' 



MR, J. H. ARKWRIGHT, HAMPTON COURT, HERE- 

 FORDSHIRE, ENG. 



"The cattle more than justified all that was 

 said of them in the above extract. They pro- 

 duced splendid oxen, were not wanting in the 

 production of butter, and one of the best 

 drovers in the Boston cattle market told me he 

 was never cheated by buying a Hereford 'in the 

 lump/ But the man who brought the cattle 

 here failed in his extensive enterprises and left 

 the State, and they were not bred after that; 

 but the grades were here and traces of the 

 blood, with its excellent characteristics, re- 

 mained in this vicinity until lately. There is 



now but one full-blooded Hereford in Vermont, 

 'High Chief 2d/ recorded in the English Here- 

 ford Herd Book No. 5966, bred by Mr. Hawes 

 in Maine, and now owned by me ; and there are 

 very few in New England. 



"Yours truly, 



"R. S. TAFT." 



Commenting on which, the editor of the 

 "Journal" says : 



"There are quite a number of Hereford s in 

 Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and 

 Connecticut which we know of. A herd was 

 started in Oxford, Me., by Mr. Holmes." Ed. 



THE RUST OR SYRACUSE Ox created a sensa- 

 tion in his day, being proven by Mr. Sot ham 

 and others to have Hereford blood. This ox 

 was owned and fed by Mr. N. P. Rust, Syra- 

 cuse, to whom was awarded the first premium 

 of the New York State Agricultural Society for 

 the best fat animal exhibited at the Albany Fair, 

 in 1842. This ox was eight years old; his live 

 weight February 19, 1841, 2,360 pounds; on 

 the 18th of July, 1842, it was 3,400 pounds, 

 and when exhibited at the State Fair in Albany 

 September 28, 1842, it is said to have weighed 

 4,200 pounds, which would be a gain of three 

 pounds per day for nineteen months. At this 

 weight he retained his activity and appetite, 

 and continued to take on flesh as fast as ever. 

 If it is said that the weights and gains are too 

 large, we have only to say that they are given 

 by Shorthorn men, when claimed by them as a 

 Shorthorn grade. Mr. Rust made a certificate 

 as to the feeding of his ox, as follows : 



He has been fed nineteen months on corn- 

 meal, from twelve to sixteen quarts a day, and 

 during the winter he was fed a bushel of pota- 

 toes or rutabagas each day. During the sum- 

 mer he was fed four quarts of oil meal in addi- 

 tion to his cornmeal. Mr. Sanford Howard, 

 one of the careful, practical, painstaking writers 

 of that time, gave his opinion that the ox owed 

 his excellence to Hereford blood and was a 

 typical Hereford. 



(U 84) CONTEMPORARY WITH THE RUST Ox, 

 a gigantic Hereford ox was being exhibited in 

 England, of which the following account sve find 

 in the "Chamber of Agriculture Journal" of 

 November 14, 1881. It must be remembered 

 that the English ton is 2,240 pounds, which 

 would make the steer the immense weight of 

 4,480 pounds: 



"The records of Hereford cattle are not de- 

 void of information respecting gigantic oxen. 

 Some forty-five years ago one animal gained 

 some notoriety by the name of 'Wettleton Ox/ 

 on account of his immense scale, deep flesh and 

 wonderful symmetry. The ox was exhibited upon 



