192 



PAET V. 



It was a hard blow to part with my favorite* 

 Not only was she the best cow I had, but I be- 

 lieve she was as good a one as I ever saw. Noth- 

 ing could have induced me to part with her had 

 I the means to carry me through. I went back 

 with him to look at the pastures, and found 

 them all that he had represented, and rented 

 a house in the village of Piffard. I felt satis- 

 fied that the Herefords would get fat in those 

 pastures "without cake or corn." 



I got the Herefords together and drove them 

 myself to Geneseo, glad to leave Allen and the 



milk business, 

 with the privilege 

 of his abusing the 

 Herefords and my- 

 self to his heart's 

 content, and that 

 he, Ambrose Stev- 

 ens, and John E. 

 Page, might enjoy 

 themselves making 

 pedigrees to suit 

 their own inclina- 

 tions, and that the 

 latter might make 

 all crooked lines 

 straight as con- 

 veniently as he 

 could stretch out 

 his conscience to 

 flatter the picture, beyond the original, to its 

 fullest extent. These were my thoughts as 

 1 traveled slowly behind my cattle to their 

 new home, and wondered how thinking men 

 could be led away by such vain pretenders, who 

 in reality could not discover quality in the live 

 animal, and were too indolent to follow them to 

 the shambles. 



Without the practical knowledge of "hand- 

 ling" (by "scientifics" called "the touch") no 

 man can become a judge or successful breeder. 

 It is very difficult to discover real worth from 

 tinsel, and it is certain that wrong will always 

 bring its own punishment, therefore I will leave 

 these worthies in their flatteries and fiction in 

 their full enjoyment and proceed on my way 

 to a better harbor, where prejudice is not so 

 strong and judgment more matured. What 

 struck me more forcibly was that this trio 

 should be so conceitedly vain as to attempt to 

 teach .others so much better informed than 

 themselves. 



It has been very unfortunate for Shorthorn 

 breeders to have such men to lead them into 

 visionary scheming and recklessness beyond con- 



WILLIAM A. MORGAN, 



IRVING, KAN., 

 of the firm of W. A. Morgan & Son. 



trol. Excitement led them on to speculation, 

 pride stimulated them to worship pedigree, and 

 in their moneyed power rode the hobby with 

 whip and spur, not having the judgment to 

 discover the true valuable points to constitute 

 a perfect beefing animal, which leaves their 

 faith intact, and their knowledge of quality 

 only a sham. If Shorthorns are still held up 

 I must do my best to meet them. 



As I traveled through the country I was 

 asked all manner of questions, most of them too 

 tedious to be answered. I turned my cattle 

 into their pastures, which were luxuriant, and 

 the following morning Mr. Ayrault drove in 

 with his splendid pair of dappled greys. The 

 cattle had filled themselves splendidly, some of 

 them resting themselves from their journey, and 

 sleeping in the sun. "Mr. Sotham, I like your 

 cattle very much; they are just what we want 

 on our rich flats. There are many rich men 

 here, and I shall have much pleasure in driving 

 them here to see them; most of them visit me 

 frequently. I will send my man for my cow 

 to-morrow. She is a good one, is she not?" 

 "I should like you to show me a better amongst 

 all your rich men," was my answer. I delivered 

 the cow to his man, who drove her to his farm, 

 and in the midst of a heavy shower put her into 

 a luxuriant clover pasture, where she bloated 

 and died, and when opened had a heifer calf, 

 within six weeks of calving. If some Short- 

 horn men had had such a truly valuable cow as 

 this die, they would have said they had lost 

 $10,000. When the news came to me, if I had 

 lost one of my children I could not have felt 

 more dejected. I thought fate was against me. 

 After they had been there about a month I never 

 saw cows improve faster or fatter calves by their 

 sides not one but was first-class beef or veal. 

 The heifers not sucking were thriving too fast. 



Mr. Ayrault drove into the pastures, sur- 

 veyed the cattle with scrutinizing eye. "Well, 

 sir," said he, "I have been reading your articles 

 in the Albany "Cultivator and Country Gentle- 

 man" very carefully. Your reply to Mr. Henry 

 S. Randall is practically magnificent. I think 

 neither he nor Judge Hepburn will trouble you 

 again. That letter is a grand help to the 

 Herefords, and I suppose all you say is true." 

 "Mr. Ayrault," I said, "I always endeavor to 

 write the truth, without which no mail is capa- 

 ble of entering into a controversy. Mr. H. S. 

 Randall is a prolific and classical writer, Judge 

 Hepburn a rich and prominent man on the 

 bench, but my opinion is that neither of them 

 has sufficient knowledge of Herefords to write 

 against them. I know nothing of the classics, 

 and but little of grammar, and advance my 



