HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



201 



no authority on either breed. His object was 

 to endeavor to please all, at the risk of his own 

 reputation. 



Let me here refer you to a letter written by 

 Hon. Henry S. Randall, in the Albany "Culti- 

 vator," April number, 1841, and my reply to 

 him in the following number. [These letters ap- 

 pear in Chap. XL T. L. M.] These two let- 

 ters will give some insight into the prejudice 

 1 had to meet against Shorthorns, and here I 

 will copy the letter published at the same time, 

 which I received from Mr. Turner., Court of 

 ISToke, Herefordshire, England, who bred the 

 first-prize cow at the Royal Agricultural Show 

 at Oxford, 1839, which I purchased of Mr. 

 James Walker. [This letter appears also in 

 Chapter XL T." L. M.] 



Some time after Mr. Turner's letter appeared 

 in the "Cultivator" Mr. Richard Rowland, a 

 nephew of Mr. Westcar, whom I know well in 

 England, and who inherited his property, wrote 

 me a very pleasant letter, giving me the names 

 of the. butchers, the prices each paid, copied 

 from Mr. Westcar's books, which corresponded 

 exactly with what Mr. Turner wrote me. T. L. 

 Miller used this letter, as he did Mr. William 

 Gurrier's, having the old books to refer to; 

 every one of my letters were marked so as he 

 could refer to them. 



Notwithstanding the proofs I had given of 

 the Herefords, the Shorthorn men I have named 

 had great prejudice against them, knew their 

 value, and were jealous, and they felt satisfied 

 that with my light purse they could drive me to 

 the wall. They run their cattle up to fictitious 

 prices far beyond their value for the pur- 

 pose of running the Herefords out of the mar- 

 ket. A lot of speculators formed themselves 

 into a ring (all were underbidders for each 

 other), with the three flunkies I have named 

 to do the drudgery, to catch novices with more 

 money than brains who came to purchase and 

 who were easily caught in the snare laid for 

 them. 



Many changed hands understandingly, and 

 were transferred from auction to auction, fre- 

 quently without any money or notes being trans- 

 ferred. I know of one instance where four 

 Shorthorns, sent to a sale at Toronto, Canada, 

 from Kentucky, were knocked down there at 

 high, fancy prices up in the thousands. About 

 four months after I saw the same animals at 

 the owner's farm, who sent them there, and 

 they remained until they were sold by the sher- 

 iff. Pedigree, regardless of the animal, was the 

 chief attraction, (fl 104) 



* * 



PART VIII. 



It was with much pleasure I recently revis- 

 ited the breeding farm of Erastus Corning, 

 Esq., the only son and heir of Hon. Erastus 

 Corning, and who, I know, inherits most of his 

 late fathers noble qualities. The cattle stables 

 were familiar to me. I was present at their 

 erection, and some of the Herefords called to 

 mind an inheritance of the old sort. Old Vic- 

 toria, whose likeness Mr. Corning retains in 

 a painting by Van Zant, was fed at the age of 

 nineteen, after raising sixteen calves. Some 

 of her progeny are still here ; two of them took 

 first and second prizes over Mr. Burleigh's im- 

 ported ones at the New York. State Fair last 

 fall, but I think Mr. Corning has one better 

 cow than either, and his young stock are very 

 promising. 



The bull he imported to cross with the old 

 stock was bred by Mr. Turner, Herefordshire, 

 England, from which he has bred some fine ani- 

 mals. I should have liked him better had he 

 inherited a thicker and more mellow hide, al- 

 though Mr. Turner has bred some good ones. 

 The cow Matchless I purchased at the Royal 

 Agricultural Show at Oxford, England, 1839, 

 winner of first prize, was bred by him ; he also 

 bred many winners. He is now breeding for 

 thicker hides, un- 

 der a close ob- 

 servance to mel- 

 lowness. Match- 

 less formerly oc- 

 cupied one of the 

 stalls, and there 

 were four others 

 equally good, Vic- 

 toria, Perfection, 

 Pretty Maid and 

 Gay, in the first 

 importation, all 

 but Matchless 

 bred from the 

 original stock of 

 Mr. John Hewer 

 of Herefordshire, 

 to which all the 



best recent importations can be traced, and I 

 suppose there is not a herd of the present day 

 but that contains a portion of his blood, the de- 

 mand for Mr. Hewer's bulls being so great that 

 he let them out by the year. 



In 1856 Mr. Corning imported three heifers 

 from one of the best breeders in Herefordshire, 

 which the high character of the stock proved. 

 Although he has not kept a register of their 

 pedigrees, no other breed has been crossed in, 



WALLACE LIBBEY, 

 OTTAWA, ILL. 



