HIST R Y OF H E R K F () H D CAT T L E 



209 



of influenced judges, they could not always be 

 robbed of their good name and real merit ; the 

 reputation of the Herefords was too well es- 

 tablished to be forever injured by a moneyed 

 power or to allow prejudice to long rule over 

 them. Under such a pressure, however, it was 

 impossible for Herefords to win prizes, unless 

 their superiority was so palpable that con- 

 science, though seared, was compelled to give 

 way. 



Soon after this, the Earl of Warwick won 

 the first prize at Smithfield with a Hereford 

 ox of which the editor of the "Mark Lane Ex- 

 press" spoke very highly. I wrote to the Earl of 



no doubt the Herefords are the best breeds 

 for such objects. Notwithstanding well 

 bred ones are bought very dear (a proof of their 

 estimation) 1 think they pay best for their keep, 

 turning into money faster for the food they 

 eat, less liable to casualties, from the thriving 

 disposition of their constitutions to do well and 

 lay on flesh while growing. I send into Here- 

 fordshire and buy lean, young stock, of the 

 best breeders, not trusting to the fairs. 1 know 

 how all are bred. The ox*I won the first prize 

 with at the Smithfield show last year, 1840, and 

 the best beast of any class shown by the ninety 

 competitors, I bought as a three-year-old, with 



THE CATTLE RING AT THE DETROIT INTERNATIONAL FAIR AND EXPOSITION. T. F. B. SOTHAM, SECRETARY. 



Warwick for a little information of the Here- 

 fords and received the following letter : 



Warwick Castle; Eng. 



Sir: I buy my stock in poor, at two and 

 three years old ; fat them for the butcher ; 

 fat them on grass in the summer and on 

 hay and turnips in winter, finishing them 

 on oil cake when necessary. To do which it 

 would be immaterial to me which breed I 

 bought or where, depending on what would 

 grow or fat fastest, as good butchers' beasts 

 the butcher being my customer and I have 



many more at seventeen pounds each, lean. He 

 ran with the other steers, and was put up with 

 them to fat, and I never thought of sending 

 him to Smithfield until two months before the 

 show, never having sent a beast there before. 

 After the show I sold him to a London butcher 

 to kill, for seventy pounds. There is a wretched 

 print of him in the London shops. The painter 

 who did his picture for me is Mr. Davis, animal 

 painter to the Queen, and lives at Chelsea. He 

 made a very good colored engraving, one of 

 which I should be happy to procure for you if 

 you will have the goodness to write to me when 



