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HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



you arrive in England next summer. My house 

 in London is 7 Carlton Gardens. 



(Signed) WARWICK. 



I called at Warwick Castle in 1842, and, 

 after sending in my card, the Earl ordered his 

 valet to show me in. As soon as he remem- 

 bered my letter to him, and the prize ox, he or- 

 dered his man to bring up two. saddle horses 

 and he would show me the steers feeding in the 

 park. The pasture* was excellent on the old 

 sod. They were a capital lot of two-year-olds, 

 he purchased in Herefordshire in the spring. 

 We talked of the prospects of the Herefords 

 in America, and other different subjects, and 

 he gave me a note to Mr. Davis, to give me one 

 of the engravings of the ox, which I brought 



STOCK BARN AT T. L. MILLER'S "HIGHLAND FARM," 

 BEECHER, ILL. 



here and presented to the late Hon. Erastus 

 Corning, and, if I mistake not, it still hangs 

 up in the residence in Albany now occupied 

 by his widow, whose age is 87 years. 



This letter to me from so prominent a peer 

 in England made quite a stir. Mr. Francis 

 Rotch felt quite indignant. He wrote a clas- 

 sical criticism upon it, in which he hinted that 

 the letter could not be genuine. Luther Tucker, 

 Sr., called upon me, and told me what Mr. 

 Rotch had written. He did not publish it, but 

 wrote him that the letter was certainly from 

 the Earl of Warwick ; that his "coat of arms" 

 was on the seal, and there was nothing relating 

 to the letter that could be construed into deceit. 

 I immediately sat down and wrote Mr. Rotch 

 as severe a letter as was ever written to an- 

 other. I knew the circumstances for which he 

 left New England, and I did not scruple in 

 asking him if he supposed my character was 

 like unto his, obliged to leave home for evil 

 deeds done in the body. I told Mr. Tucker 

 what I had done, who knew the circumstances 

 of the late banker's sinning, notwithstanding I 

 told him "that he who was without sin, let him 

 cast the first stone," still I felt certain' that I 



should never be guilty of forgery and for this 

 broad insinuation I should chastise him the 

 first time we met. 



A few days after, Mr. Tucker came to me 

 and said there was a gentleman in his office 

 who wished to see me very particularly. Mr. 

 Tucker had shown him the original letter, 

 which he pronounced genuine, and Mr. Tucker, 

 when he told me who it was, asked me to keep 

 my temper. "Why, Mr. Tucker, I think you 

 know me well enough that I can always forgive 

 a man who acknowledges himself in error." Mr. 

 Rotch then walked in out of the back room, and 

 made me a very satisfactory apology, but there 

 was much said about this letter in the "Culti- 

 vator," which can be seen on investigation, in 

 1841. 



Here is another substantial evidence in favor 

 of Herefords, and I have never yet seen a single 

 instance where Herefords have been fairly tried 

 but what they were appreciated. The following 

 is an extract from a letter to me from Mr. 

 Fisher Hobbs, Marks Hall, Essex, England, one 

 of the most prominent agriculturists of his day : 

 "When I commenced farming and breeding on 

 my own account, in addition to my steward- 

 ship to Lord Western, I purchased a Short- 

 horn herd, probably but few better in Eng- 

 land. I kept them and had to nurse them ten- 

 derly for five years. Notwithstanding this, I 

 had become almost wedded to them. The no- 

 bility, with whom I much associated, patron- 

 ized them, and I followed their example. I 

 purchased a small herd of Herefords, because 

 they sold cheap, and to my utter astonishment 

 they could live and -grow fat, while the 

 Shorthorns grew poor, all faring alike. Al- 

 though much against my wishes, I sold off the 

 Shorthorns and took to Herefords, and have 

 kept to them with much faith." 



I sent the whole of this letter to the Albany 

 "Cultivator" just before the beginning of the 

 Bates mania, and when the junior editor was 

 a boy playing marbles in the street. Mr. Luther 

 Tucker, Sr., published it and was much pleased 

 with it. Mr. Hobbs won the first prize for 

 the best cow-in-milk, with a Hereford, against 

 numerous Shorthorns, and kept to the Here- 

 fords until his death. Wherever similar trials 

 have been impartially made, the Herefords have 

 invariably been successful. 



Mr. Fisher Hobbs and Lord Western were 

 the originators of the Essex hogs, the latter 

 imported the Neapolitan hog and the former 

 crossed them with the "old Essex" breed, hence 

 the improved breed. 



When in England, after my .second lot of 

 Herefords, I called upon Mr. Hobbs, at Essex 



