280 



HISTOKY OF HEKEFOED CATTLE 



stead of 500; and as he weighed at the show 

 of 1879, 1,114 pounds, his gain per day would 

 be 1.71 pounds, instead of 2.23. 



This steer was entered in 1879 as dropped 

 June 28, 1878, and his age as 500 days is cor- 

 rectly stated, and his gain per day 2.23, is 

 correct. On reference to the copies of my en- 

 tries as made in 1880, his age is stated as June 

 28, 1878, and his age at the show of 1880 

 should have been 870 days old, gain per day 

 1.90, instead of 1.62, as credited to him. I 



CANE IS PRESENTED TO THE MAKER OF PRO- 

 TESTED ENTRIES. 



have written to Secretary S. D. Fisher to re- 

 fer to my entries, and advise me whether the 

 error was his in computing days, or mine in 

 giving age. He was not a winning steer, and 

 the discrepancy had not been noticed by me. 



Again: "Mr. Miller won half his premiums 

 with grade Herefords, and it will be time 

 enough to discuss the question as to which cross 

 will produce the best animal when Mr. Miller 

 shows grade Herefords with no Shorthorn 

 blood/' (U 199) 



In your April number I gave the breeding 

 of "Conqueror," showing seven-eighths Here- 

 ford and one-eighth Devon and native. Will 

 that be satisfactory to Mr. Matthews? But 

 then what matters it, if by putting the Here- 

 ford on the Shorthorn we can make the top 

 steer? Why not accept the issue, and take the 

 Herefords and improve the Shorthorns ? They 

 must take the Hereford or Scot. They tried 

 the Scot in the time of Colling, Bates and 

 Booth; and the Kentuckians used the Here- 

 fords in 1817 to 1830. The Collings, Bates 

 and Booth Scotch cross has not availed to fix 

 character and quality, but the breed has 

 gone back to the original loose, coarse animal. 

 Collings found that with the old Teeswater 

 cattle there was no certainty as to the kind of 

 produce he would get from them, and only 

 by using Scots could he succeed. 



It is a well established fact that for sixty 



years the "Seventeens" have held their position 

 as the best of all the Shorthorn families, and 

 they owe it to the Henry Clay Herefords; and 

 if Shorthorn breeders will get over their bull- 

 headedness, and recognize the fact that the 

 Herefords can improve any breed they are put 

 upon, and accept and adopt them to improve 

 their long-legged, wheezing and consumptive 

 animals, they will be on the road to success. 



I wish it to be distinctly understood that I 

 do not claim greater weight for the Herefords 

 over the Shorthorns, but I do claim equal 

 weight. I claim better quality of beef, and 

 I claim greater economy in cost of making 

 beef on a Hereford carcass than on a Short- 

 horn; and the difference in favor of the Here- 

 ford is fully 25 per cent. 



I am trying to get some bullocks from the 

 Texas cow by a Hereford bull, and I want these 

 to fit and show against thoroughbred and 

 grade Shorthorns, and propose to win with 

 them; and I am seriously considering whether 

 I will show again until I get them. 



The Shorthorn breeders have overrun the 

 country with their breed, until almost every 

 scrub in the country is tainted with the blood. 

 And if a good winning steer got by a Hereford 

 bull be brought forward, they will swear that 

 he owes his quality to the moiety of Shorthorn 

 blood; and if they have not reputation to go 

 before the community on their own statement, 

 they will hire someone to come forward and 

 swear for them that the dam or grandam is a 

 Shorthorn cpw. 



To show the standing of the Shorthorns of 

 to-day, I have before me the report of Gales- 

 burg sales as follows: First day, 42 hc;i<]. 

 average $85; second day, 50 head, average $86; 

 third day, 11 head, average $127; 103 head 

 averaged $90. Thornton's circular shows a 

 steady shrinkage of the average price of 

 Shorthorns in England. 



Your correspondents are becoming quite in- 

 terested in this Shorthorn-Hereford contro- 

 versy. There was a time when they thought 

 if left alone it would die of itself. Mr. Mat- 

 thews is a wordy man and when he has been 

 fighting in the family I have not taken much 

 interest in him except to enjoy the family quar- 

 rel, from the old standpoint that "when rogues 

 fall out, honest men get their dues." 



He has been a long time in picking up my 

 letter of 1878. He says, "This is pretty tall 

 blowing, that he (Miller) intends the report 

 shall go to the mountains, spread over the 

 plains, over the ocean, and come back again 

 with greater force and volume." 



This was one of the prophecies that I had 



