338 



HIST Oft Y OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



result may be to the breeders engaged in it, the 

 battle has done immense good to others, and it 

 is to be hoped that the time will never come 

 when all will agree that any one breed or family 

 of cattle is better than all others." 



We made an earnest effort to arrange a test 

 of merit with Mr. James Gaines, of Ridge Farm, 

 Illinois, on a sufficiently large scale to be of 

 value, and considerable correspondence was pub- 

 lished at that time on the subject. Referring to 

 the correspondence between Messrs. Gaines and 

 Miller : Gaines & Sons proposed to take two car 

 loads of steers from their herd for ten years; 

 they afterwards say that they fed 1,400 steers. 

 The selection of thirty steers from this number 

 would not give any authoritative test of the 

 breeds. It is a well established fact that the 

 Shorthorns are very irregular and uneven as to 

 size and quality. Thirty bullocks out of the 

 large number grazed and fed by Messrs. Gaines 

 & Sons would be likely to be very good steers, 

 but their proposition as to the selection would 

 not give any information as to the cost of mak- 

 ing; neither would it give any information as 

 to the general character of the breed ; and 

 again, there is no such lot of Herefords in the 



country to select from, and therefore it would 

 be an unequal test. 



The T. L. Miller Company's proposition was 

 to take a given number of cows of uniform char- 

 acter, and give them a given amount of land, 

 keeping a correct account of all expenses; this 

 would, if continued for ten years, have been a 

 very correct and authoritative test. Such a test 

 was proposed by T. L. Miller and published in 

 the "National Live Stock Journal" some twelve 

 years previous to this correspondence. 



That proposition had been renewed from time 

 to time, but found no one to accept it, and it 

 was again renewed at this time. We proposed 

 to take 100 acres of land on their farm at 

 Beecher, and select 40 breeding cows to be served 

 by a Hereford bull ; these cows and their calves 

 to be kept upon the product of such land, and 

 the produce to be marketed in December of each 

 year, after they were two years old, at the Union 

 Stock Yards in Chicago, if any Shorthorn 

 breeder would take a like quantity of land, and 

 a like number of cows, to be kept and marketed 

 on the same conditions. We also invited any 

 breeder of Scotch cattle to join in such tests on 

 same conditions, each party to come under their 



COMPANY ATTENDING "THE LEEN" SALE, 1883. 



The celebrated Grove 3d (5051) 2490, at 9 years, sold for $4,250, appearing at the left. 



standing at his side, umbrella in hand. 



His breeder, B. Rogers, 



