HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



489 



on so important a subject on account of long 

 continued ill-health. As perhaps very few 01 

 your readers are aware, I will say the second, 

 and by far the most important importation of 

 Hereford cattle into the United States was 

 made by Sanford Howard for the Vaughn 

 Bros., of Hallowell, Maine, in 1830. The first 

 being imported by Henry Clay into Kentucky 

 in 1817. The Vaughn Herefords were a 

 splendid lot of cattle, and were kept on the 

 farm since and now owned by Hon. J. R. Bod- 

 well and occupied by Burleigh and Bodwell for 

 quarantine and sale purposes. These cattle, 

 like the next importations into Massachusetts, 

 Sotham & Corning, Albany, N. Y., and Capt. 

 Pendleton, of Scarsport, Me., in 1841, all met 

 terrible opposition by Shorthorn men, of which 

 your humble scribe was one. Never in the his- 

 tory of any state did the worthy "red with 

 white faces" have stronger opposition than in 

 the Dirigo State. But when we look back and 

 see the Shorthorn blood they had to contend 

 with the best in the known world such bulls 

 as Young Denton, Comet, Fitz Favorite, and 

 a host of others which stood within three miles 

 of my door in the great grass valley of the 

 Kennebec, you will admit with me the white 

 faced pilgrims had a hard, nay, an unequal 

 battle to fight. It seemed almost like march- 

 ing a little army of untrained volunteers 

 against a mighty host of veterans strongly en- 

 trenched behind fortifications of years in build- 

 ing. But what a mighty change has been 

 wrought in a half century and less. A few men 

 had courage to try the Herefords ; among them 

 was Mr. Joseph Underwood, of Fayette, Me., 

 and Wingate Hains, of Hallowell, Me. The 

 former's enterprising sons, G. and G. Under- 

 wood, still are breeding a large fine herd, and 

 it is a treat to a Hereford man to sit before the 

 open wood-fire on a winter evening at their 

 hospitable home and listen as they relate their 

 earliest experience (as boys) with Hereford 

 steers. I advise no Western breeder, who visits 

 Maine, to miss a call on the Messrs. Underwood. 

 It was not until 1854 that any stockman 

 had courage to take a Hereford bull upon the 

 sacred soil of my native town (Fairfield), as 

 Shorthorns had held full and undoubted sway 

 there. But Henry Lawrence, who, by the way, 

 was a great judge of cattle as well as his uncle, 

 conceived the idea of buying the old Pendleton 

 ( Hereford) bull Kimroe, then fifteen years old. 

 Quite a number of the best stockmen patronized 

 him largely because they had great faith in Mr. 

 Lawrence's judgment, not from the appearance 

 of the bull, for the poor old fellow had had 

 rough usage since he left his home near Car- 



diff, South Wales. This poor old bull was used 

 one season and died, but his progeny were not 

 prepossessing in appearance at a tender age, 

 say up to two years old, yet their feeding qual- 

 ities and net weight was the means of convert- 

 ing many a "shorthorner," of which number 

 the writer of this article was one. 



As I said, less than fifty years has made a 

 wonderful change in the cattle interests, and 

 the appearance and breeds in New England. 

 Thirty years ago you would hardly see a Here- 

 ford at any show except the old Kennebec; 

 not one at our State Fair ; all were Shorthorns. 

 But if you will go with me to the New England, 

 or the Maine State Fair, during the month of 

 September, 1886, I will show you nearly 300 of 

 the finest steers ever seen in any country, and 

 more than seven-eighths of the number will 

 show the unmistakable evidence of the well-bred 

 Hereford. Yes, they will be there, and well 

 did a certain agricultural writer say of them 

 last year: "It was a sight worth seeing, and 

 long to be remembered/' There will be whole 

 teams of steers there, and some heifers, that 

 will weigh a ton apiece. What has wrought this 

 change? Necessity is the mother of invention. 

 So, also, competition compels us to look to 

 "cost of production and value of products." 

 Western competition has driven us to give up 

 Shorthorn cattle and take a breed that we can 

 produce five pounds of choice market beef from 

 as cheaply as we could four pounds with Short- 

 horns, and not only the difference in the 

 amount, but the finished Hereford will com- 

 mand nearly or quite a dollar per hundred 

 more in the market. 



Yes, the Battle of the Breeds, so far as the 

 Shorthorn is concerned in the East, is forever 

 settled. Although so strongly entrenched be- 

 hind seemingly impregnable fortifications, and 

 fighting to the death, their flag is shot away, 

 their munitions of war are expended and what 

 was once a little insignificant squad of red with 

 white faces, have become an overwhelming host, 

 and New England is agriculturally saved. She 

 need not be dependent on any section of our 

 country for beef. But I would not have your 

 readers think that the Herefords have no ene- 

 mies, or the Shorthorns no friends, even in New 

 England, in proof of which I will cite you to 

 the fact that at the great agricultural show to 

 be held by the New Massachusetts Society at 

 Boston, in October, there is offered a special 

 prize by the State Board of $125 for the best 

 Shorthorn herd, but nothing for a Hereford 

 herd, and this, notwithstanding there is more 

 than four times the value in pure-bred Here- 

 ford cattle in New England, that there is in pure 



