526 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



mine. People in this country who have ex- 

 amined and tested the matter to their satisfac- 

 tion, are firmly convinced that the manner in 

 which bulls are raised does have very much to 

 do with their adaptability for plains use, and if 

 the matter is new to Mr. Campbell I trust he 

 will not dismiss it as a mere theory but, like an 

 impartial investigator, look into it with the 

 hope that after sixteen years' experience he may 

 yet find "some strange things under the sun." 



There was another thing referred to in my 

 previous letter, to which Mr. Campbell makes 

 no reply. I referred to the necessity in all 

 cases of comparisons, where accurate results 

 were desired, that there should be an equality 

 of blood. Whether it was secured in this case 

 or not, the public does not know, for Mr. Camp- 

 bell gives no information as to where or of 

 whom he purchased either class of bulls or 

 whether they were both the best and most robust 

 of their kind. I know Mr. Campbell has an 

 ambition to own as good Herefords as anybody, 

 and I understand his herd will compare favor- 

 ably with the best in the land, and if I am not 

 mistaken in the matter he has had an ambition 

 for place as a successful exhibitor of Herefords 

 where the competition was the strongest. This 

 is, of course, all right, and I am glad it is so. 

 But when he was using Shorthorns, did he have 

 an equal ambition to own the best of that breed, 

 and was his experience based upon careful tests 

 as to what the best could do? 



Mr. Campbell expresses a fear that my "con- 

 troversies with T. L. Miller have so embittered 

 me against the Herefords that it is impossible 

 for me to look upon them or their friends with 

 any degree of fairness," and yet, in the very ar- 

 ticle to which he is replying, I had referred 

 to having seen a few days before "a grand herd 

 of Hereford cows and calves at grass" at George 

 Morgan's, and in the issue before that, had re- 

 viewed that Hereford herd at length, and in 

 such terms as to elicit from Mr. Morgan person- 

 ally the expression that it was the fairest and 

 best article on a Hereford herd of cattle, which 

 had appeared in the American press for many 

 a day (ft 372). However that may be, Mr. 

 Campbell may rest assured that no man can so 

 embitter me against any breed of cattle, that I 

 cannot and will not recognize their merit when 

 I see them. My experience is not so great, per- 

 haps, as that of Mr. Campbell, and I may not 

 perceive some things so quickly, but while I 

 may not agree with him in many things, I trust 

 he will not regard me as seeing but one side 

 of any question. I should have had no con- 

 troversies with T. L. Miller, nor had occasion 

 to say many things which have been said, if he 



had not sought by persistent misquotation to 

 make me appear as denying all merit in the 

 Shorthorn,- just as lately he would place me in 

 the attitude of denying all merit in the Here- 

 ford. I am certainly entitled to standing room 

 somewhere, and as 1 have never been the enemy 

 of either I have the right to occupy my own 

 ground as the friend of both, criticizing accord- 

 ing to what I believe fair and just, and accord- 

 ing to merit in all cases, whether as to the cattle 

 themselves or the methods of those who are 

 pushing their claims before the public, and en- 

 tirely in this spirit of independence and im- 

 partiality I must again, repeat that so far as I 

 have been able to make up my mind, from the 

 experience of a large number of people whose 

 opinions I have sought on this question (and 

 who have not been altogether harmonious in 

 their views, some holding to one breed and 

 some to another), I cannot see that there is any 

 perceptible grounds for honest preference be- 

 tween Herefords and Shorthorns for plains use 

 on the score of hardiness; that is, where animals 

 themselves are in all respects equal and equally 

 conditioned for the work. But it is undeniable 

 that there are some Herefords better for this 

 purpose than some Shorthorns ; and it is equally 

 true that there are some Shorthorns better for 

 this purpose than some Herefords. But while 

 I believe both to be sufficiently hardy, there 

 may be some difference as to their feeding qual- 

 ities, to which I have sought to direct the atten- 

 tion of Hereford breeders, as the question of 

 importance. And this has been the main pur- 

 pose I have had in view, and have continually 

 brought to the front, and I do not think be- 

 cause I have urged the consideration of this 

 question that my friendship for the Herefords 

 should be challenged. How will they feed? 

 Not wholly upon the plains, but as compared 

 with each other, how will they feed when taken 

 to the States to be finished? For their beha- 

 vior there will be a very important element in 

 determining values. 



GEO. W. RUST. 



THE PLAINS CATTLE PROBLEM. 



To the "Gazette" : 



It is not creditable to Mr. W. E. Campbell's 

 candor that he still declines to consider on its 

 merits and continues to denounce as mere the- 

 ory what I had said about the manner of rear- 

 ing and previous treatment affecting the hardi- 

 hood and usefulness of bulls brought upon the 

 plains. It is not a mere theory, and the fact 

 can be abundantly verified from the experience 

 of any ranchman who has cared to investigate 

 the matter. I regard the instance cited bv Mr. 



