HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



527 



Campbell some time since, from his own expe- 

 rience, where two lots of bulls, Herefords and 

 Shorthorns, were turned upon the range to- 

 gether the Herefords all thriving and proving 

 useful and valuable, while the Shorthorns did 

 poorly and many of them dying the first win- 

 ter I regard this experience of Mr. Campbell 

 as abundantly establishing the fact that the 

 manner in which bulls have been raised and 

 treated has very much to do with the value of 

 bulls when brought upon the range. I say his 

 experience proves this position, because there 

 appears to be no other reason why the results 

 attending the introduction of these two lots of 

 bulls should have been essentially different, the 

 experience of others not justifying the pre- 

 sumption that there is such a material difference 

 in the breeds as would account for the results. 

 And if necessary I could name many cases in 

 which the facts support my position in this mat- 

 ter. Not to go outside of my own county I 

 can say that Mr. Carey Culver purchased of the 

 Illinois breeder Mr. Gillette, last December, 

 some Shorthorn bulls which had been raised 

 upon grass; turned them into enclosed fields 

 where they roughed it all winter with the other 

 cattle, and came through to the spring in fine 

 shape and increased in weight. His brother, 

 Robert Culver, brought in at the same time Gal- 

 loway hulls purchased at public sale at Chicago, 

 and evidently highly fed, and he had to feed 

 them all winter; one of them could scarcely be 

 brought through at all, and none of them were 

 of any account until midsummer. At the same 

 time Mr. Hart brought in some Hereford bulls, 

 purchased of an Iowa breeder of high standing, 

 who had probably pushed them along on corn, 

 and they had to be kept up and fed all winter, 

 and they came through in such wretched shape 

 that Geo. Zweck, who kept one of them for its 

 use until it was taken away July 1, was unable 

 to secure calves from him, and had to send his 

 cows to another bull. These three lots of bulls, 

 representing these three breeds, came into this 

 county within about ten days of each other last 

 December, and were all kept within a radius 

 of ten miles, and the difference I have related 

 of their hardihood and vigor shows that the 

 previous treatment to which they were sub- 

 jected, was the important matter in determin- 

 ing their immediate and permanent usefulness, 

 and that so far as mere hardiness is concerned 

 the breed counts for nothing (fl 373). 



1 am afraid Mr. Campbell does not care to 

 profit either by his own experience or the expe- 

 rience of others else he would hasten to exam- 

 ine so important a matter as this as soon a.* 

 suggested, instead of attempting to "sneer it 



down the wind" as a mere theory. And while 

 unwilling to open his own eyes to all the facts, 

 he does not appear to be willing that the public 

 shall have the benefit of them. Believing that 

 he had the very best Herefords which he could 

 buy, 1 asked whether he was equally liberal and 

 careful in his selections of Shorthorns, and 

 whether the unfavorable experiences he relates 

 of Shorthorns were based upon trials with the 

 best Shorthorns he could buy. But in his reply 

 he evades this point and fails to give the pub- 

 lic the means of estimating at its worth the per- 

 sonal experience which he had advanced as 

 showing the relative merits of these breeds of 

 cattle. In a discusssion, where the demonstra- 

 tion of truthful facts should be the only object, 

 this sort of evasion or concealment of important 

 matters is not to be commended. No one should 

 endeavor to win his case on technicalities. And 

 besides 1 am told that Mr. Campbell, in giving 

 his experience, has only given a part of it, and 

 that a long time ago he confessed to Mr. Pliny 

 Nichols.,, in Iowa, after haying purchased two 

 Hereford bulls, that one of them died before he 

 got him home, or very shortly after, and that he 

 had previously owned still another which had 

 done him no good. As a candid gentleman Mr. 

 Campbell should have stated such matters as 

 these. To withhold them is to treat the public 

 unfairly. In getting no benefit from two out 

 of three, it would be interesting to know 

 whether it was considered due to the breed or 

 to the manner in which these individuals had 

 been handled before he got them. 



In his last letter Mr. Campbell remarks: 

 "In the language of Napoleon I will say, 'I 

 have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, 

 and that is the lamp of experience.' r ' 



I do not believe Napoleon ever said it. Pat- 

 rick Henry had been in his grave many years 

 before the great Corsican donned the purple, 

 and I do not believe he ever had occasion to rob 

 the dead American of his laurels. Mr. Camp- 

 bell is unfortunate. His literary experience 

 and observation do not appear to have been 

 more careful and accurate than his observations 

 and experiences with cattle, and both are 

 equally in need of correction. I am not at all 

 surprised at the confession of Mr. Campbell 

 that he has been studying the cattle question by 

 lamplight. It was quite evident that his range 

 of vision was very limited, and the light he was 

 enjoying very feeble. Perhaps he cannot stand 

 a stronger light, but if he can, I would advise 

 him to throw away his lamp, and come out into 

 the daylight where he can see everything, and 

 some things at least, in their true relations to 

 each other. GEO. W. RUST. 



