CHAPTER XIII 



BREEDS (continued) 



The Dutch or British Friesian. 



The black and white cattle of Holland have acquired great 

 notoriety during the last four years owing to the truly amazing 

 prices made by them in the auction ring. These fabulous 

 prices culminated in no less than 4,500 guineas being given in 

 the summer of 1918 for a specimen of the breed. Less than 

 ten years ago I spent a fortnight in Holland buying these cattle, 

 and throughout my stay met many prominent breeders who 

 frequently alluded with pride, as well as with evident surprise, 

 to the fact of the champion bull being sold for 400. It is true 

 that 6,000 has in the past been paid for a pedigree Shorthorn 

 cow and that high four-figure bids were constantly made for 

 specimens of the breed in the early seventies of last century. 

 But this period of what has been called the Bates and Booth 

 mania occurred no less than 60 years after the whole agricul- 

 tural world was set talking about the i ,000 guineas paid by a 

 combine of breeders for the bull Comet at Mr C. Collings's sale 

 in 1810. Further, since the era just alluded to, 3,000 is known 

 to have been paid for a champion at our leading live-stock show, 

 and over 1,000 has not infrequently been given for outstanding 

 winners in Shorthorn classes and prize-taking cattle of other 

 breeds. In the prices recently paid for Dutch cattle, however, 

 not only has the rise been extraordinarily rapid, but also the 

 curve has mounted out of all proportion during the last two 

 years, during which there have been no exhibitions to enable 

 the stock to intoxicate the bidders by their triumphs in the 

 show-ring. The facts are so astounding that they require some 

 examination. 



There can be no doubt that considerable prestige was given 

 to the breed when, in the summer of 1914, the Government 

 permitted some of the stock to be imported from Holland, not- 

 withstanding the statute which excludes all cattle, except those 



