MODERN FARM LIVE STOCK 337 



continued effort, and 1746, the date of Culloden, the last 

 battle fought on British soil, may be taken practically as 

 the commencement of the era of progress. 



The Shorthorn is the most famous and widely-spread breed 

 of this country, if not in the world ; it exceeds in number any 

 other breed in the United Kingdom, and most cross-breds 

 have Shorthorn blood in them. It adapts itself to any climate, 

 and is equally noted for beef-making and milk-yielding. 



The origin of the Shorthorns is uncertain ; they originated 

 from the Teeswater and Holderness varieties, but where these 

 came from is a matter of dispute. Young, in his Northern 

 Tour, 1 says, ' In Yorkshire the common breed was the short- 

 horned kind of cattle called Holderness, but really the Dutch 

 sort '; and many have said the Holderness and the Teeswater 

 breeds both came from Holland, and were practically the 

 same, while others assert the original home of the Teeswaters 

 was the West Highlands. 2 



John Lawrence speaks of the Dutch breed with short horns 

 in T726 3 ; but, unless they were smuggled over, it certainly 

 seems strange that any Dutch cattle should have been im- 

 ported in the eighteenth century, for the importation of cattle 

 was strictly forbidden during the whole century. It was 

 George Culley's opinion that they came from Holland, 

 because few were found except along the eastern coast ; he 

 also knew farmers who went over to Holland to buy bulls. 4 



Be this as it may, it was the cattle of the Teeswater district 

 in Durham that the Collings improved, and they are still 

 called Durhams in many parts. The work of the Collings 5 

 was carried on by Thomas Booth, who farmed his own estate 

 of Killerby in Yorkshire, where he turned his attention to 

 Shorthorns about 1790, and by 1814 he was as well known as 

 the Collings. He improved the Shorthorns by reducing the 



1 ii. 126; about 1770. 



2 Youatt, Complete Grazier, p. 18, and see ' Druid ', Saddle and Sirloin. 



3 Cf. supra, p. 167. 



4 Culley on Live Stock (1807), p. 42. 8 See p. 233. 



