218 



CATTLE 



of Aberdeen. His first Shorthorn purchase was made in 1829 

 at the sale of Mason at Chilton, when he bought two females, 

 one of which, Lady Sarah, proved a great producer. Barclay bred 

 many noted animals, among which was The Pacha (7612), the 

 sire of some of the most distinguished cattle of the breed. In 

 1838 Barclay had a dispersal sale, but in 1840 he established 

 another herd. At Ury a class of cattle of great scale and sub- 

 stance was developed. Following these early, constructive Scotch 

 breeders were Grant Duff of Eden, Hay of Shethin, the Cruick- 

 shanks of Sittyton, Marr of Uppermill, and others who did much 



to give fame to the Short- 

 horn breed. 



Amos Cruickshank was 

 born in Aberdeen in north- 

 eastern Scotland, in 1808, 

 and died in 1895 at 

 Sittyton, Aberdeenshire. 

 In partnership with his 

 brother Anthony, who was 

 a merchant in the city of 

 Aberdeen, Amos took pos- 

 session in 1837 of a some- 

 what rolling farm where 

 roots, the small grains, 

 and grass were produced. 



Here Cruickshank began his long career as one of the world's 

 great constructive breeders, and, as so well expressed by Sanders, 1 

 in " a rough, broken country, possessing but limited areas of 

 good soil, wanting in natural shelter, swept for a good portion 

 of the year by the chill east winds of the North Sea, and en- 

 during the long, dark winters of latitude 58N." Here Cruick- 

 shank began to select and buy Shorthorns from various sources, 

 choosing animals that possessed plenty of vigor and rapid 

 flesh-producing qualities, and that were distinctively of the beef- 

 producing type. He was not influenced by pedigree fads, and 

 purchased on a very independent basis. Again quoting Sanders 2 : 



1 A. H. Sanders, Shorthorn Cattle, p. 550. Chicago, 1900. 



2 Ibid. p. 578. 



FIG. 85. The farmhouse of William Duthie at 



Collynie, Tarves, Scotland. From photograph 



by the author 



