THE HEREFORD 275 



In 1883 there were but 2500 Herefords of record in the United 

 States, but on June n, 1918, this number had increased to 

 711,485. During the year 1918 there were recorded on the 

 books of the American Hereford Breeders' Association 92,526 

 registrations and 76,018 transfers, thus giving evidence of a very 

 large amount of activity with the breed in America. At the end 

 of six months, in 1919, the American Association showed a total 

 membership on its books of 10,000, as compared with 4305 

 stockholders at the end of 1910.. In addition to the American 

 Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association, there are many local state 

 and community associations for promoting the breed, nearly fifty 

 being on record up to 1918. An important medium for promoting 

 the breed is the American Hereford Journal, established in 1909, 

 published semimonthly at Kansas City, Missouri. 



POLLED HEREFORDS 



The origin of Polled Herefords dates back only twenty-five 

 years. Messrs. Mossom Boyd of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, 

 J. L. Torrey of Embar, Wyoming, and W. W. Guthrie of 

 Atchison, Kansas, independent of each other sought to develop 

 strains of polled Hereford cattle. In 1898 the author saw an 

 exhibit of eight head by Mr. Guthrie at the Trans-Mississippi 

 Exposition at Omaha, of what he termed " Polled Kansans." 

 These had been sired by a polled bull resulting from crossing a 

 Hereford bull on a range-bred grade Shorthorn cow. These were 

 rather plain cattle. Mr. Boyd attempted to produce polled Here- 

 fords by using Aberdeen-Angus bulls on pure-bred Hereford 

 cows, and secured some polled animals with Hereford markings. 

 C. T. Mercer of Iowa also bred some grade Polled Herefords, using 

 a Red Polled bull on Hereford cows. The efforts of Mr. Guthrie, 

 in particular, interested Warren Gammon of Iowa, who sent a 

 circular letter to twenty-five hundred Hereford breeders, making 

 inquiry for such polled cattle. As a result he located six polled 

 bulls and ten cows. Of these he purchased the following : the 

 bulls Giant 101740, Tony 112173, Wilson 126523, Variation 

 152699, Wallace L. 127078, and Too Late, a nonbreeder ; of 

 cows, Lora 115570, Blue Bell 106983, Duchess of Bedford 22d 



