1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



80 



IMPORTED SHORT-HORNS -BATES' STOCK. 



In the August (1849) number of the Genesee Farmer, is an 

 article by me on the Short-horns, which I imported last year 

 for Mr. Sheafe, Col. Sherwood and myself. The January 

 number contains strictures by S. P. Chapman, on so ranch 

 of my article as relates to the Bull, Third Duke of Cam- 

 bridge. As Mr. Chapman does not understand my views, 

 and therefore misstates and misconstrues them, it is neces- 

 sary to answer him. He makes many assertions and takes 

 positions, which present questions and issues, so numerous, 

 complicated and extensive, that, at present, I must leave 

 them unnoticed. There is beside, just now, a strong pre 

 priely in not discussing these issues. Aa soon as this condi- 

 tion ends, I shall resume the subject, and will fully consider 

 them. In this notice I propose merely to state my meaning 

 in the paragraph, to a portion of which Mr. Chapman ob- 

 jects, as he understands it, and refute one of his positions. 

 To be clear, I must re-produce the passage entire. Speak- 

 ing of the Third Duke of Cambridge, I said: 



" I have great pleasure in knowing that I have brought to this 

 country bo superior a bull from the herd of that eminent breeder. 

 Mr. Bates He is the only bull in America got by Mr. Bates' 

 crack prize bull, Duke of Northumberland (1940,) tha best bull Mr. 

 Bates ever bred. Mr Bates has but one more k-ft got by the same 

 bull ; and l>uko of Northumberland is now dead. Mr Bates 

 repeatedly told me that 3d Duke ol Cambridge was more like his 

 sire than any bull ever got by him Breeders desiring the blood 

 of Mr. Bates, can no where else in this country procure it with 

 such high characteristics of sly'e, quality, symmetry . and substance. ^^ 



Mr. Chapman quotes merely the lust su'utence and diticuss- 

 ea it alone. The whole paragraph being connected, and the 

 last sentence the conclusion or deducti-n, and the wliole 

 having been the subject of remark, I will l)riefly state what 

 it only means, and was meant only to mean. I mean by it. 

 that I have brouglu to America a superior bull, from the 

 herd of Mr. Bates ; that this bull, 3d Duke of Cambridge. 

 (5941,) is the only bull in America got by Mr. Bates' Ihik^ 

 of Northumberland, (1940;) that Duke of Northumberl uid, 

 (UMO,) was Mr. BatCii' " crar/: prize'' bull, and was the best 

 bull Mr. Bates ever bred, that Air. Bates has but one more 

 bull got by Duke of Northumberland, (1940,) that the Duke 

 of .\orthumberland, (1940.) is dead, and that Mr. Bales re- 

 peatedly told me that 3d Duke of Cambridge. (•j941,) was 

 more like his sire, ( Duke of Northumberland,) than any bull 

 ever got by him. (Duko of Northumberland.) In 1845, 

 Duke of Northumberland died. In July, 1848, Mr. Bales 

 owned but two bulls got by Duke of Northumberland, and 

 these two were 2d Duke of Oxford and '3d Duke of Cam- 

 bridge. I brought .^d Duke of Cambridge lo America, iwA 

 this left but one son of Duke of Northumberland, (1940,) at 

 Mr. Bates', and Mr. Bates did not in his lifetime part with 

 that son. I designed to place before breeders the fact, that 

 there is in this country but one bull the get of Mr. Bates' 

 bei^f bull, and that if they wish the blood ol Mr. Bates' they 

 could no where else in America, than from Cambridge, get 

 Mr. Bates' blood, through the particular cliannel of a resem- 

 bling and superior son ol Mr. Bates' best bull, Duke of North- 

 umberland, (1940.) 



The last sentence of the paragraph which I have quoted 

 from my August article, is this : — " Breeders desiring the 

 blood of Mr. Bates, can no where else in this country pro- 

 cure it with such high characteristics of style, quality, sym- 

 metry, and substance." This eentencc is the text; its dis- 

 proval the object of Mr. Chapman's whole article. Never 

 was an unfortunate sentence so misconstrued. In an arti- 

 cle printed in Canada, it is made the basis on which to 

 charge me with having asserted, " that from Mr. Sherwood, 

 [through 3d Duke of Cambridge, 1 and from him alone, the 

 Duchess 6/oo(/ can be procured" [in this country.] In let- 

 ters addressed to others, and by the receivers shown to mc, 

 this sentence is made to mean, " that the 3d Duke of Cam- 

 bridge posjjesses more of Mr. Bates' Duchess blood than any 

 other bull in America," and I am charged by its use with 

 so saying and designing so to say. Mr. Chapman makes it 

 mean the same thing, but dues so by way of inferejice, or de- 

 duction. His words are : — '" No one will deny, that if any 

 one animal from ^ herd possesses the power of imparting to 

 his produce 'higher ciiaracterislics of style, quality, sym- 

 metry and substance,' than any other animal from the .Hamc 

 herd, he must possess more of the choice blood of that par- 

 ticular herd. To question this, is at once doubting the effi- 

 cacy of blood tt! 'muls." That is, my position, if it be true, 

 must be true, because 3il Duke of Cambridge has more of 

 Mr. Bates' choice blood than any other bull iti America. 

 This is llie meaning which by deduction Mr. Chapman 



places on my words. Having done this, he proceeds to 

 prove, by quoting Mr. Bates' opinions, in his own words, 

 from public printed letters, that \\\q choice blood of his herd, 

 in Mr. Bates' opinion, is the Duchess blood. No one ever 

 doubted this^ who either knew Mr. Bates or had read his 

 printed or private letters. I knew such was his opinion. 

 Mr. Chapman then gives from the 4th vol. of the Herd Book 

 the pedigrees of 3d Dukeof Cambridge, and Mr. Vail's Duke 

 of Wellington, and by these pedigrees shows that Cam- 

 bridge has by his sire one cross of Duchess blood, and that 

 Wellington has two by his sire and the sire of his dam. Tho 

 precise quantity whicli Mr. Chapman gives to each, is i, 

 i. e. 2-8, of Duchess blood, to Cambridge, nod % to Welling- 

 ton; and therefore he concludes, that Wellington must be a 

 better bull than Cambridge. Logical conclusionl Now all 

 this shows a total wunt of knowledge of breeding and of 

 pedigrees in general ; and in special of the particular pedi- 

 grees which M.r. C. gives of the animals under his conside- 

 ration. But to explain this as to tlie pedigrees, would re- 

 quire too much space now, and I pass it. 



If Mr. Chapman be correct, then it would be true that a 

 bull got by one of Mr. Bates' Duchess bulls, dam by a 

 Duchess bull, grand-dam a poor roadside tack, would be a 

 better getter — would impart more ' high characteristics of 

 style, quality, symmetry and subsfmcc' — than a bull got 

 by a Duche.^s bull, out of a pure, f dl bred, stylish, short- 

 horn cow, of another approved tribe. Such an absurdity, 

 no one, I think, would maintain, though Mr. C.'s article 

 seemj to do so. 



On Mr. Chapman's rule, if sires have each the same 

 amount of Duchess blood, they would possess and impart 

 equal '* style, quality, symmetry and substance." Yet no 

 two full brothers were ever equally good onimala and equal- 

 ly good getters. Duke of Northumberland, [1940,] and 2d 

 l')uke of Northumberland, [3646,] were full brothers. The 

 first was superior as an individual, and very superior as a 

 getter. 'I'he last was far inferior to his brother as an indi- 

 vidual ; fur inferior as a getter. The 3d and 4th Dukes of 

 Northumberland were full brothers and twins. The 3d Duke 

 Mr. Bates never used ; he was far inferior, both as an individ- 

 ual and a.-j a getter, to the 4th Duke. The 3d and 4th Dukes 

 had mnre Duchess blood than their halfbrother Duke of North- 

 umberland, ( 1940, )and were for, very far, inferior to Duke of 

 Northumberland, as individuals and as getters. Mr. Vail's 

 Duke of Wellington, (3iJ54,) has more Duchess blood than 

 his halfbrother Locomotive, (4242,) ond yet Locomotive 

 was a far better animal and better getter than Wellington. 

 Mr. Harvey's bull Walton, (0658.) son of Locomotive, a 

 distinguished whinner even in Gt. Britain, is vastly superior 

 to any thing ever got by Wellington. Duke of Cleve- 

 land, (1937,) the sire of the dam of Mr. Vail's Duke of Wel- 

 lington, (3654,) was a Duchess bull, and was so inferior, 

 that Mr. Bates says of him, " this bull never exceeded in 

 weight forty stones of fourteen pounds per stone, when 

 above three years old," that is, 560 pounds dead weight; 

 not half the proper weight of a merely fair animal of that 

 ago. (See the London New Farmer's Journal, Aug. 8, 1842.) 

 Duke of Northumberland, (1940,) at the same age, weighed, 

 live weight, 2520 lbs. Sink one third live weight, and his 

 dead weight would be 1680 pounds; just three times tho 

 weight of Duke of Cleveland. Could any thing be ynore 

 despicable than the Duke of Cleveland, (1937?) Yet, he 

 had MORK Duchess blood than Duke of Northumberland, 

 (1940,) by one half. 



The second best bull, as an animal, ever bred by Mr. 

 Bates, in his opiniga, was the 1st Duke of Cambridge, (3639,) 

 a full brother of 3d Duke of Cambridge, and winner of the 

 head prize in his class at the show of the Koyal Agricultural 

 Society of England, in 1840— an animal for which he was 

 offered more money than for any other, except Duke of 

 Northumberland, (1940.) And yet 1st Duke of Cambridge 

 had only one fourth as mach Duchess blood as Duko of 

 Cleveland, (1937.) Ist Duke of Cambridge was refused to 

 Enrl Spencer by Mr. Bates, at a very large price, and when 

 sold to go to Austraha, Mr. Bates said of him, *' He is too 

 good a boll to remain in England, out of my own herd." 

 And so he was exported at twenty-one months old. Mr. 

 Bates' Duchess bull Short-tail. (2621,) the sire of Mr. Vail's 

 Duke of Wellington, had more Duchess blood than Belve- 

 dere, (1706,) for Belvedere had none; and yet Short-tail 

 was un inferior anim d. deficient in every point, except his 

 brisket and his handling, and was at best only a moderate 

 getter ; while Belvidere, (1706,) was magnificent as an ani- 

 mal and the best getter that Mr. Bates ever used, and was 

 the sire of the best animals he ever bred. 



