1858.] SENATE— No. 4. 17 



and uninviting to the eye." "Whatever may be the truth with 

 regard to these crosses, and however far they proved effective 

 in creating, or laying the foundation of the modern improved 

 short-horns, the results of the efforts made in Yorkshire and 

 some of the adjoining counties, were never so satisfactory to the 

 best judges as those of the breeders of Durham, who selected ani- 

 mals with greater reference to fineness of bone and symmetry of 

 form, and the animals thus bred soon took the lead, and excited 

 great emulation in improvement. 



The famous bull " Hubback," bred by Mr. Turner, of Hur- 

 worth,and subsequently owned by Mr. Colling, laid the founda- 

 tion of the celebrity of the short-horns, and it is the pride of 

 short-horn breeders to trace back to him. He was calved in 

 1777, and his descendants, — Foljambe, Bolingbroke, Favorite, 

 and Comet, — permanently fixed the characteristics of the breed. 

 Comet was so highly esteemed among breeders, that he sold at 

 one thousand guineas, or over five thousand dollars. Hub- 

 back is thought by some to have been a pure short-horn, and by 

 others, a grade or mixture. 



Many breeders had labored long previous to and contem- 

 porary witli the brothers Charles and Kobert Colling, especially 

 on the old Teeswater short-horns, yet a large share of the credit 

 of improving them, and establishing the reputation of the 

 improved short-horns, is generally accorded to them. Certain 

 it is, that the spirit and discrimination with which they selected 

 and bred soon became known, and a general interest was 

 awakened in the breed at the time of the sale of Charles Col- 

 ling's herd, October 11, 1810. It was then Mr. Bates, of Kirk- 

 leavington, purchased the celebrated heifer Duchess I., whose 

 family sold, in 1850, after his decease, at an average of one 

 hundred and sixteen pounds five shillings per head, including 

 young calves. The sale of Robert Ceiling's herd, in 1818, and 

 tliat of Lord Spencer, in 1846, as well as that of the Kirkleaving- 

 ton herd in 1850, and especially that of the herd of Lord Ducie, 

 two years later, are marked eras in the history of improved 

 short-horns ; and through these sales, and the universal enthu- 

 siasm awakened by them, the short-horns have become more 

 widely spread over Great Britain, and more generally fashionable 

 than any other breed. They have also been largely introduced 

 into France by the government, for the improvement of the 

 3* 



