58 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. 



Phoenix, by Foljambe, and out of Young Strawberry (daughter to 

 Lady Maynard, and half sister to Phoenix) he bred the bull Boling- 

 broke (88), also by Foljambe. Then Bolingbroke was bred to his 

 more than half sister, and aunt, Phoenix, producing Favorite (252), 

 and then this Favorite put to Phoenix (his own mother, and more 

 closely related, if possible), produced the cow Young Phoenix, and 

 she in turn being bred to Favorite, her own sire (brother and all 

 other sorts of close relationship), produced Comet (155), a bull 

 individually more admired than any other one of his day. 



This system of interbreeding Charles Colling pursued, or as closely 

 to it as possible, with all the best families in his herd. He had 

 selected his original animals with an eye to particular models of 

 excellence. He could not find a finished model in any one animal 

 of his original selections. They had various points of excellence, as 

 well as some defects, and his object was to get rid of their defects 

 and combine their excellencies into the younger stock so as to create 

 a uniformity of character as near his own standard of perfection as 

 possible. He had in the bull Favorite, got as much of the blood of 

 his cow Lady Maynard, and through Foljambe of Hubback's^ as 

 was probably possible to obtain, and he bred from Favorite more 

 or less for thirteen years, as long as he was useful. 



Let it be borne in mind that Colling acted 'on the axiom that blood, 

 in order to be most useful in perpetuating its good qualities in breed- 

 ing, must be concentrated as closely as possible in the veins of the 

 breeding animals, as only through such concentration of blood could 

 its individual properties and character be transmitted with absolute 

 certainty to their progeny. Thus the choicest of the Colling cattle 

 had a uniformity of type which so far, provided their qualities were 

 good, was a decided improvement in them, beyond those animals 

 which had been miscellaneously bred from different bulls having no 

 blood relations with each other, or with the cows to which they were 

 bred, thus striking out into various incongruities of character, and 

 transmitting their own qualities, even if of the best kind, with no 

 certainty to their offspring. Robert bred under the same system as 

 did Charles ; but it is unnecessary to follow his herd with the same 

 particularity of detail, as several of his best have already been 

 noticed. Many pages of Vol. i, E. H. B., would have to be quoted 

 to illustrate their breeding. 



As both the Collings were considerable breeders, it is not to be 

 supposed that all their cattle were so closely interbred. They fre- 

 quently bought good cows from other breeders, even after their own 



