IQ2 HISTORY OF THE SHORT-HORNS. 



race became almost, if not wholly, extinct. A newly imported ani- 

 mal, although Short-horns were then suffering under depressed prices 

 in England, would hardly pay the expenses of transportation across 

 the ocean from any sale which could be made of it here. 



Still, the low prices of meats in the markets were not all the diffi- 

 culty. The taste of our stock breeders had at the time been but 

 scantily cultivated. Shrewd, discriminating men knew the value of 

 Short-horns, and the immense improvement they were capable of 

 giving to the common herds of the country ; but when the great mass 

 of farmers were either too dull or too ignorant to buy, there was little 

 or no encouragement to breed them. Thus the choice herds so highly 

 prized but a few years before lay dormant. It was but a repetition 

 of the result of many valuable enterprises in the agricultural world 

 a spasm, an excitement incident to the trial of a new thing, followed 

 by an indifference, a mistaken and culpable neglect on the part of 

 the many ; but still kept alive by the hopeful foresight of the few 

 who held persistently on to their herds, anticipating a brighter day 

 when their anxious efforts would be amply rewarded, as the sequel 

 will show. 



