l82 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



By this we note that the pedigree runs entirely on the dam's 

 side, — indeed, no sires were at first recorded ; that her first off- 

 spring was a chestnut male^ and dropped in 1772 when she was 

 nine years of age, and that she raised a foal every year afterward 

 except 1776, 1778, 1779, and 1782, — nine in all. Other pedi- 

 grees recorded in this volume trace freely to Arabian stock. 



The next pedigree register was Coates's Herdbook, pub- 

 lished in 1822 to record pedigrees of Shorthorn cattle or, as 

 they were called, improved Shorthorns, as bred at that time 

 largely by Mr. Thomas Bates and his associates in middle 

 England, but tracing to the Teeswater cattle of the county of 

 Durham. 



This register recorded both bulls and cows, arranged alpha- 

 betically by name, but for the first time serial numbers were 

 assigned, though only to the males. Thus the first one recorded 

 (No. i) is Abelard, calved in 181 2; but further over in the 

 volume we find Comet (155), calved in 1804, and the famous 

 Hubback, calved in 1777. These early volumes are full of 

 attempts to verify the breeding of early but famous animals 

 then long dead, as were in many cases their owners as well. 



So many Shorthorns have since been bred that the numbers 

 have run very high. Sixty-nine large volumes are filled with the 

 pedigrees of American Shorthorns only, the latest numbers 

 running above 273000. 



A typical Shorthorn pedigree would now be recorded as 

 follows : 



Palmer 270057. 



Red, calved March 3, 1906. Bred by J. E. Gilbertson, Utica, Minn.; 

 owned by Lars Somm, Rushford, Minn.; got by Old David 189406, out of 

 Aurora (Vol. LIII, p. 71 1) by 5th Favorite of Springbrook 141 61 7 — tracing 

 to imp. Daisy by Wild 1 1 1 34. 



All this means that this record gives both the breeder and 

 the owner, and affirms that the sire of the calf was Old David 



^ " c." stands for colt, which is male ; " f." for filly, which is female ; " ch." 

 stands for chestnut, " b." for bay, " bl." for black, etc. 



