THE SHORT-HORNS 97 



little advantage to conjecture as to what other breeds were resorted 

 to, if any : this much is certain, that great improvement was soon 

 manifested, and a valuable variety established, as the two following 

 instances will prove. 



Mr. Milbank, of Barmingham, bred and slaughtered an ox, which, 

 at five years old, weighed four quarters, one hundred and fifty 

 stones, (2114 lbs.) of fourteen pounds to the stone, producing six- 

 teen stones of tallow ; and a cow bred from his stock, slaughtered 

 by Mr. Sharter, of Chilton, at twelve years old, weighed upwards of 

 one hundred and ten stones. (1540 lbs.) 



From Mr. Milbank's time, the Teeswater cattle continued to sus- 

 tain their excellence and celebrity in various hands, until Mr. Charles 

 Colling adopted them. 



Whatever had been the merits of the Teeswater cattle, it is cer- 

 tain Mr. Colling greatly improved them ; and though it has been 

 asserted that his success was the result of chance, arising from the 

 possession of an animal, with the merits of which he was at one pe^ 

 riod unacquainted, the writer of this article is of opinion that Mr. 

 Colling's success resulted from a deliberate and well-considered plan. 

 He found the Teeswater, like all other extravagantly large cattle, 

 frequently of loose make and disproportion. He was sensible, also, 

 of the difficulty of breeding, with anything like certainty, large good 

 animals ; and though he has declined on all occasions to throw any 

 light on his views and proceedings, the writer thinks he can detect, 

 in the very outset, and through the progress of his practice, a reso- 

 lution to reduce the size of this breed, and at the same time, and by 

 that means, to improv^e its form. This he is supposed to have eflfected, 

 in the first instance, through the medium of a bull, called JEfubback, 

 an animal respecting which there has been much controversy, princi- 

 pally touching the purity of his blood, a question now of little im- 

 portance, because it is admitted on all hands that Mr. Colling 

 adopted another cross, which prevails in a majority of superior short- 

 horns of the present day. It may, notwithstanding, be matter of 

 interest to state a few particulars respecting this bull. 



Without entering on an inquiry by what circumstances Hubback's 

 title to be considered of pure blood is supported or weakened, it may 

 suffice to observe, that it appears probable he possessed on one side 

 the imported blood. Tlie possessor of his dam was a person in in- 

 digent circumstances, and grazed his cow in the highways. When 

 afterwards she was removed to good land, near Darlington, she be- 

 came so fat that she did not again breed ; and her son, having the 

 same feeding propensity in a high degree, was useful as a bull during 

 a very short period. The quality of his flesh, hide, and hair are 

 supposed to have been seldom equaled ; and as he was smaller than 

 We Teeswater cattle, he was eminently calculated to forward Mr. 



