SHORT-HORNS. lu 



" The bull Hubback being now pronounced the grand cause of irri' 

 provement of the Ketton and Barmptons, it behooves every breeder 

 to prove his stock related to this wonderful animal." Yet Mr. Hun- 

 ter bred Hubback, and not Charles Colling. 



Mr. Bates in a letter relating to his Duchess tribe of cattle, says, 

 " I purchased my original cow of this tribe of cattle, of the late 

 Charles Colling, Esq., of Ketton ; they had been in the possession of 

 Mr. Colling twenty years, who purchased his original cow from Stan- 

 wix, and called her Duchess, which Mr. C. Colling repeatedly assured 

 me was the best he ever had or ever saw, and that he never was able to 

 improve upon her, although put to his best bulls." 



Mr. Charles Colling never bred out of the cow Lady Maynard, 

 (Favorite), so good and fine a cow as she was herself. Mr. A. B. Allen, 

 editor of the Agriculturist, in his " History and Traditions of Short- 

 horn Cattle," says : " It was conceded by a' company of old breeders 

 in 1812, in discussing the question of the improvement of short- 

 horns, that no stock of Mr. Colling's breeding ever equalled " Lady 

 Maynard," the dam of Phoenix and grandam of Favorite." And Mr. 

 Bates states the same as having again taken place in 1822, at an- 

 other meeting of old breeders, of whom Mr. Colling was one ; and 

 that Mr. C. himself admitted that he had never, in the descendants 

 of Lady Maynard, bred anything better than herself. 



It is evident from these authorities, that Mr. C. Colling procured 

 originally some animals, than which he never bred anything better ; 

 and beside those named, this was the case with Haughton, by Hub- 

 back, bought by Mr. Colling of Alexander Hall ; and the original of 

 the Daisy tribe, bought of Mr. Waistel, of Great Burdon. There is 

 no doubt that he obtained the very best material, for his breeding, to 

 be had. His brother Robert did the same. 



Hutchinson sajs, " no breeders acted with so much foresight and 

 sound policy — for who but themselves, would have thought of feed- 

 ing any animal from calf hood until seven years of age, in so extrava- 

 gant a manner as the White Heifer (and the Durham Ox) was fed 

 and made a monster of. The scheme was a deep one, and succeeded 

 to a miracle. She, (as well as the Durham ox,) was shown all over 

 the kingdom, and raised the character of their breed, in the opinion 

 of the world, to the highest pitch of eminence." 



Great credit is due to the Messrs. Colling for the herds they 

 i eared and disseminated ; and while it is true that in their careei 

 they had the best herds then in existence, it is equally true that they 

 never bred better animals than they procured originally, with which 

 to commence breeding. 



The obv-iius and great merit of the Collings was, that they 

 brought the short-horns into general notice, out of a local reputation^ 

 and made them as well known abroad as they were in the valley of 

 the Tees river ; not that they improved on their good originals. 



