364 THE OX. 



the district, but to have reared his bulls from his own stocky 

 although, in the earlier stage of his improvements, he some- 

 times made use of other bulls when they suited his purpose. 

 After a time, however, he abandoned this practice, and con- 

 fined himself in breeding to his own stock. It thus appears 

 that the principle of his system was selection of the most 

 suitable individuals for breeding, and that having produced, 

 by this mean, animals of the properties required, he con- 

 fined himself to his own herd. Having arrived at the im- 

 provement sought for, he communicated to the individuals, 

 by intermixture with one another, that uniformity and per- 

 manence of character which constitutes a breed. In this 

 latter respect, however, he was not so successful as Bake- 

 well, and many of the Herefords deviate considerably from a 

 common type. Tomkins, indeed, had what he termed his 

 different lines of stock, as his Mottle line, and his Pigeon or 

 Silver line, from which we are merely to infer that his ani- 

 mals had not been so amalgamated as to acquire a perma- 

 nent class of common characters. Tomkins continued his 

 improvements during a long life. He was a person of very 

 retired and unassuming habits, seldom, if ever, shewing his 

 cattle from home, or concerning himself much about what 

 was passing beyond his own circle. In this respect his con- 

 duct was the reverse of that of his distinguished contem- 

 porary Bakewell, who took every opportunity to derive ad- 

 vantage from his stock, and to spread the reputation of it 

 throughout the country. In one respect, indeed, the course 

 of the two breeders was similar. Each maintained the ut- 

 most reserve with respect to his mode of practice, and the 

 sources from which he derived his original stock. It is merely 

 known that Tomkins began breeding from the humble stock 

 of cows which he had early acquired ; but of the breed of 

 these cows nothing is known, nor of the animals, male or fe- 

 male, which he afterwards made use of for extending and 

 improving his herd. It may be believed that the selection 

 was made from the best of the cattle then existing in the dis- 



