A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 19 



the one made by the Ohio Company in 1836, were 

 used to discredit the descendants of the import- 

 ation of 1817. Though not able to claim and sub- 

 stantiate superiority in fact, appeal was made 

 to fads and the older importation lost popularity. 



In 1840 George Vail of New York imported 

 from Mr. Bates' herd a bull calf combining two 

 of his most precious families. Later he bought 

 some heifers, also. Mr. Bates died in 1849 and at 

 the dispersion of his herd in 1850 three head 

 were bought by Morris and Becar of New York. 

 In 1853 Samuel Thome bought at the sale of Earl 

 Ducie, the man upon whom Mr. Bates' mantle 

 seems to have fallen, three Duchess cows, and a 

 year or two later he bought the Morris and Becar 

 herd. He now had a monopoly of the Bates' 

 Duchess and Oxford blood in America. Numer- 

 ous importations of excellent cattle had been 

 made prior to this time, most of them by Ken- 

 tucky and Ohio breeders, and there had been 

 little discrimination in favor of any family. 



R. A. Alexander of Kentucky made his notable 

 importation of thirty-six cows and five bulls in 

 1853 and in 1855 he imported Duke of Airdrie, 

 the bull that was to revolutionize public senti- 

 ment in America by turning it toward the Bates 

 standard. Imported Duke of Airdrie began 

 making his influence felt at the time this story 

 opens and when Shorthorns had become well 

 established from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. 



