90 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 



spring dropped a level, deep-bodied, red heifer 

 which was named Betsy Dailey, Dailey being the 

 name of the former owner of Betsy. 



It was the attractive outline and the thrift- 

 iness of this heifer calf, Betsy Dailey, that made 

 such an impression on the Tomson boys that they 

 urged their father to acquire a few more regis- 

 tered females. This was done to a limited extent 

 and by the summer of 1888 there was a herd of 

 a dozen females of miscellaneous breeding on the 

 farm. Another bull was obtained at a mortgage 

 sale in which a bank was winding up the affairs 

 of some unfortunate. The bull, Phyllis Duke, 

 was included in the offering and sold in this 

 forced sale for the fabulous price of $25 

 less five per cent discount, net $23.75. 



Gradually the pure bred cattle increased and 

 the herd was kept to the desired number by dis- 

 posing of the surplus grades, a very simple plan 

 in the building of a valuable herd at a small out- 

 lay. In the early nineties an incident occurred 

 that proved of great value to the Tomson breed- 

 ing operations. The well known breeder of that 

 time, T. P. Babst, also of Dover, maintained a 

 large herd and had in use the imported bull, This- 

 tle Top, selected originally by Amos Cruick- 

 shank, his breeder, for Colonel W. A. Harris 

 for use in the celebrated Linwood herd, where he 

 was kept in service for two or three years. He 

 was then acquired by Mr. Babst and as his heifers 



