156 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 



It would be the height of folly to discriminate 

 at this time between the descendants of these 

 cattle of the seventies, but lest any man be 

 tempted to throw a stone at his neighbor I might 

 mention that some of the very best of Mr. 

 Cruickshank 's productions were closely de- 

 scended from unregistered cows without any 

 sign of a pedigree, long after the early days of 

 the breed. The rise and the passing of the pedi- 

 gree discriminations proves conclusively that 

 real merit is the only safe and permanent foun- 

 dation upon which to build. 



As stated before, the English herd book re- 

 cords cattle as Shorthorns if they have five 

 crosses of recorded Shorthorn blood. As long as 

 we buy imported Shorthorns at big prices we ad- 

 mit that the breeders are at least the equals if 

 not the peers of those in America and that this 

 rule which has been in force since British breed- 

 ers began recording Shorthorns has done them 

 no harm. If we care to be consistent we can not 

 well stop to quibble about what went into a pedi- 

 gree long years ago. It is not my intention to 

 say anything that might be construed as in favor 

 of any particular line of breeding or against it, 

 and if any one is inclined to so construe what 

 I say I shall be sorry. My object is to furnish 

 information, leaving all to draw their own con- 

 clusions. 



"Scotch". While this is a word of only one 



