166 A HISTORY OF SHORTHORNS IN KANSAS 



purely Scotch lineage it would seem foolish to 

 harp on straight or pure Scotch. In fact there 

 is nothing gained by figuring on a proposition 

 so devoid of common sense and so barren of good 

 results. 



Fads. We have always had fads in pedigrees 

 and we shall always have them, in some cases to 

 the detriment of the breed. The American people 

 are by nature and inclination somewhat given to 

 fads and the Shorthorn breeders are not immune 

 to the national evil. Shorthorn fads began in the 

 days of the Collings and continued faithfully 

 through the days of Bates and Booth and came to 

 America with the importations beginning in 

 1836. On their trail were found pedigree dis- 

 criminations of the rankest sort. Seventeens, 

 Red Rose by Ernesty and a hundred and one 

 equally nonsensical terms were heralded as 

 abominations. The Duchess blood alone offered 

 all saving grace, followed by the other Bates 

 tribes and the man who did not possess funds 

 or sufficient credit, sometimes much strained, to 

 buy one of these precious specimens could still be 

 near the extreme outer edge of the circle if he 

 conjured with the Renick Rose of Sharons. 



And so the bubble grew and gathered volume 

 until with the arrival of Scotch Shorthorns and 

 the Heref ords and the Angus it burst altogether 

 and the elegant Duchesses and Oxfords and Rose 

 of Sharons took their places along with the Mrs. 



