THE UNITED KINGDOM. 209 



THE POLLED ABERDEEN OR ANGUS BREED. 



The farmers of Aberdeenshire, it is stated, have done much to im- 

 prove this breed and to make its beef famous in the southern markets. 

 The number of this breed of cattle in Aberdeenshire is said to be greater 

 than in all the rest of Scotland, and that district produced the man that 

 obtained the largest number of prizes awarded to any one man for ex- 

 cellence in this breed, viz, the late Mr. William McCoinbie, of Tillyfour. 



In Aberdeenshire there are many celebrated breeders of this stock. 

 Among the prominent ones may be mentioned Mr. G. Wilken, of Wa- 

 terside, of Forbes, who owns an extensive herd, and who has sent nearly 

 1,000 head of these cattle to the United States and Canada within re- 

 cent years. It has just been publicly stated in the Scotch newspapers 

 that this gentleman has been offered and refused $50,000 from America 

 for the privilege of picking a hundred head from his valuable herd of 

 this breed. The following lithographs show specimens of the breed 

 from Mr. Wilken's herd. 



This breed ranks as one of the highest, if not the highest, of beef, pro- 

 ducing cattle in Scotland, and are called Polled Angus for the reason that 

 they are without horns (polled), and wei 3 first raised and bred in the 

 territory called Angus, which lies along the base of the Grampian Hills, 

 embracing the Strathmore Valley, and extending north nearly to Ab- 

 erdeen. These ancient cattle remained in their native state &om time 

 almost immemorial until comparatively recent date. They were origi- 

 nally of all colors and shapes. In the year 1808, the late Mr. Hugh 

 Watson, of Keillor, near Coupar Angus, whose herd had been owned 

 by his ancesters for hundreds of years, began to try to effect some im- 

 provement in the meat-producing capacity of his cattle, and his efforts 

 were crowned with remarkable success. Mr. Thomas Ferguson also in- 

 herited a herd of cattle from his father, whose "Doddies" (as these 

 cattle were called) had been closely bred for generations without any 

 change of sires, only the calf from the best cow being retained as a bull. 

 In 1839 Mr. Ferguson purchased some heifers from Mr. Watson, and in 

 years subsequently some more bulls and heifers, and finding them so 

 much superior to those he received from his father, he immediately com- 

 menced breeding the Keillor cattle, and from that time till now has made 

 the breeding of Polled Angus cattle a business. He adopted what is 

 called the "in and in" line of breeding for more than thirty years, 

 rarely going outside of his own stock for fresh blood, and it is by this 

 system that he attributes his success as a breeder. 



I visited this gentleman's farm, called Kinnochtry, situated in the 

 beautiful and fertile valley of Strathmore. His home farm comprises 

 420 acres, for which he pays a yearly rental of $8 per acre. In addition 

 to this rental he is at great expense for artificial fertilizers, stocking his 

 farm, paying servants' wages, &c., yet he has made stock-raising profit- 

 able, and he informed me that he realized this year from his cattle alone 

 over $20,000. He has a herd of over 100 head of very fine pedigreed 

 Polled Angus cattle, consisting of 2 stud of bulls, 41 cows, and the re- 

 mainder calves and yearlings. He stated that he had just sold 20 bull- 

 calves to Mr. George Whitfield, of the Government model farm, Canada, 

 for $300 each. 



The beef of the Polled Angus cattle is of a superior kind; it gives a 

 very high percentage of dead meat to live weight; in butcher's phrase, 

 "it dies well and cuts up" admirably. The cattle are in general form 

 lengthy, deep, wide, and even-proportioned, and are docile in dispo- 

 sition, easily kept, and come to maturity early. They are hardy and 

 H. Ex. 51 14 



