THE SHORTHORN. 



bition. He accordingly bid 200 guineas for Duchess 64th, but was 

 hardly taken, and his 400 guineas was soon left in the rear by the 

 Transatlantic rivals. Duchess 59th, however, fell to his nod at 350 

 guineas, then Duchess 66th followed suit at 310 guineas. It was with 

 these two and Duchess 69th, by 4th Duke o.i York, whom he after- 

 wards bought privately at nine months for 500 guineas from Mrs. 

 Tanqueray, that Major Gunter commenced his herd, which soon took 

 the place of the late Mr. Bates' Kirklevington Shorthorns. His next 

 purchases were 6th Duke of Oxford at Hendon for 203 guineas, and 

 his dam Oxford nth for 700 guineas when she was just four years old. 



It is unfortunate that the opinions of such a notable breeder of 

 Shorthorns as Mr. Bates should only come to us, as it were, second 

 hand. It was not through any lack of literary ability that caused Mr. 

 Bates to leave this world without placing on record his impressions of 

 breeding Shorthorns, as he was an educated man. It could not be 

 his seclusiveness, as it would appear from the following discussion 

 which he had with Mr. Charles Colling : 



Mr. Bates, speaking of Mr. Colling, said : " Never had 

 I to differ from him in opinion but this once, though we often com- 

 pared notes, and always till this instance did we agree. The animals 

 Ave differed in opinion about both belonged to Mr. Robert Colling ; ths 

 one was ' Styford,' which I had bred the previous year ; the other 

 was what is called the " Grey-bull," which Mr. Hustler, and his tenant 

 from Acklam, had hired the year before. After a long discussion on 

 the handling I asked Mr. Colling to go and re-examine both animals, 

 and then say whether he continued in the same opinion or not. He 

 did so, and then acknowledged his error, and said ' the Grey-bull has 

 precisely the same handling as ' Hubback' had, and better than any 

 other except the cow you bought of me yesterday evening and all her 

 predecessors have had the same handling.' Mr. Colling always showed 

 the ' Duchess' family as the model of good handling." 



"I asked," said Mr. Bates, "the breeding of both animals, _and was 

 told by Mr. Robert Colling that they were from two own sisters. I 

 then asked what bull they were each by, and the answer was ' Styford 

 is by Favourite and the Grey bull is by the -White bull, and the White 

 bull's dam was by Favourite.' I offered him on ascertaining this cow's 

 breeding, 100 guineas if he would let me put her to the White bull, but 

 he refused. I repeated this offer several times. It was not, however, 

 till 1831 that I succeeded in obtaining the desired cross, when I ob- 

 tained the same blood in ' Belvedere.' Thus with a union of the 

 Duchess and Princess blood I produced some of the finest strains of 

 Shorthorns. The daughter of 2nd Hubback was put to ' Belvedere,' 

 and in no other strain can the Shorthorn blood be found pure." 



This is about the most important statement we can gather from 

 Mr. Bates' many but strangely guarded remarks. Now, " Hubback," 

 strange to say, after being in the possession of Mr. Charles Colling 

 lor three years, was actually sold for 30 guineas, and hz was under 

 offe'r a long time before anyone would venture that sum of money for 

 him. Even Mr. Booth refused to buy him, and he was considered an 

 excellent judge. 



As has been stated elsewhere, "Hubback" had a large body set on 

 short legs, and was what is commonly termed a big, or pot-bellied 

 bull. At the Durham Show in 1785 Mr. Charles Colling obtained the 

 premium with the product of the bull "Hubback." In 1792 he (Mr. 

 Colling) obtained the premium with " Lord Bolingbroke," and it is 

 said that " Lord Bolingbroke" took after " Hubback." In 1796 Mr. 

 Colling again took the premium at the Durham Show with "Favourite." 



Mr. Bates' rirst Duchess cow produced "Ketton," and it was to 

 41 Ketton" that his cattle owed their superiority. " Yarborough's" 

 stock turned out well also. The dam of " Yarborough" and "Duchess 

 ist" were the only cows that went direct from " Hubback" to the bull 

 41 Favourite." 



i '5 



