CHAPTER X. 

 THE HEREFORD. 



With the exception of brief general reference by a Mr. john Speed 

 in his description of England, Scotland, and Wales, written in the 

 year 1627, it is impossible to find any allusion to the original breed 

 of cattle from which the Hereford breed of cattle sprung by English 

 writers prior to or during the eighteenth century. This omission is 

 explained away by the circumstance that it was not till about 1750 

 that British agriculture began to raise up its own chronicles, or that 

 breeds of live stock attracted much notice. Since the advent of the 

 agricultural writers, however, there have been millions icf pages 

 written on almost every conceivable subject relating to agriculture 

 and stock raising. 



This great inrush of literature, however, never appears to be capable 

 of bridging over the great gulf that lies between "Speed" in 1627 and 

 " Marshall" in 1788 with regard to the origin of the " Hereford." And 

 as " Marshall" was contemporary with Arthur Young, who wrote the 

 annals of agriculture, it is safe in saying that in the story nearly all 

 the breeds of English cattle are lacking in this respect. 



The writer was fortunate in becoming possessed, some years ago 

 now, of the books that were written by Messrs. Marshall, Arthur 

 Yonug, Miles, Gilpin, and a host of other writers who endeavoured to 

 connect the history of agriculture and stock raising with the various 

 families whose ancestors had resided for a century or .more prio; to 

 the Writing of their respective surveys in the different counties of 

 England, Scotland, and Wales. There is, however, nothing to connect 

 the history of any of the English breeds of cattle worthy of note prior 

 to, say, 1627, which leaves a great gap between, say, the Norman in- 

 vasion of 1066 and 1650. 



We take the writings of Thomas A. Knight, who contributed to 

 the Royal Agricultural Society's Journal (England) an article in the 

 year 1790. As regards the scientific field of research h^ was con- 

 sidered one of the most distinguished men of his time. He says : 

 *' The cattle of Herefordshire had long been distinguished for their 

 superior quality, and he had, therefore, taken some pains to discover 

 their origin, and the result of his inquiries led him to attribute it to 

 the introduction from Flanders in France of a herd of cattle by Lord 

 Scudamore, who died in 1671." Mr. Knight further adds : " In proof 

 of this statement, let us examine Cuyp's pictures of the cattle of 

 Flanders, which are represented as being of the Hereford type, and 

 of similar color with white face." Mr. Knight was an eminent scientis:, 

 and, therefore, would not be easily led away to France to seek the 

 origin of the Hereford, i-f there was not sufficient reason afforded for 

 doing so ; and then, if he was not certain that there was better evi- 

 dence there than nearer home. 



Cecil, in his hints on agriculture, thus refers to the matter : " The 

 origin of the Hereford is not accurately known, though it is related 

 that they were imported from Flanders some two centuries ago." 

 Cecil wrote his essay in 1800. 



Mr. John Lawrence, writing in 1805, says : " A mixed breed is, in 

 general, supposed to be the origin of the Hereford and Devonshire 

 breeds." This, however, cannot be true regarding the Devon breed. 



Mr. \Yilliam Youatt, who wrote in 1835, endeavours to prove that 

 the Hereford breed is an aboriginal race a description which he also 

 applied to the Welsh and Scotch breeds ; whilst we learn from Pro- 

 fessor Low, in his able work on " Domesticated Animals," that Here- 



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