MR WATSON'S SYSTEM OF BREEDING. 51 



friends he included the late Mr John Booth, Mr Wetherell, 

 Mr Anthony Maynard, Mr William Torr, and other noted 

 breeders of Shorthorns ; and there is good reason to believe 

 that in many points connected with the building up of 

 his herd of improved polled cattle, he was to some extent 

 guided by the experience of these great patrons of the rival 

 breed. Mr H. H. Dixon, in 'Field and Fern,' says Mr 

 Watson " was purely catholic in his cattle tastes. Bracelet, 

 Charity, and one or two more of the pure Booths, were the 

 models he kept in his eye in building up his blacks ; and 

 even in a shire so strongly wedded to its own breed, he did 

 not shrink from saying so." His motto would seem to have 

 been, " Put the best to the best, regardless of affinity or 

 blood." He bred from none but the choicest specimens 

 at his command, and did not hesitate to follow the ex- 

 ample of the Ceilings, the Booths, Thomas Bates, and other 

 celebrated Shorthorn breeders, in mating animals closely 

 related to each other. It is evident that he practised in- 

 and-in breeding to a considerable extent. It is also clear 

 that he aimed at building up particular lines or families, 

 and that to some extent he bred each of these families 

 within itself. He did not pursue persistently that intri- 

 cate system of in-and-in breeding adopted by most of the 

 noted early improvers of Shorthorns ; but in this point he 

 so far followed their example. Perhaps the truest descrip- 

 tion that could be given of his method of breeding is, that 

 he bred from none but the best those that came nearest 

 to his ideal and that he did not care whether these were 

 closely related or not. He no doubt discovered that under 

 his improved system of breeding, which may truly be 

 called a system of " selection," he could raise better animals 

 than could be found on Trinity Muir, or anywhere else in 

 those days ; and that of course led him to breed in closer 

 relationship than he might otherwise have done. He 

 may not have approved of in-and-in breeding in principle, 

 but, like the earlier improvers of Shorthorns, he frequently 



