96 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



United States of America was desirous of obtaining 

 all the information available from every country in 

 Europe, of the various breeds of cattle, giving their 

 characteristics for milk and flesh production. They 

 entrusted me with the task of writing a paper on the 

 Hereford tribe. This gave me an opportunity of 

 gaining some very valuable and interesting infor- 

 mation in addition to what I already possessed of 

 this race of animals. It is necessary to state that, 

 as a rule, the Hereford is only sure of making a 

 fine carcass of beef in certain localities other than 

 in his own shire. The soil there seems excellently 

 adapted for breeding and rearing these cattle, and 

 only a limited amount of land in that district 

 is considered of sufficient quality for making such 

 beef as the Hereford ox is capable of producing. 

 Some years ago I visited the city of Hereford 

 on the occasion of the Easter fair. This affords 

 a sight that differs from anything of its class in 

 England. Thousands of cattle of this breed are 

 brought here, all of one type and colour, the latter 

 being a deep brownish red, with clear white faces 

 and bellies, a strip of white down the spine, white 

 appearing sometimes on other parts, and the tip of 

 the tail. No appearance of a shorthorn or any 

 other breed was in the city, except, perhaps, a few 

 Devons. There are often eight thousand to nine 

 thousand head brought in for sale at the Easter and 

 Michaelmas fairs. 



The history of the modern Hereford breed is 

 somewhat singular. Old Fuller, who wrote two 



