Great Shorthorn Breeders. 145 



were also in the front rank, and it became their sound 

 family custom to pitch eight bullocks and as many 

 heifers in Darlington market, on the first Monday of 

 March, as a sample of the Eryholme pastures. The 

 bullocks were from four to five years old, with fine, 

 wide horns, good bone, and very deep flesh ; and they 

 were keenly looked out for, year after year, on the 

 pavement opposite the King's Head. 



The aim of the Brothers Colling was to reduce the 

 size and improve the general symmetry and flesh- 

 points of their beasts. " Beauty," sister to " Punch" 

 (531), had spread their fame beyond the county ; and 

 in 1799 "the Durham Ox," by " Favourite" (252) came 

 out first at Darlington with his half-sister of the 

 "Duchess" tribe. The latter was quite as great a 

 wonder in her way, and confirmed Mr. Bates's fancy 

 for the sort which was hereafter to be linked with his 

 name. The subsequent travels of the Ox brought a 

 large bull trade to Ketton and Barmpton. It would 

 have been strange if they had not, as his live weight 

 was 216 stones of I4lbs., and that not got by un- 

 wieldly bulk, but by the ripeness of all his points. He 

 ultimately dislocated his hip and was slaughtered, 

 and, curiously enough, his. show career ended at 

 Oxford, where, nearly a third of a century later, that 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society began. 



Even at the Ketton sale in 18 10, the taste for 

 shorthorns was confined within a narrow compass, as 

 Durham, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, 

 and Westmoreland were the only counties which pur- 

 chased. Some of the few survivors of the assembly 



crossed most successfully with "Foljambe" (263), the sire of 

 "Phcenix," the dam of the bull "Favourite" (252), who was in his 

 turn the sire of the thousand-guinea "Comet" (155). " Hubback*' 

 (319) has always been considered the great regenerator of shorthorns ; 

 but he did not do Charles Colling so much good as " Foljambe," who 

 was from a " Hubback" cow, and he was parted with at the end of 

 two seasons. 



