28 



HISTOEY OF HEEEFOED CATTLE 



for the animals he actually bought from the 

 great breeder at Wellington Court. Mr. Welles 

 expresses the opinion that Mr. Price had only 

 one of the Tomkins bulls, the celebrated Well- 

 ington (4) 16U. But in addition to that animal 

 he owned Voltaire (39a)- 429, a white-faced 

 bull bred by Tomkins, and an imnamed bull 

 of his breeding that appears m some of his ped- 

 igrees. Price seems to have followed Tomkins 

 not only in his system of in-and-in breeding, 

 but also in his disregard of color. It will have 

 been noticed that the colors of the cows he ac- 

 quired from Tomkins varied greatly. Then 

 among the bulls, Wellington was a mottle-face; 

 Voltaire a white face, and A-'ictory (33) (|f 19) 

 calved in 1839, bred by Price, was chosen for 

 illustration in the first volume of the Herd 

 Book as a typical specimen of the grey variety; 



THOMAS ANDREW KNIGHT, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE 



LONDON HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, BORN 1759. 



(From an old lithograph.) 



while the portrait of Young Trueboy (32) 630 

 (J\ 20) is also given m Volume 2 as a specimen 

 of the greys, although in the entry of the first 

 volume he is stated to have been a mottle face. 

 One of the most remarkable cows owned by 

 Mr. Price was Tobv Pigeon 308 by Toby (5) 

 372, dam Pigeon, or Price's No. 6, 373, "bred 

 by B. Tomkins. It is stated in the entry of one 

 of this cow's produce in Volume 1 of the Herd 

 Book, that nearly the whole of Mr. Price's 



herd sold in- 1841 were derived from her. At 

 19 years of age she had bred 19 calves, having 

 taken the bull by chance when a calf, and at 

 3 and 4 years old she had twins. The following 

 is a list of her progeny: Woodcock Pigeon 651, 

 by Woodcock (50) 654; bull, Solon (92); bull 

 died; Miss Woodman; bull. Young Woodman 

 (12)238; bull, Paris (19) 6657; bull. Plenipo- 

 tentiary (23); cow, sold to Mr. Monkhouse; 

 bull. Trusty (15) 643; cow; cow died young; 

 ditto Burton Pigeon ; bull, died ; bull, Truebov 

 (14) 637; cow. Blue Pigeon 3697; cow. Stock 

 Dove; cow, Nonesuch; bull, Washington (35). 



Price frequently challenged admirers of other 

 breeds to show their stock against his own, 

 this, as we shall have occasion to point out, 

 having been a favorite method of settling dis- 

 puted points as to superiority, prior to the gen- 

 eral acceptance of the more satisfactorv arbi- 

 trament of the show ring. He attended one of 

 Lord Althorpes' ram sales in Northampton- 

 shire, and after the dinner gave a challenge to 

 show one of his bulls against any Shorthorn. 

 He succeeded in getting up a sweepstakes of £5 

 each, which he won with his bull Lundyfoot 

 (16) 3560, which, according to the writer of 

 the memoir in the "Tanners" Magazine,'" was 

 allowed to be the completest animal any of the 

 company ever saw. In 1839 he issued another 

 challenge, of which Mr. Haywood, of Blake- 

 mere House, has furnished a copy. It is as 

 follows: 



"CHALLENGE! ! ! To all breeders of cattle 

 in England. Mr. Price, of Poole House (^^ 21), 

 I'pton-upon-Severn, is willing to show a bull 

 and 20 regular breeding in-calf cows, bred bv 

 himself, for any sum not exceeding £100 nor 

 less than £25, to be shown before the last dav 

 of November next ensuing, against a bull and "a 

 hke number of cows of any sort that have been 

 bred by, and are now in the possession of anv 

 breeder of cattle m the Lnited Kingdom. The 

 judges to decide on this occasion to be chosen 

 by that noble patron of Agriculture and stick- 

 ler for fair play. Earl Spencer, and his Lord- 

 ship"s friend. Sir Francis Lawlev, Bart., or 

 whom they may appoint. The stock to be 

 viewed on the farms of their respective owners, 

 and the judges to be paid by the losing party" 

 N. B.— It is a well known fact that this herd 

 has lived on worse and less food, owing to the 

 dry summer, than any other herd of cattle m 

 the county." 



This challenge was not accepted but it led 

 to a controversy between Mr. Thos. Bates 

 (If 22), of Kirklevington, the well-known Short- 

 horn breeder, and Mr. Price. Mr. Bates writ- 



