HISTORY OF HEEEFORD CATTLE 



33 



remembrance of past times of this nature can- 

 not but be most gratifying to me, and I feel 

 not otherwise to you. * * * What you 

 will not perhaps expect, I have to inform you, 

 that I have resolved to give up being a breeder 

 of Herefordshire cattle; not, be assured, from 

 any want of partiality to the breed, but simply 

 that I find my land, having been now more or 

 less attended to, and constantly depastured, is 

 becoming too rich for a breeding stock. Acci- 

 dents have been so frequent with slipping calf 

 — with the apoplexy, which over condition is 

 sure to produce, and other causes of disap- 

 pointment that, however painful the struggle, 

 I have faced it and have advertised my breed- 

 ing stock for unreserved sale. The die being 

 cast, what is to be done in the future? I wish 

 to feed Hereford oxen largely, which intention 

 is perhaps fortified by the facility I have of 

 sending up to Smithfield. The want of market, 

 which formerly prevented my feeding these ex- 

 cellent cattle to the extent I wished, is now 

 removed, and therefore I return with eagerness 

 to the project of feeding instead of breeding 

 Herefords." Lord Talbot proceeded to ask Mr. 

 Tomkins' co-operation in obtaining suitable 

 cattle for feeding, and concluded by inviting 

 him to his sale, which took place on October 

 24th, 1838. 



In addition to animals bred by Mr. Tomkins 

 and Mr. Price, or descending from their herds, 

 the sale included specimens from the herds of 

 the Misses Tomkins, and Mr. George Tomkins. 

 We have not a list of the prices, which, how- 

 ever, were not extraordinary; but the influence 

 of the Ingestre stock still exists. Lord Talbot 

 seems to have again collected a few pedigreed 

 Herefords, as we find him purchasing at Mr. 

 Price's sale in 1841. 



Sir F. Lawley, as we have seen, also secured 

 many of the Tomkins and Price cattle, and Mr. 

 Duckham tells us that he has heard from old 

 breeders that he had a very grand herd of heavy 

 fleshed mottle faces. He had a sale in 1839 

 of which Mr. George Smythies gives us the 

 catalogue. Mr. Smythies attended the sale, 

 when several of the lots were purchased by his 

 father, and described as having been very good 

 animals. Mr. Smythies also supplies us with 

 a priced catalogue of the sale of Sir F. Lawley's 

 ■herd, which took place after his death. The 

 prices were very low, the best being only 28 

 guineas ($140). 



Lord Plymouth, Earl St. Germaines, and oth- 

 ers, had at one time very good herds of this 



variety, but they had long since been dispersed 

 and few traces of them now remain. In his 

 Cirencester lecture Mr. Duckham mentions that 

 in 1863 Mr. Smith, Shellesley, sent some well- 

 fleshed animals of the mottle-faced sort to the 

 Worcester show, but they were not successful. 

 The last he says he remembers to have seen a 

 winner was the heifer Superb 1824, exhibited 

 by the Earl of Radnor at Salisbury, and then 

 purchased for the royal herd, where she was put 



WILLIAM GALLIERS, JR., OF KING'S-PYON, 1744-1S32. 



to the red with white face bull Brecon (918) 

 1810, and produced the heavy-fleshed bull Max- 

 imus (1650) 1817 (Ij 26), winner of the first 

 prize at the Warwick and Battersea meetings 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 

 The marks on his face showed the transition 

 from the mottle face to red with white face be- 

 ing larger than those with mottle face and 

 fewer in number. Mr. Smith used manv 

 of Mr. Price's best bulls. In 1856 he 

 received a letter stating that H. R. H. 

 Prince Albert had been graciously pleased to 

 patronize the Hereford breed and an appoint- 

 ment was asked by the representative of H. R. 

 H. in order that Mr. Smith's celebrated herd 

 might be inspected. Mr. Duckham also men- 

 tions Sir F. Goodricke, Captain Rayer, Captain 

 Peploe, Mr. Drake, and Mr. Jellicoe as having 

 been breeders of this variety. 



