HISTOEY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



163 



William Tnnder, of Wantage; to Mr. Bailey, 

 near Wolverton, and to a variety of other 

 graziers wlro have bought my steers, whether, 

 when they .put them into the stalls to feed, they 

 took to cake as if they had been accustomed 

 to it. 



I think, sir, I have offered such proof of the 

 truth of my statement as must satisfy the mmd 

 of any unprejudiced man, and if I have not 

 satisfied Mr. Keary, vi'hich I think not unlikely, 

 for 



"A man convinced against his will, 

 Holds the same opinion still," 



I shall be glad to give any further proof that 

 the nature of the case admits of, if he will be 

 so good as to point it out. 



Mr. Keary goes on to say that he has learned 

 that the practice of treating young cattle as 

 he has described was extensively, if not uni- 

 versally, used. The best steers at Hereford fair 

 were usually found in the show yard. When I 

 was a member of the Herefordshire Agricul- 

 tural Society, all animals exhibited for their 

 prizes were restricted from having cake or corn, 

 and no person could become a candidate for a 

 prize without first signing a certificate that the 

 animal exhibited by him had not eaten cake, 

 corn, seeds, meal, or any artificial food what- 

 soever. One thing is certain, that if those per- 

 sons who have been in the habit of showing 

 their stock there have told Mr. Keary that their 

 steers were fed as he says they were, they must 

 have stated what was not correct in one in- 

 stance, for they cannot both be true. I have 

 obtained many prizes there, and I always had 

 to sign such a certificate. 



Mr. K. seems very indignant at my accusing 

 him of knowing but little of Hereford cattle. 

 I was willing to attribute his unfair comparison 

 to ignorance from which, indeed, I really 

 thought it did arise ; but if he wishes to have 

 it considered willful misrepresentation, I can 

 have no objection ; he is welcome to place him- 

 self upon which horn of the dilemma he likes 

 best. 



Another striking instance of Mr. K.'s per- 

 version of the meaning of my letter I cannot 

 pass over. He says that though I bred seventy 

 a year for a long period, I never had but one 

 good milkinff cow ! ! Does the sentence in my 

 letter to which he alludes convey anv such 

 meaning? It is this: "I have seen Hereford 

 cows milk well, and had one myself that made 

 eleven pounds of butter a week for three 

 months." Does that imply that I had but one 

 good milker ? Was that any reason to infer 

 that I might not have had a hundred good milk- 

 ers ? It is true that from this sentence it might 



be inferred that I had only one that would 

 make eleven pounds of butter a week; but I 

 might have had any quantity that would have 

 made seven or eight ; but to exemplify the argu- 

 ment I was using, I selected the strongest in- 

 stance that had occurred in my herd. 



He also adds that I admit it takes several 

 months longer to make up a Hereford than it 

 does a Shorthorn. I fancy he is the only man 

 who read my letter that did not perceive that 

 that was a sarcasm on his assertion, which I 

 clearly showed my disbelief of by offering to 

 place four Herefords in competition with four 

 Shorthorns, to be slaughtered at two years old. 



I will only allude to one more instance of 

 gross perversion of the meaning of my letter. 

 Mr. Keary says, "With Mr. Smythies' challenge 

 I can have nothing to do." In this wise decision 

 he shows his creed. The prudence of the York- 

 shireman is quite apparent in refusing to ac- 

 cept a challenge, which he knows he must lose 

 if he accepts. But the way in which he evades 

 it is most to be noticed. He says it is im- 

 practicable ; he knows no Shorthorn breeder who 

 breeds .a hundred steer calves in a year. Nor 

 I, either, nor of any other breed, and I would 

 ask, is there any other man in the United King- 

 dom who has read my letter, besides Mr. Keary, 

 who imagined that I had challenged him to 

 show a hundred 

 steers bred by one 

 man in one year? 

 What are the 

 words o'i my let- 

 ter ? "I will show 

 one hundred 

 Hereford beasts 

 that were the 

 property of Sir 

 Francis Lawley, 

 on the 1st of Jan- 

 uary, 1849, and 

 the same number 

 that were the 

 property of Mr. 

 Aston, Lvnch wm. powell, channing. 



("niirt n-n' + It o ™^' FORMERLY OF 



t ourt, on tne beecher, ill. 



same day, against 



the same number that were the property of any 

 two breeders of Shorthorns or Devons on the 

 same day in any part of Great Britain.'' Is it not 

 clear that I meant the general breeding stock 

 upon their farms? He then adds. ''His next 

 challenge is equally difficult to carry out impar- 

 tially and fairly." What, sir, is there no grazier 

 in the midland counties to be found with suffi- 

 cient honesty to try this experiment? I could 

 name twenty myself who would do it. I am the 



