CHAPTER I. 



HEREFORDSHIRE PASTURES AND 

 PIONEERS.. 



A long story this of the Hereford cattle, begin- 

 ning with ten-year-old oxen in the West of England 

 and ending with "baby beef" in the American corn- 

 belt. Two centuries of progress on the other side 

 the Atlantic and one hundred years in North 

 America! Let us waste no words therefore as we 

 approach our subject. 



The Vale of the Severn. — High up in the Welsh 

 hills, that ancient chain of f ossiliferous rocks called 

 by geologists the Cambrian Mountains, the peak 

 Plynlymmon rises some 2,500 feet above the surf 

 that rolls in below from the broad blue plain of the 

 beautiful Bay of Cardigan. From these Cymrian 

 heights one may see on the eastern horizon, gate- 

 ways that lead down into a pastoral paradise. On 

 Plynlymmon 's northern slope a little stream sets out 

 upon a roundabout journey to the sea. The new- 

 bom Severn — ^f or the little rivulet of which we speak 

 is none other than the fountain-head of that historic 

 English river — ^lured perhaps by the prospect of 

 dreamy days meandering through rich green valleys 

 and flowery fields, proposes for itself an eastward 

 course, instead of taking the short westward cut 



