72 A HISTORY OP HEREFORD CATTLE 



the agricultural interests of the community in which 

 he resided. While he acquired high reputation in 

 the field of scientific horticulture he began studying 

 the problem of how to improve the cattle of the dis- 

 trict sometime about the year 1775. It is said that 

 he desired to obtain a type adapted to "a somewhat 

 poor and imeven locality," and in his subsequent 

 breeding operations he displayed originality and 

 marked ability. Some of the larger Herefords he 

 declared absolutely unsuited to his purpose because 

 they were too uncertain on their legs for the steep 

 hillsides of some of his pastures. He would have 

 naught to do with ' ' lambs ' knees " or " sickle hocks, ' ' 

 and one authority states that he was so fastidious 

 upon this matter of free action that he would not 

 purchase a bull calf until he had first seen him trot 

 as well as walk. His "trotting bulls" were the butt 

 of frequent jokes from the neighboring tenantry, 

 but he lived to see the importance of strong, well 

 set legs and nimble feet freely acknowledged. 



His first selections were from the herds of Tully 

 of Huntington, Tomkins and Skyrme, and from the 

 former he evolved the famous Downton Castle 

 "greys." Indeed one of his original breeding cows 

 is said to have been white, producing Snowball (246) 

 of the Hereford Herd Book, known also as 

 "Knight's White Bull." Whether by chance or by 

 design, the mingling of the Tully blood (with its 

 strong tendency to white) with the pale red of the 

 Skyrme stock and the darker Tomkins strain pro- 

 duced a race of greys or roans that possessed con- 



