FOOTING GAINED IN MIDDLE WEST 351 



old weighing 2,550 pounds, bringing a price per 

 cwt. equal to that paid for the best bullock sold that 

 day and dressing 70 per cent net to gross. 



Repulsed by the Shorthorns in 1872.— Pickrell, 

 Kissinger, Ryburn, Shropshire, Allman and lies 

 were putting up a great Shorthorn show at the Illi- 

 nois State Fair that year, the famous Baron Booth 

 of Lancaster being the answer of the Shorthorn 

 contingent to the charge that their breed was lack- 

 ing in flesh and constitution. The Baron was an 

 imported mixed-bred Booth-Cruickshank bull — a 

 blending of two bloods which at that date were be- 

 ing virtually ignored by American Shorthorn 

 breeders in all their calculations. It was evident 

 that the fashionable Bates-bred bulls of that time 

 were not of heavy enough calibre to stand the test 

 of close showyard comparison with the intruders 

 of Herefordshire origin. 



Mr. Miller was nothing if not aggressive in be- 

 half of the breed he always called the "Hur- 

 fords-"* That Romanesque visage meant fight. 

 The new firm of Miller & Powell went after the 

 arch enemy at the Illinois show just mentioned with 

 Sir Charles at the head of a full show herd which 

 included such females as Beauty, Belle, Sophia, 

 Fair Maid, Violet, Anna and Laura. With these 

 they made a clean sweep in the Hereford class, C. 

 H. West being the only competitor. Li those days, 

 and for many succeeding years, the breeds were al- 



^» American corruption was matched by a pronunciation 

 often heard among the English herdsman-' alr-y-fords. 



