FIRST FAT STOCK SHOWS 383 



"While not able as yet to land the grand cham- 

 pionship of the show the Heref ords advanced their 

 lines nevertheless, Mr. Miller winning the first prize 

 for four-year-olds in the grade class and worrying 

 the Shorthorn cow Red Bettie badly for the cow 

 championship. This he did with Jennie, carried 

 over from the show of 78, and presented in such 

 form as to win many friends for the honor she had 

 so worthily gained the year previous. 



The Block Test Set Up.— It was at this show 

 of 1879 that the block test was set up. The Short- 

 horn exhibitors did not take kindly to the idea, how- 

 ever, and at first fought shy of it. Miller went after 

 the prize with a grade four-year-old Hereford and 

 won it, his steer weighing 1,963 pounds alive and 

 1,317 pounds dressed, netting 67.09 per cent. A 

 1,796-pound Shorthorn dressed 1,179 pounds, or 

 65.68 per cent, and a 1,614-pound Devon killed out 

 1,055 pounds, or 65.36 per cent. 



The Show of 1880. — The four-year-old-and- 

 over classes were now abolished, but by some pe- 

 culiar inconsistency the grand championship was 

 still left open to steers of any age — "a tub to the 

 whale" presumably, to appease the ire of those 

 who at that time insisted stoutly that beef under 

 four years of age was not the real article. This 

 had, however, an unfortunate issue at the third 

 show. The championship award went to the same 

 steer (Nichols) that had been champion in 1879 

 over T. L. Miller's grade Hereford two-year-old 

 Conqueror, and gave rise to an angry controversy. 



