OF THE SADDLE AND SIRLOIN CLUB 249 



A RECORDER OF SHORTHORN RELATIONSHIPS 



96. One of the most difficult tasks in connection with the found- 

 ing of pure breeds has been the collection of the material neces- 

 sary to establish the herd and record books. In the more widely 

 distributed breeds the situation has been particularly appalling, 

 never more so than in 1848 when Louis F. Allen of New York 

 brought out his first volume of Shorthorn records. Rail trans- 

 portation was still in its infancy, and the seed stock that had 

 crossed from Britain in the preceding quarter century was so 

 widely dispersed that there was no hope of emulating the worthy 

 Coates and making pilgrimage by sturdy nag from manor to 

 farm and village to hamlet. Hence the first volume was incom- 

 plete, being based almost solely on the animals of New England, 

 New York and Pennsylvania with which Mr. Allen was person- 

 ally familiar. As an additional discouragement to early pro- 

 motion, it left the printer at almost the low mark of the business 

 depression of the 40's. With the change of tide in the early 50's, 

 breeders began to take more interest in the records of their animals 

 and Mr. Allen was more hopeful when he undertook the produc- 

 tion of the second volume. 



Of the Shorthorn lovers of the period, Mr. Allen was perhaps 

 best fitted for this task. He had visited several of the important 

 breeders of the red, white and roan in rural England, and was 

 personally intimate with many of the New England and Middle 

 State importers. Near Black Rock, New York, he had maintained 

 a small herd of the breed and was instinctively a student of pedi- 

 grees and pedigree methods. 



Hence when he resumed his efforts in 1851, he found more 

 encouragement, particularly from the coterie of promoters and 

 breeders in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In Kentucky a 

 committee of breeders had been appointed to collect the data on 

 the Shorthorns of their state, and when the report was ready to 

 be published, the records were turned over to Mr. Allen for his 



