48 IMPKOVEMENT OF THE BREED. 



for its beef-producing cattle — a distinction which in re- 

 cent years it has pushed into still greater prominence. 



In this new demand for beef-producing cattle the pro- 

 genitors of the polled Aberdeen or Angus breed were not 

 long in having their excellent fattening-properties duly 

 recognised. We have seen that in Aberdeenshire the 

 " native low country breed " — the ancestors of the Buchan 

 humlies — had nearly a hundred years ago become quite 

 famous among the leading cattle dealers and feeders for 

 having "flesh of the finest grain," and for being better 

 payers, "in proportion to the goodness of their keep," 

 than any of their contemporary varieties. Then, from 

 Youatt and others, we learn that in Angus the doddies 

 had at an early date developed similar qualities — " their 

 natural fitness for stall - feeding, and the rapidity with 

 which they fattened." The discovery of these valuable 

 properties in the native polled race naturally enough in- 

 duced its owners, both in Angus and Aberdeen, not only 

 to strive to maintain its purity, and develop still further 

 its better qualities, but also to effect improvement in points 

 where defects were apparent. We cannot fix the precise 

 date when these systematic efforts to improve the breed 

 within its own limits actually commenced, either in Angus 

 or Aberdeen. We have good reason to believe that in 

 both they had been begun some time before the advent of 

 the present century. 



It will be convenient, and in accordance with the order 

 in the preceding chapter, to notice first the progress of the 

 breed in Angus. The late Mr Hugh Watson, farmer, 

 Keillor, Meigle, Forfarshire, if not the first, was certainly 

 the most systematic and most successful early improver of 

 the breed. Both his father and grandfather were ardent 

 admirers of the Angus doddies. The late Mr William 

 Fullerton, Mains of Ardestie, in a manuscript document 

 (which has been kindly placed at our disposal by his son, 

 Mr James FuUerton, Dundee), states that Mr Hugh Wat- 



