28o CATTLE 



been practically confined to the country near the coast, moved 

 farther and farther inland. By Youatt's time (1834) the horned 

 and the hornless cattle were almost numerically equal in the interior 

 of the northeastern counties, while the hornless ones were still 

 in the majority on the coast. A quarter of a century later the horns 

 had been almost entirely removed from the inland black cattle." 



About 1835 Youatt wrote "that there have always been polled 

 cattle in Angus" and states that about 1775 attention was first 

 directed to them by enterprising farmers. Mr. William Forbes of 

 Aberdeenshire, writing Macdonald and Sinclair over thirty years 

 ago, mentions two sorts of polled cattle common in Buchan about 

 the beginning of the last century. One of these was a rather 

 small, puny type, thin-fleshed, such as the crofters (small-farm 

 renters) kept ; the other a larger kind, some black, some brindled, 

 which more readily submitted to Shorthorn blood than did the 

 former but lacked its power of reproduction of polled character. 



The earliest improvers of Aberdeen- Angus cattle are of a com- 

 paratively recent period and are limited in number. Among those of 

 greatest note were the following : in Forfarshire : William Watson, 

 William Fullerton of Ardovie, Lord Southesk,and Alexander Bowie 

 of Mains of Kelly ; in Kincardine : Robert Walker of Portlethen 

 Mains, Mr. Hector of Fernyflatt, Sir Thomas Burnett of The 

 Leys, and Mr. Mclnroy of The Burn and Portlethen ; in Aber- 

 deenshire : William McCombie, Colonel Fraser of Castle Fraser, 

 Mr. Walker of Ardhundcart, and Mr. Cooper of Hillbrae ; in 

 Banff : Sir John Macpherson Grant of Ballindalloch, Mr. Brown 

 of Westertown, Mr. Walker of Montbletton, and Mr. Patterson 

 of Mulben. Of the above imjorovers several were great constructive 

 breeders and deserve special consideration. 



Hugh Watson of Keillor, Meigle, Forfar, was the first really 

 great Aberdeen- Angus improver — the Colling of this breed. He 

 was born in 1789, became a tenant at Keillor in 1808, and 

 remained there fifty-six years, dying in 1865. His father and 

 grandfather were lovers of good cattle, and when Hugh went to 

 Keillor he took six cows and a bull, all black, with him. He also 

 bought the same year, at Brechin, ten of the best heifers of various 

 colors that he could find and a black bull named Tarnty Jock. 

 Most writers assume that Watson began his work of improvement 



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