THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 



Mr. Sotham in Reply to C. M. Clay. 



Messrs. Tucker i Sox— I fihimld bo o.xceodingly 

 sorry to involve you in any difticulty with your reiid- 

 er.i, but I have a strong dcairo to uao my own weapons 

 in my oicn dofonco. 



I will defy any man to prove that I Dvorcommoncod 

 a controversy, and iim always willing for a jusl public 

 to criticise my articles as they deem proper. When I 

 doviale from the truth, trim mo with a severe pen. 



Mr. Clay says : 



" Mr. S., avowedly, upon personal olwervat ion, at- 

 tacks my herd. I show he never saw it. In.>tlead of 

 an apology he attoiiipts to cast upon mo imputations 

 of untruths, as an oOset to that which I hud proved 

 upon him." 



You will observe, Messrs Editors, in Mr. Clay's for- 

 mer Utter, which I send you, ho says : 



"If through mistitke ho applied his romnrUs to me, 

 instead of my brother, B. J. Clay, I need only say ho 

 took more premiums," Ac, &c. 



1 said in my letter in the Hertford Journal and Mark 

 Lane Express, to which Mr. Clay alludes, that I wns 

 sorry for that " mistake," as I fully understood the 

 herd belonged to Mr. Cassius M. Clay. I then transferred 

 the remarks I mido to whore they belonged, and con- 

 tend that every word 1 said of that herd was strictly 

 true. Mr. C. M. C. then joins his and his brother's 

 herd together, making them one, from which ho issues 

 the challenge which I accepted in my answer, which 

 was as follows : 



I will now for a ;Hnality, propose to meet Mr. Clay's 

 "cluilluiigo" in ii fair way; 1 have two heifer calves,— 

 ' Prudence,' calved Augusi 2Ulli, lt>5(J ; ' Woodiark,' calved 

 Sept. aoih, 1860. TliL-et. !uo :ill I liuvu lull ll.is »ca»a]i. 

 They rail Willi their daiiiB, ii« Iomk as any ^■|•a^.-, wlii-u tliu 



tilt 



• UaiiiB 



idaj 



stalks, mixed, ^^'it 

 .diy, mixed with 

 ta'baK-a pi-r flay, 



■r tlicy 

 r)j per 



I the 



to gia»» III ihe Biuiiif. uiilil i.iM 1 

 them with me to Kenlucky at thu 

 them in any honest Kentucky grazii 

 two heifer calves noiy owned l»y O; 

 Clay, of a similar age ; If they li 



. M. 



II i will bring 

 i show ; place 

 1, against any 



Brutus J. 



;aclly the 



ui u Diiiiiiui i^u . II lui'j n«,u mn, any v. 



age. a few months diireroiioo must be al 

 accordingly. The four oalves shall be weiijhed when de- 

 livered to the receiver— the feed to bo weighed the whole 

 year, and at the end of it, :tll four of tlieni again weighed 



The following year shall be pu 

 meiit ; coming in at three, agai 

 shall be milked both waBiiiiK, e 

 out ill milking under llje juist a 

 of tlieir reeviv 

 posed of b)' hi 

 account at dill 

 of Ibis trial tliey will be live y 



old. 



fori 



porting ,|uality, and gn 



Id ; tliey shall be fed 



(agreed upon, tlie two heifers that 



Mid niOMt l>eef for the food coiisu- 



quality of beef at the 



make liie most butt< 



med, to be the w 



'"AiocA" to be takt 



heifers to be c/lnryi 



feed, all living on the same, and allowing them a good and 



flulhcient grazier's quantity through the whole trial, the 



losing heifers to be lorfeited to receiver to pay expenses. 



Vedigrees of heifers to bo given at the time of delivery. 



There are plenty of men in Kentucky that will act fairly 



between us. 



Mr. Clay dislincily says two heifers (yearlings) from 

 his own herd — •' Or in ease there are no heifors of tho 

 same age, or near tho same, 1 will show two Short-horn 

 females of itny named ago of my own and my brother 

 B. J. Clay's herd, against any two Horeforda of any 

 two hreeiiers in America, owned and bred by tho same 

 parties." 



I had no heifers to accept tho former, therefore ac- 

 cepted the latter, placing it in a permanent position, 

 and I think in perfect fairness. I have no doubt my 

 heifers will he much the smallest, when they^rs< meet, 

 because of the dilTerent treatment in their food ; but 

 the test will be when all live alike, and weight of food 

 each consumes : the quantity and quality of which is 

 to be left to a disinterested grazier, who is competent 

 to make such a trial. 



Is it Kentucky etiquette to require any further apolo- 

 gy 1 And I nsk Mr. Clay if it is " keeping inside the 

 rules of gentlemen," to pounce upon a man and say 

 ' he had proved an untruth upon him," for so trivial a 



mistake 7 I think Mr. Cloy could not mean what ho 

 wrote If ho diil, my " Englishism" will not succumb 

 to it, and my Republionnism is too " independent" to 

 think of any further " apology." 



Mr. Clay says ; 



"I made certain point.- tho basis of an e.itimato of 

 what constitutes the best breed of cattle. Mr. S. pro- 

 fesses to be a practical man, yet while atfecting to ridi- 

 cule my articles, ho has not ventured to attack a singlo 

 po.vtulatc, there laid down by mo. Mr. Sotham sneers 

 at me as a breeder and dealer." 



I must soy I could not help laughing heartily, and 

 in my mirth could not refrain from ridiculing so pre- 

 posterous a " postulate laid down " by Mr. Clay, when 

 he says, '* I had only one half of the Bull Locomo- 

 tive at the National Eair at Springfield, Ohio, who took 

 the first premium in his ring, against the world " Af- 

 ter laying down this "postulate," b» brings forward 

 his long established career "06* a breeder and dealer '* 

 to endorse his opinion and judgment. 



This I certainly did attack by ridicule, for I could 

 -not SCO it in any othor light, nor have I any reason 

 now to alter that position. 



Another postulate Mr. Clay laid down — that he "had 

 a robust family of Short-horns which ho had adopted 

 in preference to a delicate family of tho same breed 

 ho had previously owned and disposed of" The for- 

 mer he said " was an good as could bo found in tho 

 world." This also I attacked by ridicule, as I could 

 not see that in any other light, and I may have " sneer- 

 ed " at his judgment by producing such a herd, as ] 

 thought was his at tho time I made those remarks. 

 That supposed sneer I will retract until " I see his 

 herd." 



Another of Mr. Clay's postulates. He says— "The 

 cow of mine which weighed 2020 pounds, which her 

 owner rofiised S140 for, was not much stuffed ; yet I 

 will venture to assert that there is no Hereford in 

 America which will weigh ns much, or bring as much 

 money at the block. The above "facts," if not "proof," 

 can be proved by certificates, if we are to go outside 

 the rules of gentlemen in this discussion." This I at- 

 tacked, and proved that my cow, with two months less 

 feeding, beat her nearly 300 pounds, and fetched more 

 money. 



Mr. Clay said in another, that " the Durhams were 

 the best breed of cattle." I denied this, and said tlie 

 Ilorofords were better, and considered the " postulate " 

 I laid down quite as good as bis. 



The next postulate was that the Short-horns were 

 an uniform breed, and that I admitted this by saying, 

 tho "pictures" copied from the American S. H. Herd 

 Book, were all as if copied from the first. I denied 

 this, and said tho "pictures" were all very stiff, made 

 up of straight lines ; tlieir tops and bottoms appeared 

 as if made with a ruler, while many of tho animals 

 that / hiew, had "hollow crops" and large paunches, 

 which no one could perceive in tho " picture j" and 

 what can a man tell about uniformity of handling 

 quality, (the most important point to a breeder) in a 

 " portrait." 



Another postulate laid down by Mr. Clay, that 

 " Short-horns were best for early maturity." I referred 

 him to the records of the Smithfield Club for positive 

 proof of tho contrary — showed him whore two year 

 old Hereford steers had won the gold medals against 

 Short-horns iu the same class, four, live, and six years 

 old. I also produced the weight of Mr. Heath's two 

 year old Hereford steers, and the ten two year old 

 Herefords on exhibition at Birmingham by Sir Francis 

 Lawloy, and challenged him to produce Short-horns of 

 the same weight. This was proof o{ early " maturity." 

 I complained of Mr. Clay's articles not showing a 

 "single" proof, and still ask him to point one out to 

 me in either of thorn. 



I think Mr. Clay made a mistake when ho said I 

 did not attack a single postulate laid down by liim. 

 I considered that many of thom ilid not require an at- 

 tack as they sutTieiently answered, when brought before 

 an enlightened public, tbemselvec. 



The strongest postulate Mr. C. professes to lay down 

 in favor of Short-horns, is that they are the best for his 



" isothermal belt." My object in accepting the chal- 

 lenge as I did, was to meet him fairly on his "own 

 isothermal belt." Neither can I bo " bluffed off" by 

 his last challenge to moot this just trial ; the heifera 

 shall be there as I proposed. 



Mr. Clay says — " I propose to show my herd 

 which was attacked, against tho host selected herd of 

 Herefords in America. I ask any gentleman, if that 

 was not a fair proposition. I gave him the advantage 

 of a thousand to one against mo." What Mr. Clay 

 moans by tho latter I cannot imagine, as I think it 

 would bo difficult to find a thousand thorough-bred 

 brooding Herefords in Aiuorica, and those mostly 

 descended from Mr. Coming's and my importations, 

 while Mr. Clay admits tliat ho for " many years has 

 grazed a thousand cattle a year." If a man cannot 

 produce "one good beef" for show out of such a num- 

 ber, fiircwell Short-horns. Neither havo I ever seen 

 the above challenge. If Mr. Clay has made such a one 

 I ask him to produce it. 



One more postulate Mr Clay lays down :—" that tho 

 Herefords have never contended for the supremacy." 

 — I referred him to tho Smithfield and Birmingham 

 Clubs for proof of this, and in which he will find the 

 Herefords are " ahead" of ail other breeds, in prizes. 

 If there is any other favorite postulate Mr. Clay has 

 laid down that I havo not attacked, I will cheerfully 

 do it, or admit the "fads" as my opihion dictates. 



Tho preposterous postulate he lays down that his 

 heifers are worth $2,000, and mine nothing, I con- 

 sider only as a dernier resort. I could say tho same 

 by Mr. Brutus J. Clay's hord. 



I will now call your attcntitm to Mr Clay's last chal- 

 lenge. In tho first place I havo not 82,000 to risk, or 

 even if I had I havo not the principle to accept, and I 

 consider tho challenge u ridiculous one. " One oow " 

 may have good crops, while many other points are 

 misernble. " One cow " m.ay be a good handler and 

 her symmetry inferior, or just tho reverse, and proba- 

 bly one fat Hereford cow cannot be found in America. 

 I will therefore in addition to my former acceptance, 

 propose to show my stock Hereford bull against Loco- 

 motive, as I previously proposed to do against the Mar- 

 quis of Carrabns, and on the same terms. I will show 

 him against Mr. C 's present stock bull, and that of 

 his brother, Brutus J. Clay, slating number of cows 

 served in tho season. I shall also bring altogether to 

 Kentucky, some eight or nine animals of different ages, 

 &c., sufficient to show a specimen of a breeder's herd, 

 which I will show against Messrs C. M. and B. J. Clay. 

 I cannot agree to leave it to the judges on sweepstakes, 

 as the chairman may be a Sliort-horn breeder, and " a 

 prejudiced man." I will name my judge, Mr Clay 

 his, those two naming tho third ; and a true certificate 

 and diploma from our worthy President, Mr. Wilder, 

 would be as binding and as meritorious as if tied with 

 a chain of gold or a band of bank notes. 



I consider the true value of tho two yearlings I in- 

 tend to put against Mr. Clay, to be $125 each, and 

 contend there are no two heifors of any breed, or of 

 the same age, in America, really worth more. 



Our stock shall come to show according to the rules 

 of tho society, in (air breeding order, not loaded with 

 flesh ; then we shall have no one to blame but ourselves, 

 if we do not select judges capable of knowing a good 

 animal in its proper state. What use is it for societies to 

 adopt rules, if exhibitors are not compelled to live up 

 to them, and no man should ever bo put on as jud^e 

 who cannot distinguish a good animal in breeding con- 

 dition, flora one loaded with forced second and third 

 quality flesh. Tho " fact " is, judges generally look at 

 flesh, no matter of what quality, in preference to 

 handling. 



I distinctly admit that these are very "fast times," 

 and I cannot help thinking Short-horn men are "too 

 fast," even to correspond with thom. I think they lay 

 down " postulates " they cannot maintain, and by 

 which the community is led astray. It was never 

 practically intended that cattle brought to exhibition, 

 should bo washed, groomed, blanketed, and fed for that 

 purpose like race horses ; their horns scraped, and 

 their " long silkey " Scotch coat, oiled, to attempt to 

 deceive tho handler. I consider such treatment an in- 

 sult to proper judges. No aniiual cm look bettor be- 

 fore judges, than one in breeding condition, and in its 

 natural state. Any thing forced beyond this, a good 

 judge will condemn, as it docs not correspond with 

 good breeding. 



When any of your impartial readers can prove 

 calumny, Ac, in any of my letters, I will retire from 

 tho field disgusted. Wm. H. Sotham. Owcgo, N. Y. 

 P. S. — I send you the weight of my Hereford stock 

 bull, weighed this morning in presence of several wit- 

 nesses. ^Voight 1860 pounds, in low flesh, and served 

 sixty-three cows from March llth to July '.id — I shall 

 limit him to 20 nuire, before tho show. I will not fill 

 your paper up with his " pedigree," as that will be ex 

 hibited with him ; he was calved in the autumn of 

 1850. 



