442 Development of the Dairy Shorthorn, [sept., 



greatly in purity of descent. It is the general purpose 

 animal, scattered over the whole country, and is constantly 

 spoken of as the "National Breed." The chief reasons for 

 the general adoption of the Shorthorn over such a large 

 portion of the British Isles were its combination of beef with 

 milking capacity, and its singular adaptability to all soils 

 and climates. 



It is not necessary to trace the history of the breed beyond 

 indicating briefly some of the vicissitudes through which it 

 has passed, which affected its milking capacity, and led 

 finally to the movement inaugurated in recent years with the 

 avowed object of increasing the yield of milk. 



The Early Improvers. — There were many celebrated 

 breeders of Shorthorns before the advent of the brothers 

 Colling, who were born in the years 1749 and 1750, but it 

 is generally admitted that the breed, as it then existed in 

 the Teeswater district of Durham and Yorkshire, owed to 

 those two remarkable men the foundation of its future great- 

 ness and world-wide reputation. The chief aim of these 

 pioneers was to transform the Shorthorn from a draught 

 animal suitable for farm work to a producer of superior beef 

 and abundance of milk, and their efforts were attended with 

 astonishing success. There is ample evidence that the 

 "Improved Shorthorn," as it came to be called, was in those 

 early days pre-eminent as a milker, and would have so 

 remained had it not been for the influences which subse- 

 quently arose, and caused the requirements of the butcher 

 to supersede those of the dairy-farmer. In fact, the conten- 

 tion of modern breeders is that Shorthorns were originally 

 very deep milkers, and that their mission is to restore rather 

 than to create that propensity. 



Shorthorns Originally Deep Milkers. — All histories of the 

 breed agree that very heavy yields of milk were the rule | 

 rather than the exception a hundred years ago, and many j 

 particulars are on record of the yields of individual cows 

 which can be quoted in support of the statement. Of these 

 a few instances may be given, beginning with the cow ; 

 Duchess, by Daisy Bull, the property of Mr. Bates, and one 

 of the earliest dams given in the pedigree of the famous 

 Duchess tribe. In the summer of 1807, on grass alone, 



