444 Development of the Dairy Shorthorn, [sept., 



sole object of which seemed to be the production of compact, 

 thick-fleshed cattle, carrying as much roasting meat as 

 possible, with heavy hind-quarters, and the top and bottom 

 lines forming a parallelogram. One cannot blame the agri- 

 cultural societies or the judges themselves for endeavouring 

 to meet what was an obvious want of the times. The great 

 development of industry in the nineteenth century, with its 

 consequent prosperity, created a demand for luxuries of all 

 kinds, including superior beef. Then came the American 

 demand, and buyers of Shorthorns for the United States 

 were all for beef animals, while disregarding the milking 

 capacity. It is no wonder then that beef points were studied 

 to the exclusion of milk, which was then plentiful enough, 

 with the result that the perfect butcher's type became the 

 ideal both of the exhibitor and grazier. 



It is doubtful, however, if the cultivation of the show-yard 

 type was responsible for the decline in the general milking 

 powers of the Shorthorn to as great an extent as the extra- 

 ordinary craze for line breeding which set in about the same 

 time, and reached its zenith in the 'seventies. The Short- 

 horn world was cut up into groups, the chief ones being the 

 adherents of Bates and Booth. Certain tribes were 

 " fashionable," and the closer their breeding within par- 

 ticular prescribed lines, the more valuable the animals 

 became, and fabulous sums were paid for specimens of such 

 tribes as the "Duchess," "Oxford," "Cambridge Roses," 

 &c, provided there were no "out-crosses" in their pedigrees. 

 "Straight " breeding was the only passport to fancy values, ! 

 and personal merit, from the grazier's or dairy farmer's point 

 of view, became of little account. 



From such a policy disastrous results were sure to follow, 

 but its bad effects would have been comparatively limited to 

 those lines of blood which ran within the magic circle had 

 it not been for the extraordinary hold which these types had j 

 taken on the imagination of the ordinary breeders. With 

 few exceptions, their great aim was to permeate their herds 

 with the blood of the most valuable tribes, and one instance 

 occurs to the writer in which a tenant farmer gave 650 guineas j 

 for a bull. The result was that the milking properties of 

 the breed were utterly neglected by both sections of the 



