60 
Shorthorns  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
year,  many  indeed,.’  when  only  from  twenty  to  twenty-four 
months  old.  This  is  a great  gain,  and  to  a large  extent  it  is 
due  to  the  influence  of  Shorthorn  blood. 
The  craze  for  crossing  native  breeds  with  Shorthorn  bulls 
which  had  been  set  agoing  by  the  achievements  at  Ladykirk, 
Phantassie,  Ury,  Eden,  and  elsewhere,  took  root  in  the  county 
of  Forfar  at  an  early  date.  The  native  cattle  consisted  largely 
of  the  Polled  varieties,  and  so  successfully  did  the  Shorthorn 
bull  mate  with  these,  that  several  farmers  ran  out  their  stock  of 
polled  cows  by  persistent  and  unregulated  crossing — an  error 
which  they  soon  bitterly  regretted.  The  crosses  far  excelled 
the  native  stock  in  size  and  early  maturity,  but  it  was  found 
that,  wherever  the  supply  of  native  cows  had  been  once  ex- 
hausted, the  new  system  of  breeding  became  less  successful. 
Among  the  first  in  the  county  of  Forfar  to  use  a pure-bred 
Shorthorn  bull  was  the  late  Mr.  David  Morgan,  Mains  of  Irwin. 
About  1830  he  received  as  much  as  30/.  a head  for  his  cross- 
bred bullocks  ; although  at  that  time  native  oxen,  ripe  in  years 
and  fattened,  were  not  worth  more  than  from  15/.  to  18/.  a head. 
The  north-east  of  Scotland,  in  particular  the  county  of  Aber- 
deen, has  long  been  famed  for  the  production  of  the  choicest 
class  of  fat  cattle.  For  nearly  half  a century  the  raising  of  beef 
for  the  London  market  has  been  the  staple  industry  of  the  lower 
parts  of  the  north-eastern  counties.  In  the  shops  of  the  great 
West-end  butchers  “Aberdeenshire  beef”  has  for  many  years 
brought  the  top  prices.  The  improvement  of  the  native  races 
of  cattle  in  this  part  of  Scotland  by  crossing  with  imported 
breeds  was  commenced  about  1770.  LTntil  after  the  advent  of  the 
present  century,  however,  almost  the  only  aim  which  improvers 
had  in  view  was  the  raising  of  bullocks  sufficiently  large  and 
powerful  to  perform  the  arduous  farm-work  that  in  those  days 
fell  to  the  lot  of  oxen.  Of  all  the  various  breeds  (including 
Dutch  and  the  old-fashioned,  ungainly,  unimproved  Teeswater 
cattle)  that  were  resorted  to  in  the  attempt  to  raise  suitable 
working  oxen,  the  Fife  or  Falkland  race  was  by  far  the  most 
successful.  Between  it  and  the  native  varieties  there  was  pro- 
duced a really  good  class  of  cattle,  which  became  widely  known 
as  the  “ Horned  Breed  of  Aberdeenshire,”  but  which  is  now 
extinct — having  been  driven  out  by  the  Improved  Shorthorn 
and  the  native  Polled  breed. 
In  the  early  years  of  this  century  northern  farmers  began  to 
find  a profitable  outlet  for  their  surplus  cattle  ; and  a gradual 
increase  in  the  price  of  the  better  sorts  induced  them  to  give 
special  attention  to  the  development  of  the  beef-producing  and 
early  maturing  properties  of  their  stock.  At  the  right  time 
and  in  a becoming  manner  Captain  Barclay  stepped  upon  the 
scene.  He  had  visited  Phantassie.  He  recognised  the  splendid 
