Shorthorns  in  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
79 
to  insure  more  general  success,  financially  and  otherwise, 
breeders  must  give  better  attention  than,  as  a rule,  they  have 
hitherto  bestowed  upon  it.  It  is  desirable,  above  all,  that  there 
should  be  a truer  classification  of  herds — a clearer  distinction 
between  herds  or  strains  intended  and  fitted  for  the  production 
of  animals  to  be  employed  in  the  perpetuation  and  main- 
tenance of  the  breed  in  its  purity,  and  herds  or  strains  kept 
merely  for  the  raising  of  bulls  to  be  crossed  with  ordinary  cows. 
These  two  purposes  are  so  distinct  and  so  different,  that  any 
attempt  to  use  the  same  material  in  the  fulfilment  of  both  must, 
sooner  or  later,  result  in  failure.  In  the  one  case  the  object  is 
simply  to  produce  the  best  possible  meat-yielding  stock — 
animals  to  be  slaughtered  as  soon  as  they  reach  maturity.  In 
the  other,  the  breeder  has  to  produce  stock  fitted  not  only  to  per- 
petuate the  race  with  unsullied  character,  to  pass  the  pure  article 
on  from  generation  to  generation  without  spot  or  blemish,  but 
even  capable  of  removing  spots  or  blemishes  where,  perchance, 
they  may  appear.  How  vast  the  difference  between  these  two 
objects  ! Has  its  significance  been  recognised  and  grasped  fully 
by  breeders  as  a body  ? Here,  at  the  end  of  a paper  already 
sufficiently  long,  the  discussion  of  a subject  so  delicate  and 
critical  as  this  cannot  be  attempted.  There  is,  perhaps,  at  the 
present  moment  no  other  question  that  more  urgently  demands 
the  serious  consideration  of  those  interested  in  the  breeding  of 
Shorthorns. 
APPENDIX  I. 
Introduction  and  Spread  of  Shorthorns  in  Scotland. 
By  way  of  'background  to  the  preceding  notes  a very  brief  historical  sketch 
of  the  introduction  and  spread  of  Shorthorns  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  is  here 
produced.  The  sketch  is  necessarily  imperfect  and  not  so  well  connected  as 
could  have  been  desired.  An  effort,  however,  has  been  made  to  utilise  fully 
the  available  extent  of  space. 
Improved  Shorthorn  cattle  were  first  introduced  into  Scotland  in  the  year 
1789,  by  the  late  Mr.  William  Robertson  of  Ladykirk,  near  Berwick-on- 
Tweed.  Even  at  that  early  date  the  fame  of  the  Tees  water  cattle  had 
travelled  beyond  the  Border.  Mr.  Robertson,  then  a young  enterprising 
agriculturist  of  good  fortune,  had  his  enthusiasm  aroused  by  the  reports 
which  had  reached  him  regarding  their  remarkable  beef-producing  and  rare 
milking  properties.  In  1789,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Heriot,  his  favourite 
tenant,  he  visited  Durham  and  the  adjoining  parts  of  Yorkshire  for  the  pur- 
pose of  examining  personally  the  much-spoken-of  race  of  cattle.  Mr.  Robert- 
son at  once  recognised  “ the  vast  superiority  of  these  cattle,”  and  lost  no 
time  in  taking  steps  to  form  a herd  of  “ Improved  Shorthorns  ” upon  his 
Scotch  home  farm. 
In  1789  and  two  following  years  Mr.  Robertson  purchased  from  the  Messrs. 
Colling  and  Mr.  Charge  twenty-five  cows  and  heifers  and  two  bulls,  which 
