358 
Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
breed, and no one grudges him the credit of that honourable 
distinction. 
In the year 1808 Hugh Watson succeeded his father in the 
farm of Keillor, and among the stock left to him were six cows 
and a bull of the native polled breed. Not satisfied with these 
as a foundation for the herd he had decided to build up, he in 
the same year (1808) went to a fair at Trinity Muir, near 
Brechin (the fairs at Trinity Muir were at one time among the 
most important in the country), and there he purchased ten of the 
best polled heifers and the best polled bull he could find. It is 
stated that with these sixteen females and two bulls he founded 
the celebrated herd of Keillor Doddies. Of the great success 
which Hugh Watson achieved as a breeder of polled cattle, we 
have perhaps in the words of the late Mr. William McCombie 
of Tillyfour the best testimony. Mr. McCombie says : " We 
all look upon him (Hugh Watson) as the first great improver, 
and no one will question his title to that distinction. There is 
not a herd in the country which is not indebted to Keillor 
blood." 
There is, unfortunately, comparatively little known of Hugh 
Watson's operations as a breeder. In his wide circle of inti- 
mate friends he included the late Mr. John Booth, Mr. Wetherell, 
and other noted breeders of Shorthorns ; and there is good 
reason to believe that in many points connected with the 
building up of his herd of improved polled cattle he was to 
some extent guided by the experience of these great patrons of 
the rival breed. Mr. Dixon, in ' Field and Fern,' says Hugh 
Watson kept in his eye as models "'Bracelet' and 'Charity,' 
and one or two more of the pure Booths ; " and that " he never 
scrupled to say that his best cattle showed much of the Short- 
horn superiority in hair and touch." His motto would seem 
to have been, "put the best to the best, regardless of affinity 
or blood." He bred from none but the choicest specimens at 
his command, and did not hesitate to follow the example of the 
Collings, the Booths, Thomas Bates, and other celebrated Short- 
horn breeders in mating animals closely related to each other. 
It is evident that he practised in-and-in breeding to a consider- 
able extent. It is also clear that he aimed at building up par- 
ticular lines or families, and that to some extent he bred each of 
these families within itself. He did not pursue persistently 
that intricate system of in-and-in breeding that was followed by 
most of the noted early improvers of Shorthorns ; but, so far, 
he in this point followed their example. Perhaps the truest 
description that could be given of his n)ethod of breeding is 
that he bred from none but the best — those that came nearest to 
his ideal — and that he did not care whether these were closely 
