360 
Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
belonged. She was calved in 1824, out of one of Mr. Watson's 
cows, and died in July 1859, at the age of 35 years and 6 months. 
She was the dam of no fewer than twenty-five calves, eleven of 
which were registered in the first volume of the ' Herd-book.' She 
ceased to breed in her 29th year, and gave no milk after nursing 
her calf of the previous year. She was exhibited at the Highland 
and Agricultural Society's Show at Aberdeen in 1858, when she 
was 34 years old, and her owner was awarded a medal as being 
the exhibitor of so remarkable an animal. In the first volume 
of the ' Polled Herd-book ' there is a plate of this wonderful 
cow, from a photograph taken two days before she died, at the 
request of the Prince Consort, who desired her photograph to 
be placed in his collection of cattle photographs at Balmoral. 
After a distinguished career of over fifty years, Hugh Wat- 
son's herd was dispersed in 1860. Times were bad then, and 
the herd was not in good trim, having shortly before passed 
through a heavy ordeal of pleuro-pneumonia. The prices ob- 
tained were therefore comparatively low. The late Mr. William 
McCombie of Tillyfour purchased the highest-priced cow at 
64/., Mr. Thomas Ferguson, Kinnochtry, getting the next at 
58/. \0s. The words we have quoted from Mr. McCombie 
indicate the great influence exerted by Keillor blood in im- 
proving the polled breed generally. The assertion Mr, McCom- 
bie made is a strong one, but we believe it to be well-founded. 
With the exception of the " Favourites " and the " Princesses " — 
two of his leading families— now well represented in the Kin- 
nochtry herd, Hugh Watson's strains have so merged into other 
tribes as to be almost beyond recognition. Keillor blood, how- 
ever, is still, as it ought to be, held in high estimation. 
Among the other noted early improvers of the breed in For- 
farshire and its borders, the following deserve special men- 
tion : — the late Mr. William Fullerton, Mains of Ardestie ; 
the late Lord Panmure ; the late Mr. R. Scott, Balwyllo ; the 
late Sir James Carnegie ; Lord Southesk ; IVIr. Bowie, Mains 
of Kelly, and his father ; Mr. J. Lyell, Sheilhill ; the late Mr. 
Ruxton, Farnell ; Mr. Thomas Ferguson, Kinnochtry; Mr. Leslie, 
the Thorn ; and Mr. W. Whyte, Spott. Lord Southesk, Mr. 
Bowie, Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Leslie, and Mr. Whyte are breeders 
still, and their efforts will be referred to afterwards. 
Lord Panmure was an ardent admirer of the breed, and did 
not a little to accelerate its improvement : in 1838 or 1839 he 
commissioned Mr. Collier, Hatton, to select for him a dozen of 
the best polled heifers to be got in Aberdeenshire ; and from 
these he bred a few animals that have become celebrated. 
Mr. William Fullerton commenced the breeding of polled 
cattle in 1834, and continued to take a warm interest in the 
