3? 
The Value of Pedigree. 
pedigree, as well as by name, in a few individual herds. The 
records of many animals were kept, in some instances, in the 
private notes of their breeders ; in a much larger number of 
cases they were retained merely in the memories of their 
breeders. Such, then, were the only records, and they were 
not reduced to a permanent shape until the year 1822, when 
the first volume of the English Herd Booh was published. 
It appears, therefore, that the pedigrees of the Shorthorns 
remained either in private memoranda, or were preserved by 
tradition, for more than half a century after some of these cattle 
had acquired not only individual names, but reputations as 
prominent and leading animals of their race. Their progress 
and increase in numbers during those years had been so rapid, 
and the chances of ei'ror in perpetuating their lineage were so 
many, that an imperative necessity compelled their breeders to 
establish for them a permanent record. 
The Shorthorn Herd Book was originated as a project some 
years before its publication. At a meeting of prominent breeders, 
held at one of the agricultural gatherings in Wynyard Park, 
Durham, in 1812, the publication of a record for Shorthorns, like 
the stud book for horses, was suggested. The idea was at once 
adopted, and to Mr. Coates was entrusted the editorship of the 
book, this being a position for which he was peculiarly fitted owing 
to his extensive knowledge of pedigrees and of breeders, as well as 
to the great interest which he took in cattle. Mr. Coates at once 
commenced to collect material for the work — no light task in 
days when the only means of conveyance was by coach or on 
horseback, the latter being Mr. Coates’s mode of travelling when 
he was engaged in collecting the pedigrees for the first volume. 
Financial difficulties delayed the publication of the work. In 
1818, after the sale of Robert Ceiling’s cattle, the project was 
revived, and, as a means of raising the necessary funds, a sub- 
scription was proposed. In the meantime the collection of 
pedigrees proceeded, but the first volume of the Herd Booh was 
not issued until the autumn of 1822. It had a list of sub- 
scribers numbering 455, and contained the pedigrees of 710 
bulls and 971 cows. Mr. Coates received little or no remunera- 
tion for his labours in connection with the first volume, after 
the payment of the necessaiy expenses, but he had the satisfac- 
tion of having gained his point, for now Shorthorns were not 
only an established and popular breed, but they had a record of 
which he was justly proud, and which was greatly owing to his 
own exertions. 
The second volume of the Herd Booh appeared in 1829, 
seven years after the issue of Volume I., and recorded 890 bulls 
