1 
History and traditions of Sliort Horn Cattle. 
since rested in his possession. We saw the 
portrait of this Stanwix Cow’s great grand¬ 
daughter, the produce of the Dairy bull and 
dam of Ketton L (709,)* and as the family 
now down to the 52d Duchess, bred by Mr. 
Bates, strongly resembles it in general char¬ 
acteristics, we give a description.—This was 
taken we believe in 1804 when the animal 
was rather low in flesh, and giving milk ; at 
which time, being deep milking, they show 
thin upon the rump, but when dried off and 
fatted, Mr. B. assured us, they made as good 
a point there as elsewhere. Their colors 
vary, from deep rich red to a roan, and both 
horns generally turn slightly up. Color of 
the portrait more red than white, the former 
predominating over the neck and shoulder, 
the latter on the flank. Horns fine, short, 
and of a clear waxy color, one of them 
drooping a little, the other slightly turned 
up—head long and fine, the muzzle extreme¬ 
ly so—eyes bright and glowing, and standing 
well out. Brisket wide, deep and better for¬ 
ward than any other animal known, we do 
not even except the living Dutchess 34, 
though a superb model in this respect. 
Shoulder, barrel and loin good, and rather 
thin on the rump, in consequence, as before 
remarked, of being in a milking state. The 
tail fine, but not quite as perfectly set on as 
we could have wished, but this is not a fam¬ 
ily fault in the descendants. Her limbs mid- 
ling as to length, and clean and sinewy, and 
the whole animal, altogether, bearing a fine 
finished fashionable air. 
The beef of this tribe is pronounced su¬ 
perior, and their handling very mellow and 
elastic. In this respect as well as all others 
they were favorites with Mr. Colling, and 
when his stock was in its highest perfection, 
he was in the habit of showing Dutchess I. 
as a model of superior handling, and has re¬ 
peatedly said, he never bred so good an ani¬ 
mal out of the Stanwix Cow he purchased 
of the agent of the Duke of Northumberland, 
as she herself was, though put to his best 
bulls, Hubback, Favorite, and Daisy. 
It was conceded by a company of old 
breeders in 1812, in discussing the question 
of the improvement of Short Horns, that no 
stock of Mr. Colling’s breeding ever equalled 
w Lady Maynard,” the dam of Phoenix, and 
grandam of Favorite. One cannot deny that 
the Messrs. Colling deserve great credit as 
breeders, and were no doubt improvers to a 
considerable extent; but if the above state¬ 
ments be true, they are far, very far indeed, 
* See Coates’ Herd Book, vol. 1st. 
from being the creators and originators of the 
best tribes of Short Horns. They strike us 
as having been sharp shrewd men, and were 
fortunate in securing the best animals of 
their day, and these, so long as they contin° 
ued breeders, they kept exclusively to them¬ 
selves. We saw a letter of Mr. C. Colling, 
when in England, written in a handsome 
round hand, declining to give the pedigree 
of an animal asked of him, and stating that it 
was. a general rule with him, from which, if 
our memory serves us right, he added, he 
had never departed, and bis movements (as 
indeed are most of those of the breeders in 
England even at the present day,) were ^ 
shrouded in as much mystery as it was pos¬ 
sible to assume.* If they see an advantage 
in their stock, they at once determine to 
keep it as exclusively as they can, and make 
the most possible out of it. Perhaps as they 
cannot get a patent right for animals, this is 
all fair enough as the world goes, and for 
one we do not complain, since they left the 
results for the world. 
Great antiquity is claimed for some of the* 
stock in Northumberland, and as early as 
1770, a Mr. Dickson, and probably some 
others had cattle that were famous milkers, 
and much resembled in other particulars the 
Short Horns of the present day, being quick 
feeders and good handlers. We might en¬ 
large upon this subject, but perhaps have al¬ 
ready said too much, and therefore forbear. 
Enough is on record to prove what we at 
first set out to do, namely, that the Short 
Horns are of an ancient and superior race ; 
and it is undeniable throughout Great Brit¬ 
ain, that when the good milking and quick 
feeding qualities of any breed of cattle are 
sought to be improved, the Short Horns are 
universally resorted to, and when properly 
selected, always with marked success. We 
saw these crosses in infinite number on the 
cattle of Ireland, Scotland, England and Jer¬ 
sey j and the colors and form of the Short 
Horns immediately stamped themselves upon 
the produce and predominated, which is 
proof indisputable, if other were wanting, of 
their great antiquity and long high breeding. 
The dam of Hubback was supposed to be a 
well bred Short Horn, with at least some por¬ 
tion, if not all of the imported Holland bloodf 
* This was also eminently the ease with the celebra¬ 
ted Bake well. 
f We have heard it asserted, that this stock was origin¬ 
ally sent from England to Holland about two centuries 
since, as a present, by Charles I. to William, Prince of 
Orange, then Stadtholder, at the time of his marriage 
with the daughter of Charles, the Princess Henrietta 
Maria. From this produce a century after, Sir William 
