Coleman’s European agriculture. 
107 
ing. Others, too, as we were informed, partook of 
this blood. But silence on these matters is a vir¬ 
tue, compared with the interred statements he has 
given of the origin and improvement of Short-Horn 
cattle, and some other things. We assure Mr. 
Coleman, in sorrow, not in anger, that if he can 
make the breeding public believe such statements as 
he has given in his report., he will soon put an end 
to all improvements; and those herds which have 
been fostered and grown up to such perfection, 
would, in less than half a century, entirely run out, 
or at best become so deteriorated, as to be scarcely 
distinguished from the common brutes of the coun¬ 
try. Millions of dollars would be lost, and 
ages might pass away before neat cattle could be 
brought back to their present state of perfection. 
He would completely upset the science of correct 
breeding, and do more injury in this report of his, 
than he could do good, though he might live a 
thousand years. We shall now proceed to point 
out some of his errors, which, in justice to breeders, 
and in our duty as a public journalist, we feel bound 
to do minutely. 
Mr. C. “ The whole object of the famous Herd 
Book is, indeed, to trace back all these diverging 
streams to a single fountain, and thus, by an un¬ 
interrupted descent, to demonstrate the purity of the 
blood.” 
We wish this were really the case ; but most un¬ 
fortunately such is not the fact, as any one can see 
for himself who will take the trouble to turn to this 
said “ famous” book. There he will find that the 
cupidity of its first editor, and the breeders of grade 
and mongrel cattle,have monopolized three-fourths of 
its pages with the records of animals (we will not 
disgrace the word by calling them pedigrees ), totally 
unworthy of a place in it. In this respect it is un¬ 
like the Stud Book, which contains as true a record 
as it is possible for humanity—under existing cir¬ 
cumstances—to make of a race of horses bred in 
England from pure Arabian blood of the very best 
kind, both on the side of sire and dam. Neverthe¬ 
less, the Herd Book is a valuable publication to 
him who truly understands its pedigrees, and the 
respective value of the first animals recorded in it. 
The good strains of blood he knows there, and breeds 
from them ; the bad he avoids ; thus, the latter serve 
him the same purpose, that beacons and buoys do 
the navigator;—they enable him to steer clear of 
danger. In future editions they ought to be ex¬ 
punged; and, with the light of the present day on 
this subject, it will be a shame to England if they are 
not. But w T e fear the poison is too deep in the body 
politic to ever hope for a reform in this matter. 
Mr. C. “ The famous bull, Comet, is still considered 
as the unrivalled paragon of excellence; the celebrated 
Durham ox remai ns without a successful competi tor.” 
As Mr. Coleman himself never saw Comet, we 
should be glad to know on what authority he makes 
the above “ paragon” statement. Old breeders, and 
excellent judges of Short-Horn stock, informed us, 
when in England, that several bulls of his own day 
were far superior to Comet; and that, at the pre¬ 
sent time, he would scarcely pass muster in a show- 
yard among the third-raters of his class. Mr. 
W right declares, that he had a deformed shoulder ! 
To coin a word, what paragonism was there in 
that? But, perhaps, Mr. Coleman’s authority is 
more learned and wise than ours. As for the Dur¬ 
ham ox, he could easily be beaten nowadays at 
any Smith field annual show of fat cattle, except, 
perhaps, in great weight, which, in itself, is not 
considered an excellence by good breeders. 
Mr. C. “ If we have a true history of the stock 
of the improved Durham cattle, it is the result of a 
cross of a Teeswater bull with a Galloway cow.” 
We do not know what some people would call 
“ improved ;” but if we are to understand that the 
good Short-Horns were thus made, then we must 
say, with all due respect to Mr. Coleman, that a 
more erroneous statement than the above was never 
penned, nor one less susceptible of being proved; 
and we do not care who his authority is ; and, fur¬ 
thermore, we firmly believe, that when he comes to 
bring his naturally fair and candid mind to a more 
thorough study of animal economy, and the correct 
principles of breeding, he will perceive that he has 
been misinformed, and that the above assertion car¬ 
ries with it a physical impossibility . Why, this is 
out-Berrying Berry, who—after becoming interested 
in this miserable Galloway cross, and standing in 
fear of prison walls, from a hard-hearted, iron credi¬ 
tor—vrho was also deeply interested in the same 
base blood—in his weakness,—palmed off upon 
the unsuspecting Mr. Youatt, in his History of 
British Cattle, this false and ridiculous assertion of 
the improvement of Short-Horns. If this improve¬ 
ment was so manifest, how came Mr. Berry to be so 
slow in finding it out ? Mr. Charles Colling had 
his sale of the Galloway cross at marvellous high 
prices, in 1810. In 1824, Mr. Berry wrote his first 
History of the Short-Horns, in which not one word 
is said of the improvement. In 1830, he published 
a second edition of this vrork, in which not a word 
is said on the subject, although upwards of twenty 
years had then passed since the Galloway cross had 
become notorious throughout England. In 1834, 
Mr. Youatt’s work was published ; but in the inter¬ 
regnum, Mr. Berry and others had become interested 
in the alloy , and hence, the change “ o’er the spirit 
of their dream.” But we have neither time nor 
space to follow out the subject at present, and will, 
therefore, defer it to a more convenient season, 
when we shall undertake to show why and where¬ 
fore the Galloway cross was made; and how it 
came to bring so high prices at Mr. Colling’s sale ; 
and why it has been vaunted ever since by a certain 
set, who possesses it, as a great improvement. 
If Mr. Coleman wishes to know T the true history 
of Short-Horns, let him inquire of the old breeders 
contemporary with the Collings and others in 
Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland; or let 
him refer to an account of them in the American 
Herd Book. We have the best reason for believing 
that Short-Horns were a superior race two centuries 
before the Collings came on to the stage of action 
as breeders. 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 Lady Maynard, 
the dam of Phoenix, and grandam of Favor¬ 
ite. This superb cow was probably born at 
least 35 years before the public sale of the Gallo¬ 
way cross. Mr. Charles Colling often said that 
he never bred so good a cow as the one he pur¬ 
chased from the agent of the Duke of Northumber- 
