AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
see that the present character of the “ Pat¬ 
tons ” proper, as I described them in the 
article to which he alludes, at all differs 
from the very equivocal standard of that va¬ 
riety, as they were bred in Kentucky at an 
early day. I wish that Dr. Martin had par¬ 
ticularly named what kind of bulls he has 
used for crossing into his “ Pattons ” of late 
years; but as he is known as a Short breed¬ 
er, it is fair to infer that he used Short Horn 
bulls alone. 
While on the subject, and to put on record 
the main facts respecting this variety of 
cattle, I send you a letter which I received 
a short time a'go from a Kentucky gentle¬ 
man, a distinguished breeder of Short Horns, 
one familiar from boyhood with the “ Pat¬ 
tons.” It will be seen that his authenticity 
is reliable : 
Paris, Bourbon Co. Ky., Jan. 35, 1855. 
Lewis F. Allen, Esq.: 
Dear Sir: I send you, as requested, all 
the information I have in reference to the 
introduction of the Patton cattle into Ken¬ 
tucky. It is a copy of a letter from B. Har¬ 
rison to the Editor of the Franklin Farmer. 
Respectfully, EDWIN G. BEDFORD. 
Woodford Co., Ky., Jan. 22,1S39. 
To the Editor of the Franklin Farmer: 
Dear Sir: In compliance with your re¬ 
quest, as well as that of many other friends 
and acquaintances, who at the present day 
feel a lively interest in the improvement of 
cattle, and who express some solicitude to 
be informed on the subject of the first intro¬ 
duction of English cattle into Kentucky, all 
of whom seem to have been informed that 
Matthew Patton, Sen’r, deceased, was the 
first individual who brought that kind of 
stock to this State. I make the following 
communication containing my knowledge 
and recollections on the subject; I very 
much fear that your expectations will not 
be entirely realized. It is true that the re¬ 
lation in which I stand to that individual, 
being the oldest male relation living, and 
having been raised in the immediate neigh¬ 
borhood where he first settled in Kentucky, 
has given me a better opportunity of know¬ 
ing facts in relation to the stock than any 
other individual; but you must understand 
that I was but a boy at that time, and have 
only to rely upon memory and occurrences 
in early life as to dates. 
As to the description of stock brought to 
Kentucky by Matthew Patton, Sr., and 
others, my recollection is distinct, and I 
think I will be within two or three years of 
the correct date. The impressien that Mat¬ 
thew Patton, Sr., was the first individual 
that brought blooded cattle to Kentucky, is 
inaccurate. The facts are, that some two 
or three Mr. Pattons, the sons, and a Mr. 
Gay, the son-in-law of Matthew Patton, Sr., 
brought some half-blood English cattle (so 
called)—a bull and some heifers—as early 
as 1785, or thereabouts, and settled near 
where Nicholasville, in Jessamine County, 
now stands. The cattle were from the 
stock of Matthew Patton, Sr., who then re¬ 
sided in Virginia. These cattle I never saw, 
and knew but little about. I have heard them 
spoken of as being large at that day, and 
have always understood that they were the 
calves of a bull owned by Matthew Patton, 
Sr., which he purchased of Gough, of Mary¬ 
land, who was an importer of English cattle. 
I never saw that bull, but have often heard 
my grandfather (Matthew Patton, Sr.,) speak 
of him. He described him as being very 
large, and of the Long Horned breed. Mat¬ 
thew Patton, Sr., emigrated to Kentucky 
about the year 1790, and brought with him 
some six or more cows, calves of the Long 
Horned bull before mentioned. I knew 
these cows very well, for I saw them almost 
every day for several years. They were 
large, somewhat coarse and rough, with very 
long horns, wide between the points, turning 
up considerably. Their bags and teats were 
very large, differing widely in appearance 
from the Long Horned stock of the importa¬ 
tion of 1817—some of them were first rate 
milkers. 
About the year 1795, Matthew Patton, Sr., 
procured from the before mentioned Gough, 
through his son, \\"illiam Patton, a bull called 
Mars, and a heifer called Venus, both of 
which were sold by Gough as full-blooded 
English cattle ; but like the importation of 
1817, they had no other pedigree. The bull 
was a deep red, with a white face, of good 
size, of round, full form, of more bone than 
the popular stock of the present day, his 
horns somewhat coarse. The heifer was a 
pure white, except her ears, which were red, 
of fine size, high form, short, crumple horns, 
turning downwards. She produced two bull 
calves by Mars and died. One of these bulls 
was taken to the neighborhood of Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio, by Wm. Patton, and the other 
to Jessamine County, Kentucky, by Roger 
Patton. Mars remained in the possession of 
Matthew Patton, Sr., until his death in the 
year 1803. He was then sold at the sale of 
his estate, and purchased by a Mr. Prepies, 
of the same neighborhood; but who soon 
afterwards changed his residence to Mont¬ 
gomery County, taking Mars with him, when 
the bull soon after died. Mars, while in the 
possession of Matthew Patton, Sr., served 
but five cows beside his own and those of his 
sons and his sons-in-law, for the reason that 
he charged the sum of two dollars for each 
cow served by the bull, which price was, at 
that day, considered so extravagant that 
only a few individuals would breed to him. 
The bull calves that he produced were nearly 
all permitted to run for breeders; conse¬ 
quently every person in a large section of 
country had an opportunity of breeding to 
half-blooded bulls, which effected a great 
improvement in the stock of cattle in a large 
portion of Clark County, and a small portion 
of Bourbon County. Mars produced from 
the half Long Horn cows, which I have be¬ 
fore described, stock that would be con¬ 
sidered good, even at this day. All the bull 
calves that were bred by Patton and his fam¬ 
ily were sold to persons in all the different 
sections of this State, and some to persons 
living in other States. Mars has been dead 
33 years. 
In 1803, Daniel Harrison, (my father) 
James Patton and James Gay, purchased of 
a Mr. Miller, of Virginia, who was an im¬ 
porter of English cattle, a two-year-old bull, 
called Pluto, who certified that he was got 
by an imported bull, and came out of an im¬ 
ported cow, but gave no other pedigree. 
Pluto was a dark red or brindle, [by “ brin- 
dle ” we understand deep roan.—Ens. Am. 
Ag.] and when full grown was the largest 
bull I have ever seen ; with an uncommonly 
small head and neck, light, short horns, very 
heavy fleshed, yet not carrying so much on 
the most desirable points as the fashionable 
stock of the present day, [meaning Short 
Horns.— Eds. Am. Ag.] with small bone for 
an animal of his weight. Pluto was kept 
on the farms of his owners, and served their 
cows and those of such others as were wil¬ 
ling to pay two dollars per cow, which was 
not many, as the price was still considered 
too high. He \yas put upon the cows pro¬ 
duced by the Patton bull, Mars, which pro¬ 
duced stock that has rarely been excelled in 
all the essential qualities of the cow kind. 
They were unquestionably the best milkers 
that have ever been in Kentucky, taken as a 
stock in the general, and but little inferior, in 
point of form, to the most improved stock of 
the present day, and of greater size. 
In the year 1812, or thereabouts, Pluto was 
taken to Ohio, and shortly afterwards died. 
In the year 1810, or thereabouts, Capt. 
Wm. Smith, of Layfayette, purchased of the 
same Mr. Miller, the bull called Buzzard. 
He was a brindle, very large and coarse, 
taller than Pluto, but not considered so 
heavy. A number of the Pluto cows, as 
well as the produce of the Patton bull, were 
bred to Buzzard, but the stock was held 
rather in disrepute on account of coarseness, 
and the disinclination to early maturity. 
Buzzard was got by the same bull that Pluto 
was’, but came out of a different cow, said to 
be of the Long Horn stock, which Miller had 
bought of Matthew Patton, Sr. 
About the year 1813, a Mr. Inskip came to 
Kentucky from Virginia, and brought with 
him a large bull, called Inskip’s brindle. He 
was a large, coarse bull, and I have always 
understood that he was a descendant of Mil¬ 
ler’s stock, mixed with the Long Horn stock, 
that Matthew Patton, Sr., left in Virginia, 
when he left there. 
About the year 1814, Daniel Harrison (my 
father) procured a bull and heifer from a 
Mr. Ringold, an importer of English cattle, 
either of Maryland or Virginia. Theyw'ere 
called the “Cary Cattle.” They were pied, 
red, and white ; were rather small, light- 
fleshed, raw-boned stock, and had no claims 
to merit, only for milking qualities. They 
were good milkers. 
I think, about the year 1814, Messrs. 
Hutchcraft and Wetton procured front Ohio 
a large bull called Shaker. They either pur¬ 
chased him from a Society of Shakers, in 
Ohio, or from some individual who did. I 
have always understood he was a descendant 
of Miller’s stock, but not by Miller’s import¬ 
ed bull, as some gentlemen (not his owners) 
have stated in the pedigree of this stock. 
The above is a copy of Mr. Harrison’s let¬ 
ter to the Editors of the Franklin Farmer 
in reference to the English and Patton stocks’ 
introduction into Kentucky, and, I suppose, 
embraces about all the facts that can be had 
on the subject. E. G. B. 
It will be seen from all this array of evi¬ 
dence, that the “ Pattons,” so called, as bred 
in Kentucky, were a made up variety, con¬ 
sisting of some of the best and some of the 
worst blood which had been introduced into 
the State at that early day ; and that their 
produce was pretty much what it might be 
supposed as descending from cattle with 
such conflicting qualities. Thirty-six years 
ago, I saw, in Ohio, bulls driven from Ken¬ 
tucky—the worst possible kind of brutes of 
one of these sorts. The people there, in 
Ohio, called them “ Hollow-heads”—and 
hollow heads and hollow bodied, too, they 
were, to all intents. They stood up on high 
timber stilts, with raw, projecting bones all 
over. You might as well attempt to fat a 
barn frame as one of these brutes. They 
touched nothing that they did not defile ; and 
would eat over a whole prairie, and still be 
lean. 
Outside the show-ground, at Springfield, 
at the late National Show, were two great 
timber-heeled and timber-framed brutes, 
brought for “ show ” outside, and put in a 
tent. They were 17 or 18 hands high, lean 
ingflesh, with frames like a mastodon. Half 
a dozen of us, in going across lots from the 
show-ground to town, fell in with them 
standing in a fence corner. Every one of our 
company, I believe, were Kentuckians, ex- 
