116 
IMPROVED SHORTHORNS—BATES 5 STOCK. 
Oxford premium cow, the dam of Mr. Vail’s 
Wellington, was by Duke of Cleveland, (1,937,) 
and her half sister, Oxford 2d was by Short 
Tail, (2,621,) and both out of Matchem cow. 
Duke of Cleveland and Short Tail had the same 
precise amount of Duchess blood, and of 
course Oxford premium cow and Oxford 2d had 
the same precise amount. Mr. Bates never re¬ 
tained an animal out of Oxford premium cow, 
which he could - sell, and always sold them at 
low prices for him; he never used a bull out of 
her to anything or for any purpose, even to get 
steers ; he never sold any of the produce of Ox¬ 
ford 2d, and in a letter to Mr. Vail, printed in 
the Agriculturist, he says he would not take 500 
guineas, ($2,500,) a-piece for the four he then 
had, and indeed, would not sell them at any 
price. Mr. Bates used the full brothers and the 
sons of Oxford 2d to all his herd; and he was 
right in his choice, for Oxford 2d, her brothers 
and her produce are all superior to Oxford pre¬ 
mium cow and her produce. 
Duke of Cleveland, (1,937,) the sire of the dam 
of Mr. Vail’s Duke of Wellington, (3,654,) was a 
Duchess bull, and was so inferior that Mr Bates, 
(in The New Farmer’s Journal, Aug. 8, 1842,) 
says of him, “ this bull never exceeded in weight 
forty stones of 14 pounds per stone, when above 
three years oldthat is 560 pounds dead weight, 
not half the proper weight. Duke of Northum¬ 
berland, (1,940,) at the same age, weighed live 
weight, 2,520 pounds; sink one third for live 
weight, and his dead weight would be 1,680 
pounds, just three times the weight of Duke of 
Cleveland. Could anything as a shorthorn be 
worse than Mr. Bates shows Duke of Cleveland 
(1,937.) to have been? Yet he had more Duch¬ 
ess blood than Duke of Northumberland, (1,940,) 
by one half! 
The second best bull as an individual, ever 
bred by Mr. Bates, was 1st Duke of Cambridge, 
(3,637,) a distinguished winner, (and full brother 
of 3d Duke of Cambridge,) an animal for which 
he was offered more money than any other, ex¬ 
cept Duke of Northumberland; yet 1st Duke of 
Cambridge had only a fourth as much Duchess 
blood as Duke of Cleveland (1,937) ! 1st Duke 
of Cambridge was refused by Mr. Bates to Earl 
Spencer, at a large price, and when sold to 
Australia, Mr. Bates said of him, “ he is too 
good to remain in England, out of my own herd.” 
So he was exported, when only 21 months old. 
Mr. Bates’ Duchess bull, Short Tail, sire 
of Mr. Vail’s Wellington, had more Duchess 
blood than Belvedere, (1,706,) for Belvedere had 
none; yet, Short Tail was an inferior-looking 
animal, deficient in every point, except his 
brisket and his handling, and was at best only 
a moderate getter, while Belvedere was mag¬ 
nificent as an animal, and the best getter that 
Mr. Bates ever used, and the sire of the best an¬ 
imals he ever bred. Mr. Renick, the agent of 
the Ohio Cattle Company, to England, to pur¬ 
chase for them, said of Belvedere, “ that he was 
the best and finest bull he ever saw in England 
or America.” The best cow I saw in Mr. Bates’ 
herd, was a Duchess, and was not got by a Duch¬ 
ess bull, but was by Belvedere, (1,706,); the 
poorest of the whole herd was a Duchess, and 
was got by a Duchess bull; the only other Duch¬ 
ess, got by a Duchess bull, was a very superior 
cow, and the second best I saw in the herd. 
These last two cows were equal in Duchess 
blood, and yet their produce was like them¬ 
selves, from the one superior, and from the 
other inferior. 
Having shown Mr. C. in error, and proved 
that my position may be true, and not in conse¬ 
quence of the reasons he assigns, let me state 
what my words, quoted by Mr. Chapman, were 
intended to mean, only do mean, and can only 
be made to mean, by any fair construction. I 
mean, that Cambridge will impart Mr. Bates’ 
blood in some degree more or less; that in him¬ 
self he is the bull having the most “ style, qual¬ 
ity, symmetry, and substance,” of all that have 
ever come to America from Mr. Bates’ herd; 
that if breeders desire Mr. Bates’ blood, they can, 
in Cambridge’s produce, obtain it, and with it, 
more “style, quality, symmetry, and substance,” 
than in the produce of any other bull from Mr. 
Bates’ herd in America, and through the chan¬ 
nel of a resembling and superior son of Mr. 
Bates’ best bull. Mr. Chapman tacitly admits 
my positions when construed as I have here set 
them forth. But he makes another issue. I admit 
that Mr. Vail’s Wellington, has more Duchess 
blood than Cambridge. I never thought, never 
said, he had not, and never wrote nor spoke 
a sentence that would directly nor indirect¬ 
ly indicate such a thing, and but from mis¬ 
conception, or design, I never should have been 
charged directly, nor by inference, with the as¬ 
sertion that from “ Mr. Sherwood, and from him 
alone , the Duchess blood can be procured,” in 
this country; nor with this, viz: “that Cam¬ 
bridge has more Duchess blood than any bull 
of Mr. Bates’ breeding, in America.” 
Mr. Chapman institutes a comparison between 
Mr. Vail’s animals, and Cambridge, in point of 
Duchess blood, giving pedigrees. I could in¬ 
vestigate those pedigrees, and will do so here¬ 
after. He wisely makes no comparison between 
these animals in their physical character. I 
could, but will not now, though I may hereafter. 
I will merely say that excellence in the physi¬ 
cal animal, consists of “ style, quality, symmetry 
and substance;” and excellence in blood, con¬ 
sists in having good blood, unmixed with bad 
blood; and it is necessary that animals should 
have their descent not only from pure blood, 
but from animals which have physical excel¬ 
lence. “ Like produces like.” 
I know Mr. Bates’ herd; and I say that hav¬ 
ing cattle of another tribe, the only animals I 
would use for a cross on mine, are those of the 
Duchess tribe, if I could get that cross prop¬ 
erly descended in blood and from ancestors with 
physical excellence. I am not to be instructed 
in the excellence of Mr. Bates’ Duchess tribe by 
those who never saw a single animal of it. 
When I shall not be charged, as I have been 
with views and purposes I have never enter¬ 
tained, I shall return to Mr. Chapman’s article, 
and will further consider it. 
March., 1850. A. Stevens. 
