NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 11, 1886 
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1888, by the Rural New-Yorker In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
A new impetus was given to breed¬ 
ing stock at that period by the won¬ 
derful effects produced by the genius of Rob¬ 
ert Bakewel), of Dishley, with Leicester sheep, 
Loug-hom cattle and cart horses. His method 
in breeding was to select animals of the best 
blood, possessing as nearly as possible the form 
he needed for the objects he had in view. He 
then bred them strictly in their own families, 
breeding in-aud-in as closely as possible—often 
daughter to father and mother to son—so long 
as constitution, vigor, quality, health and fe¬ 
cundity remained unimpaired. He never went 
outside of the family except when he found 
specimens elsewhere which he considered 
would still further improve his stock. By 
this means he concentrated in the members of 
one family all the virtues he sought to per¬ 
petuate so firmly as to eudue them with the 
faculty of transmitting their special qualities 
to a greater extent than had ever before been 
possible by any system of breeding. This sys¬ 
tem was inferred from Bake well's practice, for 
he never disclosed his methods; and, with few 
slight modifications, it is the same as that by 
following which the most celebrated subse¬ 
quent breeders of all kinds of live stock have 
accomplished their highest successes. 
Among the interested visitors to Dishley 
were two young men, Robert and Charles Col- 
hng, sons of a substantial Teeswater farmer 
and breeder, who were about to start in busi¬ 
ness on their own account During several 
visits they carefully examined Bakewell's 
stock, learned all they could of his system, 
and on their return north, applied what they 
had learned to the breeding of the Short-horn 
‘-attle of their district, being more fortunate 
ujarauu wj scars witn than was 
Bakewell with the Long-horn cattle of his sec¬ 
tion. Beginning business jointly in 1780, they 
amicably separated three years later—Robert, 
about 30, and a confirmed bachelor, settling 
on a farm at Barmpton, and Charles, married, 
though a couple of years younger, takin°- an¬ 
other farm at Ketton. The farms were near 
enough to each other to allow the 
use the same bull in the same < 
sons, while each profited by the other’ 
euce. Each, however, had his 
fully selected from the 
SHORT-HORNS. 
“Saxon and Norman and Dane are we,” the 
Euglish say of themselves and, according to 
tradition, the same may be said to a limited 
extent of Short-horn cattle, the most highly 
prized and widely-diffused breed among the 
English-speaking race. In England, Ireland, 
Scotland and Wales theii- preseuco and influ¬ 
ence are everywhere. In Canada and the 
United States they have found so congenial a 
home that the choicest and highest-priced spec¬ 
imens of the breed have been developed on this 
side of the water. In Australia and New Zea¬ 
land they arc prized as highly as on the banks 
of the Tees. Nor are their praises unsounded 
in foreign tongues. 
They are improving the 
standard of the coarse, 
shaggy herds of Russia. 
The best German breeders 
profit by their merits. In 
spite of the high opinion 
which France entertains of 
her own choice breeds, 
many Short-horns are im¬ 
ported for the improve¬ 
ment of her herds. Even 
Japau has been European¬ 
ized in her appreciation of < 
Short-horns, as well as in 
other resects. 
Wide as is the fame . : • : 
of the breed to-day, how- . , V, v .. 
ever, until about a century V » 
ago their reputation was 
confined to the counties of * 
Durham, York,Westmore- CfCw 
land and Northumberland. v 
The cattle of the two first- / }y, . ■ 
named counties, on either i ';’ . ' .; ; £ 
side of the river Tees, had 
for several centuries been i i‘/ S. 
celebrated for yielding,un- ^ 
der generous treatment, ft'-'V r , 
larger quantities of milk „• . ;. 
than any other breed ou ,• . A 
the island. They were 
generally wide-backed, , 
well-formed animals, deep 
in the fore-quarters, soft V ' 
and mellow ui the hair 
and “handling,’’late to ma- : ^ 
turo, though afterwards 
they fattened rapidly and ' ( -?■ '„ 
gave heavy weights of 
coarse-grained, dark-col- . , -V.-l 
ored flesh whose flavor was ‘ b'H * •; 
inferior to that of the . 
smaller breeds. Their ' • / ‘$k 
horns were somewhat Yjfii 
larger than those of their ;MfA 
descendants, and widened 1 , >!'/■*- i> 
upwards. Their shoulders ty j'j 
aud hijis were unduly pro- / jA.' 
imnent; they lacked length r 
in the kiud-quartei-s, width , y f, 
in the chest and fullness ■ if A'' 
before and behind the 
shoulder itself. They were 
unduly large-lxdlied and \ 
uneven in appearance ow¬ 
ing to their failure to take 
ou flesh evenly and firmly. 
Such were the beasts out 
of which the present breed 
of Improved Short-horn 
cattle was developed. 
The year 1780 marks the 
beginning of a new era in 
the history of Short-horns. 
brothers to 
or alternate sea- 
-’’s experi- 
! own cows care- 
surrounding Short¬ 
horn herds, the choice of every purchased ani¬ 
mal beiug determined by its possession of some 
particular excellence which the purchaser 
wished to introduce into his own stock 
Thus they labored, Charles for thirty years and 
Robert for forty, making such marked im¬ 
provements in the herds 
they bred that, under their 
management, the Short¬ 
horn race attained an 
unprecedented popularity 
which has continued to in¬ 
crease and spread until to- 
, . Jay. 
On the sale of the Ket- 
^V.,, herd, 0 f 18 bulls and 
cows* and heifers, in 
jjc • 1S10, and of theBannptom 
herd of 18 bulls and 89 
9 c °ws and heifers, in two 
* ots > in 1818 and 1>“0, the 
choice results of the la- 
raffik bors, skill and 
expenence 
of the Collings were scat¬ 
tered among the best 
breeders of the day, who 
eagerly competed for them 
at unprecedentedly high 
figures. Among these 
breeders the most cele¬ 
brated were Thomas 
Booth, founder of the 
Booth Shorthorn herd, and 
Thomas Bates, founder of 
the Bates herd. The form¬ 
er was a neighbor and 
rival of the Collings, 
having begun breeding 
in 1777 on a farm near 
Studley Park, although 
the legitimate foundation 
of his herd was not laid 
till 1 1 90 at his Killerby 
and Warlaby estates near 
Darlington, Yorkshire, 
not far from Barmpton 
and Ketton. His two 
sons, Richard and John, 
joined him in breeding, 
and after his death, in 
1887, succeeded him, the 
former at Warlaby and 
the latter at Killerby. On 
the death of Richard, in 
1864, his nephew, T. C. 
Booth, inherited the War¬ 
laby estate and soon made 
the Warlaby herd the fin¬ 
est representative o f 
Booth blood. To this 
blood belong some of the 
most famous Short-horn 
tribes, such as the Fair- 
holme or Blossom, the 
Bright E cs, the Halnaby 
or. Strawberry, the Brace¬ 
let, Isabella. Farewell, 
Boughton, Dairymaid or 
Moss Rose tribes, all of 
which, whether belonging 
to the Studley, Killerby, 
GOLDEN THISTLE 
