breed as far back as it can be traced. Of late years some controversy has arisen as to which is the oldest color, but without much progress towards a settlement of the question. Some of the cattle of Wales were spoken of more than eight hundred years ago, as " white, with red ears." Herefordshire adjoins Wales, and some persons are inclined to the opinion that in the gray and lighter colors of the Hereford cattle, are to be traced an affinity with the Welsh breed mentioned, which, according to the authorities who speak of it, was held in high estimation. The late Rev. J. R. Smythies, of Lynch Court, Herefordshire, for forty years an extensive and noted breeder of these cattle, in a communication to the Mark-Lane Express, said: "The grays are considered the oldest breed;" and Mr. E. F. Welles, in a published letter on "The Color, Form, and Breeding of Hereford cattle," in speaking of Mr. Tomkins's herd and its management, remarks that Mr. T. "was a disregarder" of color, "but if he had a preference, it was, perhaps, to the gray, a color he began with and esteemed to the last."

It is worthy of notice that at the time Mr. Eyton commenced the Herd-Book of Hereford Cattle, in 1846, it was thought important to recognize four colors as legitimately belonging to the breed. Hence in recording the pedigrees, he inserted the letters "M. F." for mottle-faced; "W. F." for white-faced; "G." for gray; "L. G." for light-gray. Colored portraits of bulls, drawn and engraved on stone by Mr. Welles, representing these four colors, are inserted in the first volume of the HerdBook. It may be well to explain that the so-called gray color is not just like what is called roan, in Short-horns. Mr. Duckham, who has edited the Herd-Book since the second volume, in his lecture on the Hereford breed of cattle, before the members of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, thus describes the grays, or dark-grays, as they are called in contradistinction to the light-grays: "They were so called from the white stripe which extended the whole length of the back, and also from the parts usually now white on the

different parts of the body being thickly interspersed with small red spots." Some of the light-grays have a more intimate intermingling of light-red and white on the sides of their bodies, producing a rich color, not unlike a strawberry-roan. There is evidently a tendency in these light-grays to run to a still lighter color in the progeny-reverting, perhaps, to the old Welsh stock before alluded to. The Mark-Lane Express reporter of the Birmingham fat-stock show of 1857, said: “Is there such a thing as a white Hereford? There was one entered and shown as such," &c. Mr. Duckham answered the query through the same paper, in the affirmative. Subsequently the writer of this article saw at the exhibition of the Royal Agricultural Society at Chester, a white Hereford cow, shown by Thomas Taylor. She was a handsome cow, with all the Hereford characteristics of shape and handling. Beauty, the dam of the bulls Conservative and Young Brockswood, 478 and 486 of the Herd-Book, is described as white. Yet she was a prize-winner, and when fourteen years old, had been the mother of fourteen calves, several of which were very fine. Conservative was red with a white face, and Young Brockswood was a light-gray. His portrait is given as the representative of that family, in the first volume of the Herd-Book. But of late years the prevailing taste among the Hereford breeders has been in favor of the red with white face color, and the result is that the other colors have been constantly diminishing.

It appears that Mr. Tomkins's herd for a long time maintained its ascendency as the chief nucleus for the dissemination of blood with which to improve other herds. H. H. Dixon, in a prize essay on Hereford cattle, lately published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, relates a conversation which he had with the late John Monkhouse, a well-known breeder of Herefords, that indicates something of the high estimation in which the Tomkins stock was once held. Mr. Monkhouse stated that when, in 1809, he was about to commence business, and was looking around for materials to form the basis of a

herd, he thought it might be expedient to purchase some of the Tomkins stock, and therefore called on Mr. T. to ascertain on what terms animals could be obtained. "He asked," said Mr.

Monkhouse, "a hundred guineas (not pounds) for an in-calf heifer to calve at Christmas." The price seems to have taken the young farmer so much aback that he deferred the purchase of any of Mr. Tomkins's stock.

Other portions of Mr. Monkhouse's remarks, as given by Mr. Dixon, show that the Hereford breeders of sixty years ago were inclined to propagate their stock somewhat in families, according to the colors that have been mentioned. Mr. M. said he found Tomkins, Price and Smythies "the great mottle-faced men;" that Tully and Knight "had the best light-grays;" and that Walker, Hewer, Yeomans, and Weyman "were the most noted for the white-faces." Notwithstanding the remark in reference to Mr. Tomkins's herd being noted for the mottlefaces, and other statements indicating the partiality of that gentleman for the grays, Mr. Eyton, in his account of Mr. Tomkins's herd, in the appendix to the first volume of the Herd Book, says the bull often referred to as the "Silver Bull," Mr. Tomkins "always considered as the first great improver of his stock," and that "he was a red bull with a white face, and with a little white on his back."

We have not been able to ascertain the precise date of the death of the pioneer improver of Herefords, but the sale of his herd took place on the 18th day of October, 1819, which Mr. Eyton states was soon after Mr. Tomkins's death. His career as a breeder must therefore have extended through a period of more than fifty years. At the sale, fifty-two head of cattle, including one bullock, six two-year-old steers, ten yearling steers, six steer calves, and three heifer calves, brought an average of £89 17s. 6d. each. A two-year-old bull was sold to Lord Talbot for £588; three other bulls brought £147, £162 15s., and £173 58. each. Six cows brought from £210 to £273 each.

Before the death of Tomkins, not a few other men had taken up the breeding of Herefords professionally, and aided in extending their fame. Next to Tomkins in point of time, appears to have been Tully of Huntington, who worked chiefly with the grays, and with such success that his stock, under the name of "the Huntington breed," became celebrated. Tully of Clirow was noted both as a breeder and grazier. Thomas Andrew Knight, the eminent pomologist-well-known on both sides of the Atlantic for his valuable labors in the origination of new varieties of fruits, and for his writings on that subject-was a distinguished breeder of Herefords, his fancy also inclining to the grays.

Early in the present century, John Walker, of Burton, near Worcester, John Price, of Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, and the Rev. J. R. Smythies, of Lynch Court, near Hereford, were prominent breeders. There were other breeders of less note. The formation of the Smithfield Club-first called "The Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society"-in the year 1798, no doubt greatly aided in bringing the Herefords conspicuously before the public, and in making them known not only throughout Britain, but also on the continent of Europe, and in America. The object of this association was to encourage the economical production of good meat. Its early exhibitions brought together the best specimens of the leading breeds of cattle and sheep in the kingdom. There can be no question that, at this period, the Herefords stood clearly above any other breed of cattle for fattening properties and quality of beef combined. At the first exhibition of the Club in 1799, Mr. Westcar took the first prize with a Hereford ox, which the History of the Club states was sold for a hundred guineas; also that he was 8 feet 11 inches long, 6 feet 7 inches high, and 10 feet 4 inches round the girth. It appears that this ox was bred by Tully of Huntington. It is also stated that a Hereford ox, exhibited at the same time by Mr. Grace, of Buckinghamshire, was 7 feet high, and measured in girth 12 feet 4 inches. The record does

not give the names of all the prize-takers at this exhibition, but it states that besides Mr. Westcar, the Duke of Bedford, Mr. Edmonds, and Mr. John Ellman were "winners," the last named gentleman "for the best ox fattened with grass and hay only, in the shortest time from the yoke." Mr. Duckham, in his lecture before alluded to, remarks in reference to the awards on this occasion, that as the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Ellman were both breeders of Herefords, it is fair to infer that three out of the four winnings mentioned were with Herefords.

The records of the Club state that in 1800 the cattle prizes were won by Herefords, Sussex, and Long-horns. The records of the shows of 1801, '2, '3, '4, '5, and '6 are stated by Mr. Gibbs, in his History of the Club, to be incomplete, and it is therefore impracticable to tell how the awards were made. There is some probability, however, that the first prizes for oxen during these years were for Herefords, as it has been stated that Mr. Westcar, who took the first prizes in 1799, also took the first prize with a Hereford steer or ox for twenty years in succession. On this point Mr. Duckham quotes the following from a letter of Mr. Arnsby, in Bell's Weekly Messenger, May, 1857: "Mr. Westcar took the first prize with a Hereford ox for twenty years in succession, at the London Cattle Show, which was open to all kinds of cattle against Mr. Westcar." It should be stated, however, that the rules of the Club were not always the same. From its formation to 1807, inclusive, all breeds competed together. From 1807 to 1815, inclusive, separate prizes for fat oxen or steers were offered for Herefords, Long-horns, Short-horns, Sussex or Kent, Devons, and Mixed Breeds, with an additional prize "for the best ox or steer in these classes." It was provided that "the animals exhibited for the above premiums must have worked at least two years ending the 1st of January, 1807, and must not have been put to fatten previous to that day. No cake must have been given previous to the 5th of April, and the whole of the food con