Page:The Evolution of British Cattle.djvu/93

 "Survey of Staffordshire," for instance, some enormous cattle with white faces and white backs and under-lines, are figured as old Staffordshire cattle. But perhaps the most valuable statement of all is that to be found about Lord Scudamore in Cooke's continuation to Duncumb's "Collections towards the History and Antiquities of the County of Hereford." Scudamore, whose family had been famous for generations for their horsemanship and breed of horses, was a friend of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and, when the latter was assassinated in 1628, retired to his estate at Holme Lacy and devoted himself to agricultural improvements. His retirement was twice interrupted, first in 1634 by his becoming Ambassador in Paris for four years, and again in 1643 by his being imprisoned for three years for rebellion. He is credited with having introduced the red-streak apple, and so turned Hereford into a county of orchards and cider; and also with having introduced the cattle from which the present Herefords are descended. Cooke's statement is as follows: "Francis Hereford, son of Roger Hereford, a merchant of Dunkirk, married in the Netherlands and left several children. Roger Hereford, a younger son, also a merchant at Dunkirk, becoming a naturalised subject, was on three occasions chief magistrate of that city. These gentlemen are traditionally credited with