and determined to improve the
local Shorthorn breed near his own home, which had been described in
1744 as 'the most profitable beasts for the dairyman, butcher, and
grazier, with their wide bags, short horns, and large bodies.' He was
to make these 'profitable beasts' the best all-round cattle in the
world, and to succeed where George Culley had failed. The first bull
of merit he possessed was 'Hubback',[511] described as a little
yellow, red, and white five-year-old, which was mated with cows
afterwards to be famous, named Duchess, Daisy, Cherry, and Lady
Maynard. At first Colling was against in-breeding, and not until 1793
did he adopt it, more by accident than intention, but the experiment
being successful he became an enthusiast. The experiment was the
putting of Phoenix to Lord Bolingbroke, who was both her half-brother
and her nephew, and the result was the famous Favourite. A young
farmer who saw Favourite and his sister at Darlington in 1799, was so
struck by them that he paid Colling the first 100 guineas ever given
for a Shorthorn cow.[512]

One of Hubback's daughters had in 1795, by Favourite, a roan calf
which grew to be the celebrated Durham Ox, which at five and a half
years weighed 3,024 lb., and was sold for L140. It was sold again for
L250, the second purchaser refusing L2,000 for it, and taking it round
England on show made a profitable business out of it, in one day in
London making L97. A still more famous animal was the bull Comet, born
1804, which at the great sale in 1810 fetched 1,000 guineas. This bull
was the crowning triumph of Colling's career and the result of very
close breeding, being described as the best bull ever seen, with a
fine masculine head, broad and deep chest, shoulders well laid back,
loins good, hind-quarters long, straight and well packed, thighs
thick, with nice straight hocks and hind legs. Perhaps Colling thought
he had pursued in-and-in breeding too far, at all events in 1810 he
dispersed his famous herd. The sale was held at a most propitious
time, for the Durham Ox had advertised the name of Colling far and
wide, and owing to the war prices were very high. Comet fetched 1,000
guineas, and the other forty-seven lots averaged L151 8s. 5d., an
unheard-of sale, yet all the auctioneer got was 5 guineas, much of the
work of the sale falling on the owner, and the former sold the stock
with a sand-glass.

After the sale at Ketton, Brampton, the farm of Charles's brother
Rob