ert, became the centre of interest to the Shorthorn world. Robert
obtained excellent prices for his stock, five daughters of his famous
bull George fetching 200 guineas each. Probably he, like his brother,
pursued in-and-in breeding too far, and in 1818 there was another
great sale; but war-prices had gone and agriculture was depressed, so
that the cattle fetched less than at Ketton, but still averaged L128
14s. 9d. for 61 lots, and 22 rams averaged L39 6s. 4d. Robert died in
1820, his brother in 1836.

It cannot be said that the Collings were the founders of a new breed
of cattle; they were the collectors and preservers of an ancient breed
that might otherwise have disappeared.[513] The object of good
breeders was now to get their cattle fat at an early age, and they so
far succeeded as to sell three-year-old steers for L20 apiece,
generally fed thus: in the first winter, hay and turnips; the
following summer, coarse pasture; the second winter, straw in the
foldyard and a few turnips; next summer, tolerable good pasture; and
the third winter, as many turnips as they could eat.[514]

Cattle at this time were classified thus: Shorthorns, Devons, Sussex,
Herefords (the two latter said by Culley to be varieties of the
Devon), Longhorned, Galloway or Polled, Suffolk Duns, Kyloes, and
Alderneys.

Sheep thus: the Dishley Breed (New Leicesters), Lincolns, Teeswaters,
Devonshire Notts, Exmoor, Dorsetshire, Herefordshire, Southdown,
Norfolk, Heath, Herdwick, Cheviot, Dunfaced, Shetland, Irish.[515]

With the increased demand for corn and meat from the towns the
necessity of new and better implements became apparent, and many
patents were taken out: by Praed, for drill ploughs, in 1781; by
Horn, for sowing machines, in 1784; by Heaton, for harrows, in 1787;
for sowing machines, by Sandilands, 1788; for reaping machines, by
Boyce, 1799; winnowing machines, by Cooch, 1800; haymakers, by Salmon,
1816; and for scarifiers, chaff-cutters, turnip-slicers, and
food-crushers.[516] But the great innovation was the threshing machine
of Meikle. Like most inventions, it had forerunners. The first
threshing machine is mentioned in the _Select Transactions of the
Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland_,
published in 1743 by Maxwell. It was invented by Michael Menzies, and
by it one man could do the work of six. One machine was worked by a
great water-wheel and triddles, another by a little wheel of 3 feet
diameter