132 ON THE AYESHIEE BllEED OF CATTLE. 



mittecl ; but, in absence of authentic records bearing on tlie 

 point, it is impossible to show by what progi'essive steps the 

 Ayrshire cow was moulded into the form it possessed at the 

 middle of last century ; yet it is reasonable to imagine that 

 very little had been clone in the way of selection or crossing 

 with superior animals of the same tjjye up to that time ; for 

 Aiton, who wrote in 1825, describes the cattle, from his own 

 recollection, as having been a puny and unshapely race. The cows 

 then gave only 6 to 8 quarts of milk per day, and seldom exceeded 

 20 stones when made fat, even in the height of the season. 



So much for the supposed origin of the breed. The records 

 hearing on the improvement are much more reliable. Still, the 

 statements of writers are not unmixed with tradition, but so 

 many facts have been preserved from the pens of those who can 

 be trusted, that it is not a difficult matter to find connecting 

 links in the history of the Ayrshire, from the middle of last 

 century until the present time. 



The first mention of the Ayrshire breed of cattle is supposed 

 to be made by Ortelius, who wrote in 1573, when he says that 

 " in Carrick are oxen of large size, whose flesh is tender, and 

 sweet, and juicy." Compared with other native breeds, as the 

 Xortli Highlander, the Ayrshire might then, as indeed it is now, 

 be comparatively large. For about 200 years after Ortelius 

 wrote, little mention is made of the Ayrshire, from which it 

 may be inferred that the breed was not held in any wonderful 

 degree of esteem ; in fact, Culley, who wrote his treatise on live 

 stock towards the close of the 18th century, does not even 

 mention the Ayrshire as one of the recognised breeds of the 

 country ; and Fullarton, in describing the county in which it 

 was found, speaks of it in a manner so general as to show that 

 it was not regarded as anything remarkable. 



Little progress, however, could be expected in the breeding 

 and rearing of cattle, when the agricultural condition of the 

 country is considered. The almost total neglect of land culture 

 has been ascribed to the religious feuds and dissensions which, 

 the inhabitants of this part of Scotland passed through for a 

 protracted period previous to the year 1780, bringing upon them 

 the usual concomitants of poverty, misery, and squalor. Colonel 

 Fullarton, in his survey of Ayrshire, says that there were few 

 good roads in the county ; that the farm-houses were miserable 

 and dilapidated ; that the land was foul with weeds, and that 

 there were no fallows, no green crops, no sown grasses, no carts 

 nor waggons, and no straw-yards. Milk and oatmeal, with a 

 few greens, formed the chief diet of the people, and the land 

 was scourged with successive crops of oats. Cattle were herded 

 or tethered on the bare pastures in summer, and in winter, so poor 

 and meagre was their fare, that they were scarcely able to rise in 



