BKEED OF CATTLE. 301 



named, form the district in which the polls are chiefly reared. 

 A line drawn from Fort George on the Moray Firth to Dundee 

 on the Firth of Tay, constitutes the south-western geographical 

 limit ; on the north and east, the ocean is the boundary line. 

 The district :thus defined forms a large isosceles triangle having 

 for its base the north coast, and Dundee for its apex ; the entire 

 area embraced by the triangle being 2,857,968 acres. Of this 

 1,226,558 acres are regularly under cultivation ; two-fifths being 

 under corn crops, principally oats, with a moderate amount of 

 barley and very little wheat ; one-fifth under green crops, chiefly 

 turnips ; and the remaining two-fifths being occupied by grasses 

 under rotation. The uncultivated portion consists of high 

 mountain chains, large stretches of moor and morass, and ex- 

 tensive plantations. Some of the mountain peaks rise to a con- 

 siderable altitude. Thus it will be seen that the land to which 

 the breed is indigenous, or that to which it has in recent years 

 extended, is exceedingly diversified, varying in character from 

 well-sheltered valleys to bleak and barren moors, or from com- 

 paratively low grounds to high mountain peaks, rising almost to 

 the height of perpetual snow. 



The following shows the number of cattle within the district 

 in each year since th^ publication of the agricultural returns 

 issued by the Board of Trade : — 



The increase in the number of cattle during the past ten years 

 has been remarkably steady, being 79,114 in the aggregate, or 

 an uprise of )^.3 per cent. These figures are sufficient testimony 

 that there has been no apathy on the part of the farmers in this 

 part of Scotland, and it may safely be said that the improvement 

 in the individual character of the stock has been quite as 

 marked as that in the numbers. How many of the 319,000 

 cattle owe their parentage on both sides to the polled race 

 would, in the absence of statistics bearing directly on the point, 

 be difficult to say, but it is beyond dispute that a considerable 

 proportion belongs to the type under notice and its crosses. In 

 addition, there is still a somewhat large nuuiber of the native 

 homed breed in the liiiih-lvinLT lands; here and there a herd of 

 shorthorns and their affinities; a few AVi'st lliLrhlanders ; a 

 sprinkling of Ayrshires ; and a wonderful disi)lay of mongrels. 

 Saving shorthorns, where a pure henl is kept as at Sittyton, and 

 a few sires for crossing pur})oses, the black skin is gradually 

 encroaching on the domain of every other race, and bids fair in 



