140 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and growing yet darker about the head, always was a very questionable color 

 for a trite .Vorth Devon, more especially when accompanied by a dark nose, 1 



IVie Hair should be short, thick, and fine ; and if showing on its surface 

 a fine curl, or rijiple, it lool.s richer in color, and is supposed to indicate a 

 hardier and more thrifty animal, 1 



The Udder should be such as will afford the best promise of cajjacity 

 and product, 1 



The Carriage— The Devons having, from their excellence in the yoke, 



another destiny besides that of the butcher's block, it is all important that 



the animal's carriage should indicate as much ; but to obtain this, some- 



• thing of the heavy, inert, squarely moulded frame of the merely beefing 



animal must be relinquished lor a lighter and more active frame, 3 



(Quality — On this the thrifiiness, the feeding properties, and the value 

 of the animal depend; and upon the touch of this quality rests, in a good 

 measure, the grazier's and the butcher's judgment. If the " touch" be 

 good, some deficiency of form may be excused ; but if it be hard and stiff, 

 nothing can compensate for so unj)romising a feature. In raising the skin 

 from the body, between the thumb and the finger, it should have a soft, 

 flexible and substantial feel, and when beneath the out-s])read hand, it should 

 move easily, with it, and under it as though resting on a soft, elastic, 

 cellular substance ; which, however, becomes firmer as the animal " ripens." 

 A thin papery skin is objectionable, more especially in a cold climate, 15 



100 

 ' Points of the Devon Bull. 



As regards the male animal, it is only necessary to remark, that the points 

 desirable in the female are generally so in the male, but must, of course, be at- 

 tended by that masculine character which is insejxirable from a stro :g, vigorous 

 constitution. Even a certain degree of coarseness is admissible, but then it 

 must be so exclusively of a masculine description as never to be discovered in 

 the females of his get. 



In contradistinction to the cow's, the head of the bull may be shorter, the 

 frontal bone broader, and the occipital flat and stronger, that it may receive and 

 sustain the horn — and this latter may be excused if a little heavy at the base, 

 so its upward form, its quality and color, be right. Neither is the looseness of 

 the skin, attL^ched to, and depcruling from the under jaw, to be deemed other 

 than a feature of the sex, provided it is not extended beyond the bone, but 

 leaves the gullet and throat clean and free from dewlap. 



The upper portion of the neck should be full and muscular, for it is an indi- 

 cation of strength, power and constitution. The spine should be strong, the 

 bones of the loin, long and broad, and the whole muscular system wide and 

 thoroughly developed over the entire frame. 



