290 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Ayrshire breeders have, for many years, been driving 

 at that point— namely, good milking qualities, and I 

 regret to say that I fear they have done so to the neg- 

 lect of the ieeding qualities. A recent v/riter, speaking 

 of Ayrshires, says, that one cause of the pleuro-pneu- 

 monia is that they are bred too fine, and I am of 

 opinion that there is some truth in this. The same 

 writer also said, that if a breeder has a first-rate bull, 

 he was put to his nearest relations, to his own mother, 

 daughters, or cousins, thus breeding too much in-and- 

 in. Whatever causes operate to produce the effect, I 

 do not pretend to say ; but it is an acknowledged fact 

 the Ayrshire breed are deficient in beef and gi'owing 

 qualities. They are, generally speaking, narrow in the 

 chest, and cannot have a large development of lungs, 

 so that they may be predisposed to take injury or catch 

 cold." 



The difference between the two is yet fur- 

 ther demonstrated. If the Shorthorn is fed up 

 the Ayrshire is as systematically fed down. Mr. 

 Gray, of Bearside, was once leaving the house 

 of a friend where he had been to buy 

 a bull, when he saw an Ayrshire calf which could 

 scarcely move about. He asked what was the matter ? 

 " IVothing," said his friend, " only we must starve the 

 calves the first year to make them fine, or they would 

 grow up large coarse animals." 



The point of the debate was, nevertheless, all in 

 favour of the Shorthorn. As a cross for almost any 

 kind of Scotch cattle there is clearly nothing equal to 

 them. *• Mr. Bates, of Kirklevington, once told me 

 (Mr. Home) he had got a lot of West Highland heifers, 

 and put Shorthorn bulls to them; thus producing 

 the most admirable animals he ever saw — pictures of 

 many of which he had hung on his walls." Mr. 

 Stobie, of Ballochneck, not only confirmed this, but 

 went oa to mention that lie exhibited two cross-bred 

 heiiers at the recent show of fat cattle at Glasgow- 

 one of which gained the first prize, and was out of a 

 small Ayrshire cow, by a pure Shorthorn bull ; it was 

 a very fine animal, and admired by every one. " He 

 had no hesitation in saying the Shorthorns, and first 

 crosses were the easiest fattened breed, and in times 

 like the^^e, when the farmer must get his goods quickly 

 to market, they were the best." Mr. M'Nellan had 

 found the Shorthorn the easiest fed, and a cross be- 

 tween the Shorthorn and Ayrshire exceedingly useful — 

 in fact, as easily fed as the Shorthorns; and, while 

 he had reared this class to 50 stone, he could not rear 

 an Ayrshire to more than 35. And Mr. Chrystal was 



of opinion that a Shorthorn bull with Angus cows would 

 make an excellent animal ; but, if such were done, 

 he would stick to the first cross, and never cross again. 



The Chairman, in his reply, even took up the 

 cudgels for the Shorthorns on their weak point : "The 

 milking qualities of the Shorthorns were fully equal to 

 the Ayrshire. All the dairies in London were filled 

 with Shorthorns, and the Londoners were pretty well 

 up to the way of getting most value for their money. 

 He had known one Shorthorn cow that gave 18 Scotch 

 pints (36 quarts imperial) of milk per day, and the 

 amount of butter he did not recollect, but it was 

 something immense ; while at Keir he believed there 

 was a Shorthorn cow which was a most magnificent 

 milker. All this went to show that the Shorthorn 

 breed contains all the good milking properties, but 

 they had been destroyed by endeavouring too much to 

 get a monstrous fat beast." There is a great deal of 

 truth and sound sense in all this. Indeed, we must 

 especially compliment Mr. Homo upon the manifest 

 justice with which all his remarks were made, as well 

 as upon the great attention he has clearly given to his 

 subject. Cattle are not merely fed too highly for 

 breeding purposes, but even it is said for that of con- 

 sumption. A London surgeon has recently been alarm- 

 ing the town by a declaration — founded upon -post 

 mortcin examination — that there was scarcely a beast 

 exhibited at the Smithfield Club Show but was so 

 grossly o^ er-fattened as to be unfit for human food ! 

 Without going quite so far, the abuse at our summer 

 stock shows is altogether indisputable. Scotland itself 

 affords a very recent and striking example of this. 

 The famous " John O'Groat," the first-prize bull this 

 year at both the English and Scotch national meetings, 

 and one of the grandest Shorthorns ever seen, has since 

 died. Mr. Home, " for one, however, was not alto- 

 gether unprepared to hear of such an event. If an 

 animal is fed up to a state quite unlike healthy nature, as 

 the rage is at present, what else can be exptcted ?" This 

 may not be very palatable to some of our Iriends, but a 

 home truth may do them more good than they may at 

 first be willing to admit. 



We have followed out this discussion with much 

 interest and satisfaction, and hope ere long to have to 

 chronicle some such similar inquiry on this side of 

 the Border. The new number of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society's Journal has a very able paper on the 

 Implement Show at Salisbury, but not one word as to 

 the live stock. And yet our "different breeds of 

 cattle" is no so unimportant a thesis, after all. 



THE CONDUCT OF THE PARIS MEAT TRADE. 



We recently referred to the price of cattle in France 

 and England, showing that the British grazier had no 

 reason to fear a competition with our French neigh- 

 bours. We now publish, on page 292, of this num- 

 ber, a paper on the i)roduction and consumption of 

 meat in France, and the effect of the present law upon 

 the price of meat, in Paris particularly, and generally 

 throughout France. We are sure that tliis paper will 

 not only be perused with interest by the English gra- 

 zier, but it will excite some surprise at the clumsy 

 apparatus set to work for the regulation of the 

 sale of meat by the French Government, to the 

 destruction of all competition, and the encourage- 

 ment of every species of fraud and peculation on the 

 one hand, and unmerciful exaction of dues necessary 

 to support the system on the other. Between the pub- 

 lie taxes and the private plunder— the latter connived 



at by the functionaries specially employed to protect 

 the public interests— both the producer and the con- 

 sumer are robbed right and left ; whilst the only persons 

 benefited by the system are the butchers, who make 

 enormous profits. In the mean while, the production 

 and grazing of cattle decrease in France, ami the qua- 

 lity of what is produced is deteriorated by the operation 

 of the law, and the ruinous deductions between the 

 grazier and the consumer; and the consumption is 

 checked by reason of the high price of meat, the 

 consequence of the prohibitory exactions, amounting to 

 about 3^d. per kilo, on ox and cow beef, 4|d. on veal, 

 and 6|d. on mutton; or on an average from If d. to 3|^d. 

 per lb. 



The enhancement of price, however, is not the only 

 evil of the system. By the law, the butchers are bound 

 to make four kinds or classes of meat, and also to sell 



