CHAPTER XII. 



THE AYRSHIRES. 



THE third, and with dairymen, the most important variety 

 among the Scottish cattle, now comes under our notice. All 

 the authorities respecting the origin and history of this noted 

 breed, are condensed and fully treated in Youatt. We have read 

 and studied several English and Scottish writers on them, and 

 heard tales innumerable ; but as they more or less quote Youatt, 

 and his authorities, we conclude to make him responsible for 

 them all, and add only such observations, as our own personal 

 acquaintance of some twenty-five years with them has made us 

 familiar. The increasing interest with which the Ayrshire -is 

 regarded in this country, will justify what we have thought 

 proper to insert from that generally correct author : 



"The county of Ayrshire extends along the eastern coast of 

 the Firth of Clyde, and the North Channel from Renfrew to 

 Wigtonshire, by'the former of which it is bordered on the north, 

 and by the latter on the south, while it has Kircudbright, Dum- 

 fries, and Lanark on the east. It is necessary to mention this, 

 in order that the reader may better comprehend the rapid distri- 

 bution of the Ayrshire cattle over all these districts. The 

 climate is moist but mild ; and the soil, with its produce, is 

 calculated to render it the finest dairy country in Scotland, and 

 equal perhaps to any in Great Britain. 



"Mr. Aiton, in his 'Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows,' 

 thus describes the Ayrshire cattle: 'The shapes most approved 

 of in the dairy breed, are as follows : 



