288 AMERICAN CATTLE. 



natives,) to the British. The black and white Dutch had short 

 legs, tolerable heavy carcasses, and moderately good points. I 

 saw very few, perhaps none at all, of pure short-horns for I 

 presume the full bred males are too valuable to make into steers, 

 except a very few for the Smithfield fat cattle club show, annu- 

 ally, in December. But among the British cattle, on that Mon- 

 day I was at the yard, short-horn grades predominated in number 

 and good beef points, to all others, and to my surprise, the 

 butchers informed me that they ranked in general quality as 

 high as thorough bred Herefords and Devons. The Scotch 

 Highlanders still rank highest, the well bred Scotch black 

 polled, or Galloway, next, then come grade short-horns, Here- 

 fords and Devons pretty much all others go in one general 

 mass with foreign, except the Dutch. Some butchers might 

 have other fancies, and rank Herefords or Devons before short- 

 horn grades, but this was the general answer, so far as my 

 enquiries extended. When in Smithfield, in 1841, Devons 

 ranked next to the Scotch, then Herefords, then grade short- 

 horns, but these latter were fewer at that time in the country, 

 and coarser, and not so high graded as now, which, I suppose, 

 makes the difference. The Herefords, and Devons, lack in full- 

 ness between the hip-bones to the end of the rump. They are 

 often low and thin in that valuable point, in comparison with 

 the short-horns, and you cannot get so good rump pieces from 

 them as from the short-horns, and this for corned beef is one of 

 the most valuable parts of the carcass. These breeds, also, arc 

 deficient to the short-horns in breadth of loin ; I mean across the 

 hip-bones; also in the brisket, which is a valuable point. The 

 Devons had a little the advantage of the short-horn grades in 

 the crops the Herefords are about equal in these parts to them. 

 "In fact, I found the short-horns better here than I expected. 

 Then they handle so well, look so fine, and ripe, and mellow to 

 the eye, that I cannot compare any other beast to them. I may 



