COLOUR 59 



" of that yellow-red and white hue, which, though out of favour 

 at the present day, was then the prevailing colour of the 

 Shorthorn " : and not of the worst type either, for the 

 Stanwick cow, of a beautiful yellowish flaked red colour, 

 bought by Chas. Colling in 1784 for 13, was, by his own 

 admission, " better than any he ever produced from her, 

 though put to his best bulls, which improved all other cattle." 

 And she was the origin of the Duchesses. 



That colour is to some degree an indication of milking 

 qualities is beyond reasonable doubt. A careful inquiry 

 among " town " dairymen, whose cattle are treated by forcing 

 in a manner calculated to try the weak points of all constitu- 

 tions, shows that it is a pretty widely accepted belief that 

 white Shorthorns are not so hardy nor so good as milkers as 

 those of other colours. 1 The fact that a white cow may in a 

 rare and special case be second to none in a whole herd as a 

 milker, does not interfere with the general belief in the prin- 

 ciple laid down. It is a parallel to the old story of the black 

 sheep of a flock being either conspicuously good or excep- 

 tionally bad. The practical dairyman settles the question by 

 declaring that " a good cow is never a bad colour." 



This point is of special interest when considered in con- 

 nection with a statement made in Thornton's Circular 

 (1869) in reference to the effects of the Collings' system of 

 breeding, that " in all cases of close affinity there was a 

 tendency to white, with red ears and spots." Is it possible 

 that many of the pale cattle of the present time are suffering 

 not from the effects of close-breeding of recent date, but from 

 the effects of it in the past, in virtue of the relaxation of the 

 intensive accumulation of good qualities which are asso- 

 ciated with judicious in-breeding as recently carried out ? If 

 this be so, we have one explanation of the decided preference 

 of American and other purchasers for roan or for dark colours. 

 It may also be that light-skinned cattle are more liable to suffer 

 from sunburning in countries which lie nearer the equator, 

 where solar influences are more powerful than in this country. 2 



1 Storer, writing of the cattle of Britain and Ireland, says : " The white 

 cow is despised and charged with delicacy." The experience of J. Deane- 

 Willis with " White Heather " (Plate XX.) and other cows is quite contrary. 



2 The importance of the natural colouring of the skins of cattle is 

 exhaustively dealt with in the author's works, Indian Agriculture, and 

 Farming Industries of Cape Colony. 



