134 CATTLE SUSSEX 



developing importance of the breed. Owing to a great 

 many good cattle having been left out of the register, the 

 Herd Book was in 1902 most successfully reopened for animals 

 of pure blood, subject to inspection, such being destined to take 

 a position of increasing importance among our old-established 

 British breeds. The breed's record as a beef-producer is 

 excellent. At Smithfield Show in 1902 the first-prize steer 

 under two years gave the highest average daily gain of any 

 animal in the show, i.e., 2 Ibs 8.34 ozs., with 68.02 per cent, of 

 carcase to live- weight a weight in excess of that of any other 

 specimen of the same age present. Owing to the colour and 

 hardiness of the breed and its suitability for draught purposes, 

 thirty head of Sussex cattle were sent, after the termination 

 of the war in South Africa, to the Experimental Farm near 

 Bloemfontein, where, however, they and their progeny have 

 to run the gauntlet of tick fever and other bovine diseases 

 prevalent in the country. 



Low aptly explains why representatives of the cattle 

 belonging to the ancient Celtic inhabitants of these islands 

 were preserved in certain parts. Wherever the region was 

 difficult of access to the invaders, as in the case of moun- 

 tainous tracts or large areas of forest, there the original 

 inhabitants found shelter and safety for themselves and 

 their cattle. Thus in hilly localities have been preserved 

 the Scottish West Highland, the Welsh, and the Devon ; 

 and in the instance before us, the dense forests of the weald 

 afforded the necessary security for the ancestors of the 

 Sussex breed. The cattle of the accessible parts of the in- 

 terior of the country were either supplanted altogether, or 

 much altered in form and character by imported blood. 



In India exactly the same condition of things exists, 

 where the small, dark-haired, and inferior breeds have been 

 driven away into remote and out-of-the-way corners ; and 

 the more valuable tracts of country, the highways of con- 

 quering armies, and more recently of trade and commerce, 

 have been supplied by probably repeated importations of 

 the larger and finer white-haired varieties. The parallel 

 is not quite complete, as in some of the breeds in this country 

 emerging from obscurity (and notably among these is to be 

 found the Sussex) are animals of great size and substance and 

 wealth of constitution. 



