2 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



have perhaps to pay a few pounds extra, but they will 

 form, with due attention, the nucleus of a useful 

 herd. A plan involving less immediate outlay, 

 though scarcely cheaper in the end, is to buy a few 

 first-rate heifers (termed " queys " in Scotland, aver- 

 aging about 91. in price), of the Ayrshire breed, and 

 a bull of the same breed, but of a distinct family. 

 As you must, meanwhile, keep some useful "screws" 

 (I write, be it remembered, for beginners), you may 

 be disposed to confine them to another field, until 

 the proud day comes that you have a handsome, 

 uniform, and good herd of your own breeding. 

 Where butter and cheese are the main object, the 

 Ayrshire cow will perhaps suit best, as combining in 

 the highest degree yet discovered a flow of rich milk 

 with an aptitude to fatten when tied up. For the 

 grazier's purpose, the improved shorthorn will answer 

 best on rich ground, or the curly-coated Hereford. 

 The exact proportionate merits of the breeds it is 

 perhaps impossible to decide upon ; for whereas the 

 Rev. Mr. Berry lauds up to the skies his darling 

 shorthorns, to such talk Herefordshire, as one man, 

 obstinatas applicat aures. The Duke of Bedford, 

 after a series of careful experiments, still oscillated 

 after all between the merits of the Hereford and 

 Devon. It ultimately becomes but a matter of taste. 

 It is merely which breed may please your eye. 

 There is much, however, in the fact, that the short- 

 horn heifer, with her calf, may be brought at three 

 years old to average SOL, a degree of early maturity 

 which no other breed can attain to, but the quality 

 of beef is undoubtedly inferior to that of an older 



