14 NOTES OX FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



that it was but a very limited number of them could 

 take first-class rank in that vulgar department of 

 bovine excellence. 



Still there are deep milking tribes to be found. 

 In all other respects, whereas once I preached against 

 the " pedigree shorthorn," I am now bound to recant, 

 and to profess that I have come on further experience 

 to estimate them highly. This noble breed of cattle, 

 the pride of England, choice specimens of which are 

 coveted and caught at, no less by the foreigner than 

 by her colonies for the improvement of the native 

 kine, being, as regards the purest tribes, in the hands 

 of gentlemen or wealthy agriculturists, the first ques- 

 tion that suggests itself in connection with them is, 

 Does their cultivation pay ? Certainly, most cer- 

 tainly, shorthorn-breeding, in the highest sense of 

 the word, does pay. It is, however, like painting, a 

 high art, and requires a special genius for the attain- 

 ment of the first place. Not every youth who invests 

 in a palette, and haunts the galleries, can hope to 

 produce ever a picture that shall rivet the attention 

 of crowds, and be the theme of critical admiration. 

 Yet more seldom is it given to man to be able to 

 mould at pleasure forms of beauty out of living 

 elements that shall be equally in their place attrac- 

 tive. If any one feel irresistibly drawn in that 

 direction, as he who is intended to succeed will be, 

 let him first get well instructed by converse with 

 distinguished breeders, by visiting their residences, 

 and studying their herds, with the lines of beauty, 

 and points that specially characterise this sort of 

 cattle and distinguish it from all others, whether 



