COWS. 15 



Alderney, Hereford, or Devon. Let him visit the 

 great shows and sales, keepiug eyes and ears open ; 

 and let him do this carefully and for some time, 

 before he ventures upon a speculation, which, sound 

 enough in itself when a sufficiency of cash and good 

 judgment underlies it, will yet rapidly knock down 

 hundreds of pounds for the rash and incompetent. 

 And why there is this risk is, that it is no use 

 whatever commencing to breed shorthorns for sale 

 as stock, unless you purchase of the very best blood 

 to begin with, which in itself implies the hazardous 

 outlay of a considerable sum. 



But when a man commences, having the requisite 

 judgment for selection, and adequate capital to hold 

 on without the necessity of selling until he has reared 

 a number and attained a name as an exhibitor, with 

 fair luck he will find it a profitable business, as it is 

 a pleasurable occupation. Having laid out spiritedly 

 in the buying of the first elements of the compound 

 he aims at, whether in a bull and a few cows, or a 

 bunch of calves, he will subsequently be often enabled 

 to pick up at a fair (not much over butcher's) price 

 an occasional heifer or cow of the type he likes, if he 

 devoutly attend all the shorthorn sales that are con- 

 tinually taking place — some on the part of noblemen, 

 to clear off supernumerary members of their herd, 

 some under order of executors upon the death of an 

 owner (and these breeders sometimes live in remote 

 corners, rather out of the beaten track, where many 

 do not care to follow) ; some, again, of necessity, when 

 a man, from a variety of causes, finds his purse- 

 strings too short to hold on until success arrives. It 



