CATTLE AND SHEEP. 13 



two first years, more indulgence than falls to the lot of the 

 young of other breeds? 



So many general points have entered incidentally into 

 this review of short-horned merits, that we can be more 

 concise respecting the old races. We will take Devons 

 and Herefords together as having many points in common. 

 They are confessedly prolific; neither are suited to a 

 farmer whose rent is to be made by the produce of his 

 dairy ; we reck little of the services rendered by their 

 bullocks in the team ; human labour must be at a low ebb 

 where it can be profitably associated with so slow a beast 

 as an ox ; bullock-teams and railways will not, we think, 

 long co-exist. We must admit that something will be 

 sacrificed, for we are not insensible to the superior quality 

 of meat of mature age. The claims of these two races are 

 founded on good constitution, on the very rare occurrence 

 of animals without merit, on a considerable capacity to bear 

 hardship without suffering, on symmetry sustained with 

 less care than in any artificial breed, and on the high 

 quality of their beef. When their symmetry does fail, it 

 is generally in the fore-quarters ; where the high-priced 

 beef lies, they seldom fail. They are unrivalled in the 

 deep cut of lean meat well covered with fat along their 

 whole top and sides, which butchers find so acceptable to 

 their best customers. If compelled to give a decision be- 

 tween the two races, we should say, with much hesitation, 

 " If you wish to please your eye, take the Devons ; if your 

 pocket, the Herefords." 



We approach the West Highlander with some fear, lest 

 we should ramble into romance instead of adhering to plain 

 agricultural truth. How can any man leave either his 

 garret in Grub-street, or the tails of a set of lumbering 

 short-horns in a Lincolnshire homestead, to visit the free 

 and spirited denizen of Gare Loch Side, Glen Lyon, and 

 the storm-swept Hebrides, without feeling some excite- 

 ment? Unless the West Highlander has gazed on you 

 from a rocky knoll in his native glen unless you have 



