CATTLE AND SHEEP. 29 



chamber), built of quarried stone, and adequately furnished 

 with yards, fenced in by a substantial paling. The male 

 pigs (-OAAOK Tray^oT^oi) were only 360. This disproportion 

 of numbers is accounted for by a statement of the insatiable 

 voracity of the " godless suitors." So much for swine. On 

 the subject of turkeys, geese, fowls, rabbits, and "such 

 small deer," we must refer our readers to the " Book of the 

 Farm." Be it noted, however (though not mentioned in 

 this new Stephani Thesaurus), that the prime turkeys of 

 East Anglia, whom we apologize for classing among " small 

 deer," are capons. This is true at least of the huge Go- 

 liahs, the glories of Guildhall, one of which an astonished 

 Paddy pronounced " fit to draw a gig." 



In comparing the merits of the various agricultural ani- 

 mals which furnish food to man, we have frequently spoken 

 of quality, and we wish to explain a little more definitely 

 what we intend thereby. We consider firmness in the fat 

 and a fine grain in the lean to be the criteria of quality. 

 We believe that in those animals where fat and lean are 

 associated, the firmest fat invariably covers the finest- 

 grained lean. Any person who has had the good fortune 

 to eat Highland venison with fat on it, will have observed 

 that the fat of a stag differs from that of a Lincolnshire 

 tup much as heart-of-oak differs from the wood of a Wey- 

 mouth pine or poplar. The wild deer's fat is a substance 

 of firm texture, hardly degradable, we should think, into 

 dips or short sixes. The fat of the fallow-deer possesses 

 much of the same enviable quality. When we descend 

 from the forest and the park to the pasture and stall, we 

 can form a series both for sheep and beasts which will 

 hardly be called in question. For sheep the Mountaineers, 

 the Southdowns, various nondescripts, down to the New 

 Leicesters. For beasts Scots generally, Devons, Here- 

 fords, indiscriminate crosses and mongrels, down to the 

 Improved Short-horns. In each case the butchers' shops 

 will confirm our lists. There the animal which stands at 

 the top will sell for at least Id. per Ib. more than the 



