CATTLE AND SHEEP. 33 



dency to relapse, and to lose those coveted distinctions 

 which the sedulous care of man had impressed upon them. 

 Still, by patient and judicious perseverance a breeder of 

 cattle may produce considerable uniformity, and impress 

 distinctive characters and qualities on the animals which 

 he calls into existence ; and by dint of liberal rejections 

 may maintain the distinction for a lengthened period. 

 When he has done so he may be fairly said to have 

 created, for all agricultural purposes, a new breed of cattle ; 

 and in this sense Collins (perhaps), and Bakewell (cer- 

 tainly), may be said to have respectively created a breed of 

 cattle and of sheep. But these breeds never have become, 

 and probably never would become, races. We have abun- 

 dant evidence that their distinctive qualities can only be 

 maintained by the sedulous care of man. When Devons, 

 or Herefords, are transplanted from the banks of the Exe, 

 and the Wye, to those of the Hawkesbury, their offspring 

 continue to be Devons and Herefords. But the short- 

 horn, under similar circumstances, resolves himself into 

 his elements ; and distinct traces of all the mongrels out 

 of which he was concocted re-appear within a few genera- 

 tions. In Midland dairies short-horns have nearly sup- 

 planted all other breeds. No one can move among them 

 without observing how very inferior they now are to what 

 they were ten years ago. When they came from the north 

 they had all the merits which belong to the breed. Under 

 the ordinary care of the dairy-farmer they have deterio- 

 rated rapidly. Several large farmers have appealed to the 

 north again, and have procured bulls of undoubted blood 

 (whose dams and sires were No. this, that, and the other, 

 in the herd-book), without producing any very satisfactory 

 results. We doubt whether improvement is to be found 

 within the limits of the herd- book; our faith is, that, 

 when an artificial breed has been created by crossing, it 

 can only be maintained by crossing. We looked lately 

 through stalls containing 50 short-horned cows in course 

 of preparation for the Birmingham meat-market. Wher- 



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