382 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. LCh.XXXTV, 



duce the least quantity of offal, with such a large quantity of tallow as, 

 emphatically speaking in the butcher's phrase, will cause the animal to 

 " die well." These marks, however, are not the only indications of a 

 propensity to fatten quickly. On the contrary, it has been found by 

 experience that many coarse beasts, with large bones and gummy legs, 

 have often proved superior in that particular to other animals of undoubted 

 superiority in point of shape ; but those coarse thick hides handled soft 

 and silky, with a sleeky degree of mellowness, which is the characteristic 

 of a healthy habit, while the skin of the others was wiry and their flesh felt 

 hard. The state of the hide and flesh is therefore of the first importance, 

 as the essential property of handling well. It was indeed the opinion of 

 that eminent breeder, the late George Culley, " that it is the nice touch or 

 mellow feel of the hand which, in a great measure, constitutes the judge of 

 cattle.*" It, however, can only be attained by experience. 



The knowledge and the value of skill in touch can, indeed, only be acquired 

 by long practice, but when once attained, it may be relied on as a criterion 

 forjudging of the feeding properties of an ox ; for it is generally found to 

 be accompanied with the other good qualities of gentleness, purity of blood, 

 and consequent disposition to fatten. A thin, papery skin, covered with 

 light, silky hair, denotes weakness, — and is, therefore, as defective a test 

 of superiority as that of a coarse, tough hide, covered with hard, short hair, 

 which always indicates a bad feeder. Its perfection has, however, been 

 accurately described by an eminent cattle-dealer f, to some of whose 

 observations we are much indebted, " as consisting in a thick, loose skin, 

 floating, as it were, on a layer of soft fat, yielding to the least pressure, 

 springing back towards the fingers like a piece of chamois leather, and 

 covered with thick, glossy, soft hair." 



The position of the jiesh on the carcase is another great consideration 

 in judoiiig of the value of the animal, as it is of various qualities in different 

 parts ; thus the portion called in Ediniutrgh the " spare-rib," and in London 

 the " fore and middle ribs," the " loins," and the " rump," are of the 

 finest quality, and consequently, the ox which carries the largest quantity 

 of beef upon tliose points is the most valuable. The spot which first shows 

 fat is the lop of the rump; and as the quantity laid on there is frequently 

 out of iiroportion to that on other parts, this often leads inexperienced 

 persons into error. Those which are generally the last in being covered 

 with flesh are the point and top of the shoulder, and if these be tolerably 

 well covered, the future ripeness of the animal may in due time be fairly 

 reckoned upon. A thick flank, with a full twist lining the closing of the 

 hams, is also generally considered as denoting a large quantity of internal 

 fat, — which is an object much looked to by the butcher, as forming a 

 material portion of his profit. These points should, therefore, be carefully 

 examined in the purchase of a lean ox for fatting, as it is on its aptitude to 

 that purpose that its value to the buyer depends, and that judgment is the 

 most frequently betrayed. The condition of a fat ox strikes to the eye : 

 but it has been justly remarked by Mr. Dickson, — " That there is a great 

 difference between apparent and real fatness; for the flesh of an apparently 

 fat ox, to the eye, may, on being handled, feel loose and flabby, — but a 

 truly fat ox always feels ' hard fat :' with such the butcher is seldom 

 deceived, while loose-handlers give no assurance of killing well." 



Regarding the, disposition to fat, it is a mistaken idea to suppose that 



* On Live Stock, p. 101. 



t Mr. James Dickson of Edinburgh, autlior of " A Treatise on the points on which 

 Live Stock are judged." — See the Quart. Journ, of Agric, Nos. xxvi. and xxx. 



