306 FIELD AND FERN. 



be cultivated. The difference ^between the tastes of 

 the two countries comes out not only in the colour 

 but the bone, which the Englishman likes to get as 

 light as possible, from the belief that it indicates 

 feeding to a higher weight. Scotland, on the con- 

 trary, likes bone and hair to the hoof, and has no 

 sympathy with " fine offal/' A short head with a 

 broad forehand is what the breeders aim at ; and the 

 horn must be " sappy," yellow to the root, of a fine 

 waxy texture, and with blue tips. Good grass of 

 course tells on the goodness of the horn, and "hard 

 grass hard horn" is quite a settled belief. The horn 

 grows most at two years old, and if the queys are 

 put to the bull at that age, its growth is stopped, and 

 the handling is spoilt as well. Two-year-old 

 heifers will make from 8 10s. to 13 at Falkirk, 

 and bulls range at all prices from 20 to 80. Off 

 grass the Highland cows ought to kill at 50st. of 

 141bs., but the Breadalbanes would average nearly 

 lOst. more. There are seldom more than forty cows 

 in a herd, and no owner has ever equalled M'Neill 

 of Colinsay, who had once, it is said, two hundred 

 calves, and cows still choicer than his bulls. Red 

 Water is their greatest enemy, and they are espe- 

 cially subject to it in a cold, wet May. 



A shorthorn bull was once introduced by the side 

 of Loch Voil, but the climate was too cold; and 

 even the Cheviots cannot thrive here. Highlanders, 

 like their neighbours, have gone in more for sheep 

 than cattle for ten or twelve years past. The rents of 



