10 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 



Since the first edition of this work was published the Polled 

 Angus Aberdeen cattle have come prominently into notice, 

 principally on account of their great success either as pure 

 stock or as crossed with Shorthorns in our fat shows, whereas 

 they were up to a recent period confined mainly to the counties 

 in Scotland from which they are named ; there are at the present 

 time a good many herds in England, and every year they are 

 acquiring greater publicity. Like the Herefords they have been 

 found to exercise a great and rapid influence on ranche cattle, 

 and they have been largely exported of late years. They are 

 noted for hardy character, ability to winter in exposed situa- 

 tions, extraordinary aptitude for feeding, combined with 

 better dairy properties than the Herefords. The champion 

 heifer at both Birmingham and London in December, 1885 — Mr 

 Clement Stephenson's Luxury — yielded the extraordinary and 

 hitherto unexampled proportion of 78| per cent, of dead meat, 

 and the young class at Smithfield showed a greater weight for 

 age than any other breed exhibited, not excluding the Short- 

 horn. 



Wherever the climate or food approaches to the character of 

 our mountainous districts, we shall find that local breeds are 

 the most desirable to keep, We may improve them by care, or 

 even by judicious crossing; but we cannot dispossess them 

 without certain loss. Thus the North Devon cattle are admir- 

 ably adapted, from their active habits and hard nature, to feed 

 over the exposed ranges of Exmoor and similar districts ; whilst 

 both in Wales and Scotland we find distinct breeds modelled, 

 as it were, by the force of circumstances, into forms best suited 

 to withstand the climate. Still in many of these cases, as our 

 system of management improves, we may be in a position to 

 make use of a more cultivated animal, and either improve the 

 originals by careful selection and good treatment, or try the 

 eifect of crossing. 



We have said enough to show that the subject requires 

 general rather than particular treatment. At the same time, as 

 it is necessary to have some type of animal before our eyes, we 

 shall describe the management suitable to any of the more 

 cultivated breeds, and especially to animals of the Shorthorn 

 type. 



