110 THE CATTLE OP GREAT BEITAIH. 



Irish cattle, by the use of Shorthorn sires, has become 

 proverbial ; and prices there for good yearling bulls have ranged 

 higher, until quite recently, than even in England or Scotland. 

 Even the Isle of Man boasts its pure herds and a 400-guinea 

 heifer; whilst the Orkneys and Shetlands are not destitute of 

 pedigreed bulls. 



But it is to the New World that the greatest exportations 

 have been made. America imported pure Shorthorns upwards 

 of fifty years ago, and every year numbers of cattle leave our 

 shores for Canada and the States. Spirit and enterprise have 

 been rewarded, and the offspring of animals imported a genera- 

 tion back have of late years found their way back to our own 

 herds. The vast area and rolling plains of the Western States 

 are affording fine fields for grazing and breeding; and what 

 has for years been done in Australia — where numberless bulls 

 and also heifers have been sent — is now being practised in the 

 Ear West. Canada, with its fields five months white with snow, 

 finds the purest pay the best ; and one energetic Canadian in 

 1870 spent 20,000Z. in importing pure animals, which have 

 been highly remunerative. The enormous plains in South 

 America have recently been supplied with a large number of 

 bulls. Although the first importation was made as far back as 

 1836, no number was sent out until about 1880, but during 

 1884-6-6 immense numbers, and often at very high prices, have 

 been exported. 



New Zealand has also its breeders and importers; and, 

 coming nearer home, we find France took, thirty years ago, some 

 of our best cattle, and one of her first acts after the Franco- 

 Prussian War was the importation of four pure-bred Shorthorn 

 bulls. Belgium, for nearly half a century, has annually 

 imported a large number of young bulls. In G-ermany several 

 pure herds are to be found; and Shorthorn bulls have been 

 used among the native breeds of Russia and Bessarabia, and 

 even in Egypt. It is in the prepotent powers of this impressive 

 race that its greatest value lies. Its adaptability to all climates 

 and soils, its marvellous faculty of growing and fattening at 

 the same time, its maturity at an age when other cattle are 

 considered but half grown, its faculty of raising its own 

 offspring with a bountiful supply of milk, ensure for it a great 



