CHAPTEE XIV. 



THE AYRSHIRE BREED OE CATTLE. 



By aiLBEET MUEEAY, Elvaston Castle, Derby. 



HATEVEE improvements or alterations were made in 

 the breed of live stock during the unsettled state of 

 Scotland prior to the Eevolution in 1688 arose either 

 from accident or from natural causes, as the prin- 

 ciples of breedingwere then unknown. The powerful influences 

 which soil and climate exercise upon every species of live stock, 

 more particularly on those which are constantly exposed to the 

 elements, are so great as to have fixed the breed of animals in 

 every quarter of the globe. So completely is this the case that, 

 though great improvements have been effected by the superior 

 intelligence which nature has conferred upon man, yet through 

 all the different varieties of live stock we trace the distinguish- 

 ing peculiarities of their several districts which were originally 

 stamped on them by Nature. The connection between the soil 

 and climate and the cattle that are reared and fed in each situa- 

 tion is so intimate that they cannot be separated ; at the same 

 time we do not deny that they may be greatly modified by 

 artificial means. 



The breed under consideration is indigenous to the county 

 from which it derives its name. The county of Ayr is divided 

 into three separate districts ; that of Carrick, the southernmost, 

 embraces the whole of the county south of the river Doon ; 

 Kyle, the central division, occupies that part lying between the 

 rivers Doon and Irvine ; whilst Cunningham stretches north of 

 the river Irvine to the confines of the countv. This latter 



