94 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



(2) LONGHOEN CATTLE. 



The Longhorn cattle, as a distinct breed, became famous first of all 

 in the district of Craven, in Yorkshire, on whose phosphatic soils they 

 attained a degree of inherent vigor and hardiness which their descend- 

 ants have faithfully transmitted through many generations, in various 

 kinds of climates, and on widely-differing soils. Long before the rihort- 

 horns became famous outside the Teeswater district, the Longhorus had 

 attained a proud position and a widely-extended popularity. During 

 the greater part of the last century, and in the early years of the pres- 

 ent one, they were at once the pride of wealthy breeders, and, in vary- 

 ing degrees of purity, the practical stock of dairy farmers in the mid- 

 land counties of England. In Ireland they were and still are known, 

 in contradistinction to the modern breeds reared there, as " the old Irish 

 cow.' 7 



Though the Longhorns, less, as well as more, than a hundred years 

 ago were the prevailing cattle of the midland counties, Derbyshire 

 appears to have been then, as it is now, the stronghold of the more 

 famous herds. Sir Thomas Gresley, of Drakelow House, Burton-on- 

 Trent, appears to have been the first prominent improver of Longhorns, 

 and he took u delight in keeping a dairy of cows similar in color and 

 shape " before the renowned Kobert Bakewell was born. Three-quar- 

 ters of a century ago, Mr. Princep, of Croscall, is said by Parkinson to 

 have had, perhaps, the first dairy of cows in the county where ^hat pre- 

 eminence is defined to mean symmetry, size, and aptness to fat. The 

 same authority tells us that Mr. Princep had 500 guineas offered for a 

 two-year-old bull, and 30 (another account says 50) guineas a cow for 

 the use of his bull to 30 cows; and he was also offered 2,000 for 20 

 dairy cows. 



A four-year-old steer of his weighed,when killed, 248 stone of 14 pounds 

 to the stone ; and, in addition, there were 350 pounds of fat, while the 

 hide weighed 177 pounds. The breed, however, had previously become 

 supremely famous under the hands of the greatest of all breeders, Mr. 

 Bakewell, of Dishley, in Leicestershire, whose efforts, eminently success- 

 ful as they were, lay in the direction of combining in the same animal the 

 four great qualities of beauty and utility of form, quality of flesh, and 

 aptitude to fatten,which, he rightly judged, were not incompatible with 

 each other. But, in attaining these points, he wholly neglected the no 

 less important one of milk, and we cannot but regard this omission as 

 a national misfortune, for numberless other breeders have been taught 

 to sin in the same way. Mr. Lythall, editor of the recently established 

 Longhorn Herd-Book, makes the startling assertion that to this line of 

 breeding " must be traced the decline of the Longhorns in public favor 

 at the early part of the present century." This is quoted as a warning 

 to the Shorthorn breeders of the present day. 



Yet the old Longhorns, even many of the highly improved ones, were 

 celebrated for their milkiness, less though for quantity than for qual- 

 ity of milk ; but it was BakewelPs one fatal misfortune to destroy this 

 reputation. Youatt says of him : 



Many years did not pass before his stock was unrivaled for the roundness of its 

 form, the smallness of its bone, and its aptitude to acquire external fat, while they 

 were small consumers of food in proportion to their size ; but at the same time their 

 qualities as milkers were very considerably lessened. The grazier could not too highly 

 value the Dishley or new Leicester Longhorn, but the dairyman and the little farmer 

 clung to the old breed as most useful for their purpose. 



