THE UNITED KINGDOM. 95 



It would thus appear th.it the " unimproved" Longfhorns were good 

 milkers, or the dairymen and little farmers would not have thought so 

 much of them. Whilst Bakewell was alive there were many famed 

 herds of Longhorus within an hour of him in the saddle, but in less 

 than forty years after his death there was not an animal of the breed 

 left on the old farm at Dishley, and not a dozen within a circuit of 12 

 miles from it, so completely did the loss of milkiness disestablish the 

 old breed from the district in which Bakewell had made it immortal. 



Three-quarters of a century ago Mr. Mundy, of Markeaton, was a well- 

 known breeder of Longhorns, and it is related that one of his cows, 

 named Thistle, made 17 pounds of butter a week. Mr. Cleaver, of Leam- 

 ington, tells of a brindled cow he knew almost as long a time ago which 

 filled a 4 gallon milk-pail up to the brim, and afterwards gave another 

 quart to the milkmaid ; and of a two-year-old heifer which was so pro- 

 lific that in ten years she brought thirteen calves, and was such a milker 

 that all the dairymaids set a world of store by her. Mr. Shaw, of Frad- 

 ley, Old Hall, near Lichfield, says: 



A Lougliorn cow some years ago, on Lord Bagot's estate, near Rugeley, bad such 

 an immense udder that the man when he sat down to milk her could not reach across 

 it, and had either to milk one side first and then the other, or two men would be 

 milking the same cow at once ; and he records his opinion that very few, if any, breeds 

 of cattle excel the old-fashioned Longhorn for milk. 



And as to its quality he says : 



Whenever we have had occasion to change our dairymaids the now ones have in- 

 variably been struck with the superior quality of the milk and cream obtained from 

 our Longhorns. One of them remarked, " Dear me ! what a thickness your cream is ; 

 and the skimmed milk looks as good as the unskimmed did where I last lived ; it does 

 not look at all blue, and the other did." 



The maid had been previously living where a large herd of Short- 

 horns was kept. 



Mr. E. H. Chapman, of St. Asaph, remarks that the Longhorns were 

 numerous in some parts of Wiltshire forty or fifty years ago, and they 

 were called the " Spreads," the " Bradles," the " Crumbles,'" or the 

 " Broads," as the forms of the horns indicated. It is true there is no 

 sort of uniformity either in the length or form of the horns of Long- 

 horn cattle. It was said of them 



They were distinguished from the home breeds of other counties by a dispropor- 

 tionate and frequently unbecoming length of horn. In the old breed this horn fre- 

 quently projected nearly horizontally on either side, but as the cattle were improved 

 the horn assumed other directions. It hung down so that the animal oould scarcely 

 graze, or it curved so as to threaten to meet before the muzzle and so also to prevent 

 the beast from grazing; or immediately under the jaw, and so lock the lower jaw; 

 or the points presented themselves against the bones of the nose and face, threaten- 

 ing to perforate them. 



The color of the Longhorns is sometimes the opposite of ornamental, 

 and a white irregular streak commonly runs up the back from the tail 

 to the shoulders. But, as a rule, they are picturesque and pleasing 

 cattle, the color being most commonly brindle. It cannot be denied 

 that as a breed they possess valuable points. They have, under proper 

 management, early maturity, fatten well on a moderate quantity of 

 food, and their flesh is of good quality; and while some of them are 

 very deep milkers, they are all favorably known for the quality of the 

 milk they give. It is not likely, however, that they will ever reattain 

 the position they formerly held, but it may be confidently anticipated 

 that their reputation will revive. Indeed, in some localities and with 

 many breeders their reputation can only be said to have declined, if at 



