THE UNITED KINGDOM. 97 



making than a butter-making breed, and does extremely well upon the 

 rich old pastures of the midland counties of. England, which are not 

 greatly exposed to the weather, and which are usually of a stilf loam, with 

 a substratum of clay. The Longhorn, which lives to an exceedingly old 

 age, is, moreover, a decidedly large breed, and in the year 1882, at 

 Birmingham, the winning steer, aged 3 years 7 months, weighed 15J 

 cwt. ; the second prize, 3$ years, weighing 15J cwt. At the same time 

 the tirst-prize cow, 5J years, weighed over 16 "cwt. ; the second prize, a 

 heifer, aged 4J years, being 15 cwt. The following year, at the same 

 exhibition, the first-prize steer, 3 years 8 months, scaled 17 cwt, the sec- 

 ond and third being almost as large; while in the cow class the first 

 prize, 4 years and 10 months old, weighed 13 cwt., the others being all 

 larger. 



The prevailing color of the best exhibition beast is brindle and white 

 or red and white, the former being preferred. 



As may be expected from the extraordinary length of the horns of 

 these beasts they are seldom used upon the farm for draft purposes, 

 although their docility and great strength otherwise fit them for suck a 

 purpose; but the farmers in the district in which they are chiefly bred 

 almost to a man prefer horses. 



Productiveness of the Longhorns. The system of feeding is generally 

 that adopted with the Shorthorn, cake and roots being the principal part 

 of their diet, and both suiting them admirably. At the same time there 

 are differences of opinion a* to the quantity of turnips given, some 

 breeders preferring a minimum quantity with a maximum quantity of 

 cake : others again, and it must be confessed without much reason, 

 giving an enormous quantity of roots and a similar quantity of cake or 

 corn. It was the custom in some districts not very many years ago to 

 compose the dairy herds of Shorthorns and Half horns, the latter of 

 which were, for the most part, a combination of Shorthorn and Long- 

 horn ; but of late years very little of the Loughorn element has been in- 

 troduced among them. . Of a herd of 25 to 35 of these, a cow would 

 give from 3 cwt. to 4 cwt. (the long hundred of 120 pounds) of cheese 

 during the season of about seven months, the price being sometimes as 

 low as 50 and as high as 95 shillings per cwt. Of an experiment with. 

 6 Shorthorns and Longhorns in the June season, it was shown that 

 whilst the majority of pounds of milk was 152 pounds to 135 in favor of 

 the Shorthorn, the cheese curd from the larger quantity was only 14J 

 pounds, as against 19J pounds. 



Another experiment with 36 Shorthorns against 32 Longhorns showed 

 that the 605 pounds of milk from the former made 66J pounds of curd 

 and that the 553 pounds from the latter made 60 pounds. The plainest 

 cows are often the best milkers, and the milk from a seven or eight year 

 old is thought to be the richest. ' In winter they are most frequently 

 kept on barley straw and pulped turnips, with hay in addition near 

 calving time. The calves, which generally are somewhat difficult to 

 rear, are usually dropped in March and April, and some of them never 

 suck their mother. They have new milk from the first, which is lessened 

 when the cheese season begins, and gradually they come to oil-cake and 

 linseed boiled in whey or the overnight's milk. As they get older they 

 become heavy-fleshed and prove themselves well fitted for the butcher. 

 For the food which the Longhorn consumes it will certainly give as good 

 a return, and generally a better, than other beasts, and as an animal 

 for the adornment of the park or the home pasture of the hall or grange 

 it will be found most suitable. 

 H. Ex. 51 7 



