954 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



639 



640 



first with a long mane, and the last with a gibbous back. They inhabit the woods in 

 Madagascar and many other countries of the east ; and the bison is even said to be found 

 in Poland. 



6107. The varieties of the cultivated ox are the European, Indian, Zebu, Surat, 

 Abyssinian, Madagascar, Tinian, and African. From the European variety have been 

 formed the different breeds cultivated in Britain. They are very numerous, but we shall 

 only notice such as are in most esteem. These different breeds are generally distin- 

 guished by the length or flexure of their horns, by the absence of horns, by the dis- 

 tricts where they are supposed to have originated, abound, or exist in the greatest purity, 

 or by the name of the breeder. 



6108. The long-horned or Lancashire breed 

 of cattle (fig. 639.) is distinguished from others 

 by the length of their horns, the thickness and 

 firm texture of their hides, the length and 

 closeness of their hair, the large size of their 

 hoofs, and coarse, leathery, thick necks ; they 

 are likewise deeper in their fore quarters, and 

 lighter in their hind quarters than most other 

 breeds ; narrower in their shape, less in point 

 of weight than the short horns, though better 

 weighers in proportion to their size ; and 

 though they give considerably less milk, it is 

 said to afford more cream in proportion to its quantity. They are more varied in their 

 color than any of the other breeds ; but, whatever the color be, they have in general a 

 white streak along their back, which the breeders term finched, and mostly a white spot 

 on the inside of the hough. [Culley, p. 53.) In a general view, this race, notwithstand- 

 ing the singular efforts that have been made towards its improvement, remains with little 

 alteration ; for, excepting in Leices- 

 tershire, none of the subvarieties 

 (which differ a little in almost every 

 one of those counties where the long 

 horns prevail) have undergone any 

 radical change or any obvious im- 

 provement. The improved breed of 

 Leicestershire [Jig. 640."), is said to 

 have been formed by Webster, of 

 Cauley near Coventry, in Warwick- 

 shire, by means of six cows brought 

 from the banks of the Trent, about 

 the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury, which were crossed with bulls 

 from Westmoreland and Lancashire. 

 Bakewell, of Dishley in Leicestershire, afterwards got the lead as a breeder, by selecting 

 from the Cauley stock ; and the stocks of several other eminent breeders have been traced 

 to the same source. {Marshal's Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 318.) 



6109. The short-horned, sometimes called the Dutch breed, is known by a variety of 

 names, taken from the districts where they form the principal cattle stock, or where 

 g4 J most attention has been paid to their improve- 



ment : thus, different families of this race 

 are distinguished by the names of the Holder- 

 ness, the Teeswater, the Yorkshire, Durham, 

 Northumberland^ and other breeds.' The 

 Teeswater breed, a variety of short horns, 

 established on the banks of the Tees, at the 

 head of the vale of York, is at present in 

 the highest estimation, and is alleged to 

 be the true Yorkshire short-horned breed. 

 Bulls and cows from this stock, purchased 

 at most extraordinary prices, are spread 

 over all the north of England, and the border counties of Scotland. The bone, 

 head, and neck of these cattle are fine ; the hide is very thin ; the chine full ; 

 the loin broad, and the carcase throughout large and well -fashioned j and the flesh 

 and fatting quality equal, or perhaps superior to those of any other large breed. 

 The short-horns give a greater quantity of milk than any other cattle ; a cow usually 

 yielding twenty-four quarts of milk per day, making three firkins of butter during 

 the grass season : their colors are much varied, but they are generally red and white 

 mixed, or what the breeders call flecked. The heaviest and largest oxen of the short- 



