FARMERS' REGISTER— DEVON CATTLE. 



143 



Btance of a man who for forty-two j-ears has pro- 

 duced proot", and invited investigation into the 

 merits of his Devons, — has offered and committed 

 costly sacrifices to carry his' useful ohjcct, without, 

 except in few instances, being able to induce his 

 tenantry to adopt aprofilable breed of ca'tle, Ibran 

 unprofitable one — a system of economy devoted to 

 the most usctul end, in lieu of a system of extra- 

 vagance, i)urchasing its advantages at a rate be- 

 yond all chance of remuneration. With, as I said 

 belbre; lew exceptions, the miserable and unthrif- 

 ty home-brcds are the cattle kept, but, generally 

 Bpeaking, little or no regular stock of cattle is 

 maintained, and during the present year, in the 

 month of September, short-horns (so called) and 

 every wretched specmien conceivable of all that is 

 bad, were consuming oil-cake in the yards, for the 

 purpose of converting the straw to manure. On 

 this subject JNIr. Coke feels, and well he may, 

 much disapi'.ointment, but it is not confined, — this 

 blindness to their true interests — to the article of 

 cattle alone. In sheep it is the same, and prepared 

 as I am to show, hereafter, that no breed in the 

 island now equals, in profit, that of Ilolkham, I 

 ehall only here observe, that so far behind the rest 

 of the world are the maiority of Norlblk men, on 

 the subject of stock, that they appear to select 

 with a view to obtaining those qualities which well 

 informed men ■\vouId pronounce bad, and invaria- 

 bly reject. Be it remembered, I have qualified 

 this censure with a reservation, — -and it will be my 

 agreeable business hereafier to register some ho- 

 norable exceptions. While our ideas were yet 

 employed in reflections on the beautiful oxen we 

 had just inspected, Mr. Coke rather mischievously 

 contrived we should arrive at a tenant's farm, 

 where a considi^rable number of short-horned 

 steers were acting the part of very unthrifty ma- 

 chinery for the reduction of oil-cake, in combina- 

 tion with straw, to manure. The laugh, of course, 

 was against me, and was not diminished by Mr. 

 Hillyard's silently, but expressivel}*, appealing to 

 a brick wall, as the fittest representative of the 

 quality of the flesh of these animals. I was re- 

 minded, on this occasion,' of the appeal of the 

 "Lancashire Farmer" to Mr." Coke's authorit)', as 

 condemnatory of short-horns, but he instantly ex- 

 plained to me, as I well knew beforehand he had 

 meant, that it was such as the short-horns then 

 before us, Lincolns, or, indeed, any thing (for they 

 were a mixture of all) that he condemned, and that 

 he had not improved short-horns in view at all. I 

 was authorized to make this statement, and con- 

 sider it ought not to be omitted. It Avas early an 

 object with Mr. Coke, to induce his tenantrj" to 

 adopt the Devons, but he succeeded in a few in- 

 6tances only. In one of these he requested his 

 tenant's wife to accept four Devon heifers, as a 

 present, and to give them a fair trial against the 

 home-breds. The cattle were accepted, and the 

 trial macle, and it can scarcely be necessary to add 

 the produce for the dairy was of very superior 

 quality, while the advantage in respect to carcass, 

 was still more conspicuously evident. This tenant 

 then became a breeder of Devons, and I saw on 

 his farm some beautiful and most useful cows, but 

 I am sorry to add an account of his inexplicable 

 conduct as to this stock. He was disposing of his 

 Devons, without any apparent motive, and s?ubsti- 

 tuting for his oxen of that breed, some shapeless 

 unthrifly beasts, of immense bone, and, apparent- 



ly, the produce of a cross between a bad Scot, and 

 a worse Norfolk home-bred. But Mr. CoJ^e has 

 not confined his eflbrts to the dissemination of his 

 Devons among his superior tenant ly. The small- 

 est holders, ns well as tli(> cottcigers, have an op- 

 portunity kind'y afforded them, provided the}^ pos- 

 sess also the will, to obtain a superipr sort of ani- 

 mal to that of the count)-. A number of in-calf 

 heifers are annuallvdrauiihted, and allowed to the 

 purchasers at £12, £3 being returned by Mr. 

 Coke, if the purchaser choose, for the calf, what- 

 soever its sex, and should one of these heifers, or 

 all of them, prove bad milkers, they are replaced 

 by others. Thus instead of being imposed on by 

 a jobber at a fiiir, each small holder has a good 

 dci.\ry cow certain, and in proportion as they are 

 disseminated, the country benefits in its breed of 

 cattle. It is not foreign to the .subject of thcs'>. 

 small holders, to observe, respecting them that 

 they are generally Mr. Coke's laborers, who have 

 been put forward by a judicious promotion, Avhich 

 follov/s a career of sober industry. I witnessed the 

 announcement of his advance to what would be a 

 provision for his declining years, to one of the 

 workmen, who wascmiaged superintending some 

 ploughs at -work. " Need I add the announcement 

 was well received, but evidently excitedno surprise, 

 and appeared to be considered as the result of a 

 compact, well and tacitly understood betvv^een the 

 emplover and the employed, the benefactor and 

 the meritorious. I do not consider that Mv. Coke 

 could with propriety keep any other ca+tle, as a 

 breeding- aYid dairy stock, at Holkham. The stock 

 next in fitness would be the Scots, but the Devons 

 mature earlier, and, I think, judging from his spe- 

 cimens, they will pay a good deal more money. Of 

 his own north Devon oxen he works none, but he 

 has at plough twenty pair of south Devons, somc- 

 Avhat laro-er, coarser, and showing less purity of 

 blood. They are, however, admirable workers, 

 vers- active and docile, and in conjunction with the 

 advantacjes of saving horse labor, while also they 

 continue sTrowing, possess a disposition to fatten 

 quite^ufficient to indemnify' those who employ and 

 feed them, in an ample manner. I am Avell con- 

 Aanced, from seeing the stock at Holkham, from 

 hearing Mr. Coke's sentiments, and from every 

 circumstance I meet with, at all bearing on the 

 subject, thdt with the Devons, as well as the larger 

 breeds, it is folly to attempt to increase size — that 

 there is onlv one best model for all — and that is, the 

 fram-^ combininff great substance, well compacted 

 toffether, with deep ribs, and short le^s. It remains 

 to observe, Avith respect to the Holkham Devons, 

 that their pastures had, in common with all in the 

 county, suffered much from the drought, but not- 

 Avithstanding this, and that thej^ had only a sheep- 

 bite AAdien I saAV them, the cows AA-ere, most of 

 them, fat and healthy, and exhibited, in a striking 

 decrree, their fitness to fiffht their way under the 

 difficulties attending a light thin soil, and short 

 bite of grass. 



Among the tenants, Avhose stock T inspected, it 

 Avould bc'AATonc: to omit mention of Mr. Blomfield, 

 Avho has a superior herd of Devons, and to Avhom 

 the country is indebted for the hints Avhich led to 

 the transplantation of turf, for the purpose of lay- 

 ing- doAvn land to permanent pasture, at Holkham. 

 This gentleman's coaa^s were particularly good in 

 the fore-quarters, and appeared to giAT a great deal 

 of milk. They have been bred a good while very 



