FARMERS' REGISTER— GALLOWAY BREED. 



199 



less food than any other of eqiitil weight,* an 

 opinion that seems to liave been t'ully juslifiedby 

 the large prices that have been repeatedly given 

 for the stock. t 



* See the Agricultural Survey of Leicestershire, p. 

 219, and Chapter U. 



t At a sale of Mr. Fowler's stock (of tliis breed at 

 Little Rollright, in Oxfordshire, in 1791, fifteen head 

 of oxen, five bulls and ten cows, were sold Ibr various 

 sums, amounting to ii2464, or upon an average, at 

 jGl(i4each. Tiie finest bull, named Sultan, only two 

 years old, produced iwo hundred and ten guineas; and 

 Washington, another of the same age, was sold for 

 two hundred and five guineas; while Brindled Beauty, 

 a cow, brought the sum of two hundred and sixty gui- 

 neas; but, at a subsequent sale of stock belonging to 

 Mr. Paget, in 1793, Shakespeare, a bull, bred by Mr. 

 Fowler from a grandson of Mr. Bakevvell's famous 

 bull, Twopennv, and a cow of the Canley blood, was 

 disposed of for ibur hundred guineas. 



At a still later period, Mr. Piincep, of Croxhall, in 

 Derbyshire, is said to have refused £2000 for twenty 



long-bornod dairy cows, and 1500 guineas for the use 

 of his best bull to thirty cows. 



Large as these prices were, they have however, been 

 exceeded by those actually obtained for short-horned 

 cattle. At the sale already alluded to, of Mr. Charles 

 Ceiling's stock, at Ketton, in the county of Durham, 

 in 1810, seventeen cows and eleven bulls produced 

 £4918, being an average of £175 10s. each. Of 

 these two cows, Countess and Lilly, both got by Comet, 

 were sold, the one for four hundred, and the other for 

 four hundred and ten guineas. Petrarch, a bull, by 

 Favorite, the sire of Comet, brouglit three hundred and 

 si.xty-five guineas, and Comet himself one thousand! 



Still more recently, however, in February 1827, at a 

 great sale of stock, the property of Mr. Rennie, of 

 Phantassie, in East Lothian, (which amounted to the 

 large sum of £13,582,) the highest price obtained for 

 ahull of this breed was £115 lOs., and for a cow 

 £S3; but, as not more than half the stock on the farm 

 was supposed to have been sold, it is probable that some 

 of the best cattle were reserved. Many other instances 

 might however be adduced to prove — not that the rela- 

 tive value of the short-horned cattle has declined — but 

 that extravagant prices are not now so generally given 

 for superior stock, as formerly. 



S^'fi^ J-^^SfflS??*:-^ '^^-, 



VII. The Galloway breed derives its appella- 

 tion from the county of the same name, v.-here, 

 and also in some parts of the Lowlands of Scot- 

 land, these cattle are chiefly reared, and whence 

 vast numbers are annually sent to Norfolk, and 

 other English counties, to be fattened lor the mar- 

 kets. In general they are black, or dark bnndied; 

 are without horns, e.xcept occasionally a small ex- 

 crescence resembling them, and are rather undci' 

 the medium size, being smaller than the Devons, 

 though in some other respects resembling them, 

 yet considerably larger than the north, or even the 

 west Highlanders. 



A true Galloway bullock is straight and broad 

 in the back, and nearly level from the head to the 

 rump; closely compacted between the shoulder and 

 ribs, and also betwixt the ribs and the loins; broad 

 at the loins, but not w^ith hooked or projecting 

 knobs. He is long in the quarters, but not broad 

 in the twist; deep in the chest, short in the leg, and 

 moderately fine in the bone; clean in the choj^, 

 and in the neck. His head is of a moderate size, 

 with large rough ears, and full, but not prominent 

 eyes, and he is clothed in a loose and mellow, 

 though rather thick skin, covered with long, soft, 

 and glossy hair. 



In roundness of ban-el, and fulness of ribs, the 



Galloway cattle may perhaps vie with even the 

 most improved breeds. Their breadth over the 

 hook-bones is not, indeed, to be compared to that 

 of some of either the short or long-horned, but 

 their loins bear a greater proportion in width to the 

 hook-bones, and they are shorter between the 

 hooks and the ribs, v/hich is in itself a valuable 

 point, when accompanied with length of body. 

 They are, however, rather coarse in the head and 

 neck. Although short in the leg, they are gener- 

 ally fine in the bone; for, notwithstanding the'pre- 

 judice that formerly prevailed in favor of large 

 bone, the Moorland farmers, convinced that lar^e 

 boned cattle could not thrive on their barren hills, 

 never aimed at increasing the size of bone above 

 what their pastores would carry, and by this judi- 

 cious management have preserved the Gallow^ay 

 breed in its purity. It is, however, to be regretted 

 that sufficient attention has not been paid to its 

 improvement; and in many parts of the Lowlands 

 it has been materially injured by an inconsiderate 

 intermixture whh Irish and Ayrshire cows, in 

 consequence of a prevalent idea "that the latter are 

 superior milkers. Bidls of the most approved 

 kinds have indeed been introduced from England, 

 but without any npparent benefit to the native 

 stock; and although a cross between tjiis and the 



