CATTLE. 107 



shoulders, and without any loose skin ; the barrel somewhat round ; the 

 belly capacious; milk-vein large; back perfectly straight ; rump wide, 

 and flat as a table; tail small, and set on so that there is almost a 

 straight line from the tail to the head. The prevailing color is roan, or 

 red or white; and sometimes white, with the tips of the ears red. The 

 thighs are thin ; but the legs are straight and somewhat short. The 

 udder is very large and muscular, projecting forward, well filled up be- 

 hind, and so broad as to give the cow the appearance of a waddle in 

 her walking. Indeed, her qualities are not inappropriately described in 

 some doggerel lines often quoted ; and t^vo of the verses we shall ven- 

 ture to give, as most aptly descriptive of the Yorkshire cow 



"She's broad in her ribs, and long in her rump, 

 A straight and flat back without ever a hump; 

 She's wide in lier hips, and cahii in lier eyes ; 

 She's fine in her slioulders, and thin in her tliighs 



" She's hght in her neck, and small in her tail, 

 She's wide in her breast, and good at the pail; 

 She's fine in lier bone, and silky of skin; 

 She's a grazier's without, and a butcher's within." 



The quantity of milk given by these cows by far exceeds that of any 

 others, though less perhaps than that of some others in proportion to 

 her size. The writer has had instances where as much as thirty quarts 

 per day, in summer, have been given. The distended udder has so 

 swollen before calving, that she was obliged to be milked several days 

 before she calved; and, after calving, had to be milked three times a 

 day, for fear of the consequences of an over-distended udder. She, 

 moreover, gave a large quantity of butter as well as milk, and soon after 

 calving she has given fifteen pounds per week. 



All these things being considered, and taking into account the car 

 cass value of the cow after she has yielded her milk, it is not too much 

 to say that there is no breed of cows so highly gifted with milk-secret- 

 ing qualities who are also otherwise so profitable as the Yorkshire. 



The Leicestershire Breed. — The old breed of England has had a more 

 successful struggle for existence than the native breed of Gloucester- 

 shire. It was here that Bakewell exerted his talents to improve the 

 long-horned breed of cattle, and, though he succeeded in removing the 

 coarseness from these animals, and increased their tendency to fatten, it 

 appears he did not attain the object of either establishing or improving 

 their dairying qualities; and hence his breed is but little prized by the 

 Leicestershire dairymen, who prefer the coarser and larger animals, 

 which give large quantities of good milk, to those which have less milk- 

 giving capabilities, but are more suitable for the grazier. 



The yield of cheese, rather than that of milk, is the object of the 

 dairymen of Leicestei*shire. A good cow will give some four hundred 

 pounds of cheese, and produce as many gallons of milk in the year, 

 allowing for the seven weeks when she is supposed to be dry. In some 

 districts the cows are kept for six, or seven, and even more years, espe- 

 cially when they are good cheese producers ; for it is of more conse- 

 quence to the farmer to have a cow which, i'o: six years, gives him an 



