CATTLE. 113 



able and indeed prevailing color — he speaks of it as possessing "the 

 mellowest touch, supported on small clean limbs, showing, like those of 

 the greyhound and the race-horse, the union of strength with fineness, 

 and ornamented with a small, lengthy, tapering head, neatly set on a 

 broad, firm, deep neck ; furnished with a small muzzle, wide nostrils, 

 prominent mildly-beaming eyes; thin, large, veiny ears, set near the 

 crown of the head, and protected in front with semicircularly-bent 

 white or waxy-colored short, smooth, pointed horns; all these several 

 parts combine to form a symmetrical harmony which has never been 

 surpassed in beauty and sweetness by any other species of the domesti- 

 cated ox." 



Keeping in mind what was said to be the perfection of a fat animal, 

 the same authority, speaking of the short-horn, says : " We have a 

 straight level back from behind the horns to the top of the tail, full 

 buttocks, and a projecting brisket; we have, in short, the rectangular- 

 form ; we have also the level line across the hook-bones (hip), and the 

 level top of the shoulder across the ox, and perpendicular lines down the 

 hind and fore legs on both sides ; these constituting the square form 

 when the ox is viewed before and behind ; and we have straight parallel 

 lines from the sides of the shoulders along the utmost parts of the 

 ribs and the sides of the hind quarters; and we have these lines con- 

 nected at their ends by others of shorter and equal length across the 

 end of the rump and the top of the shoulder; thus constituting the 

 rectangular form of the ox when viewed from above down the back." 



It will be very wide from our purpose to show either the immense 

 amount of fat which has at one time or another accumulated on the 

 backs of these w^onderful animals, or the speed with which this has been 

 done. Neither would it tend much to elucidate the principles of breed- 

 ing or grazing to detail at any length the prices which short-horns have 

 commanded and do command. 



Nor is it in their rapid fattening alone that this race of cattle excels. 

 They are, beyond all question, the most remarkable for early maturity. 

 Fat deposits are generally the result of a mature state of the animal. 

 There are few animals who will lay it on, to any degree, at least, until 

 they are fully formed. The short-horn is an exception. They com- 

 mence the fat-forming process as calves. This seems to increase with 

 their growth, and at a year old they have all the semblance of cows. 



The feeders of short-horns, instead of keeping them to three, four, or 

 five years of age, fatten them and sell them off at from two to two and 

 a half years ; they can thus turn oft' one-half more at least, if not a 

 greater proportion, of beef, from their farms or their stalls, than could 

 possibly be done with any other breed. Hence they have quick returns 

 and large amounts of beef for the food-consumer. We will not deny 

 that the short-horn requires good keep, and shelter, and care. She 

 needs nourishing diet ; but she pays for all, for she is a cow when another 

 is a calf — the ox is fat when the other is growing. Hence the shoit- 

 horn stands the very first on the list of the fat-producing breeds of 

 cattle. 



The Hereford Breed. — This is a middle-horn breed of cattle, npon which 

 a good deal of pains has lately been taken. The success of short- 



