116 DOMESTIC Al^mALS. 



upward and outward. The coat is peculiar, soft, lono^, and a"bso]utely 

 curled, so as to form a sort of fleece. Another peculiarity is, that they 

 form their beef almost entirely on the back, which is therefore straight; 

 the body is round ; and they lay on fat rapidly under circurastajces in 

 which another animal would literally starve. 



He can assimilate, from a soil so barren as to be sterile for others, as 

 much food as will enable him to feed — for to irrow is out of the ques- 

 tion, that process is performed on his native hills; if indulged, however, 

 he will pay for it in the rapidity of his fattenino;, and the excellence of 

 his beef. They will weigh, with amazingly liltle care, from seven hun- 

 dred to one thousand pounds. The exceptions to this rule, however, 

 are very important in special cases. The Duke of Northumberland 

 having a very promising Argylshire "stot" — bullocks, as they arc 

 called more generally in England — kept him as long as he saw him 

 improve, to see what he would weigh. He was five and a liaH' years 

 old, and weighed exclusive of ofFal, one thousand four hundred and four 

 pounds. Though, perhaps, one of the heaviest of the breed ever slaugh- 

 tered, he was neither the fattest nor the most inactive, but seemed in 

 that state to possess all the activity which he had on his native hills. 

 To give an idea of his keeping, and of the hardihood of his race, it is 

 only necessar}^ to give an account of his food. In the first winter he 

 was turned out to a poor pasture, with a little bad hay ; in the summer 

 he had again a poor land pasture ; in the next winter he had again a 

 poor pasture, but a few turnips; in the following summer he had a fair 

 pasture, and the same pasture in winter, with a more liberal allowance 

 of turnips; in the third summer he was tolerably well grazed; in the 

 fourth winter, he had as many turnips as he could eat in the sheltered 

 straw fold, and in the summer in which he was fatted, he had all the 

 indulgence of a feeding animal, viz., cut clover, hay, mangel-wurzel, 

 turnips, bean-meal, and a little oil-cake ; the latter of which he always 

 disliked. Mr. Quarl says his "fat was distributed in an uncommonly 

 equable manner, of a color resembling the finest grass butter, and as 

 firm as wax; the muscle was in ample proportion, bright in color, of 

 fine texture, and beautifully marbled by admixture of his excellent 

 fat." 



The Devon Breed. — If this had been a treatise on drawing cattle, we 

 should have placed this middle-horned description of animals first in our 

 list, instead of almost last. They are physiologically well formed ani- 

 mals; they are a very old and carefully-kept distinct breed of animals. 

 They are docile and tractable, patient and gentle ; hardy, notwithstand- 

 ing their warm and humid climate; but they are not first-rate milkers, 

 although very good feeders. They will grow to a considerable size; 

 and they produce a class of beef at all periods of their growth of capital 

 quality. The red color — all red, and nothing but red — is a sine qua 

 non in a Devonshire ox; he has a moderately straight top, a fine serene 

 countenance, and small head; a somewhat thin skin, covered with curly 

 hair. The rump is nari-ower than in the short-horns and the chine 

 lighter and flatter; but the brisket is large and full, the legs fi le, the 

 shoulder slanting, the neck long and thin. He is a beast of draught, 

 and for this he is unequaled. 



