Chapter XXXIII. 



DEVONS. 



Lying south of the Bristol Channel, on the map of England, may 

 be found the county or shire of Devon. Much of its physical geography, 

 as also that of the county adjoining it on the west, Cornwall, presents 

 characteristics strikingly similar to that of Wales indeed, the people of 

 these lower western counties were as safe from Roman incursions 

 behind the vast forests which covered the alluvial deposits of lower 

 England, as were the people of Wales in their rugged mountain fast- 

 nesses. As a result of this immunity from invasion, the wild or "White 

 Forest" breed of cattle described by Low increased greatly in numbers, 

 and, in the counties named, became more or less subject to partial 

 domestication. 



In Wales, we have at present the North Wales and Pembroke 

 breeds as undoubted descendants of these wild cattle ; and in the shire 

 of Devon, occupying more especially its northern slope, has existed for 

 generations the ancestry of the Devon breed familiarly known in Eng- 

 land as the "North Devons " to distinguish them from the cattle occu- 

 pying the low lands of Devon and the counties to the east. That the 

 breed is of remarkably pure descent is attested by the wonderful impres- 

 siveness in marking offspring. Surely no breed of modern improved 

 cattle has a better claim to be called aboriginal than this. As their 

 merits became known, they were gradually distributed to other and 

 more northern counties, and the demand thus found to exist induced a 

 more systematic effort toward improvement. Within the present 

 century their size has been increased, beef capacity improved, and 

 milking qualities especially advanced. The Earl of Leicester was 

 among the most noted of early English breeders, followed by Lord 

 Somerville and Lord Western, who were not only breeders but did 

 much, also, to improve the quality of the animals bred. 



Their introduction to America dates from a very early period, a 

 few head of what were undoubtedly Devons being brought over in the 

 ship Charity (1623) for a Mr. Winslow, of Massachusetts. In 1817, how- 

 ever, probably the first authentic importation of pure bred improved 

 Devons was made by a Mr. Patterson, of Baltimore, direct from the herd 

 of the Earl of Leicester (at that time Mr. Coke, of Holkham). The next 

 year (1818) a few were imported to Long Island from Mr. Coke's herd. 



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