SHORT-HORN CATTLE. 669 



deep, and full back of the elbows, which secures a good girth and conse- 

 quent room for the most important vital organs. The brisket should be 

 full and broad rather than narrow and projecting ; it is of inferior quality 

 as beef, yet, as a point of beauty and as indicating a propensity to fatten, 

 must not be overlooked. A thin, broad neck is sure to indicate weakness 

 and poor feeding qualities. Animals having such may well be avoided as 

 breeders. 



XIX. The Body. 



The body should be square, massive and symmetrical. The line of the 

 back should l)e straight ; the line of the belly nearly so, swelling a little 

 behind the ribs ; the flank low ; the ribs barrel-shaped ; the loins wide, 

 and the rump long and wide. The back should be wide, and the thigh 

 should be long and wide ; the legs short and comparatively small, or at 

 least not coarse ; tail light ; hair soft and fine. The color should be red 

 or white, or a mixture of the two, as roan or pied. The body should be 

 nearly a square. A very lengthy bullock never fattens so readily as a short 

 one, for he does not possess all the elements of health and vigor in the 

 same degree as the shorter and more compact animal. 



XX. The Legs Short and Straight. 



The body should be set on short legs which should be straight and well 

 under the animal ; the fore legs should be small in the l)one below the 

 knee, whilst the forearm must be broad and tapering downwards, fitting 

 level into the girth ; the hind legs must be nearly straight. If the hocks 

 are too much bent, turn inward, or not well under the body, it not 

 only gives an awkward gait in walking, but is generally a sign of weakness. 



XXI. The Loin Broad. 



The loin must be broad and well carried forward into the crops, and 

 covered with thick flesh moulding nicely on to the hips, which though 

 wide must not be too prominent, but slope away gradually to the rump 

 or side bones at the tail. A quarter badly filled up between hips and 

 rumps or scooped-out, as it is termed, is very objectionable. The back 

 must be level from neck to tail, with no drops back of the shoulders, nor 

 any rise where the tail is set on ; the rumps must be well laid up but not 

 too high, else when the animal is fat we shall have those large masses of 

 fat aggregated about them so common among the breed some years since, 

 but now deservedly stigmatized as bad. The twist should be well filled 

 out in the seam, wide and deep, the outside thigh full, the flank deep, 

 and forming with the fore-flank and belly (the latter well supported by 

 its plates) a parallel line with the animal's back. 



