348 



FARxMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6 



Lord Althorp first adopted the short-horns in 1818, 

 when he purchased the bull Jies^ent at Mr. R. 

 Colliiii^'s sale, with eevend ol" that <;entlenian's 

 cows; and since that time Ixis lordship has been 

 unremillinn; in his attempts to improve the breed. 

 The bull Firby is good in almost every point. Hi< 

 flanks, loins, hips, and bosom are excellent. His 

 only tailing is in the crop ; yet we are told by his 

 lordship's very intelligent steward, (Mr. Hall,) 

 and we had proof of the accuracy of the obser- 

 vation, when we had the pleasure of looking over 

 the Wiseton herd, that after usinir him six years, 

 very few of his stock have inherited ihis imperlec- 

 tion. Lord Althorp's bull Firhy evinces this re- 

 quisite in a proper degree. He has also — but, in- 

 deed, it is only part of the other, lor without it 

 good m.asculine character cannot exist — an excel- 

 lent loin. This is a point in which many short- 

 horns are rather detective, and it is one of infinite 

 importance. Add to this, that ifj in many instan- 

 ces, the length of the carcass were abated, as well 

 as that of the legs, a hardier animal, with equal 

 size and on a more profitable scale, would be pro- 

 duced. The facilities for making this improve- 

 ment are sufficiently numerous, the short-horns 

 being now more generally diffused. That wider 

 diffusion also multiplies the means of selecling lor 

 milk ; a quality which should not be lo.;t sight of: 

 lor it is the combination of perfections which has 

 conferred, and will perpetuate, the superiority of 

 this breed of catile. 



The colors of the improved short-horns are red 

 or wliJte, or a mixture of the two, combining in 

 endless variety, and producing, very frequently, 

 most brilliant eh'ect. The while, it is very pro- 

 bable, they obtained from an early cross with the 

 wild breed ; and whenever this color shows itself, 

 it is accompanied, more or less, with a red tinge 

 on theextremity of the earj a distinctive character, 

 also, of liie wild cattle. No pure improved short- 

 horns are found ofany colors but those above named. 

 Tliere is a large coarse short-horn, prevailing par- 

 ticularly in Lincolnshire, denominated in the quo- 

 tations of" the Smithfield markets '"Lincoln?," and 

 generally sold at prices below those of any other 

 cattle. These are frequently black, black and white, 

 blue and dun; but they have no further affinity 

 with the improved sbort-horns than as the latter 

 have been relerred to for their improvement, which 

 has been accomplished to a considerable degree. 

 A similar description of large, coarse short-horns, 

 of these objectionable colors — for they generally 

 accompany a had quality of flesh— prevails in 

 some of the midland counties. They are great 

 consumers of (bod, gulty, and particularly low 

 and bad in the loins, with excessively heavy shoul- 

 der-blades. The owners of this stock, however, 

 are crossing wiih the improved breed; but the 

 dairy-Rirmersof Gloucestershire are co much alive 

 to the auperiority of the short-horns, that they lay 

 hold with avidity of any thing which approaches 

 them in color, or is called by the name. Indeed, 

 should this breed continue to obtain the requisite 

 attention, to maintain in its present excellence, it is 

 not too much to sup[)ose that it will, before long, 

 alter the cliaracler of tlie catile in most of the 

 great breeding districts. It would have been thought 

 incredible some years ago, but is nevertheless the 

 fiict, that they are treading closely on the strong- 

 holds even of the Herelbrds ; and an observing 

 traveller, who sees their colors staring to view in 



very unwonted situations, muBt pronounce them 

 universal intruders. 



Thus fiir Mr. Berry, whose admirable account 

 of the improved short-horn cattle, our readers wilt 

 duly estimate. There is no point which he haa 

 more triumphantly illustrated than the value of 

 of this breed, as containing a combination of per- 

 fections. It was a point which was in a manner 

 lost sight of by the early improvers. They de- 

 veloped the aptitude to fatten, and the early ma- 

 turiiy of the short-horns, but they neglected, and 

 were beginning to lose, tfieir milking properties. 

 This is also the grand error of man}' modern 

 breeders ; and hence arose the general impression, 

 and founded on careful observation, that in propor- 

 tion as the grazing properties of the beast were 

 increased, its value for the dairy was proportiona- 

 bly diminished. 



The Yorkshire cow, v/hich now almost exclu- 

 sively occupies the London dairies, is an unan- 

 swerable proof of the possibility of uniting the 

 two qualities to a degree of perfection, but not at 

 the same time : — they succeed to each other, and 

 at the periods when it suits the convenience of the 

 dairyman that they should. Twenty years ago 

 the Yorkshire cow was, compared with other 

 breeds, as great a favorite in the London mar- 

 ket as at present. She yielded more milk, in pro- 

 [)ortion to the quantity of food consumed, than 

 could be obtained fiom any otiier breed ; but when 

 the dairymen had had her four years, she begau 

 to fall off', and he dried her, and sold her. It took 

 a long time to get much flesh upon her bones ; and 

 when he calculated the expense of bringing her 

 into condition, he found that his cheapest way 

 was to sell her for what she would fetch, and that 

 seldom exceeded 51. 



By degrees, however, some of the more intel- 

 ligent breeders lor this market began to find that, 

 by cautiously adopted Mr. Berry's principle of se- 

 lection — by finding out an improved short-horn 

 tiull, whose proireny were generally milkers, and 

 crossinsT son.e of tlie old Yorkshires with him, and 

 then going back to the pure blood — but still regar- 

 ding the milking properties of the dam — and the 

 usual tendency to possess these qualiiies in the off- 

 spring of the sire — they could at length obtain a 

 breed that had lost linle of the grazing properties 

 of the new breed, and retained, almost undimin- 

 ished, the excellence of the old breed lor the pail. 

 Thence it has happened that m.any of the cows in 

 the London dairies are as fine specimens of the 

 improved short-horn as can possibly be produced. 

 They do not, perhaps, yield quite so much milk as 

 the old ones, but what they do yield is of better 

 quality ; and Vv^hether the dairyman keeps them a 

 twelve-month, or a little longer — and this is gel- 

 ting more and more the habit of these people — or 

 whether he milks them for three or four years, as 

 soon as he dries them, they fatten as rapidly as 

 the most celebrated of the improved breed. Mr. 

 Parkinson gives an account of one which, after 

 being milked on the 5th of April, was sent to grass 

 with others, and sold on the 5th of July, after 

 ninety-one days grazing, having made in that 

 time nearly two shillings a day. 



The Yorkshire cow is a fair specimen of one of 

 these cows — the character of the Holderne.ss and 

 the Durham beautifully mingling. A milch cow, 

 good for the pail as long as she is wanted, and 

 then quickly got into marketable condition, should 



