40 CHARACTERISTICS. — TOMKINS. 



hips ; hair bright ; face almost bare, which is character- 

 istic of pure-bred Herefords. They belong to the 

 middle-horned division of the cattle of Great Britain, 

 to which they are indigenous. They have been im- 

 proved within the last century by careful selections, 

 the first step to this end having been taken by Benja- 

 min Tomkins, of Herefordshire, who began about 1766 ; 

 with two cows possessing a remarkable tendency to 

 take on fat. One of these was gray, and the other 

 dark red, with a mottled or spotted face. 



Taking these as a foundation, Mr. Tomkins went on 

 to build up a large herd, from which he sold to 

 other breeders, from time to time, till at his decease, in 

 1819, the whole herd was disposed of at auction — fifty 

 two animals, including twenty-two steers and two heif- 

 ers, varying in age from calves to two-year-olds, bring- 

 ing an aggregate of four thousand six hundred and 

 seventy-three pounds, fourteen shillings, or four hun- 

 dred and forty-five dollars, thirty-seven and a half cents, 

 a head. A bull was sold to Lord Talbot for five hun- 

 dred and eighty-eight pounds, while several cows 

 brought from a thousand to twelve hundred dollars a 

 head. 



Hereford oxen are excellent animals, less active but 

 stronger than the Devons, and very free and docile. 

 The demand for Herefords for beef prevents their being- 

 much used for work in their native county, and the 

 farmers there generally use horses instead of oxen. A 

 recent writer in the Farmer's Magazine makes the fol- 

 lowing remarks on this head : " It is allowed on all 

 hands, I believe, that the properties in which Herefords 

 stand preeminent among the middle-sized breeds are in 

 the production of oxen and their superiority of flesh. 

 On these points there is little chance of their being 

 excelled. It should, however, be borne in mind that 



