DURHAM BREED.] CATTLE, AXD THEIE VAEIETIES. [DriinA:,r brekb. 



original race ; but early crosses with the long- 

 horned breed have, to a considerable extent, 

 prevailed. The Devons have also been used as 

 a cross to render them more easy to fatten ; and 

 the Durham short-horns have also occasionally 

 been tried ; but the poverty of keep, allowed by 

 the Gloucestershire dairymen to their cattle, 

 has greatly tended to deteriorate the breed. 

 The same fate has, in general, attended at- 

 tempts to cross vfith the Herefords. Of the 

 successful crosses adopted in this country, there 

 '.\ras one made with an ordinary Gloucester 

 bull and an Alderney cow. This obtained 

 richneas in the milk ; when a Durham bull was 

 selectei to increase the tendency to flesh and 

 ;to size, and to improve the form generally. 

 This gives a stock one-half Durham, while the 

 other half is constituted of one part Gloucester 

 and one-half Alderney. The average yield of 

 an ordinary Gloucester cow may be reckoned 

 at five hundred gallons of milk, yielding about 

 twenty-four stones of single Gloucester cheese ; 

 the remainder of the milk being used in the 

 family, and for fattening calves, or pig-feeding, 

 vyhicli ia largely practised in all dairy districts. 



THE SUSSEX BREED. 



The breed of cattle in Sussex closely resem- 

 bles that of Devonshire. According to judges, 

 it is intermediate between the Devon and 

 Hereford ; " having the activity of the first, the 

 strength of the second, and the propensity to 

 fatten, a}id the beautiful fine-grained flesh of 

 both." Its colour is deep chestnut-red, or 

 blood-bay ; and a deviation from these colours 

 indicates a cross. In the "Weald of Sussex, 

 oxen of this valuable stock are generally used 

 for team-work; and so great is their strength 

 and quickness, that many teams have been 

 known to travel, with heavy loads, fifteen miles 

 a day, for several successive weeks, without 

 distress. The Sussex cow, like the Devon and 

 the Hereford, is very inferior in size to the 

 bull ; and though the milk yielded is good, it 

 is of indifierent quantity. 



THE DURHAM, OR SHORT-HORN BREED. 

 The most extensively diffused breed of cattle 

 in our island, and by far the most valuable, is 

 that termed, by way of distinction, the Short- 

 Lorned. Of this breed England may justly be 

 proud, as it unites, as far as possible, every 

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good quality. The form is admirable; iho 

 oxen fiitten quickly, and often attain to an 

 enormous weight, and the cows are excellent 

 as milkers. It would appear that Durham, 

 and some parts of Yorkshire, had long pos- 

 sessed a breed of short-horned cattle of large 

 size, and celebrated for the quantity of milk 

 yielded by the cows ; but this breed, not only 

 in figure, but in aptitude to fatten, and in the 

 quality of the flesh, required great improve- 

 ment — other races far excelling it in these 

 points, so important to the grazier This 

 stock still lingers, and is certainly valuable to 

 the dairy farmer, who might, however, substi- 

 tute the improved breed for it with advantage. 

 It is about ninety years since the improved 

 stock of this old, but really fine, breed began 

 to be established on the banks of the Tees, 

 owing to the judgment and care of the intelli- 

 gent breeders of that district. It difiers from 

 the old short-horns in possessing a well-de- 

 veloped figure, and a more than ordinary 

 aptitude to acquire fat. The first step of im- 

 provement, resulting from the practical know- 

 ledge of Mr. MlUbank, and other coadjutors, 

 opened the way for the successful exertions 

 of subsequent spirited breeders, who, by pur- 

 suing a judicious plan in crossing, have brought 

 the breed to the highest pitch of perfection. 

 Among these crosses, it is supposed that tlie 

 white wild breed has contributed a share ; aud 

 to this circumstance is attributed the preva- 

 lence of white as a characteristic of the stock. 

 In speaking of this breed, Mr. Milburn says, 

 that these animals are supposed by some to be 

 traced to Holderness ; and, according to others, 

 to have been imported from Holstein. From 

 continental Europe they certainly appear to 

 have sprung ; and, being successively improved 

 by a variety of breeders, they have ended in 

 that distinct race of animals, extraordinary, 

 beyond all others, for their astonishing pro- 

 pensities to feed. Others, again, refer their 

 origin to a native race of cattle called the 

 Teeswater, because they have, from time im- 

 memorial, inhabited the valley which the Tees 

 has formed by its washings-down of the moun- 

 tain limestone rocks in which it has its origin. 

 These, it is said, being crossed by the Holder- 

 ness importations, gradually became a now race. 

 The late Mr. Bates traces the short-horns to a 

 breed in the possession of the Aslabys, of 



