CATTLE-BEEEDiNG.] CATTLE, AND THEIE VAEIETIES. [cattle-beeedincj. 



distinctions in reference to brutes, yet is it of 

 extreme importance to keep in mind those 

 general and distinctive varieties of temperament 

 wliicli have a powerful operation upon the 

 characters of various animals. Assigning, tlien, 

 a broad division to the temperaments of ani- 

 mals, we might define them as consisting of 

 three kinds — the nervous, the thoracic, and 

 the abdominal. In proportion as the nervous 

 system, the chest, or the abdomen, is strongly 

 developed, an animal may be considered to 

 belong to the one class or the other. In the 

 breeding of oxen for the purposes of the 

 butcher, the grand object has been to establish 

 the supremacy of the belly, and to dethrone 

 the empire of the cranium and the chest ; or, 

 in other words, to preserve and perpetuate that 

 form of abdomen most favourable to the due 

 performance of the digestive processes, affording 

 the capability of extracting the utmost quantity 

 of nourishment from the food, and, at the same 

 time, diminishing as much as possible the 

 development of the nervous system (which 

 would induce too much irritability, and destroy 

 that indolence and quietness so essential for 

 the fattening process), as well as that of the 

 organs of respiration, which give, at once, the 

 capability and the disposition for muscular 

 exertion. 



In reference to the formation of the beast, 

 in so far as it is susceptible of taking on fat, 

 size must enter largely into the consideration 

 where heavy weights are required. Christmas 

 beef is not only expected to be large, but like- 

 wise to be fat. *' The symbol of festivity," 

 says Mr. Milburn, " should be capacious as well 

 as prime ;" and we agree with him. A spare 

 scrag at Christmas would certainly be enough 

 to " chill the genial current of the soul" of any 

 Englishman who has heard of the bountiful fare 

 upon which his ancestors of old regaled at this 

 season of the year ; but in reference to the 

 grazier, who is buying in order to sell, profit 

 alone must be his guide. It may be observed, 

 however, that in accordance with the excellence 

 of the grazing-ground, so will be the largeness 

 of the animal fed upon it. Small animals cer- 

 tainly arc much more ciasily fed ; but then they 

 are usually the result of a poor soil. Besides 

 size, there must be breadth of carcass, which is 

 indicative of fattening, perhaps, above all other 

 qualifications. If rumps are favourite joints, 

 6G0 



and produce tlie best price, it is best to have tlie 

 animal which will grow the longest, the broadest, 

 and the best rump. The same may be said of 

 crop, and of sirloin ; but breadth is essential to 

 the consumption of that quantity of food which 

 is necessary to the development of a large 

 amount of fat. Thus a deep wide chest, favour- 

 able for the respiratory and circulating func- 

 tions, enables the animal to consume a large 

 amount of food to burn up the sugary and 

 deposit the fatty matter, as then useless, but 

 afterwards to be prized. A full round crop 

 will be of the same physiological utility ; while 

 a broad and open framework at the hips will 

 afford scope for the action of the liver and kid- 

 neys. The head must be small and fine. JS'ot, 

 perhaps, that ib is of any special use in the fat- 

 tening of the animal to be so constructed, but 

 it is indicative of the bones being small, and the 

 legs short. Eor constitutional powers, the 

 beast should have his ribs extended well 

 towards the thigh-bones or hips, so as to leave 

 as little unprotected space as possible. There 

 must be no angular or abrupt points ; all must 

 be round, bi'oad, and parallel. Any depres- 

 sion in the lean animal will show a deficient 

 deposit of flesh and fiit, when sold to the 

 butcher, and thus deteriorate its value ; and 

 hence the animal must be round and full. But 

 either fancj^, or accident, or skill (we will not 

 pretend to say which), has associated symmetry 

 with quality and conformation, as a point of 

 great importance in animals calculated for fat- 

 tening ; and there is no doubt that, to a certain 

 extent, this is so. The beast must be a system 

 of mathematical lines. To the advocate of 

 symmetry, the setting-on of a tail will be a 

 condemning fault. The ridge of the back like 

 a straight line, with the outline of the belly 

 exactly parallel, when viewed from the side, 

 and a depth and squareness when viewed from 

 behind, like a geometrical cube, may be said to 

 be the indications of excellence in a fat ox. As 

 a partial resume of what we have said, we add, 

 that the qualities desirable to be obtained for 

 fattening, are pretty much the same in the 

 greater number of domestic animals — that is, 

 in those designed for animal food. They are — 

 the capability of converting a given quantity of 

 food into the utmost amount of flesh and fat, 

 and the development of this meat on those 

 parts of the body most esteemed for food. Thus 



