'92 THE DISEASES AND DISOEDEES OF THE OX. 



of a large amount of milk. The Herefords compare very 

 favourably indeed with the shorthorns in respect to their capacity 

 for being fattened by ordinary modes of feeding without being 

 supplied with artificial food. 



We propose to omit a consideration of the cattle of Glouces- 

 tershire, and, likewise passing over those of Kent, we come next 

 to a short review of the cattle of Wales. 



Now, it is to the Welsh oxen that we look for some traces of 

 the native breed of cattle, for, as is well known, the inhabitants of 

 Wales and those who retreated to that country as a place of refuge 

 were never entirely subjugated by the early invaders. As for 

 the Romans, they gained possession of only a portion of Wales, 

 and the Saxons did not penetrate beyond the county of Mon- 

 mouth. Furthermore, for a long time the sturdy Welshmen 

 resisted the power of the English under the Norman kings, and 

 it was not until a late period in the thirteenth century that the 

 principality of Wales was actually annexed as an appanage of 

 the English Crown. Howell the Good describes some of the 

 Welsh cattle in the tenth century as being white and having 

 red ears. In this respect they resemble the cattle of Chillingham 

 Castle. 



Speed says that Maud de Breos, in order to appease King 

 John, whom her husband had offended, sent to his Queen a 

 present from Brecknockshire of 400 cows and a bull, all white 

 and with red ears. The same records which describe the 

 *' white cattle with red ears " also speak of the *' dark or black- 

 •coloured breed," which now exists, and is generally met with 

 throughout Wales. 



The majority of the cattle of Wales and the most valuable of 

 them are middlehorns. They are in some degree stunted in their 

 growth, owing to the scanty food of the Welsh mountains; 

 but they exhibit many of the points of the Devon, Sussex, and 

 Hereford cattle. 



The animals of North and South Wales are for the chief part 

 reared in mountainous districts, where, even in the summer 

 time, only scant herbage is found, while in the winter season 

 the fare is very poor indeed. When between eighteen months 

 and three years of age, they are sold to the English graziers 

 in large herds, which are sold annually. They improve very 

 rapidly when provided with rich pasturage. These animals are 



