DIFFERENT BREEDS OF OXEN. 107 



We next proceed to give our readers a very brief description 

 of the English longhorns. The earliest records inform us that a 

 peculiar and valuable breed of cattle, the horns of which were 

 very long, existed in the district of Craven, a fertile corner of 

 the West Riding of Yorkshire, bordering on Lancashire. These 

 longhorned cattle gradually spread along the Western coast of 

 England, and, after they had been greatly improved by a well- 

 known breeder called Bakewell, they gradually established a 

 footing throughout the greater part of the midland counties. 

 At the present time they are rapidly being replaced by the short- 

 horns. As their name implies, these longhorned cattle are 

 easily distinguishable by the great length, and sometimes also 

 by the cumbersome form, of their horns. In the animals of 

 the old Craven breed the horns often projected in a nearly hori- 

 zontal direction on each side. However, in the case of the 

 improved Cravens, which are very valuable animals, the horns 

 either grew downwards in a perpendicular direction, thereby 

 rendering the act of grazing a difficult operation, or else in a 

 curved form so as to present an appearance as if they were about 

 to meet or cross in front of the muzzle, and thereby also hinder 

 the animal in the process of grazing, or altogether prevent it 

 from doing so. Or perhaps they might look as if about to 

 grow down beneath the under jaw so as to lock it, or as if they 

 were about to pierce the bones of the nose, or certain other 

 parts of the face. The horns first take an outward direction,, 

 then curve and may return towards the face. In this connec- 

 tion we may say that the growth of the teeth in certain rodents 

 presents some resemblance to this. 



Most of the modern English longhorns are possessed of 

 long, spreading, and sometimes drooping horns. They are 

 dark red and brindled in colour, white along the back, have 

 good coats of hair and rather coarse bones, are fairly symmetrical 

 in build, have a great amount of flesh along the back, a capacity 

 of attaining great weight, and of sound and rather rapid 

 feeding. Even the Craven group, however, like the whole of 

 the Irish longhorns, though with no such wide difference of 

 value, are divisible into two great and very distinct sections. 

 The smaller Cravens inhabit the moorlands and hills, are hardy^ 

 and easily kept, yield a great quantity of excellent milk, and 

 quickly fatten when put upon rich pasture. They are, as a matter 



