108 THE DISEASES AND DISORDEES OF THE OX. 



of course, greatly prized by cottagers and those who have small 

 farms, on account of the small expense at which they can be 

 kept, the rather large amount of excellent milk which they 

 supply, and the rapid rate at which they fatten when placed on 

 good pasturage. On the other hand, the larger cows of the 

 Craven breed, which occupy lower, more level, and richer 

 soil, are fairly good in regard to the supply of milk, albeit 

 that they are not equal to the smaller Cravens in this respect 

 in proportion to their size and the quantity and quality of 

 the food they take. They have a special tendency to fatten 

 at a rapid rate, and they acquire a large bulk, whicb is 

 scarcely less, in fact, than that of the shorthorns of the present 

 day. 



Now, as either of these two kinds of Craven cattle found 

 their way to other districts, they were mixed to some extent 

 with the native cattle, and also gradually became adapted to the 

 changed conditions of climate, soil, and environment — in short,^ 

 to their new surroundings. Consequently the cattle of Cheshire, 

 those of Derbyshire, of Nottinghamshire, of Staffordshire, of 

 Oxfordshire, and of Wiltshire, were all essentially longhorns ; 

 but each variety developed in course of time its own distin- 

 guishing features, which seemed to adapt it for its own particu- 

 lar situation. On the other hand, the old breed of longhorns 

 remained much the same. It was formerly the case that the 

 cattle of this breed were preferred to every other breed ; but at 

 the present time they are known to be inferior to the short- 

 horns, and from the point of view of the flesh they yield they are 

 not equal to any one of several Scotch breeds. 



Kobert Bakewell, who was borne at Dishley, in Leicester- 

 shire, in the year 1725, was, as we have above said, the chief 

 improver of the longhorns. The most general principle which 

 guided him was probably beauty of form. This point was more 

 closely attended to at the outset than at present, practical men 

 now making a distinction between a useful sort and one which 

 is merely handsome. Evidently, utility of form is more impor- 

 tant than beauty of form ; and the parts which make oflfal should, 

 so far as is consistent with all desirable powers of constitution 

 and so forth, be small in proportion to the better parts. Again, 

 the grain of the meat depends wholly on the breed, and not on 

 the size of an animal, and one important point is the power to 



