CATTLE. 



CATTLE. 



Mixed in the field with red clover, it affords 

 excellent hay. The seed is usually sown in 

 the autumn, among and immediately after 

 wheat, and rye, though it succeeds very well 

 when sown in the spring at the same time 

 clover is sown. The clover dies out after the 

 second year, leaving the ground in possession 

 of the timothy, which requires a good soil and 

 is considered an exhausting crop to laud. 



The smaller Meadow Cat's-tail (Phleum minus}. 

 Indigenous to England, on tenacious soils. 



The Bulbous-jointed Cat's-tail Grass (Phleum 

 worfosi/w?). Perennial; native of Britain, but 

 rare ; found on a clayey soil at Woburn. Flow- 

 ers in beginning of July. Seeds ripe at the 

 end of the same month. 



P tuple-stalked Cat's-tail Grass (Phleum boeh- 

 rm'). Indigenous and perennial ; grows best 

 on a sandy loam. Flowers in July. 



In the New England States timothy, or P. 

 pratensc, is called herd"* grass, a name applied 

 in the Middle States exclusively to the jlgrostis 

 vulgaris or red-top, a kind of grass so very un- 

 popular among Pennsylvania farmers, that in 

 selecting clover and other grass seeds, they 

 reject all samples containing herd's grass. 



CATTLE. Under this head I propose to 

 include the ox tribe, Bovidte, of the class Mam- 

 malia, having teats or mamma; these are of the 

 order Ruminantia, or ruminating, or cud-chew- 

 ing animals. Of this tribe there are eight spe- 

 cies : 1. Bos urus or duroch, the ancient bison ; 

 2. B. bison, the bison, or American buffalo; 3. 

 B. moschatus, or musk ox ; 4. B. frontalis, or 

 gayal ; 5. B. grunniens, or grunting ox ; 6. B. 

 coffer, or buffalo of southern Africa; 7. B. bu- 

 bulus, or common buffalo ; 8. B. taurus, or com- 

 mon domestic ox. That the ox has been do- 

 mesticated, and in the service of man from a 

 very remote period, is quite certain. We learn 

 from Gen. (iv. 20.) that cattle were kept by the 

 early descendants of Adam. Preserved by 

 Noah from the flood waters, the original breed 

 of our present oxen must have been in the 

 neighbourhood of Mount Ararat ; and from 

 thence, dispersing over the face of the globe, 

 altering by climate, by food, and by cultivation, 

 originated the various breeds of modern ages. 

 That the value of the ox tribe has been in all 

 ages and climates highly appreciated, we have 

 abundant evidence. The natives of Egypt, 

 India, and of Hindostan seem alike to have 

 placed the cow amongst their deities ; and, 

 judging by her usefulness to all classes, no 

 animal could perhaps have been selected whose 

 value to mankind is greater. Of the old race 

 of British cattle, some remains of which are 

 yet to be found in Chillingham Park, in North- 

 umberland, in a state of tolerable purity, and 

 in one or two other places in Great Britain, 

 improved by judicious or accidental crossings, 

 came most of our modern breeds. George 

 Culley, in his valuable work on cattle, de- 

 scribes these aboriginals as being of a creamy 

 white, with black muzzles, white horns with 

 black tips bending upwards. The cows weigh- 

 ing from twenty-five to thirty-five stone. They 



le for a week or ten days their calves, in 

 e sequestered place ; and these, when they 

 disturbed, put their heads to the ground, 

 and lie close like a hare. Their wildness pre- 

 283 



vents the introduction of them into any situ- 

 ation not surrounded by stone walls ; and the 

 mode in which they we're wont to be killed by 

 the keepers was by a rifle ball. See also two 

 excellent papers by Dr. Knox on the wild ox 

 of Scotland (Quart. Journ. of Jlgr. Vol. ix. p. 

 367) ; and on the ox tribe, in connection with 

 the white cattle of the Hamilton and Chilling- 

 ham breeds, by the Rev. Dr. Patrick (Ibid. 

 p. 514). 



In nearly all parts of the earth cattle are 

 employed for their labour, for their milk, and 

 for food. In southern Africa they are as much 

 the associates of the Caffres as the horse is of 

 the Arab. They share his toils, and assist him 

 in tending his herds ; they are even trained to 

 battle, in which they become fierce and cou- 

 rageous. In central Africa the proudest ebony 

 beauties are to be seen on their backs. They 

 have drawn the plough in all ages ; in Spain 

 they still trample out the corn ; in India raise 

 the water from the deepest wells to irrigate the 

 thirsty soils of Bengal. When Coesar invaded 

 England they constituted the chief riches of 

 its inhabitants (Casar, lib. v. c. 10); and they 

 yet form no inconsiderable item in the estimate 

 of that country's abounding riches. Accord- 

 ing to the estimate of Mr. Youatr, to whom in 

 this and other articles on live stock I am so 

 much indebted (On Cattle, p. 9), it would seem 

 that 1,600,000 head of cattle are consigned to 

 the butcher every year in the United King- 

 dom, and the value of the entire national stock 

 of all kinds of cattle, sheep, and pigs, he is of 

 opinion, amounts to nearly 120,000,0007. ster 

 ling. An excellent paper on the origin and 

 natural history of the domestic ox" and its allied 

 species, by Professor Wilson (Quart. Journ. of 

 Jlgr. vol. ii. p. 177), may be consulted with 

 advantage by those who wish for more infor- 

 mation on this head. 



The breeds of cattle in England are remark- 

 able for their numerous varieties, caused by 

 the almost endless crossings of one breed with 

 another, often producing varieties of the most 

 mongrel description, and which are rather dif- 

 ficult to describe. I will in this place touch 

 upon the principal varieties; and in these we 

 should, in looking for the chief points of excel- 

 lence, regard, as Mr. Youatt well observes, 

 " wide and deep girth about the heart and 

 lungs ; and not only about these, but above the 

 whole of the ribs must we have both depth and 

 roundness ; the hooped as well as the deep 

 barrel is essential. The beast should also be 

 ribbed home ; there should be little space be- 

 tween the ribs and the hips. This is indispen- 

 sable in the fattening ox, but a largeness and 

 drooping of the belly is excusable in the cow. 

 It leaves room for the udder, and if it is also 

 accompanied by swelling milk-veins, it gene- 

 rally indicates her value in the dairy. This 

 roundness and depth of the barrel, however, is 

 most advantageous in proportion as it is found 

 behind the point of the elbow, more than be- 

 tween the shoulders and legs; or low down 

 between the legs, than upwards towards the 

 withers; for it diminishes the heaviness before, 

 and the comparative bulk of the coarser parts 

 of the animal, which is always a very great 

 consideration. 



