284 



NEW ENGLAND F.-iE^IER. 



JUXE 



THE3 GALLOWAY CATTLE. 



We have recently given our readers excel- 

 lent illustrations of several of the families of 

 long-horned and short-horned cattle, and this 

 week we have a fine cut of a no-horned or Gal- 

 loway cow, as a representative of this favorite 

 Scottish breed. 



This race was originated in the low-lands of 

 the south-western part of Scotland and take 

 their name from that district. They were 

 carefully bred and much improved by the 

 Earl of Solkirk for several years, beginning 

 with 1786. Mr. Youatt says there is perhaps 

 no breed of cattle which can be more truly said 

 to be indigenous to the country, and incapable 

 of improvement by any foreign cross, than the 

 Galloways. The crosses ''^which have been 

 made with the finest Short-horn bulls, have 

 not proved sat sfactory, and the best breeders 

 now rely on selections of the pure Galloway. 

 Thoy are generally very docile. Even a furi 

 ous or troublesome bull is very rare. 



Mr. Youatt gives the following description of 

 this breed : — "The Galloway cattle are straight 

 and broad in the back, and nearly level from 

 the head to the rump. They aie round in the 

 ribs, and also between the shoulders and ribs, 

 and the ribs and the loins. They are broad 

 in the loin, without any large projecting hook 

 bones. In roundness of barrel, and fulness 

 of ribs, they will compare with any breed, and 

 also in the proportion which the loins bear to 

 the hook bones, or protuberances of the ribs. 

 They are long in the quarters and ribs, and 

 deep in the chest, but not broad in the twist. 



The slightest inspection will show that there is 

 less space, between the hook or hip bones and 

 the ribs, than in most other breeds. They 

 are short in the leg, and moderately fine 

 in the ghank bones. They are clean, not fine 

 and slender, but well proportioned in the 

 the neck and chaps ; a thin and delicate neck 

 would not correspond with the broad shoul- 

 ders, deep chest, and close, compact form of 

 the breed. The neck of the Galloway bull is 

 thick, almost to a fault. The head is rather 

 heavy ; the f yes are not prominent, and the 

 ears are large, rough, and full of long hairs on 

 the inside. The Galloway is covered with a 

 loose, mellow skin of medium thickness, and 

 which is clothed with long, soft, silky hair. 

 The prevailing and the fashionable color is 

 black — a few are of a dark brindled brown, 

 and still fewer are speckled with white spots, 

 and some of them are of a dun or drab color, 

 perhaps acquired from a cross with the Suffolk 

 breed of cattle. Dark colors are uniformly 

 preferred, from the belief that they indicate 

 hardness of constitution." 



In his late work on American Cattle, Mr. 

 Allen says that polled or hornless cattle came 

 into this country with some of the early impor- 

 tations, as such have been knowti here for 

 more tnan a century past. As they were red, 

 spotted, and of all colors usual among our na- 

 tive cattle, they probably were picked up from 

 the polled herds of Norfolk or Suffolk, in Eng- 

 land, where they have abounded for centuries. 

 About the year 1850, some enterprising Scotch 



