No. 3. 



"Royal George. 



83 



"ROYAL GEORGE," 



An Ayrshire Bull, imported by, and the property of, J. StriUhers, Esq. 



This very well-bred animal is three years old ; his sire was " Geordie," of whom a highly 

 finished engraved portrait was exhibited at the agricultural meeting of the Philadelphia So- 

 ciety on the 29th and 30th September, and not one of the thousands of those who were pre- 

 sent on that very interesting and gratifying occasion but will be struck with the faithfulness 

 of our delineation. He was brought to this country, with several most beautiful heifers 

 of the same fashionable stock, having been selected by the owner in person, without regard 

 to expense; and in company with "Helen M'Gregor" — whose portrait was given in the 

 Cabinet, vol. 5, p. 193 — obtained the first premium, as the best bull and cow of the Ayrshire 

 unproved breed of Cattle. 



The Ayrshire cattle are not yet sufficiently known, and cannot be procured cheap enough 

 or in adequate numbers to undergo a fair trial ; some of them have been tried in the London 

 dairies, but as mere milkers, it is admitted that they cannot compete with the long-established 

 metropolitan dairy cow, the Short-horn; for although they may yield as much milk in pro- 

 portion to their size and food, this is not in proportion to the room which they occupy and 

 the increased trouble which they give from being more numerous, in order to supply the 

 requisite quantity of milk. They will feed kindly and profitably, and their beef will be good, 

 fattening on farms and in districts where others could not be made to thrive at all, except 

 by being partially supported by artificial food. They unite in a great degree the supposed 

 incompatible properties of yielding milk and beef; at the same time it is admitted, that it is 

 upon the inferior soil and in the moist climate of the west of Scotland, that their superiority 

 as milkers is most remarkable; for on their natural food of poor quality they will give milk 

 abundantly and long, often until within a few days of calving; but when they are removed 

 to richer pasture, their constitution seems to change, and they convert their food more into 

 beef In their own country, a cow of fleshy make, which seldom proves a good milker, may 

 be easily raised to a good weight, but there is a lurking tendency to fatten about them, which 

 good pasture will bring to light; so that, it is often, when an Ayrshire cow is sent from her 

 own country and into good pasture, she loses her superiority as a milker, and begins to accu- 

 mulate flesh : on this account it is, that the English dealers who purchase Ayrshire cows for 

 the dairy, generally select the coarsest animals, in order to avoid the consequence of change 

 of climate and food. It may be long before the breed will become favourites with the butcher, 

 for the fifth quarter will not usually weigh well with them : their fat, however, mingles well 

 with the flesh, and this gives it a more beautiful and marbled appearance, which ought to 

 enhance the price to the consumer. The circumstance of their being in such demand for 

 dairy stock may partially account for their not being thought to succeed so well for grazing, 

 as they are often kept as milkers until they are too old to fatten to advantage, or for their 

 beef to be of the best quality. 



