REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 34 j 



strength and bulk of the North Devon ox, without impairing, 

 in the slightest degree, his activity, his beauty, or his propen- 

 sity to fatten.* 



'< 

 DEVONSHIRE Ox. 



There are few things more remarkable about the Devon- 

 shire cattle than the comparative smallness of the cow. The 

 bull is a great deal less than the ox, and the cow almost as 

 much smaller than the bull. This, however, is some disad- 

 vantage, and the breeders are aware of it; for although it may 

 not be necessary to have a large bull, and especially as those 

 of any extraordinary size are seldom handsome in all their 

 points, somewhere or other present coarseness or deformity, it 

 is almost impossible to procure large and serviceable oxen, ex- 

 cept from a somewhat roomy cow. Those cows, howev 

 although small, possess that roundness and projection of t 

 two or three last ribs, which make them actually more roomy 

 than a careless examination of them would indicate. The cow 



* In the 'Annals of Agriculture,' vol. xxx. p. 314, we have the opinion, in 

 somewhat provincial terms, ol' a L'uoil west-country praxier, respecting the 

 best form of the Devon cattle. -He buys at all lime--, from Christmas to May- 

 day, North Devons, that are bred from Portlock to Biddeford, such as are five 

 or six years old. He chooses such as are small-horned, and of a yellow- 

 coloured horn rather than white small bones, as such beasts thrive best rib 

 bones round, not flat a thick hide bad a very thin one objectionable blade 

 bones, chuck very thick and heavy in the bosom, as much weight lies there 

 the heavier in the shoulder the better, but not to elbow out very wide and 

 square from the points down to the thighs middling in the belly not cow- 

 bellied not tucked up.' As a grazier he is right; but this is not the true 

 working Devonshire ox. 

 29* 



