Live Stock. 85 



able ( 79 ). 2. Their meat is finer grained, produces richer gra- 

 vy, has often a superior flavour, and is commonly more nice- 

 ly marbled, or veined with fat, especially when they have 

 been fed for two years ( 8 ). 3. Large animals are not so 

 well calculated for general consumption, as the moderate 

 sized, particularly in hot weather. 4. Large animals poach 

 pastures more than small ones. 5. They are not so active, 

 require more rest, collect their food with more labour, and 

 will only consume the nicer, and more delicate sorts of 

 plants. 6. Small cows, of the true dairy breeds, give pro- 

 portionally more milk than large ones. 7. Small cattle may 

 be fattened solely on grass, of even moderate quality ; where- 

 as the large require the richest pastures, or to be stall-fed, 

 the expense of which exhausts the profit of the farmer. 8. 

 It is much easier to procure well-shaped, and kindly-feed- 

 ing stock of a small size, than of a large one. 9. Small-sized 

 cattle, may be kept by many persons, who cannot afford, 

 either to purchase, or to maintain large ones ; and by whom 

 the loss, if any accident should happen to them, can be more 

 easily borne. 10. The small-sized sell better; for a butch- 

 er, from a conviction that, in proportion to their respective 

 dimensions, there is a greater superficies of valuable parts 

 in a small, than in a large animal, will give more money for 

 two oxen of twelve stone each per quarter, than for one of 

 twenty-four stone. 



In favour of the large-sized, it is on the other hand con- 

 tended, 1. That without debating whether from their birth, 

 till they are slaughtered, the large or the small one eats 

 most for its size, yet on the whole, the large one will pay 

 the grazier or farmer who fattens him, as well for its food. 

 2. That though some large oxen are coarse grained, yet, 

 where attention is paid to the breed, (as is the case with the 

 Herefordshire), the large ox is as delicate food as the small 

 one. 3. That if the small-sized are better calculated for 

 the consumption of private families, of villages, or of small 

 towns, yet that large cattle are fitter for the markets of 

 great towns, and' in particular of the metropolis. 4. That 

 were the flesh of the small-sized ox superior, when fresh, yet 

 the meat of the large-sized is unquestionably more calcu- 

 lated for salting, a most essential object in a maritime and 

 commercial country, for the thicker the beef, the better it 

 will retain its juices when salted, and the fitter it is for long 

 voyages. 5. That the hide of the large ox is of very great 

 consequence in various manufactures. 6. That large stock 

 are in general distinguished by a greater quietness of dispo- 



