THE COW AND HER HORNS 419 



bull ? Unfortunately for them, acquired features are 

 not inherited, or a stick of caustic potash, applied 

 to the foreheads of bulls and cows in their infancy, 

 might effect a short cut. There is, however, the 

 authority of Jacob and his ring-straked cattle for the 

 hope that a cow, never having heard of Weissmann, 

 might occasionally present a polled calf to an arti- 

 ficially polled bull. 



Possibly these premier horned breeds will be left 

 in a side eddy by the rush of the modern preference 

 (when it becomes expressed) for polled herds. The 

 utilitarian will buy prize shorthorns, cross them with 

 " doddies," and secure a great proportion of " doddie " 

 offspring. The prepotency of the breed is one more 

 strong argument for its excellence. Every bull or 

 cow taken from the horned herds for crossing narrows 

 the circle of aristocracy. Every herd dispersed brings 

 nearer the days of in-and-in breeding, and extermina- 

 tion of the breed affected. If this is really the decree 

 of the utilitarian, we can see the day when shorthorns 

 will be as rare as Chillinghams, and people will travel 

 miles to see what " the cow with the crumpled horn " 

 was really like. 



