438 THE SHORTHORNS. 



butter and rich cheese. With all these qualities we might readily 

 suppose pure Shorthorns were just the breed for farmers. Our own 

 choice is the Durham, the Jersey, and the Durham and Jersey mixed. 

 Wherever there is good pasturage and plenty of winter fodder the 

 Durhams will thrive well, but they are not the breed for stony land 

 with scant herbage, where they have their living to earn ; the Devon 

 or the Kerry cow is the one for that. 



With many of our farmers the Shorthorns have the reputation of 

 being better beef-producers than milk-raisers ; but where proper at- 

 tention is paid to having the bull of stock showing a strong milking 

 tendency, and the cow the same, excellent stock can be raised for 

 quantity and quality of milk. They are naturally good milkers, 

 and where raised for that object no milch cows exceed them. It has 

 been from the undue attention to their beef-producing qualities that 

 many have been led to suppose they were not as good milkers as 

 some other breeds ; we have always found their milk to be very 

 rich. 



We will now give the points by which to select a pure-bred Short- 

 horn bull, merely repeating that for milk-cow breeding a bull de- 

 scended from milk cows must be selected. The bull's head should 

 be fine, yet masculine ; the muzzle small ; the nostril wide and open ; 

 the nose cream-color, orange or drab, even a nut-brown, but never 

 smoky or black ; the face and jaws lean of flesh ; the forehead 

 broad, the face slightly dishing or concave ; the eyes prominent, 

 bright and mild ; the ears small and lively in action ; the horn well 

 set, flattish in shape, and waxy, not white, in color, with no black, 

 except at the very tips, inclining outward, and not much upward. 

 The neck should be somewhat arching, as showing masculine 

 strength and power, and setting well back on the shoulders, with 

 a clean throat and no dewlap, except a slight pendulous thread of 

 skin at the brisket. 



The shoulders should be set wide, straight and open at the top, 

 smooth at the points, with a bull-neck vein, ending below with a 

 full, thick brisket, projecting forward. The knees should stand 

 wide, and below them a firm, compact leg, ending in a clean, well- 

 shaped hoof The chine and back should be on a level from the 

 shoulders to the tail ; the ribs round, springing roundly in an arch 

 from the back, and running down to give full room for the heart 

 and lungs to play in a broad, deep chest. The hips should be wide 

 and on a level with the back ; the flank full and low ; the loin full, 

 long, level and broad ; the rump level and well-shaped ; the tail set 

 symmetrically and level, small and round in shape ; the thighs 

 broad ; the gambrel-joints straight, and the leg below fine and 



