Book VII. 



VARIETIES OF THE BULL FAMILY. 



I0I5 



6776 The varieties of the European cow, according to Aiton, are innumerable. The pliancy of their 

 nature is such, that they have been formed into many diversities of shape, and various qualities have been 

 given them, very different from the original stock. The uris, or cows of Lithuania, are almost as large 

 as the elephant ; while some of those on the Grampian hills are little above the size of a goat ; and cows 

 are found of every diversity of size between the one and the other. They are not less varied in their 

 shapes. The bison, which is a species of the cow family, and which readily propagates with our cows, 

 wears a strong shaggy mane, like the lion ; a beard, like the goat ; as much hair under its neck and breast 

 as covers its fore legs ; a hump upon its shoulders, nearly as large as that worn by the camel (sometimes 

 forty or fifty pounds in weight), with a tail that scarcely reaches the top of its buttock ; and it resembles 

 the lion much more than it does our domesticated cows, or other varieties of its own species. {Aiton.) 



^ni- The diversity of qualities in the cow family is also very great. Our cows are so grovelling and 

 inactive, that they scarcely know the road from their stall to their pasture ; while those of the Hottentots 

 are so tractable as to be intrusted with the charge of other animals, and keep them from trespassing on 

 the fields of grain, or other forbidden ground. They also fight their master's battles, and gore his enemies 

 with their horns. Our dairy cows are so feeble and inactive, that they are hurt by travelling twice a day, 

 even slowly, one mile from the byre to their pasture ; while those of Tartary are used as riding animals, 

 and in drawing carriages. Those of Hindostan draw the coaches, and maintain their rates with horses at 

 the full trot ; and the Hottentots teach their cows to hunt down the elk antelope. Cows of the wild 

 neglected breed can with difficulty be removed from one enclosure or one hill to another ; while those on 

 whom due attention has been bestowed are docile, and submit to perform all sorts of labour. Some cows 

 will yield upwards of twenty Scots pints of milk per day, while others will not give so much in ten, perhaps 

 not in twenty days. These are not so many different species of animals, but all of them one and the same 

 species, all capable of generating with each otlier a perfect offspring. Al! these varieties have been formed 

 from the parent stock, partly by the diversity of soil and climate, or other accidental or adventitious cir- 

 cumstances; and partly of late by human skill and industry. {Dairy Husbandry, p. 17.) 



6778. The varieties of the cultivated ox are the European, Indian, Zebu, Surat, Abyssinian, Madagascar, 

 Tinian, and African. From the European variety have been formed the different breeds cultivated in 

 Britain. They are very numerous, but we shall only notice such as are in most esteem. These different 

 breeds are generally distinguished by the length or flexure of their horns ; by the absence of horns ; by 

 the districts where they are supposed to have originated, or in which they abound, or exist in the greatest 

 purity ; or by the name of the breeder. 



6779. The long-horned or Lancashire breed qf cattle {fig. 853.) is distinguished from others by the length 



854 of their horns, the thickness and firm texture of 



their hides, the length and closeness of their hair, 

 the large size of their hoofs, and their coarse, 

 leathery, thick necks : they are likewise deeper in 

 their fore quarters, and lighter in their hind quar- 

 ters, than most other breeds ; narrower in their 

 shape, less in point of weight than the short horns, 

 though better weighers in proportion to their size j 

 and though they give considerably less milk, it is 

 said to afford more cream in proportion to its quan- 

 tity. They are more varied in their colour than any 

 of the other breeds ; but, whatever the colour be, 

 they have in general a white streak along their back, 

 which the breeders term finched, and mostly a white 

 spot on the inside of the hough. {Culley, p. 53.) In 

 a general view, this race, notwithstanding the sin- 

 gular efforts that have been made towards its improvement, remains with little alteration; for, except In 

 Leicestershire, none of the subvarieties (which differ a little in almost every one of those counties where 



the long horns prevail) have undergone 

 ore any radical change or any obvious im- 



provement The improved breed of 

 S4=?a^, Leicestershire {fig. 854.) is said to have 



ssss^^pSga.^-,^:;^^ bccn formcd by Webster, of Cauley, near 



Coventry, in Warwickshire, Jjy means of 

 six cows brought from the banks of the 

 Trent, about the beginning of the present 

 century, which were crossed with bulls 

 from Westmoreland and Lancashire. 

 Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicestershire, 

 afterwards got the lead as a breeder, by 

 selecting from the Cauley stock ; and the 

 stocks of several other eminent breeders 

 have been traced to the same source. 

 {Mar hal's MidlMid Counties, vol. i. 

 p. 318.) 



6780. The short-horned, sometimes 

 called the Dutch breed {fig. E55.), is 

 known by a variety of names, taken frora 

 the districts where they form the prin- 

 cipal cattle stock, or where most atten. 

 tion has been paid to their improvement : thus, different families of this race are distinguished by the 

 names of the Holderness, the Teeswater, the Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, and other breeds. 



856 



'Ihe Teeswater breed, a variety of short horns, 

 established on the banks of the Tees, at the head of 

 the vale of York, is at present in the highest esti- 

 mation, and is alleged to be the true Yorkshire 

 short-horned breed. Bulls and cows from this stock, 

 purchased at most extraordinary prices, are spread 

 over all the north of England, and the border coun- 

 ties of Scotland. The bone, head, and neck of these 

 cattle are fine ; the hide is very thin ; thp chine 

 full : the loin broad ; the carcase throughout large 

 and wen fashioned ; and the flesh and fattmg quality 

 equal, or perhaps superior, to those of any other 

 large breed. The shoit-horns give a greater quan- 

 tity of milk than any other cattle ; a cow usually 

 yielding twenty-four quarts of milk per day, making 

 three firkins of butter during the grass season : 

 their colours are much varied, but they are generally 

 red and white mixed, or what the breeders call flecked. The heaviest and largest oxen of the short- 

 bornod breed, when properly fed, victual the East India ships, as they produce the thickest beef, which, 



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