138 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



useful to man, such as the bone and offal, and at the 

 same time to increase such other parts (flesh and fat) as 

 furnish man with food. These ends have been accom- 

 plished by a judicious selection of individual animals 

 possessing the wished for form and qualities in the 

 highest degree, which being perpetuated in their pro- 

 geny in various proportions, and the selection being 

 continued from the most approved specimens among 

 these, enabled the late Mr. Francis Quartly at length to 

 fully establish the breed with the desired properties. 

 This result is substantially confirmed by the statistics 

 contained in Davy's 'Devon Herd-Book.' We have 

 been curious enough to examine these pedigrees, and 

 find that nine-tenths of the present herds of these truly 

 beautiful animals are directly descended (especially in 

 their early j)arentage) from the old Quartly stock. 

 Later improvements have been engrafted on these by 

 the Messrs. Quartly of the present daj^. The example 

 of various opulent breeders and farmers in all parts of 

 the country has tended to spread this improvement, by 

 which the North Devon cattle have become more gen- 

 eral and fashionable. The leading characteristics of 

 the North Devon breed are such as qualify them for 

 every hardship. They are cast in a peculiar mold, with 

 a degree of elegance in their movement which is not to 

 be excelled. Their hardihood, resulting from compact- 



