16 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



Highland, for example may, perhaps, differ less than other breeds 

 from one ancient type." 



THE DAWN of IMPROVEMENT. Having given an account of the 

 herds of semi-wild white cattle, we might now proceed to describe the 

 existing breeds of improved stock. Before doing so, however, it seems to 

 be desirable to connect the past with the present, and to briefly recount 

 the early history of the improvement of our domesticated animals. 

 At what date the improvement first began it is impossible to say. We 

 know that, in other countries, herds and flocks received attention at a 

 very early period. Judging from Virgil's directions to " Note the 

 tribe, the lineage, and the sire," it would appear that the science of 

 breeding had been brought to a high state of perfection by the Romans. 

 In England, distinct evidence of skill in breeding does not occur until 

 the seventeenth centmy. 



As might be expected, the first advances in agriculture in this country 

 were accomplished in the practice of cultivating the soil. Thus Fitz- 

 herbert's " Boke of Husbandrie " was published in 1524; Tusser's 

 " Five Hundred Points of Husbandry" was printed in 1562; Hartlib's 

 Legacy had been brought under the notice of the public two years 

 earlier, and in 1701 came Jethro Tull's "Horse Hoeing Husbandry." 

 Several of these volumes particularly that of Hartlib gave notes upon 

 live stock, but they were all mainly devoted to the management of the 

 land and the growing of crops. It is probable that, on the rich ground 

 surrounding the monasteries, live stock were carefully reared by the 

 monks of old, but no precise details as to their operations have been 

 preserved. 



A condition absolutely necessary to the skilful breeding of stock is 

 freedom from disturbance by warriors or marauders. The work 

 takes several years to show its results, and cannot brook interruption 

 by a peremptory demand to don armour and serve the country on 

 the battlefield, or by the necessity to repel the advances of a party of 

 harrying freebooters and cattle-lifters. Peace is essential to successful 

 stock-breeding. Therefore, in looking for the causes that first gave 

 definite form to the development of the live stock industry, we have to 

 examine the constitutional history of the country. 



In 1707 was consummated the legislative union between England and 

 Scotland. The peace which it was hoped would quickly be established 

 led, in 1723, to the formation of the Society of Improvers of Agriculture 

 in Scotland. But the worthy men who organised that earliest of our 

 Agricultural Societies had incautiously reckoned upon an immediate and 

 absolute cessation of hostilities, which did not all at once occur. The-, 

 valiant " Improvers " struggled courageously amid the fierce troubles 

 between the two divisions of the country, which soon again broke out. 

 These conflicts grew in intensity, and the Society seems to have been 

 dissolved in 1746, when the battle of Culloden finally brought to a close 

 the horrors of civil war, which has been described as the most 

 ancient and deadly foe of agriculture. 



The date of the decisive engagement at Culloden may, for all practical 



