54 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK I. 



The Very Rev. Dr. John Gillespie describes the Aberdeens as hardy 

 in constitution, quiet and docile in temperament, and very prolific. 

 The milk given by many of them is large in quantity and rich in 

 quality, but as milkers they vary a good deal. In colour they are now 

 almost universally black, but at one time many of them were brindled 

 and red, and occasionally animals of these colours are still found. 

 Their hair is smooth and silky, and it has a much more glossy appear- 

 ance than that of the Galloway, which otherwise they much resemble. 

 They come early to maturity, grow to a large size, and are easily 

 finished for the fat market, the quality of their beef being unsurpassed. 

 Of all the varieties of cross-bred cattle, there is none more satisfactory 

 and remunerative to the feeder than the cross between the Aberdeen- 

 Angus and the Shorthorn. It grows to a large size, shows a great 

 aptitude to fatten, and, when it has been killed, the fat and lean are 

 found to be distributed in the carcass in most desirable proportions. 



Many good herds of this breed have been established in England of 

 late years with great success and this is a further proof of the high 

 esteem in which they are now held. 



THE GALLOWAY BUEED (see fig. 15), or, as it is often termed, the 

 Polled Scots, derived its appellation from the south-western counties 

 of Scotland, in which these cattle are chiefly reared, and whence vast 

 numbers were formerly sent to Norfolk and other English counties, to 

 be fattened for the markets. In general they are black, or dark 

 brindled brown. They are without horns. 



The Very Eev. Dr. John Gillespie, Editor of the " Galloway Herd- 

 book of Great Britain," and a well-known authority, states that the 

 province of Galloway has for several centuries been confined to that 

 south-western corner of Scotland which comprises the Stewartry of 

 Kirkcudbright and the county of Wigtown. But originally Galloway 

 included, in addition, Dumfriesshire, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, and part 

 of Lanarkshire, and may be described generally as having comprised 

 that extensive tract of country lying to the west of the main line of the 

 Caledonian Railway from Carlisle to Glasgow. Until towards the close 

 of the last century, the Galloway was the only breed of cattle kept in 

 the wider of these two districts, once called Galloway. The Ayrshire 

 has now completely supplanted it in the county of that name, as well 

 as in Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire ; it has also driven it almost 

 entirely from Wigtownshire, where the dairy system extensively 

 prevails, and in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Dumfriesshire that 

 fashionable milking breed has largely taken its place. Serious inroads 

 have been made by the Shorthorns upon an old stronghold of the Gallo- 

 way in the eastern division of Cumberland. It is almost exclusively *as 

 beef-producers that the Galloway cattle are distinguished, for their 

 milking properties are not extraordinary. They are very hardy in con- 

 stitution, being covered by a profusion of black hair, which forms 

 an excellent protection to them in their native climate, which is cold 

 and moist. In the Sinithfield and other leading markets Galloway 

 beef is ranked among ''prime Scots." The excellent cross in great 



