CATTLE. 



mouth, Sidraouth, and over the hill to the fruitful vale of Iloniton. 

 we do not find oxen so much used in husbandry. The soil is either 

 a cold hard clay, or its flints would speedily destroy the feet of the 

 oxen. The same variety of pure Devons and South Devons, and 

 natives of that particular district, with intermixtures of every breed, 

 prevail, but the South Devons are principally seen. Some of these 

 cows seem to unite the opposite qualities of fattening and milkinsf. 

 A South Devon has been known, soon after calving, to yield more 

 than two pounds of butter a day ; and many of the old southern 

 native breed are equal to any short horns in the quantity of their 

 milk, and far superior to them in its quality. 



The Devon cattle prevail along that part of the county of Somer- 

 set which borders on Devon, until we arrive in the neighborhood of 

 Wincaunton and Ilchester, where the pure breed is almost lost sight 

 of. In the north of Somerset, few of the Devons are to be seen ; 

 but along the coast, and even extending as far as Bristol and Bath, 

 the purest breed of the Devons is preferred. They are valued for 

 their aptitude to fatten, their quickness and honesty at work ; and 

 they are said to be better milkers than in their native county. They 

 are of a larger size, for the soil is better, and the pasturage more 

 luxuriant. It is on this account that the oxen bred in some parts, 

 and particularly in the Yale of Taunton, although essentially Devons, 

 are preferred to those from the greater part of Devonshire, and even 

 from the neighborhood of Barnstaple and South Molton. They are 

 better for the grazier and for the dairy ; and, if they are not quite 

 BO active as their progenitors, they have not lost their docility and 

 freeness at work, and they have gained materially in strenf^th. 



The farmers in the south and south-west of Somerset are endeavor- 

 ing to breed that sort of cattle that Avill answer for the pail, and the 

 plough, and grazing — a very difficult point ; for tliose that ai-e of 

 the higltest proof (exhibiting those points or conformations of par- 

 ticular parts w^hich usually indicate a propensity to ffitten) are gene- 

 rally the w^orst milkers, both as to quantity and quality. This being, 

 however, a dairy county, as well as a grazing one, or more so, the 

 principal point with them is a good show for milk. They are, for 

 the most part, of the Devon red, and the best suited for all purposes 

 of any in the West of England. All that is necessary to keep them 

 up in size and proof, and of a good growth, is to change the bull 

 every two years. This is a very important, although an overlooked 

 and unappreciated principle of breeding, even where the stock is 

 most select. No bull should be longer used by the same grazier, or 

 some degree of deterioration will ensue. 



It must, nevertheless, be confessed, that in the greater part of the 

 county, and where the Devons are liked best foi husbandry and for 

 grazing, experience has taught many farmers to select another breed 

 f<y the dairy. 



