so. 



BATTLE. 



sluggish at work, and even somewhat unkind and slow in the 

 process of fattening, and these are objections which, most of aH, 

 he would be unwilling to have justly made. The Hereford cow 

 is therefore somewhat undersized ; and it not unfrequently hap- 

 pens that she produces a bull-calf that grows to three times her 

 own weight. 





t^ f HSE. SO 



HEREFORD COW. 



Kindly as the Hereford ox fattens, very few are grazed in their 

 native country : even the beasts which the home consumption requires 

 are principally heifers and old cows. The oxen are sold at five and 

 six years old, in tolerable condition, at the Michaelmas fair in Here- 

 ford, to the graziers of Buckinghamshire and tlie neighborhoring 

 counties, by whom they are principally preferred for the Londoa 

 market. 



The fertility of the soil in Herefordshire has been very mucli over- 

 rated. The traveler, and the superficial observer have been misled 

 by the luxuriant woods and rich alluvial soil upon the banks of its 

 rivers. The pasture-grounds are generally poor, and the herbnge is not 

 nutritious, and therefore the farmer naturally confines his chief atten- 

 tion to his rearing-stock. The dairy has been comparatively neglected ; 

 for experience has proved that the breeding qualities of a cow are 

 materially lessened, and even her form is deteriorated, by her being 

 inchned to give a large quantity of milk. 



