CHAPTER VI. 



THE LONG-HORNS. 



In the district of Craven, a fertile corner of the West Riding ol 

 Yorkshire, there has been, from the earhest records of British agri- 

 culture, a pecuhar and valuable breed of cattle. They were distin- 

 guished from the hom. ^-breds of other counties by a disproportionate 

 and frequently unbecoming length of horn. In the old breed this 

 horn frequently projected nearly horizontally on either side, but as 

 the cattle were improved the horn assumed other directions ; it hung 

 down so that the animal could scarcely graze, or it curved so as to 

 threaten to meet before the muzzle, and so also as to prevent the 

 beast from grazing ; or immediately under the jaw, and so to lock the 

 lower jaw ; or the points presented themselves agtmist the bones of 

 the nose and face, threatening to perforate them. In proportion as 

 the breed became improved, the horns lengthened, and they are 

 characteristically distinguished by the name of " The Long-Horns.'* 

 Cattle of a similar description were found in the districts of Lanca- 

 shire bordering on Craven, and also in the south-eastern parts of 

 Westmoreland ; but tradition in both of these districts pointed to 

 Craven as the orio^inal habitation of the lonor-horn breed. If there 

 gradually arose any difference between them, it was that the Craven 

 beasts were the broadest in the chine, the shortest, the handsomest, 

 and the quickest feeders ; the Lancashire ones were larger, longer in 

 the quarters, but with a fall behind the shoulders, and not so level 

 on the chine. 



Whence these cattle were derived was and still is a disputed point. 



The long horns seem to have first appeared in Craven, and 

 gradually to have spread along the western coast, and to have occu- 

 pied almost exclusively the midland counties. 



There are two distinct breeds ; the smaller Cravens inhabiting the 

 mountains and moorlands, hardy, useful, valued by the cottager and 

 little farmer on account of the cheapness with which they are kept, 

 the superior quantity and excellent quality of the milk which they 

 yield, and the aptitude with which they fatten when removed to 

 better pasture. The larger Cravens, occupying a more level and 

 richer pasture, arc fair milliers, aHhough in proportion to their size 

 4* 



