CHAPTER VII. 



THE SHORT-HOKNS. 



This account of the Short-Horns is by the Rev. Henry Berry, 

 than whom there were few more zealous breeders of cattle. 



It must be admitted that the short-horns present themselves to 

 notice under circumstances of peculiar interest. Possessing in an 

 eminent degree qualities which have generally been considered in- 

 compatible, and attractive to the eye by their splendid frames and 

 beautifully varied colors, it is not surprising that they have become 

 objects of pubhc curiosity ; that they have reahzed for their breeders 

 enormous sums ; and that, in our own island, and in every foreign 

 country where agriculture is attended to, they are in increasing de- 

 mand. 



It might tend to throw much light on the science of breeding, 

 could these animals be traced, in their improvement, to an earlier 

 period than has been found possible. 



From the earliest periods as to which we have any accounts of our 

 breeds of cattle, the counties of Durham and York have been cele- 

 brated for their short-horas, but principally, in the first instance, on 

 account of their reputation as extraordinary milkers,* It may be 

 asserted, on the best evidence, that, as a breed, they have never in 

 this particular been equaled. They were generally of large size, 

 thin-skinned, sleek-haired, bad handlers, rather delicate in constitu- 

 tion, coarse in the offal, and strikingly defective in girth in the fore- 

 quarters. As milkers, they were most excellent ; but when put to 

 fatten, were found slow feeders ; producing an inferior meat, not 

 marbled or mixed fat and lean, and in some cases the lean was found 

 of a particularly dark hue. 



A period of more than one hundred years has now elapsed since 

 the short-horns, on the banks of the river Tees, hence called the 

 Teeswater breed, had assumed a very different character to the fore- 



* Before this a large and valuable description of cattle had existed on the western 

 coast of the continent of Europe, and extending from Denmark to the confines of 

 France. They were celebrated for the great quantities of milk which they yielded, 

 and some of them exhibited an extraordinary aptitude to fatten. At what particular 

 time they found their way to England, or by whom they were imported, is unknown] 

 hut there is a tradition that, towards the close of the seventeenth century, a bull and 

 tome 00W8 were introduced into Holdemess. — Yovait. 



