THE SHORT-HORxVS. 



109 



breeding from too close affinities, and, while they steer clear of 

 coarseness, should require a sufficiency of masculine character in 

 their males. This is a point in which many short-horns are rather 

 defective, and it is one of infinite importance. The length of the 

 carcass should be medium, as well as that of the legs, and a hardier 

 animal, with equal size and on a more profitable scale, will be pro- 

 duced. The facilities for making this improvement are sufficiently 

 numerous, the short-horns being now more generally diffused. That 

 wider diffusion also multiplies the means of selecting for milk ; a 

 quality which should not be lost sight of ; for it is the comhination of 

 perfections which has conferred, and will perpetuate, the superiority 

 of this breed of cattle. 



LORD ALTHORP S BULL. 



The colors of the short-horns are red or white, or a mixture of the 

 two, combining in endless variety, and producing, very frequently, 

 most brilliant effect. The white, it is very probable, they obtained 

 from an early cross with the wild breed ; and w^henever this color 

 shows itself, it is accompanied, more or less, with a red tinge on the 

 extremity of the ear ; a distinctive character, also, of the wild cattle. 

 ^o jnire short-horns are fourd of any colors but those above named. 



