148 THE DAILY LIFE OF OUR FARM. 



confess, unmitigated pleasure, and would lead me often 

 in admiring contemplation to their vicinity, only pro- 

 vided the lord regnant of the herd should not too 

 curiously reciprocate the attention : as the having to 

 " tree it " for an indefinite period, especially towards 

 the luncheon hoiir, might not be equally delightful. 

 But as I am not, nor likely tc be, the master of 

 Dunrobin Castle, I must cast about and see what sort 

 of cattle will best suit my taste and pocket as an 

 ordinary agriculturist upon a small scale. Well, then, 

 will the juicy Devon do 1 Aye, right well, my lad, in 

 the shape of cold roast sirloin with pickled onions, and 

 mashed " pratees." It is a lovely little breed upon its 

 own clovery pastures. Again ; the mossy-coated Here- 

 ford cows. It is a pity that the best breeders of this 

 stock don't try more to keep clear of the hard-skinned 

 smooth ones. A rare herd might be got together in 

 this county of Herefordshire, by picking here one and 

 there one — often, too, out of a small lot almost by the 

 way-side. Both Hereford and Devon do best, I think, 

 upon their own soil, better perhaps than any other 

 sorts there. There is a virtue, doubtless, in their 

 being natives of the district, just as the Suffolk horse 

 does better on the bean-producing clay-fields of the 

 eastern counties than in a damp turnip district. But 

 why drift on in this way to the expected declaration 

 that for all purposes one deems the cosmopolitan 

 Shorthorn the best cattle to keep ? Why, simply to 

 ask whether some one cannot piit an American pump 

 into the auctioneer's head, and draw forth a stream 

 of the information we breeders desire. We desire it 

 sadly. 

 The blessed spring is at hand again. One sees it in 



