THE PEMBROKE BREED. 307 



been seen, is distinguished by a tapering upright horn. As 

 the mountainous country passes by gradations into the lower, 

 the cattle deviate from the native type, and assume insen- 

 sibly the character of what are termed Long-horns. This 

 character is indicated by the direction as well as by the length 

 of the horn. It may be considered as a character connected 

 with that thickness of skin which the Ox, under certain cir- 

 cumstances of feeding and treatment, tends to assume ; for 

 the corneous system, as could be shewn, is intimately con- 

 nected with the cuticular. It is the character which a very 

 large proportion of the oxen of these Islands had acquired ; 

 and, accordingly, of the breeds of this country, the Long- 

 horned, as will afterwards be seen, were the most numerous. 

 They formerly extended over all the midland counties of 

 England, and the plains of Ireland. It is this tendency of 

 the oxen in the central parts of Wales to assume the Long- 

 horned character, as well as actual intermixture with the 

 breeds of the plains, that produces that mixture of races 

 which is to be seen in the country. These mixed races are 

 generally of coarse and defective form, and greatly inferior, 

 as fattening animals, to those which approach the nearest 

 to the parent stock. 



Although Wales is generally a country of mountains, in 

 which the animals reared must mainly depend on the natural 

 pastures, yet it is intersected by many fertile vales, and often 

 the mountains pass by degrees into the richer plains of the 

 lower country. In such cases, it is not required that breed- 

 ers should confine themselves to the smaller cattle of the 

 mountains. They may adopt the breeds which their respec- 

 tive localities enable them to maintain, as the Durham, the 

 Hereford, and the superior class of Glamorgans. In this 

 case, their own judgments must guide them in the selec- 

 tion of the kinds of animals best suited to the nature of 

 their respective farms. But, in general, the breeders of 

 Wales would do well to avoid that system of indiscriminate 

 crossing and changing, which prevails in so many parts of 



