THE GALLOWAY BREED. 317 



the country. The individuals are of better form than the 

 older race, and generally of larger size, weighing upon a me- 

 dium when fat, at the age of four years, from forty-seven to 

 sixty stones English. They are rarely fattened at an earlier 

 age than four years, when they are valued by the butchers 

 for the manner in which they cut up, and the comparative 

 absence of coarser parts. Although improved, and conti- 

 nually improving, they are yet, with respect to form, and 

 tendency to fatten at an early age, greatly short of the per- 

 fection to which they are capable of being brought. 



Into this district, as into most others where artificial food 

 can be raised in sufficient quantity, the Short-horned breed 

 has been introduced. It is cultivated by several breeders in 

 the pure state ; but more generally it is made to cross the 

 native stock, by which means a present profit is obtained. 

 But, from the nature of the far greater part of the district, 

 the importance will appear of carefully preserving the native 

 stock, and communicating to it those properties of form which 

 it is capable of receiving. 



Extending from Aberdeenshire northwards to the Pentland 

 Firth, is an extensive tract of country, more or less fertile 

 and improved, lying between the sea and the great moun- 

 tains of the Highlands. The cattle of this extensive district 

 are of mixed blood, and rarely present such uniform charac- 

 ters as to allow them to be classed as true breeds. They 

 have long been undergoing progressive changes, by the in- 

 creased attention paid to the selection of superior animals for 

 breeding, and latterly by the partial introduction of the Tees- 

 water Short-horns. 



VIII. THE GALLOWAY BREED. 



The district termed Galloway forms the termination on 

 the west of the range of greywacke hills, which stretch from 



