348 THE OX. 



But the defects in the form of the genuine Devon s are 

 capable of being removed by the care of the breeder. How- 

 ever long the Devon has been in existence as a separate 

 variety, nothing like care had been bestowed on its improve- 

 ment in the country which it inhabits, until a recent period. 

 Even until several years after the commencement of the last 

 war, the breeders of Devonshire seem to have been ignorant 

 that there was any thing remarkable in their native breed ; 

 and they appear to have only become aware of its importance, 

 and the profit of improving it, by the demand which arose for it 

 in other districts. Since the beginning of the present century, 

 however, the breed has received its full share of public at- 

 tention. Many eminent breeders in different parts of the 

 country have adopted it, and, by selection of the parents, 

 and enlarged supplies of food given to the animals when 

 young, have succeeded in imparting to it properties which it 

 had not acquired in its native district. 



But, nevertheless, the Devon Breed, however much the 

 defects of its conformation may be corrected, and however 

 desirous graziers may be to procure it from the district in 

 which it is reared for the purpose of fattening, is not calcu- 

 lated to supplant other breeds to any great extent in this 

 country, when the end is rearing as well as grazing. It does 

 not equal in hardiness some others nearly similar in weight, 

 as the Pembroke, the West Highland, and the Galloway. It 

 falls short, in the weight at which it usually arrives, of the 

 Short-Horned and Hereford Breeds, and will not generally 

 yield so large a return as they will do from the period of birth 

 to maturity, however well it may remunerate the grazier be- 

 tween the periods of buying and selling. Neither is the 

 breed well suited to the bringing up of calves, or to the hus- 

 bandry of the dairy, in which the profit depends on obtaining 

 a large quantity of milk for a considerable period of the year. 

 For these reasons, the breed of North Devon, however greatly 

 it is to be valued, is not now found to extend itself in dis- 

 tricts where the richer pastures are found, and where the 



