CATTLE. 59 



Auvergne or Limousin is to France a breeding country, 

 the produce of which is exported at an early period, and 

 by degrees reaches the market of the capital. To a con- 

 temporary of Bakewell, called Tomkins, is due the im- 

 provement of the Herefords.* 



The Devon is a mountain race, which at one time was 

 much used for work, and in some places is so still. It is 

 small, but admirably formed. 



All the other races of Great Britain, without having 

 reached precisely the same degree of perfection, have 

 been improved in the same way. Scotland produces 

 several which have a great reputation. A large number 

 of the Scotch cattle leave their mountains at about three 

 years old, to be fattened in England ; of such are those 

 called Galloways, the black race without horns from 

 Angus, and that excellent breed from the Western High- 

 lands one of the most wonderful creations of man : it 

 lives without shelter upon the wildest mountains of the 

 north, and, notwithstanding the barrenness of the soil 

 and severity of the climate, reaches an extraordinary 

 average weight. The value of this animal is further in- 

 creased by the excellent quality of its meat.t 



The comparative results of the two systems may be 

 stated as follows : 



In France the number of cattle annually slaughtered 

 is four millions, producing a total of four hundred million 

 kilogrammes of meat, at the rate of one hundred kilos 

 average weight. Official statistics make it only three 

 hundred millions. 



In the British Isles the number annually slaughtered 



* The improved Herefords, treated as liberally as tlie short-horns, may be said 

 to attain equal precocity. J. D. 



*f* A complete collection of these valuable breeds had been made in France at 

 the Agricultural National Institution ; but in consequence of the breaking up of 

 that establishment, it has been dispersed. 



