CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



497 



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THE KERRT COW. 



we wear shoes soled with his skin, our candles are made from his fat, our tables are joined with 

 glue made from his hoofs, the mortar of our walls is mixed with "his hair, his horns are made into 

 combs, knife-handles, drinking-cups, &c, his bones are used in many ways instead of ivory, the 

 fragments are ground and scattered over the fields as manure, and soup is made from his tail. 

 The young animal, called Calf, is quite as useful in its way as the full-grown ox ; the flesh called: 

 veal is by many preferred to the flesh of the ox or cow, which is called beef; jelly is made from 

 its feet. Its stomach is salted and dried, and called rennet. Cheese is made by soaking a piece 

 of this in water, and pouring it into a vessel of milk. The milk soon forms curd, which is. 

 placed in a press, and the watery substance, called whey, squeezed from it. The curd is colored 

 and salted, and is then cheese. 



The raising of cattle has ever been one of the most interesting pursuits of the agriculturist. 

 The rich grass lands of the temperate parts of our own country, including the great natural 

 meadows of the West, have specially invited the industry of the people in this direction. Not- 

 withstanding the great extent of our manufactures, agriculture is still the leading pursuit, and 

 neat cattle are one of its principal products. The kinds introduced into the country, especially in 

 New England, by the first settlers, were those in vogue in England at the time of the emigration 

 — somewhat over two hundred years ago — that ancient and choice breed the Devon. These 

 to some extent, form the basis of our northeastern cattle. They have somewhat less of that sym- 

 metry and delicacy of form which mark the present race in England, but they are still a valu- 

 able and justly cherished breed. "Within a few years great attention has been paid in all parts 

 of our country to the improvement of stock, and hence the best breeds of England especially, 

 and to some extent of other parts of Europe, have been largely introduced and mingled with our 

 own. A brief mention of some of the most noted will be all that we can bestow on this topic. 



The British cattle, being undoubtedly, by reason of long, careful and scientific breeding, the best 



in the world, deserve the first place. Among them we can only notice a few of the most remarkable 



kinds. It is proper to state, in the first place, however, that these are generally arranged in four 



^ classes: first, the Middling Horns; second, the Polled or Hornless cattle; third, the Long 



Horns, and fourth, the Short Horns. . ♦ 



manure, &c, &c. The annual consumption of beef in London is estimated at about 800,000,000 pounds, which is 

 about 100 pounds to each person — men, women, and children; in Paris the amount is 86 pounds; in Brussels 89. 

 .These calculations, though chiefly from M'Cullock, are no doubt somewhat vague and uncertain, but they will serve 

 to convey an impression of the immense extent to which a single species of animal subserves the interests of man. 

 Vol. I.— 63 



