THE BOVINE THIHE. 



271 



Atheratone. The rage for short-horns quickly crossed the Irish Channel, and contributed its share 

 to the general progress of the last thirty years. Into thy mountain districts there; lias been a large 

 infusion of Scotch Highlanders. The general result is, that Ireland now supplies a large qnamiiv 

 of second-rate bullocks to the Leicester and Northampton fairs, and furnishes beef, quite equal in 

 quality to the average of the United Kingdom, to Liverpool, Manchester, and the surrounding 

 districts. This comes, for the most part, in the shape of strong heifers, admirably gra/ed, and the 

 supply is now continued throughout the year. 



In the breeding of cattle, as in every other important human pursuit, national objects are 

 promoted by the successful skill and industry of individuals. The first vocation of a cattle-breeder 

 is to furnish his countrymen with the dairy, with all its multitudinous comforts and luxuries. We 

 scarcely know a more important national object, of its class, than to place a fresh supply of milk within 

 the reach of the great body of the population. At the present time it is estimated that there are 

 20,000 cows in the metropolitan and suburban dairies, some of which number 500 cows apiece. 



THK BULL OK SALEUS. 



Even these gigantic establishments have been occasionally exceeded, and one individual, several years 

 ago, possessed 1,500 milkers. A great deal of exaggeration has prevailed as to the adulterations of London 

 milk ; but Dr. Hassell states, that the " iron-tailed cow" is the chief agent employed, and that the only 

 colouring matter he has been enabled to discover is annatto. Nearly all the cream goes to the \Vrst 

 End; and one dairyman, living at Islington, stated to Dr. Wynter, that he made 1,200 a-year by 

 the trade he earned on in that single article with the fashionable part of the town. The country, as 

 well as the suburbs, contributes a large supply of this nutritious fluid to the " commissariat" of 

 London. 



Another vocation of the breeder, in addition to supplying milk, is to furnish animal food 

 wool and animal food in the case of sheep, milk and animal (bod in that of cattle. Animal food is 

 suited both to our climate and the hard-working energy of our people. The breeder has to cater for 

 appetites which bodily exertion has made active rather than critical, as well as fur others in which 

 sedentary and intellectual pursuits have blunted the desire for quantity, but at the same time stimu- 

 lated the appreciation of quality. 



It is probable that a sirloin, fresh and ruddy, hanging at the door of some ancestor of our famous 

 West End or City butchers, or placed on a richly-spread table as the piece tie / in a 



former century, originated the song which has ever since- stirred Englishmen in a foreign land, 



