LINCOLN REDS 91 



texture, light enough to work with a pair of horses, 

 yet sufficiently retentive of water and capable of 

 bringing it up from the subsoil to keep a crop growing 

 during a drought. The value of a soil is more 

 determined by the way it deals with the water it 

 receives and by the kind of tilth it will take under 

 cultivation, than by its stock of plant food. 



On such valuable land little permanent pasture was 

 to be seen, but in addition to the Lincoln sheep which 

 we have already mentioned, our host bred a consider- 

 able number of Lincoln Red Shorthorns, selling the 

 steers for fattening and the heifers in milk after their 

 first calf. The Lincoln Red is a race that has only 

 of recent years been heard of outside its own district : 

 like the Sussex, the Devon, and the Hereford, it may 

 be descended from the all-red cows which are supposed 

 to have been the Saxon contribution to our island 

 stock, but it differs from these other races in that milk 

 as well as meat has been considered in its selection. 

 Whatever their origin the Lincoln Reds are handsome, 

 kindly cattle, and their characteristics meat and milk 

 together, if the combination is possible are what the 

 breeder has to set before him in the cattle of the 

 future. 



The history of the great estate which our host was 

 exploiting with so much energy is not without interest. 

 Thirty years ago the district was mostly in the hands 

 of small men, and was even then famous for its potato- 

 growing, though the industry had not been specialized 

 up to its present proportions. Indeed, it was some- 

 what of a speculative business ; the returns were so 

 large in favourable seasons that men starved and 

 neglected the rest of their farming in order to push for 

 a big potato crop. Artificial manures were far more 

 expensive, and little knowledge of their proper use was 

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