LIVE STOCK 141 



dairies seemed to be more prevalent. The stock- 

 keeping varied very much with individual tastes. We 

 were approaching the region of the famous Scotch 

 Shorthorn and Aberdeen-Angus breeders, but even 

 when men were not raising the highest class of pedigree 

 stock many had found that it was more profitable to 

 breed for themselves, even if they did not sell as stores 

 but finished off their beasts. " Let the other fools 

 make dear beef," said one prominent farmer ; " give me 

 the first end of the business where the profit lies, and 

 where I meet with no foreign competition." This, 

 however, was by no means the general opinion ; the 

 majority of farmers fattened bought stores, either 

 locally raised or Irish bred, and in Aberdeen, a little 

 farther north, the production of the very finest beef is 

 the cardinal feature of farming. But there the turnip 

 crops are famous for their magnitude and feeding 

 quality ; there, too, as a natural consequence, the feeling 

 against the interdiction of the import of store cattle 

 from Canada is at its strongest. A good many sheep 

 are kept, and of late years many farmers have made a 

 special business of raising fat lambs as early as possible. 

 Border Leicesters form the favourite breeding stock, 

 and on one farm we saw some beautiful examples of 

 these symmetrical sheep which had just returned with 

 honour from one of the local shows, in company with 

 some magnificent Aberdeen- Angus cattle. They, above 

 all other breeds of cattle, seem to realise the breeder's 

 ideal of concentrating the greatest amount of flesh on 

 to the most valuable parts of the carcase. 



One could not fail to be struck by the energy and 

 intelligence displayed in the mixed farming of this 

 district of Scotland. It does not show the rigorous 

 system of the wold farming, nor the specialization 

 which distinguishes some of the best agriculture 



