108 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



common, the climate to which it is exposed, and the requirements of the 

 men who profit by it always combine toward a certain end, and in the 

 Devon cattle these influences have worked together with a most satis- 

 factory result. 



Points of Devons. Devon cattle possess a distinctive type, but several 

 varieties are placed under the title, and there is probably no breed in 

 which individuals of almost precisely similar general aspect will, when 

 scrutinized and analyzed carefully in their several features, exhibit more 

 marked variations. In size they are medium, although it is much the 

 custom to speak of " the little Devons." True, they do not possess the 

 bulkiness of the Shorthorn or the Hereford j but, for all that, they are 

 far from being a diminutive breed like the Ayrshires, the Kerries, or 

 the Channel isles cattle. The general aspect of the Devons is graceful, 

 and their appearance seems to betoken a gentleness of mien which their 

 looks do not belie. The head is small but the forehead comparatively 

 broad, tapering off to a neat, clean-cut muzzle. The ears are thin and 

 soft in texture, the eyes bright, and do not exemplify that dreamy look 

 which many breeds have. They should be encircled by a ring of light 

 coloring, almost approaching an orange hue. , The nose should be white. 

 The horns are of medium length, graceful, and spread in an outward and 

 upward direction, tapering easily olf. In the male this feature is scarcely 

 exemplified to the extent that it is in the female. 



The outline of the Devon should not exhibit any very marked diver- 

 gence from the shape of the proverbial parallelogram which should be 

 realized in fat beasts. The neck is full but lengthy, and should show a 

 good wedge-like form when regarded end on. ' The chest is deep and 

 prominent ; wide, fat loins, and a well-filled rump, where plenty of beef 

 may be piled up, constitute one of its best points as a butcher's beast 

 The legs are fine, but well set on. The bone of the Devon is small, but 

 the frame is, notwithstanding, comparatively speaking, large. Eed is 

 the color of the Devon, although a large number of the cattle in Devon- 

 shire display some white about them. The skin is fine and mottled. 



Varieties of Devons. Devon cattle may be grouped under three vari- 

 eties, the North Devons, the South Hams, and the Devon proper, as 

 exemplified in the accompanying illustration. The North Devons are 

 the smaller and finer variety. Their coat is softer and more curly, and 

 their general appearance more nearly warrants them being termed "the 

 little Devons" than does either of the other two more distinctive vari- 

 eties. The South Hams cattle that is the cattle bred upon the fine 

 uplands which lie between Dorset on the southeast, the sea on the south, 

 and Cornwall on the southwest of Dartmoor, which forms the center 

 highland of the county are fine beasts, coarser in appearance and of 

 bigger bulk than the North Devons. The Devons proper may be said 

 to combine the most notable features of these two varieties. They are 

 found mostly in the district around Taunton, and in Somersetshire and 

 in Dorset, and are well represented, as a rule, at the Smithfield Club's 

 show, where they are apparently the embodiment of the standard of 

 excellence for Devons. Besides these, both Exmoor and Dartmoor, the 

 latter particularly, can show a rougher type, smaller in size, and rather 

 coarser in bone and flesh than can the other less exposed parts of the 

 country. 



Special characteristics. The merits of the Devon are many. They arc 

 as profitable a meat-producing breed as any we have. Given so much 

 food, the percentage of beef returned is as large as can be shown by any 

 other breed. The beef is of prime quality, the offal proportionate, and 

 the bone small. As fatteners they are not to be surpassed in their own 



