THE UNITED KINGDOM. 211 



also by attention to diet and general management. The Galloways, as a breed, can- 

 not lay claim to any superiority as milkers. Their milk is rich in quality, but the 

 quantity they give is not large. However, the milking faculty runs in some strains, 

 and individuals of them are excellent dairy cows. It is mainly as a beef-producing 

 breed that Galloways have made a name for themselves. The quality of their beef is 

 similar to that of the Aberdeen, Angus, and West Highland. The beef of these three 

 breeds ranks as " prime Scots " in the Smithneld and other leading British fat markets, 

 realizing there the highest current rates. Its superiority arises from the fact that it 

 is well marbled, the fat being well intermingled with the lean. 



In renpect of proportion of dead to live weight Galloways kill unusually well, ma- 

 tured animals of the breed being estimated by experienced butchers to dress upwards 

 of 60 per cent, of their live weight. Galloways arrive at maturity when from two to 

 three years of age, according to the way they are kept when young. A well-fed Gal- 

 loway may bo estimated to weigh when two years and nine months old 1,600 pounds 

 live weight, and 1,000 pounds dead weight. Many weigh more, but others reared 

 under adverse circumstances arc less. No cattle in Britain are hardier than the Gal- 

 loways except the West Highlanders, and the difference between these two breeds in 

 this respect is very slight. In all improvements of tho breed the retention of this 

 ancient characteristic of them has been successfully kept in view. While their skin 

 is mellow to the touch it is moderately thick. Moreover the profusion of long, soft 

 hair, with a thick, mossy undercoat, which has always been characteristic of this 

 breed, conduces to and is symptomatic of their exceptional hardiness. The Gallo- 

 ways are kept on the low-lying farms, where mixed farming, grain-growing, and cat- 

 tle breeding and feeding are practiced, and also on the intermediate hill grazings be- 

 tween the high mountains and the lower valleys. Many herds are located in hill- 

 lying districts where the climate is so severe and cold that the growth of the cereals 

 is not attempted. A large number of young Galloways are wintered in the open air, 

 " the sky and the hills and the glen," as has been said, being their only winter shel- 

 ter. This system is pursued not from scarcity of house accommodation but of delib- 

 erate choice, it being found by experience that from their hardy nature and being 

 inured to exposure they are not only able to stand the severities of the climate, but 

 that they thrive better and make more progress during the succeeding summer and 

 autumn when wintered in the open air than under cover. It is a valued characteris- 

 tic of tho Galloways that they thrive well when kept upon poor and scanty fare, and 

 indeed they have long proved themselves able to stand adverse circumstances, whether 

 these arise from soil or climate or both. They are remarkably impressive as a breed, 

 which is no doubt due to the length of time at least nearly two centuries they 

 have been bred from animals of the same type and possessed of tho same characteris- 

 tics. Alike in respect of color, absence of horns, and general outline and symmetry, 

 their offspring from cows of other breeds so very closely resemble the black Galloway 

 Polls that it is not easy to distinguish a pure from the cross-bred animal. 



When the Galloway bull is put to horned cows of any breed from 95 to 100 per cent, 

 of the produce are found to be black and hornless, and in stamping their offspring 

 with their qualities otherwise the prepotency of the Galloways is very marked. 



Galloways have long been in great favor for crossing with other breeds. 



Bulls of this breed have been very extensively put to both Short-horns and Ayr- 

 shire cows, and in England especially it has been a favorite and highly successful mode 

 of crossing for beef purposes to use the Short-horn bull on the Galloway cow. By either 

 mode symmetrical cattle of large frames are produced. They are hardy and their meat 

 is free from patchiness, well mixed and superior. These Galloway crosses mature 

 early and reach very heavy weights. A Galloway cattle society exists, its two main 

 objects being (1) to maintain unimpaired the purity of the brqed of cattle known as 

 Galloway cattle, and to promote the breeding of these cattle, and (2) to collect, verify, 

 preserve, and publish in a Galloway herd-book the pedigrees of the eaid cattle and 

 other useful information regarding them. The headquarters of this society are at 

 Dumfries, Scotland, and it has published eight issues of tho Herd-Book.* 



Both of these animals (Nos. 15 and 16) are first-prize winners at the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society Show of Scotland, and are the property of and bred by Mr. James 

 Cunningham Yarbreach, of Dalbeattie, Scotland. 



THE AYESH1KE AS DAIRY CATTLE. 



I have been supplied with the following information regarding this 

 breed : 



The Ayrshire is emphatically the Scotch dairy breed, and a thor- 

 oughly thrifty dairy cow, and one that will fatten rapidly when dry, 



* Here follows a statement concerning the true characteristics of the Galloway breed, 

 which was not published for the reason that a similar statement appears in the report 

 from Leith, to which the reader is referred. 



