THE OX AND THE DAIKY. 79 



The old Gloucester breed of cattle was rather small, of a 

 reddish brown colour, with a streak of white running up the 

 back from the base of the tail ; indifferent in figure, but well 

 adapted for the dairy. This old middle-horned race is now 

 seldom to be met with, at least pure ; it has been crossed by 

 the long- horns of Wiltshire ; and this mixed breed, while it 

 exhibited superiority of size, and a tendency to fatten, was 

 little, if at all, deteriorated as to milking qualities. In the 

 hilly or Cotswold districts, a mixed breed, of variable good- 

 ness, prevails. The Cotswold hills extend across the county 

 from Chipping Campden to Bath, and are divided into an 

 upper and a lower range : the soil of the upper range is chiefly 

 a calcareous sand, a few inches deep, resting on oolite, or, as 

 it is commonly called, stonebrash. Cattle, but principally 

 sheep, are kept on these hills, and even the poorest tracts are 

 admirably adapted as pasturage for the latter: where these 

 have well manured the land, it bears tolerable crops of oats 

 and barley In the lower hills, and in the valleys between 

 them, the soil is deeper, and affords fair pasturage to cattle, 

 of which numbers are kept for the purpose of the dairy, and 

 good cheeses are made. Winter and spring vetches are sown 

 in considerable quantity, and supply both the cattle and sheep 

 when green fodder is scarce In general, however, the cattle 

 are badly fed during the winter. 



It is in the more fertile and lower portions of this county, 

 such as the vale of Berkeley and the banks of the Severn and 

 Ledden, that the richest land for the cultivation of crops and 

 the pasturage of cattle is found. Here the old pastures are 

 left untouched for the cows, that the cheese may retain its 

 celebrity; and here, consequently, dairy-farming is most 

 advantageously and extensively carried on. In the vale of 

 Gloucestershire there are many valuable crosses of cattle ; 

 some between the old breed and the long-horns, others 

 between this cross breed and Durham and Yorkshire short- 

 horns. Milk, remarkable both for richness and the quantity 

 yielded, is the dairyman's object; and for this he sacrifices 

 all other properties of the cattle. Hereford and Devon cattle 

 are also kept, but only for work and for fattening : of these 

 many are fed in the neighbourhood of Gloucester. 



In the management of the milch cattle of this fertile dis- 

 trict, old rich pastures are greatly preferred for them ; for it 

 has been ascertained by experience that lands, however luxu- 

 riant, which have been much or recently manured, produce 



