THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 115 



Norfolk, and exhibited at the Smithfield Cattle Show, a few 

 years since, weighed one hundred and ninety stones, of eight 

 pounds to the stone. She stood five feet two inches at the 

 shoulder, and was a model. 



Many thousands of polled cattle are sent from Galloway 

 every year to the south, and rapidly fatten in pastures but 

 little more luxuriant than those on which they were reared, 

 although, it must be confessed, that there are in Galloway 

 fine tracts both of grass and white clover. It is chiefly in 

 Norfolk and Suffolk that the polled Galloways are fed for the 

 London markets ; they are purchased by the drovers, or 

 jobbers, at the various cattle fairs in the district, often in large 

 numbers, and are then sent onwards in droves of two or three 

 hundred, preceded by a man called the topsman, who makes 

 arrangements for their rest at different stations, and takes 

 care that sufficient grass, hay, or turnips, are provided for 

 them. In about three weeks they arrive in Norfolk, the tra 

 veiling expenses amounting to about 24s. a head in summer, 

 and 34s. or 35s. in winter. The average cost of a stirk in his 

 second year, is from 3 to 4 ; in the third year, 6 or 1 ; 

 and of oxen in the fourth year, 10, 1.1, or 12, taken by the 

 lot. Hence it is apparent that a jobber who purchases six or 

 eight hundred head of cattle, (whether he pay in bills or 

 cash) involves himself in a serious undertaking ; if he clears 

 from 3s. to 5s. a head, he is amply remunerated, but should 

 the markets in Norfolk or Suffolk be low, he must sell at a 

 loss, and may thus be ruined; moreover, he must expect 

 some casualties on the road, and these must be taken into 

 the account. 



Besides these large speculators, there are others who travel 

 from fair to fair, and purchase cattle, varying according to the 

 extent of their means, from 20 to 100 head ; these they resell, 

 or drive over the borders to Carlisle, in hopes of disposing of 

 them to advantage at the cattle fairs. If successful, they 

 return home to make fresh purchases, and soon set off again 

 for the English borders. Thus the stock of the Galloway 

 breeders is continually changing hands, 25,000 or perhaps 

 30,000 head of cattle being thus annually transferred to the 

 English pasture lands. 



In Dumfries, the largest cattle market in the south of Scot- 

 land is held,*and here vast numbers of polled black cattle are 

 bought and sold. 



A very fine polled breed of cattle has long existed in Angus 



