STATISTICS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 451 



Higlilanders. The Ayrshire cows enjoy the highest reputation as milkers, and 

 perhaps next to them rank the cows of Suffolk. 



Sheep are even more important than cattle, for they can be bred and fed 

 upon those extensive tracts of downs which could not support other animals. 

 The breeds of Great Britain are usually divided into two classes, one of which 

 produces long or combing wool, and the other short wool. The former includes 

 the Dishley, or New Leicester breed, which owes its celebrity and its name 

 to Robert Bakewell, the famous breeder. It has no horns, and its mutton 

 is of fine grain and superior flavour. The short-woolled breeds include the 

 Southdowns of England, the Cheviots, the black- faced or heath breed, and the 

 dun-faced or mountain breed — the two latter almost exclusively in the Scotch 

 Highlands. The Southdowns are equally valued for their fine wool as for their 

 mutton. Merino sheep have been judiciously crossed with Southdowns and 

 other breeds, but as English farmers are obliged to look to the meat market, as 

 well as to that for wool, they find it more profitable to keep to the native breeds. 



Pigs in great variety abound in every part of the British Islands. Yorkshire 

 is more especially noted for the quantity and quality of its hams, whilst Wilts, 

 Hampshire, and Berkshire are credited with producing the best bacon. Goats 

 are reared in the hilly districts, but they play a very subordinate part in the rural 

 economy of the country. 



Amongst the poultry there are several varieties which are appreciated by 

 continental breeders. Dorking fowls are noted for their size, and readily distin- 

 guished by having five toes to each foot. Buckinghamshire is famous for its 

 ducks, the Lincolnshire fens for their geese, and Norfolk and Suffolk for turkeys. 



Englishmen have every reason to be proud of the noble breeds of horses which 

 they can call their own, and which, varying in size and other qualities, are 

 admirably adapted for the purposes for which they are intended. The large black 

 horses bred in the midland counties excel in strength and weight, and are 

 peculiarly well fitted for draught. Yorkshire produces excellent saddle horses, 

 Cleveland bays are much sought after as coach horses, whilst Suffolk has a peculiar 

 breed of farm horses. The Clydesdale horse is held in the highest esteem in 

 Scotland. The ponies and shelties of the Highlands and islands of Scotland are 

 the smallest animals of the kind in the kingdom, but they are generally hand- 

 some, active, sure-footed, and capable of enduring much fatigue. As to the 

 English racehorse, it is descended in a nearly direct line from Arabs, Persians, 

 and Barbs, and perhaps unsurpassed for symmetry and swiftness. Some of the 

 other breeds have derived considerable advantages from having been judiciously 

 crossed with it. 



Mining. 



England occupies a foremost place in the world for its agriculture, but incon- 

 testably marches at the head of all as a mining country. Its " Black Indies " have 

 been a greater source of wealth to it than would have been either Mexico or 

 California. It is to coal England is indebted for its superiority as. a manufacturing 



