222 WILD WHITE CATTLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



must have been very wild indeed. The park itself, a 

 sort of table-land much elevated, is broken into small 

 hills and valleys ; it is wholly in a natural state, and 

 numerous springs rise out of marshy, boggy-looking 

 spots. It is very wild and open, with but little timber; 

 the soil is partly cold clay, partly, and indeed a good 

 deal of it, a black peaty loam ; the herbage is scanty and 

 inferior ; and the whole is so covered with fern, heather, 

 and other wild plants, that it gives the idea of a very 

 extensive mountain common. It is very slippery to ride 

 across after rain. No question, it has originally been 

 part of the ancient forest. Needwood, close at hand, 

 was celebrated for its oaks and hollies ; so also was the 

 Park of Lyme, cut out of the Forest of Macclesfield ; 

 and so originally must have been the park at Chartley 

 also ; and it would, I think, add much to the effect of 

 the park itself and of its cattle, and to their comfort 

 also, if the ancient woods of which it has been denuded 

 could be in part restored. 



It did seem wonderful to me that, large and fine as 

 the Chartley cattle undoubtedly are, they should be 

 able to maintain their size on a pasture comparatively 

 sterile, and where even in winter they are only supplied 

 with hay of a very coarse and poor description, of 

 which fact we had ocular proof on my second visit. It 

 speaks volumes in favour of the great size of the race 

 from which they sprang. They were, when I first saw 

 them, twenty-five in number. There were ten breeding 

 cows, four bulls, two of these being adults, six steers, 

 and five heifers of various ages. In that year, 1874, they 

 had been somewhat unfortunate. Some calves, one cow, 

 which calved earlier than they usually do — namely, at 

 eighteen months old — and the finest old bull — as 



