MANAGEMENT OF TEE HERD. 351 



herd became, as we have seen, extinct ; Sir John's cows 

 continued to breed with Lord Breadalbane's bull as 

 they had done with his own. This cross introduced 

 much more of the wild blood into the herd, for the two 

 wild bulls were used from 1838 till 1851 or 1852, 

 thirteen or fourteen years. At the latter date a pure 

 white and pure-bred West Highland bull-calf (with 

 black points) was brought from Barcaldine, in North- 

 Western Argyllshire, before the wild bull was parted 

 with. This bull improved the stock much. No further 

 crosses have since been made. 



The principal improvement which the Barcaldine 

 bull is supposed to have made is in the hind quarters, 

 which are less light than they were before. He also 

 introduced curls, which James Aitchison does not like, 

 because the wild bull which came from Athole to the 

 Duke of Buccleuch was quite free from curl. Sir 

 John's bulls have usually very little curl on the neck, 

 but his present bull has a curly face. It may be 

 remarked upon this that the Chillingham bull shot by 

 the Prince of Wales had a good deal of curl, both on 

 his neck and forehead. 



The management of the Kilmory herd is as follows. 

 The cattle are, to a very great extent, out summer and 

 winter. When a cow shows any appearance of calving 

 she is brought in and put into a loose-box until she has 

 her calf ; the next day she is tied up, and the calf put 

 into a crib ; in a few days the dam goes out during the 

 daytime, and this continues until all have calved : the 

 season preferred for which is from the beginning of 

 January till the end of May. The bull is, therefore, 

 allowed to run with the cows from the end of March 

 till the 1st of September, and then taken from them to 



