278 CATTI,3. 



bone and horn, a trifle shorter leg and longer body, a little coarser in 

 every part, and j'ou have a good Hereford in all excepting color. 



' ' As useful cattle the Herefords are a good breed. We are aware 

 that their introduction into the United States has not been, in compari^ 

 sou with some other breeds, successful in popularity or extended distri- 

 bution ; but that fact decides nothing as to the positive merits of the 

 stock itself. Partiality, prejudice on the part of our cattle breeders, or 

 pre-occupation of the ground by other breeds which meet the general 

 approbation, may keep them for a time in the background ; but their 

 actual merits once known, they will have a fair trial and achieve a sub- 

 stantial success. 



" Like the Devon, we place the Hereford under three distinct heads; 

 and first. 



As a Dairy Cow. In this virtue she has little reputation, either in 

 England or America. We have found no English authority, except a 

 rare instance or two, which gives her much credit as a milker. Possibly 

 this may have arisen from the fact that the Hereford districts are graz- 

 ing, and not dairy. The milk is rich, but too little of it — not much 

 more than to rear her calf in good condition. She dries early. 



" If she ever was a milker before her modern improvement began, the 

 milking faculty has been sacrificed for a ready tendency to flesh, which 

 has been obtained in a high degree in her race. We have seen a dozen 

 of them milked through three or four successive seasons, and the yields 

 were such as would be unsatisfactory to a modern dairyman. Now and 

 then a fair milker turned up, but they were in a minority of numbers ; 

 taken together they were less than ordinary for the season. We will 

 not therefore discuss this question further, but pass to another quality 

 as yielding greater pleasure in the relation. 



As a Working Ox, ' ' The Hereford is the peer of any other and 

 superior to most. Earge, long, muscular, well developed in form, noble 

 and stately in carriage, he suggests all that need be found in an honest, 

 true worker. At full maturity — say six years old — he girts seven feet 

 behind the shoulders, in ordinary condition, to the Devon's six feet, and 

 is every way the more powerful, if not quite so quick or active. A team 

 of two, three, or four yokes of Herefords, under the control of a good 

 driver, for ' a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether,' is the per- 

 fection of bovine strength and majesty. The joints of the ox are well 

 knit, his sinews strong, his shoulders slant well to the yoke, and he 

 carries his load well, be it at the plow, the cart, or the wagon. He is 



