DOMINION OF CANADA, 541 



from every part of the building, one hundred head of these peculiar cat- 

 tle, some of which were imported direct from Scotland by the Messrs. 

 Geary, and others were bred from imported stock on the farm where I 

 saw them. In color they are intensely black; thev have no horns, are 

 short-legged, heavy-bodied, with small bone, and" in appearance they 

 were very healthy. They are good feeders and very docile and hardy. 

 I am informed that when a number of these cattle are turned out to 

 pasture, that they do not scatter over the field as do other breeds, but 

 are usually found feeding close together like geese or sheep. The beef 

 from the Polled Angus ox is said to be of excellent flavor, and the dif- 

 ferent layers of lean and fat are distributed in such a manner as to 

 resemble variegated marble, and in the market it is frequently desig- 

 nated as marble beef. From careful inquiry in relation to the charac- 

 teristics of this breed of cattle, I am convinced that they would be a 

 source of profit to the farmers of our Northern and Middle States ; of 

 one thing I am certain, the animals of this breed are iu appearance 

 much improved by the transition from Scotland to Canada, or rather, 

 the animals bred in Canada from imported Polled Angus stock are 

 superior in size and general appearance to the cattle from which they 

 were bred. Some fine specimens of this stock were recently sent from 

 the farm of Geary Bros, to Kansas, and Mr. John Geary informed me 

 that he frequently receives orders by mail from various points in the 

 United States for animals of certain weight and other characteristics 

 to suit the purchaser, and he volunteered a compliment to the Amer- 

 ican buyer by the remark that in filling these orders, as he invariably 

 did (he possessed suitable stock for the purpose), he had always re- 

 ceived a ready response by way of draft or otherwise from the pur- 

 chaser in full payment as soon as the animal had reached its destination. 

 The following extract in reference to the Polled Angus I take from 

 the report of the Ontario agricultural commission for 1881 : 



The victories won by the Polled Aberdeens in the prize ring would be too numer- 

 ous to recapitulate here. Suffice it to say it was a Polled Angus bullock that carried 

 off Prince Albert's cup at Poissy in 1862, the competition being between all the 

 breeders of the world; that a Polled Angus yearling bull won the gold medal of his 

 class, at Paris, in 1878 ; that a Polled Angus has repeatedly gained the chief prizes 

 at Birmingham, and carried off the champion cup on at least three occasions at the 

 Christmas cattle-show in Loudon, the last of these triumphs being at the show for 

 1880. The Tillyfour herd now exists no longer. On the 26th of last August it was 

 sold by auction and dispersed. The accompanying plate supplies a very excellent 

 illustration of the Polled Angus breed, of which some very fine animals are to be 

 seen at the agricultural andjuodel farm at Guelph. 



Professor Brown says of these Aberdeen Polled cattle : 



I am very well acquainted with the Aberdeen Polled, and it is well known that for 

 early maturing it is equal to the Shorthorn, though not so far as our experience goes 

 equal to it in improving other breeds or in attaining a greater weight iu a certain 

 time. At the present time we may call them our second best beefing breed. 



But in the eye of the British buyer of fat cattle Polled Angus does 

 not rank second even to the great Shorthorn. Mr. Hall, iu his evidence, 

 says: 



Of the cattle which come into the English market those which rank highest in 

 point of quality are the Aberdeen Scot. They are the breed known as the Polled 

 Angus. The fat Galloway ranks about equal with the Polled Angus ; but a middling 

 Gafloway is just about as bad a bullock for a butcher as you can select; he kills very 

 coarse indeed. The Galloway will bring more per pound than any other breed, ex- 

 cept the Aberdeen, but he does not cut as streaky as the Polled Angus. » » * 

 Next to the Polled Angus or Soot in point of quality I put the English Shorthorn or 

 Durham. 



