246 THE BREEDS OF LIVE-STOCK 
279. Use for beef. — It is chiefly as a beef-producing 
breed that the Galloways are famous. The quality of 
their beef attracted much attention in the British markets 
centuries ago, and they had the distinction of being classed 
as “prime scots”’ at Smithfield long before these cattle 
were known to the feeders of the corn-belt or the cow-men 
of the western plains. The superiority of the Galloway 
beef arises from the fact that it is always well marbled 
and possesses a large proportion of lean meat intermixed 
with fat. The packers and butchers have been striving 
to educate breeders, stockmen and farmers to breed 
animals with a greater proportion of natural flesh and less 
wasteful fat. The Galloway has long been bred with 
this essential feature in view, and thus he leads his rivals 
in this respect, and brings higher returns per hundred 
pounds live weight. 
This breed has been vastly improved since its introduc- 
tion into the corn-belt. Greater weights have been secured 
in shorter time than was customary twenty-five years 
ago, and the early-maturing feature has been much in 
evidence. In the past, the statement has been advanced 
by some persons that one could not mature the Galloways 
so soon as individuals of other beef breeds. One need 
only visit some of the leading Galloway herds throughout 
the country, or review the various ages and classes of 
individuals presented every year at the national shows, 
to be convinced of the error of this statement. Ex- 
perienced authorities who have handled two or more of 
the leading beef breeds under similar conditions maintain 
that the Galloways mature at any age just about as readily 
as individuals of any other beef breed. To-day, the Gallo- 
ways have many claims to favoritism. Experiments 
at various agricultural experiment stations show that while 
