IMPROVEMENT IN CATTLE REARING. 47 



large for tilling their land and for other field-work. The 

 native cattle were not only submitted to better treatment, 

 but were also crossed with bulls of larger breeds, some 

 being taken from England — notably of the Holderness 

 breed — some from Holland, and some from the south of 

 Scotland. Satisfactory results were not obtained until 

 bulls of the rife or Falkland breed were introduced. This 

 breed (said to be descended mainly from some English 

 cows which Henry VII. sent as a dowry to Margaret, his 

 eldest daughter, who in 1502 was married to James IV. 

 of Scotland, then residing chiefly at Falkland Palace, in 

 Fifeshire) was large and handsome ; and between bulls of 

 it and cows of the native breeds of the north-east of Scot- 

 land, excellent varieties, both of work and butcher cattle, 

 were reared. 



At length, however, in the increasing prosperity of 

 the country, and the advancement of skilful farming, 

 the true function of the ox — the production of beef — 

 came to be recognised and developed. The demand 

 for beef grew rapidly ; and therefore, by degrees, the ox 

 was withdrawn from the plough, and put instead into the 

 feeding - stall. It was then found that development of 

 bone and muscle was not so essential or so valuable a 

 property as a capacity to produce, at an early age, a heavy 

 carcass of beef of the highest quality. The production of 

 beef had in fact become the main object to be aimed at. 

 Bone and muscle were discounted, and the new ideal was 

 a maximum of beef with a minimum of bone, little offal, 

 and prime quality. 



The farmers of the north-eastern counties abandoned the 

 rough big-boned varieties of cattle they had formerly found 

 suitable to their wants, and cultivated instead the smaller, 

 broader, and better fleshed sorts that were less useful in 

 earlier years when oxen had to do the work of horses. 

 Cattle were more liberally fed and more carefully housed, 

 and thus the north-east of Scotland rapidly became famous 



