10 



TEE AOBICULTUBAL JOURNAL. 



^- " Yes : nearly all are now of the fourth 

 or fifth strain, and after the sixth a herd is 

 considered pure bred." 



" What have you done at Shows." 

 " I have done well. I have carried off 

 the prizes in the Devon class at practi- 

 cally every Show at which I exhibited. 

 Also in the Slaughter Ox class I have 

 done well : at the last Durban Show i 

 carried off the prize for the best m that 

 class ; indeed in this class I have earned 

 off all the prizes against all-comers tor 

 the last ten years." 



" What is the biggest beast you have 

 produced ?" 



One a six-year-old, who gave l,4001bs. 

 of meat. He was out of a cross-bred 

 Friesland-Devoo. In his third and fourth 

 winters he got a little feeding, and m the 

 fifth he was well fed— of course on farm- 

 grown stuff only. The beef of Devons is 

 also good— first rate, and it seems to have 

 had that reputation for a long tune. In 

 the same book Lord SommerviUe, so tar 

 back as at the end of the eighteenth 

 century, speaks highly of its quality.' 



I transcribe the quotation :— "The fact 

 remains triumphant for the West Country 

 breed, that in addition to their well-earned 

 character of being the best working cattle 

 in the kingdom, they have for ages been 

 confessed at Smithfleld (London) to be 

 one of the two or three best, if not the 

 very best, as to quality of meat." 



Milk, Butter, etc. 

 " And about milk and butter ?" 

 "The milk of Devons, as you know, 

 has a high reputation for its richness Of 

 course, like the milk of all bre^eds, it 

 varies according to the feed. I have 

 made only one trial, and that some years 

 a"o The milk of four selected cows over 

 two days gave 81bs. of butter, which 

 shows lib. of butter per day per cow. 

 This of course, does not compare favour- 

 ably' wHh what Devon cows of good 

 milking strains will do on first-class 

 pasture, and on that alone ; in England 

 returns of 21bs. a day are not an un- 

 common, and with feeding 'Ubs. a day 

 has been topped. The quality of Devon 

 butter stands high— many hold it cannot 

 be beaten. I may here mention that 

 Devon cows are excellent calf producer^'. 

 Given fair treatment a cow will drop a 



calf every ^ ear, and that is a good deal 

 more than "can be said of South African 

 cows in general." 



" You were the first to import Uevons 



into Natal ? " „ 

 " I was. I suppose there are now halt- 

 a-dozer. other importers of the breed." 

 " Do your Devon stock sell well 

 "They do. I have always a greater 

 demand for young bulls than I can 

 supply. I sell them when yearhngs m 

 September. Those not good enough are 

 kept for oxen. The bulls go^ to all 

 parts of the Colony-from the Coast to 

 the Berg. From Mid-Illovo— one of the 

 most trying districts in Colonj^ tor 

 cattle -I get good accounts ot bulls i have 

 sold, and so also from the Upper Mooi 

 River, where the winters are probably the 

 hardest." 



North Devons. 

 "You prefer the South to the North 



Devon?" ^ r i i„ 



Yes • The South I consider preferable. 

 Firstiy, they are larger and they are more 

 of a dairy breed, and unfortunately of 

 late years the breeders of bulls ot North 

 Devons have taken to pampering the 

 beasts. I ordered one some years ago. 

 He would not on arriving eat the farm 

 fodder, and for some time he would take 

 nothing but English hay. AH that there 

 was of lhat was a little that accompanied 

 him His coat on arrival was beautiful 

 to the touch— soft and velvety : m a 

 week it felt like u piece of rusty iron 

 plate. He died a week later. 



Management. 

 From our conversation on the general 

 management of the troop I gathered the 

 following facts. The veld is burnt once 

 only in the year— the spring, ot course 

 In 'the summer none of the cattle get 

 more than they find in grazing. Ihey 

 are kept on the hills, and are not allowed 

 to remain in vlei or low-lying ground 

 longer than is necessary for drinking 

 from the spruits. By this pr ecaution the 

 troop will probably escape fiuke and gall- 

 sickness. Much of the first disease, Mr. 

 Hall is convinced, is due to permitting 

 the animals to graze in damp places. 

 (Readers of the Journal will re- 

 member what Mr. Pitchtord recently 

 wrote with respect to damp places 

 and sheep fluke. Also, in an earlier issue, 



