260 



Farming of Cumberland. 



benefits become more widely known. Whether the discovery 

 orig:inated with him or not, the merit of its extensive application 

 is entirely due to him, and his theory appears consistent, viz., 

 that young cattle shed, or ought to shed, their back or grinding 

 teeth in pairs at stated periods, or about the periods of their 

 casting the front teeth ; and that, as the decay or absorption of 

 the old tooth commences at the point of the fang or prong, and 

 proceeds towards the grinding surface, it frequently happens that 

 the old shell or surface of the tooth is held too long in its place 

 by the adhesion of the gum and the wedging of the adjoining 

 teeth. By this means the animal is disabled from properly mas- 

 ticating and ruminating its food, until its condition is impaired ; 

 and, if neglected, the health and constitution suffer, and in some 

 cases death is the result. 



The annual or more frequent periodical examination and 

 removal of the dead shells and uneven teeth by the dentist have 

 been very efficacious in relieving hundreds of young cattle, some 

 of which in former times would, by the consequences of neglecting 

 this simple precaution, have been condemned as unsound, and 

 others have been kept in an unthrifty state till nature effected 

 their relief. 



Cattle-Dealing and Fairs. 



The county of Cumberland possessing many good sea-ports 

 conveniently situated for importing cattle from the north and 

 north-east of Ireland, and being also the great thoroughfare from 

 the principal breeding districts of Scotland, might reasonably be 

 expected to be supplied with a corresponding number of occa- 

 sional cattle-dealers. 



Several occupiers of high-lying grass farms are of necessity 

 dealers in cattle, to a greater or less degree ; for the farms being 

 calculated for keeping a much greater stock in summer than in 

 winter, the occupiers must be buyers in the spring and sellers in 

 the autumn ; and this induces a habit of trading when opportunity 

 offers. In the northern half of the county they are tolerably 

 numerous, and of active habits, some of them undergoing much hard 

 labour in their vocation, far exceeding their usual remuneration. 

 But the business is so exciting and the hope of profit so tempting, 

 that no amount of exertion, or exposure to storms, or fear of loss, 

 will deter a man, who has thoroughly embarked in the speculation, 

 from risking both life and property in the very hazardous pursuit 

 he has chosen. Many a long and weary drive has the cattle- 

 dealer of the north of Cumberland from Dumbarton, Falkirk, 

 Stirling, and others of the leading Scotch trysts, over mountain 

 and muir, in sunshine or storm, with his slow drove of wearied 

 black cattle, in which he, perhaps, has embarked the whole or 



