112 
The Rise and Progress of 
partly IVom tlie difficulty occasionally experienced in breeding 
from older animals, they are allowed to calve at 3, sometimes at 
2^ years old : in the latter case, without attention and good keep, 
the frame will be smaller and the growth of the horn checked, 
depriving the animals of their otherwise grand and imposing 
appearance. It is impossible that such immature creatures can 
stand this unnatural drain without damage, and probably if the 
practice be systematically pursued, as well as that of breeding 
extensively from vcri/ younc/ bulls, the general hardihood of the 
race will become impaired and their size reduced. Many rea- 
sons exist why Devon breeders are seldom exhibitors at Smith- 
field or Birmingham Fat Stock Shows ; they know it is useless 
to send any but a perfect animal to either, and having such a 
large demand for bulls, the best, and indeed nearly all the bull- 
calves, are reared for that purpose, and good cows are bred from 
up to an age when they would be too old to exhibit. Moreover, 
their farms are more adapted for breeding than for feeding pur- 
poses, with which exhibiting at fat stock shows might seriously 
interfere. 
Splendid specimens are, however, often sent from the Royal, 
the Earl of Leicester's, Lord Portman's, and Mr. Farthing's farms ; 
and very fine animals bred by Messrs. Mogridge, Davy, Quartly, 
Passmore, Tapp, Turner, and others, are exhibited by gentlemen 
who have purchased and fed them. Landowners might assist in 
improving the breed of stock generally, and confer a great benefit 
on their tenantry, by purchasing and keeping a good two or three 
year-old bull, where the tenantry and neighbours might if they 
chose avail themselves of his services at a moderate charge ; in 
this way the bull would more than earn his keep. If the plan 
were pretty generally adopted the improved condition of farm- 
stock would in a very few years bear testimony to the soundness 
of this assertion. Many will remember that for some years 
after Messrs. Bult and Bond brought the bull Hundred Guineas 
(56) into the neighbourhood of Taunton, on going into the local 
markets, one could not fail to recognise steers and heifers got 
by him, by their superior quality and symmetery. The prizes 
offered by the Torrington Agricultural Society in West Devon 
have led to the introduction of many well-bred bulls into that 
neighbourhood, and the importance of this fact will appear when 
we consider the immense number of cattle reared in and sent by 
dealers from North and West Devon, and Cornwall, for sale at 
Bridgewater, Bristol, and Banbury markets, from which those 
remaining unsold go on to Northampton weekly markets, where 
they are usually bought by graziers and dealers who attend it 
from the counties of Buckingham, Bedford, Cambridge, Leicester, 
and Northampton. Cattle from Bratton, Crediton, and South. 
