210 Tlie Agricultural Features of the Paris Exhibition. 
Nord, and was clearly enough deserving of the high distinction 
awarded to it. Several of the young bulls were fairly well put 
together ; but the old bulls, as a rule, were not so nice, from an 
Englishman's point of view. Their ribs were very flat, frames 
narrow and not very even, muzzles black or spotted, and horns 
black, pointed, and sometimes long. Most of them were soft 
and free under the hand, and exhibited fair quality of flesh. 
The females, as with almost all heavy milking races, were much 
more handsome in appearance than the males, and finer in bone. 
A good many, however, were narrowly " made-up," and very 
light in the middle. The first-prize animal in the young heifer 
class, looked more like a Shorthorn cross than a pure Flemish, 
and did not show a satisfactory development of the milk vessels. 
The first-prize cow, owned by M. Bruyer, of Albert, Somme, was 
symmetrical, with straight top and fair quality. She was by far 
the best of the lot. Some of them were high-standing and long 
in the legs, others being narrow in front and slack on the 
back. 
On the whole, of the two valuable breeds so popular in the 
north of France, the Flemish and Dutch breeds, the majority of 
English farmers would perhaps, in point of general utility, give 
the preference to the latter. It may also be stated that it was 
asserted by many competent judges, men well acquainted with 
both breeds, that had the Dutch breed been as fairly represented 
in the group contest as the Flemish, the Dutch would have won 
the 100/. milk prize. There is a sort of friendly rivalry between 
the votaries of the two breeds, which, as is invariably the case, 
has evidently resulted in good to both. 
Charolais. — Of all the many different races of cattle in France, 
the Charolais is perhaps the most handsome, and in regard to 
value or importance is equalled only by the Norman breed, if 
indeed by it. Hailing originally from Charolais and Brionnais, 
this breed has spread over the greater part of the centre of 
France ; and in its march it is gradually displacing all other 
breeds. The truest specimens of the Charolais breed are to be 
found in the Brionnais district, but the finest specimens of cattle 
passing under the name of Charolais are reared in the Nivernais, 
into which region the breed was introduced from Charolais about a 
hundred years ago. The breeders in the Brionnais, proud of their 
native cattle, have carefully guarded it from all foreign in- 
fluence, good and bad, and thus in lhat part the faulty and the 
good points of the breed have been preserved and developed 
alike. In tlie Nivernais and other districts which have adopted 
the race, the breeders have been rather less zealous as to its purity, 
and the result has been a wonderful improvement in the stru(^ture 
and quality of tlie animals. So marked indeed has been the 
