Longhorn Cattle : their History and Peculiarities. 459 
equivalent of phosphoric acid. This circumstance, as pointed 
out in a former part of this paper, renders Starbuck crust 
guano extremely valuable for the production of concentrated 
artificial manures, rich in soluble phosphate of lime. 
Although most of the phosphatic guanos to which reference 
has been made produce a decidedly beneficial effect vi^hen they 
are applied to root-crops at the rate of 4 to 5 cwts. per acre, it 
is nevertheless advisable for reasons of economy to treat them 
with sulphuric acid, and thereby to render the phosphates more 
soluble than they exist in the phosphatic guanos in their natural 
condition. 
11, Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, E.G., 
July 1876. 
XVII. — Longhorn Cattle : their History and Peculiarities. 
By J. Nevill Fitt. 
The present may be literally called an age of revivals ; but 1 
doubt whether, amidst all the revivalism going on, a more useful 
regeneration, nationally speaking, has taken place, than the 
bringing to the front once more this useful though long-neg- 
lected breed of cattle. A hundred years ago Longhorns occupied 
a somewhat analogous position in public favour to that held by 
the Shorthorn now. It is true we have no record that they 
were ever sold for thousands of pounds per head, but money was 
then by no means so plentiful or so cheap as it is now, neither 
was it then the fashion to go to a vast outlay on fancy articles. 
But the old Longhorn men obtained hundreds for the choicest 
specimens of their herds ; and they were looked upon at that 
time as the most profitable, both as beef-producers and cheese- 
makers, which the farmer could stock his pastures with. Their 
f reign, however, was not a long one, for truly it may be said of 
i them, 
\ " Moons wane, and races wither to the tomb," 
and the two first decades of the present century saw them well- 
nigh superseded, and their places filled by the then rising Short- 
horns. Well might it have been predicted when Bates, the 
Collings, and other noted breeders, arose with giant-like energy 
to take the new comers in hand, and expended time, skill, and 
capital on their behalf, that the curly coats would have a tough 
I fight to maintain their supremacy. But the citadel was doomed 
to fall, from weakness within rather than assaults from without ; 
and it was the want of due knowledge in tht; science of breeding, 
amongst those who held them, rather than any preponderating 
