Longhorn Cattle : their History and Peculiarities. 479 
hem lose their calf s flesh, demonstrate to the world what their 
"avourites are really capable of doing. 
Having thus shown what the breed has done in the show- 
.ard, I must advert, for a little space, to the fact of their having 
jeen hitherto so little known and appreciated by agriculturists 
generally, who appear to have had no idea of the position they 
leld in rural economy In Mr. J. Moscrop's Essay on the Farm- 
ng of Leicestershire, awarded the prize of 50/. in 1866, he says : 
" The Longhorns — a creation of Bakewell's — were once the 
age of the day, and the natural herd of the country, but they are 
WW nearly extinct.^' After speaking of Mr. Chapman's herd, he 
joes on to say : " Great enthusiasm is exhibited by the patrons 
)f this breed, and assertions confidently made that, besides 
heir great hardihood, they render as good a return for the food 
onsumed as the best animals of the most favoured breeds. As 
nilk-producers they are deficient, although what they do pro- 
luce is particularly rich in cream. Their utility, however. 
;ither for the dairies of the west, or the fattening pastures of the- 
?ast side of the country, is pronounced by the majority doubt- 
"ul, and whether they can much longer struggle for a separate 
•xistence is at least an open question." 
Mr. Moscrop has quite fallen into an error in calling the 
Longhorns a creation of Bakewell's. He was, it is true, the 
jreat pioneer of the day, but, as I have shown, the Longhorn 
existed long before his time, and he was only contemporary 
vith Lea, Fowler, Paget, Prinsep, Chapman, Knowles, and 
\stley ; and Fowler and Prinsep, at any rate, made higher figures 
ban Bakewell is known to have done. It is all the more extra- 
)rdinary that the writer should have fallen into the error of 
isserting that Longhorns were nearly extinct, and could not 
nuch longer struggle for a separate existence, as the following 
emarks, taken from 'Bell's Weekly Messenger' of 1861, show 
hat at the Sparkenhoe Club, five years before this was written, 
L^onghorns had been shown in very considerable numbers. " The 
)eculiarity of the Club we have now to deal with in this article 
s the encouragement it gave Longhorn-breeding, which was 
|)f a purely exceptional character. We have set eyes on pure 
jLonghorns many a time before, but it was certainly the first 
ime that we saw so many at a single exhibition of stock. There 
vere thirty entries of Longhorns at this Sparkenhoe Show, some 
jeing of the finest character both in breed and quality ; the 
'special district of this class of stock is compassed within the 
adius of about 30 miles of the spot, and the appearance of this 
-lass of animals gave an unusual appearance to the exhibition. 
Dishley, of Longhorn fame, is only 15 miles off ; whilst the 
ibodes of Astley, Knowles, and Paget, may be termed within 
