Dairy Farming. 
649 = 355 
ttle ol the Highlands, are especially meat-producing breeds. 
It, it is the great merit of the Shorthorn that it holds the 
ry foremost place in both of these classes. The exceptional 
:>titude of the Shorthorn cow to lay on flesh whenever, whether 
• accident or age, she has become no longer adapted for the 
I iry, is a very great addition in the eyes of the dairy farmer 
i her merit as a mere milk producer. And the unusual power 
i the Shorthorn bull to confer this character upon his offspring 
« other breeds is rapidly giving a Shorthorn character to the 
I iry cattle of those counties where W elsh, Glamorganshire, 
!inghorn, and other less important local breeds, now almost 
lit in their purity, once prevailed. It has thus come to pass 
1"it while the number of so-called pure-bred, or Herdbook 
1 orthorn cows in the country is still perhaps smaller than the 
I mber which would be pronounced pure of some other breeds, 
-the Ayrshire, for example — yet the great bulk of the cattle 
i our English dairy districts are year by year exhibiting a 
cistantly increasing Shorthorn character. 
'There were in ten of the western counties of Scotland, in 
ine 1877, 185,000 "cows or heifers in-calf or in-milk," and 
] haps 120,000 of these, taking into account also the number 
c Ayrshire herds in other parts of the island, may fairly be 
t;en to represent the whole number of the Ayrshire breed of 
cry cattle. In Hereford and Shropshire there were together 
<,548, and perhaps 60,000 may be the total number of cows in 
t*! whole country of this large meat-carrying kind. It is not so 
e'y to judge of the number of the less notev/orthy local sorts, or 
c breeds like that of Galloway or Norfolk, which can only be 
I d to occupy parts of counties ; but of the Polled Angus there 
I y not be more than 25,000 cows ; of Sussex cattle not more 
t n 6000 or 7000 ; of Devons, large and small — for there are 
t ) styles, the former of which may rather be designated 
Lrsets — there are probably as many as 60,000. No doubt the 
r mber of cows of the Shorthorn breed, as pure bred as many of 
t ise already named, is largely in excess of any number I have 
cated, for all the northern and midland counties of England 
a full of them ; but, judging from the entries in recent volumes 
othe Shorthorn Herdbook, and from the numbers disposed of 
a the annual sales of Shorthorn auctioneers, I am advised that 
t entire number of females of this breed which could claim 
r istry in the Herdbook is probably not more than 20,000. 
I addition to these there are the Highland cattle and the 
(annel Islanders, the Welsh and Longhorn breeds, and some 
« er sorts of less importance ; but, including them all, I do not 
t nk that the number of pure-bred " cows and heifers in-milk 
' in-calf" each June, of the breeds that I have named, can 
