624 
Report on ihe Cattle Uxhibited at Windsor. 
their best stock ; and the remark that suggests itself on reading 
it is that a Royal Agricultural Society of England was greatly 
wanted in those days. In the absence of cattle-shows breeders 
had comparatively little inducement to sacrifice immediate gain 
for prospective reward, or for the credit of their county and the 
county breed. Honour, therefore, is due to the names of 
Quartly, Davy, Merson, Halse, Mogridge, Thorne, Tapp, and 
the few other breeders associated with them in the preservation 
of the breed at that critical period. Mr. Francis Quartly, 
although then in his youth, was a man of ripe judgment. He 
kept his eyes open, saw that good animals were becoming 
scarce, and quietly bought the best before strangers could take 
them out of the county. Once in his hands they were safe. 
Thus, blending the best strains of blood in the whole of North 
Devon, he founded that herd which in his own hands and the 
hands of his nephews, during a long period, was recognised as 
best of all, and became the source of the best blood in the herds 
of the present day. These facts deserve consideration in con- 
nection with the subject of " line-breeding," upon which narrow 
opinions have in some directions found favour. In dealing 
presently with the exhibitions of Devons at the Society's Shows, 
we shall have occasion to notice the influence of the " Quartly " 
cattle. For the moment it may be sufficient to add that soon 
after cattle-shows at Exeter were establislied, between fifty and 
sixty years ago, " Mr. Quartly allowed his nephews to enter in 
all the eleven classes." The result was they brought home the 
eleven prizes, and Mr. James Quartly, responding to the toast 
of " The Successful Exhibitors," owned that " he felt ashamed to 
think they should have been so greedy." 
In an editorial paper upon the Canterbury Meeting, 1860 
(Journal, Vol. XXI. page 514), Mr. Frere remarked : " It is to be 
regretted that the standard of excellence in this breed is to some 
extent a matter of debate." The reference will be understood 
by breeders of Devons in the present day. The controversy of 
that time may be worn out, but it would be vain to deny that a 
certain amount of sensitiveness still exists between the admirers 
of the gay North Devon, with its brilliant outlook and high 
finish, the beau ideal of high breeding and refinement, and 
those who j^refer the more ponderous cattle of the Somerset 
The North Devon, unquestionably, to an outsider presents 
in a greater degree than tlie larger and less animated-looking 
variety the character of an ancient and unmixed breed. The 
termed " unmixed " is not used here in the sense of literal purity 
or absolute freedom from admixture of alien blood, but to 
