370 
Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
tained, and now in this respect it is surpassed by no other breed 
in the British Isles, or perhaps anywhere else. A really good 
specimen of the breed leaves very little to be desired in the 
symmetry of its parts. The improved breed have wider and 
better sprung ribs than their ancestors had, and are also longer 
and better filled up from the hooks backwards ; as well as more 
richly fleshed, finer in the bone, of superior quality, and sweeter 
and more gay, especially about the head. Their general fat- 
tening properties too, notably in regard to early maturity, have 
been very greatly improved. Some admirers of the breed, who 
have a distinct recollection of the animals that gained fame in 
Showyards twenty-five or thirty years ago, maintain that, in com- 
parison with these, the Showyard animals of to-day exhibit little 
or no improvement. They admit that there has been great 
improvement in the " rank and file " of the breed, and that a 
much greater number of really good specimens are seen in 
the Showyards now than formerly ; but some of those celebrated 
animals that a quarter of a century ago enlisted their warm 
admiration, have never in their eyes been excelled. The same 
statements have been heard in regard to almost every breed of 
live-stock in the country ; but while in some instances they may 
be perfectly accurate, I believe that as a rule they are not so. 
We judge all things by comparison; and I believe that as we 
watch the progress of a breed that is being constantly improved, 
our standard of comparison becomes higher unconsciously. I 
really cannot help believing, especially if full value were given 
to character or appearance of " breeding," that better animals of 
the Polled Aberdeen and Angus breed have been shown within 
recent years than were to be seen a quarter of a century ago ; 
and I am probably not far wrong in attributing the contrary 
impression which has been mentioned, to the fact that those 
who hold that impression have not made full allowance for the 
higher standard of comparison which their long experience must 
almost of necessity have brought them to apply. 
In general form a model Polled animal differs considerably 
from a model Shorthorn. Both should be lengthy, deep, wide, 
even, proportionate, and cylindrical. The Polled animal, how- 
ever, should be more truly cylindrical in the body than the 
Shorthorn. Its points should be more quickly rounded off, or, 
in other words, the frame of the Polled animal is not so fully 
drawn out to the square as that of the Shorthorn. Critics have 
pointed out in some of the best Polled animals now or recently 
living, a tendency to approach too nearly to the square type of 
the Shorthorn. In a beef-producing animal a broad, square 
frame can hardly be said to be a blemish, for if it is thoroughly 
well covered all over it will carry more beef than a rounder 
