374 Polled Aberdeen and Angus Cattle. 
Tillyfour, mainly for the purpose of inspecting Mr. McCombie's 
celelDrated herd of Polled cattle, and she was interested in find- 
ing in Mr. McCombie's dining-room the head of the beautiful 
animal she had seen at Windsor. That ox was sold by Mr. 
Giblett to Messrs. Lidstone and Scarlett, Bond Street, London, 
for 120/., the head having been retained by Mr. McCombie, 
who had it stuffed and placed in a prominent position in his 
dining-room at Tillyfour. In more recent years a great many 
meritorious animals of the breed have appeared and won the 
highest honours at the national fat-shows, but space cannot be 
spared for the enumeration of individual cases. It will suffice 
to state that, from a strictly butcher's point of view, the breed 
has now very seldom to yield to any other race of cattle. 
The superiority over most other breeds, from a butcher's 
point of view, lies mainly in the excellent quality of their beef 
and in the high percentage of dead meat to live weight. As a 
rule, the beef of the breed is very well mixed and contains a greater 
proportion of compact finely grained flesh, and less soft coarse 
fat than most other kinds of beef. Inside, the carcass is 
usually well lined with fat of the finest quality, while in the 
density and quality of the carcass itself the breed may fairly 
enough claim the premier position among all our leading breeds 
of cattle. Some place the small Devon breed alongside it, if not 
even before it in this respect, but with that exception I do 
not think that any other breed in the British Isles will on an 
average yield so high a percentage of dead meat to live weight. 
In butchers' phraseology, they " die " well and " cut up " 
admirably. In all the leading fat-stock markets in the country 
the breed is held in high estimation, and, as a rule, commands 
the very highest prices — indeed, generally a higher price in com- 
parison to their size and live weight than any of the other 
leading breeds. This is especially the case at the great Smith- 
field Christmas Market in London, where the plump compact 
Polls from the north never fail to find a ready sale at the 
highest quotations. The breed is admirably adapted for cross- 
ing with Shorthorns. Indeed, perhaps the very best beef-pro- 
ducing animal that has as yet been reared is a cross between 
a Shorthorn bull and a Polled cow. Throughout the north-east 
of Scotland that system of crossing is pursued very extensively. 
In fact, nearly nine-tenths of the famous Aberdeenshire beeves 
so highly prized in the London market are crosses between these 
two breeds. The best system is to mate the Polled cow and 
the Shorthorn bull ; but the reverse system, which, owing to the 
scarcity of Polled cows, is extensively practised, also gives ex- 
cellent results. 
It is noticeable that as a rule those of these crosses that 
