410 
The Management of a Shorthorn Herd. 
the neck in byres, fed on hay, roots, cotton-cake and Indian-meal, 
and sold off fat at Christmas for about 211. each. Say the cow 
in-calf costs in the early part of the year 24/., her calf sells for 
21. IO5., and she brings 27/. at Christmas, there is an excess of 
hi. 10s. for cow and calf over the cost price of the cow, and one 
season's milk to cover the grass keep and final feeding for the 
butcher. Any cows that prove extraordinary milkers are put 
to one of the pedigree bulls and kept over for future dairy 
purposes. The calves from such cows are excellent examples of 
what may be done by the use of superior bulls, and the results 
are still more marked after a second or third cross. The high- 
bred sire gives a greatly enhanced tendency to growth of frame 
and flesh, and perhaps there is in Shorthorns bred up for two or 
three generations from such sires out of good, strong, country 
cows, a proportion of lean flesh to the fat which it is not always 
easy to obtain in the unmixed descendants of high-bred cattle ; 
that is, of cattle carefully nurtured, and too often overfed, 
through many generations. Under judicious treatment, doubt- 
less, the older families of Shorthorns can probablv hold their 
ground as beef-makers against their offspring from common 
country cows ; but we must not forget their right place, which 
is not so much to be themselves butchers' beasts, as to have the 
greatest possible power to improve, bv their bulls, the common 
stock of the country, or other breeds which have lean flesh, but 
want the mellowness and early maturity of the Shorthorn. 
The cotton-cake above referred to is given partly for its 
feeding properties and partly to counteract the too laxative 
effect of the hay and roots, which in that district are very good 
and have rather the tendency intimated. 
The cows, as I have said, cannot go out in winter on 
account of the soaky condition of the low-lying land. There are 
plenty of well-ventilated buildings, and they have an ample 
supply of water in the house ; and they lie in, night and day, 
from the early part of December (earlier or later, according to 
the weather) until the 1st of May, or, in an early spring, the 
middle of April. They are never turned out until there is a 
good " bite " of grass. 
In Somersetshire there is a herd very well known in the Show- 
yard, yet presenting many points of difference, and even of 
contrast, when compared with either of the show herds in 
Gloucestershire, which I have noticed for special features of 
management. I allude to that of Mr. J. S. Bult, of Dodhill 
House, Kingston, near Taunton, a breeder of very long ex- 
perience and successful practice, who founded his herd originally 
upon the stock of the Rev. Henry Berry, has turned out at 
various times many noted prize animals, and enjoys a reputa- 
