284 
Iiisc and Froi/rcss of Hereford Cattle. 
reach. They rely on their own, and not on the parish bull ; and 
it cannot be said ol" them, as it has been with too much truth of 
others, that " a half-crown bull flourishes where a crown bull 
starves." Still carefully as the blood may be attended to at 
head-quarters, there is some truth in the remark that Herefords 
are not a very favourite sort with the London butchers. The 
fault is not with the beasts, but with this competitive age, which 
forces a man to " grind up his saplings." It would be strange if 
they or any other breed could bear a comparison with their fore- 
runners of the more orthodox five-year-old beef era ; and salesmen 
can say with justice that such noble bullocks as Westcar and 
Rowlands used to pitch in Smithfield Market are not seen at 
Islington now. White-faced cattle, like Black-faced sheep, are :•. 
breed which of all others require time to ripen; and that is just 
what their own thriftiness and modern usage combine to deny 
them. Hence they flourished best under the old school of 
graziers, who knew too well the roast-beef stomach they had to 
deal with to offer it young steers, and sometimes, when capital was 
plentiful, kept them even to six or seven years old. At present 
they are more profitable to the breeder and the grazier than they 
are to the butcher. In the grass-season, owing to their remark- 
able aptitude to grow fat quickly, they are sent off to market, 
earlier than the others. Many of them are disposed to get very 
"creamy" in butcher's language, or to put on too much of their 
fat outside, an: I thus they do not " prove " as they ought. It is 
only with age that their meat attains its beautiful marbled 
appearance, or iiitcrtnixture of fat and lean. The best come up 
from the Midland counties between July and December ; a fair 
number arc ij^iit ilom Herefordshire, and none from Norfolk. 
An experienced feeder of both sorts writes us his opinion that 
" they will not graze to the size of the best Short-horns, but are 
quite their equals as feeders. They have generally," he adds, 
" a good chance, as the graziers can pick a more sorty lot out of 
them for his pet field, and therefore they often get the best of the 
grass." This testimony, as far as we can ascertain, is quite con- 
firmed both by general observation and experience since Mr. 
Curwen's day. 
A rough, curly coat is always preferred to a smooth one ; it 
was possessed in perfection by Mr. Shirley's Gold Medal Smith- 
field Club ox of 1859, and has been a still greater point of 
ambition with breeders since. The dark-claret colour is more 
orthodox than the light or yellow red. " Claret " (1177) himself 
was a fine specimen of it, and his coat seemed almost black as 
he stood in the shade of his house. Sparkiness is not liked, but 
still it does not constitute a valid objection, or Mr, Naylor's 
" Variety " would not have followed up her Bingley Hall first at 
