318 
Management of Devon Cattle. 
The dairy properties of the breed were brought out much 
by the Earl of Leicester, who, as Mr. Coke, in the early part of 
the present century, had a splendid Devon herd at Holkham, 
and encouraged his Norfolk tenantry and cottagers to keep 
Devons, and, also, notwithstanding the poor reputation of the 
breed in that day for the dairy, to look to the Devons, under 
suitable management, as profitable dairy stock. In Essex, too, 
about the same time, the capabilities of the Devons for dairy 
purposes were recognised, and those capabilities evolved by 
treatment of the cattle, and training of their pure-bred offspring 
as dairy stock. Lord Western, as stated by Youatt, Mr. Con- 
yers, of Copt Hall, as recorded by the same and older chroniclers, 
and some other purchasers, gave them in that county a trial, 
with ample success. 
The Dorsetshire system was described in The Journal of the 
Roga, l Agricultural Society of England, in the years 1853 (Vol. 
XIV.) and 1855 (Vol. XV.), by Mr. Louis IL Ruegg; and in 
1878 (Vol. XIV., 2nd series) by the late Mr. John Chalmers 
Morton. A 7 ery little change has taken place since then, so far 
as the writer could ascertain, in the course of recent inspection 
of Devon herds, but that the average price paid for cows let by 
the farmers by the year to dairymen has varied with the chang- 
ing values of other commodities. Mr. Ruegg gives 81. 10s. to 
10 1. as the range of price forty years ago. Mr. Morton, at the 
later date, says it was then from 1 2 1. to 13 1. Now, probably 11Z. 
to 12Z. would be nearer the mark, more or less according to the 
character of the cows and the situation of the dairy with refer- 
ence to facilities for disposal of dairy products. There are also 
some slight variations in the agreement between the farmer and 
the dairyman regarding extra food for the cattle and the repur- 
chase of the calves required by the farmer for breeding stock ; but 
these are matters of detail affecting the amount of the final settle- 
ment between the two rather than the year’s value of each cow. 
The dairy herd let by the farmer to the dairyman consists of, 
say, 25, 30, 40, or 50 cows. A farmer with a herd of 100 dairy 
cows would probably divide it into two or three portions, and 
let them to different dairymen. The same dairyman will some- 
times rent a herd year after year from the same farmer, taking 
often several years consecutively some of the same animals, and, 
when in treaty for the renewal of his hiring, will occasionally 
make special request that certain cows which have done well 
for him shall be included. The letting is from Candlemas to 
Candlemas ; but where it is continued from year to year, nothing 
occurs in the herd to indicate a break, or to distinguish the 
closing of one year and the opening of another. The cows go 
