324 
Management of Devon Caltie. 
North Devon. His, too, is a daily herd, inherited from his 
father ; and it is let upon the system prevailing in Dorsetshire, 
at a rent of 11 1. or 12 1. for each cow. Two acres, one for hay 
and one for pasture, are allowed to each cow ; all straw is found, 
and roots are given to the dairyman sometimes, but they are 
not in the contract. There is a good understanding between 
the farmer and the dairyman, and, whilst the one is ready to 
act with reasonable liberality, the other is not unduly exacting 
or expectant. When the dairyman requires cake, he and the 
farmer each pay half the cost. The calves are born mostly from 
Christmas to Lady-Day or the beginning of April, and steers of 
2^ years old fed to go at Christmas, realise 30/. apiece. Oxen 
used to be worked upon the farm, and old team oxen were in 
those days sold at six years weighing up to somewhere about 
70 score each. 
A dairy herd of Devons has been kept for many years by 
the Directors of Convict Prisons, at the Government Farm, 
Princetown, South Devon. It was founded by, and until 
recently was under the control of, Mr. Alexander Watt, now 
holding the stewardship of the Muncaster Estate in Cumber- 
land. Mr. Watt, among his contributions to the agricultural 
and live-stock literature of the country, supplied the manual on 
Dairy Farming in Devonshire, to which, through the Devon 
County Agricultural Association, the 50/. prize given by Mr. 
Seale-Hayne, M.P., was awarded a few years ago. In that 
work, describing the class of farm most suitable for a dairy herd, 
he refers to a subject which the intelligent and observant dairy- 
farmer will recognise as of general importance, whether the 
stock be of the Devon or of any other breed. He says in 
substance (p. 11) that temperature, and its influence upon the 
productive powers of the dairy herd, are too little thought of ; 
and that, whilst ample shelter is provided against cold, the 
necessity of shade from heat is too often overlooked, although 
excessive heat causes a great amount of suffering to the cattle, 
and consequently of loss to their owner. 
Somewhere about 20 years ago Mr. Watt began (see pp. 50 
et seq. of his manual) a series of what he considers full and 
exhaustive trials of the capabilities of North Devons, South Hams, 
Polled Scots, Ayrsbires, Jerseys, and Shorthorns, for dairy pur- 
poses ; and he came to the very decided conclusion that, for a 
Devonshire dairy, Devons are the best. Three North Devons of 
a good milking strain, he ascertained, can be kept on the same 
food as two Shorthorns or two Ayrshires, during their period of 
lactation, and each Devon yields weekly H to lb. more butter 
than either a Shorthorn or an Ayrshire cow ; whilst of the 
