116 
Sussex Cattle. 
records going back as far as 1800. When a portion of the 
present Lyne house was built in that year, the bricks were 
carted by the Sussex steers from the Lyne herd.” 
The writer remembers the occasional use of working oxen 
in Kent and Sussex. Improved roads and lighter implements, 
however, have led to farm work being almost entirely done by 
horses. It is doubtful though, if oxen, with their steady pull 
and freedom from injury, are not the best beasts of draught 
for such purposes as timber clearing. Only two years ago, 
teams that had been used for ploughing, carting, and timber 
hauling, were sold at Tenterden, in Kent. 
Early in the nineteenth century an increasing population, 
a more flourishing state of trade, and the larger spending power 
among the commercial classes, all occasioned a greater demand 
for beef ; such a demand led to improvement and increase of 
beef-making qualities in the stock. The choicer parts were 
improved, coarse bone and length of limb reduced, the fore-end 
diminished in size, and coarseness of shoulder modified. An 
animal of quality, yet of large size and maturing quickly, was 
the object. This the breeders of improved Sussex were skilful 
enough to achieve without sacrificing constitutional vigour or 
resorting to alien blood. In the “ quaint and ungainly crea- 
ture ” the}' had hardy, healthy stock, with the soundest consti- 
tutions to work upon. Building upon such a foundation they 
have left us, descended from timber-hauling ancestry, a breed 
unequalled in the United Kingdom for quality of beef and 
early maturity, combined with thriftiness enough to grow and 
do well on the poorest pasture. 
The names of some of these pioneer breeders may be here 
recalled. 
Youatt tells us of some of them living in the latter part 
of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. 
He mentions “ Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, to whom the eastern 
part of the county (Sussex) is much indebted for the preser- 
vation of the native breed of cattle.” He also speaks of Mr. 
Marten, of Tirle, who had a breed of black Sussex, of Mr. 
Edsaw, who was partial to large cattle, and of others. 
Later on, in the neighbourhood of Rye, in those days a great 
stronghold of the breed, there lived Mr. Samuel Selmes, Mr. 
Tilden Smith, and Mr. Willsher. The valuable stock belonging 
to Mr. Selmes was taken over in 1848 by Mr. Smith, who 
carried on the herd with great success, winning prizes at 
Smith field and many local shows, until at his death a most 
successful disposal sale took place in 1880. In many ways 
Mr. Smith was a link with the past. On his large farm at 
Knelle, Beckley, near Rye, he used Sussex steers in cultivation 
till the end, these large working steers when fattened making 
