216 
DOMESTIC BREEDS. 
black and white, or black and red, considered by M. 
Desmarest as the finest breed in France, introduced 
from Holland, and used for tillage. Another large 
breed, B. uneliensis, when crossed with the last, 
reaches a weight of 1300 or 1400 lb., and is con- 
sidered the largest in France. B. Helveticus is one 
of the Swiss races, celebrated for the quantity of 
their milk, and B. Batavius is the ordinary Dutch 
breed, celebrated for a similar good quality. Den- 
mark possesses a breed also remarkable for milk, 
and in Spain and Italy the breeds have a fine appear- 
ance from their very large size, their peculiar dull 
grey colour, and their immense horns diverging la- 
terally. We are not, however, so well informed as 
to their other qualifications. 
In Britain the catalogue of varieties is even greater. 
At the earlier periods of its history grazing was much 
more prevalent in proportion than in the present 
time, and from the times of the ancient Britains to 
that of the border forays, the carcasses of the beeves 
were a regular item in the winter’s larder. These, 
perhaps, might be taken from any stock without the 
true calculation of the quantity of meat a given time 
and feeding would produce, but they were, never- 
theless, well fed on the natural pastures, and ivould 
he perhaps even more acceptable to the accomplish- 
ed epicure in beef. With the march of cultivation, 
came the necessity of attending to the varieties which 
were most easily reared, and when the pasture lands 
began to yield so great a return by crops of grain, it 
