398 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t October se, im. 
Clover two or three times instead of risking the making of Clover 
hay. In this way the consumption of an acre of Clover will make 
double the amount of meat than when converted into hay, with all 
the expenses of cutting, making, ricking, thatching, and risk of 
damage through-adverse weather. On farms where large quanti¬ 
ties of straw are grown, the box manure arising from Clover and 
cake-fed animals is superior to any arising in the case of winter 
fatting of the animals. We do not, however, value this breed to 
raise on the system of early maturity or for making “baby beef, ’ 
because the Herefords or Shorthorns being more “ growthy ” would 
surpass them ; but as calves for suckling in the making of veal 
they make the highest quality of veal compared with any other 
variety of cattle. Probably, however, the polled Angus or Aber¬ 
deen breed would equal them if reared under the same system 
and for the same purpose, but having never tried it we cannot 
speak positively. Upon the above-named system of box-feeding 
we have won numerous prizes with Devon cattle in contests with 
Shorthorns at the local exhibitions. 
In looking back to a period of some forty or fifty years ago it 
is thought by many, and we agree with them, the Devons gene¬ 
rally were larger animals than we have now. That they were 
gay-headed, upstanding, useful stock, especially the dairy cows, 
no one can deny. At the same time it is asserted by some ex¬ 
perienced breeders who can remember them that they were defi¬ 
cient in those extra rich symmetrical “gems” which have since 
won our Royal Agricultural prizes, and in that high quality, 
perfect symmetry, and depth of frame now to be met with in our 
best herds maintained for exhibition purposes. It was not un¬ 
common in former days to allow heifers to attain, and sometimes 
to exceed, the age of four years before calving. Thus their 
growth was unchecked ; but at present, partly from the necessity 
of bringing them into profit earlier, and partly from the difficulty 
sometimes occurring in breeding from older animals, they are 
allowed to calve at three, sometimes at two and a half years old. 
In the latter case, without great attention and good feeding, the 
frame will be smaller and the growth of the horn checked, de¬ 
priving the animals of their otherwise grand and imposing 
appearance. It is, we consider, quite impossible for such imma¬ 
ture creatures to stand this unnatural drain upon the constitution 
without damage, and probably if the practice be continued, as 
well as that of breeding largely by the service of very young 
bulls, the general hardihood of the race will become impaired and 
their size reduced. 
Many reasons exist why Devon breeders are seldom exhibitors 
at Smithfield or Birmingham fat stock shows, for they know it is 
useless to send any but a perfect animal to either; and having 
such a great demand for bulls, the best, and in fact nearly all the 
bull calves, are reared for that purpose instead of being steered 
for fattening, and good cows are mostly bred from up to an age 
when they would be too old to exhibit. Besides this their farms 
are more adapted for breeding than for feeding purposes, with 
which system exhibiting at fat stock shows would seriously 
interfere. 
We find that there is to be met with in South Devon quite a 
distinct variety called the South Hams breed, and they have 
probably at some time been crossed with the Guernsey. They are 
reported to be good milkers, possessing large frames and coarse 
bones ; but as dairy stock they are preferred by tenant farmers 
to the high and well-bred Devon, as they are very hardy, capital 
milkers both in quantity and quality, and the off-going cows 
make heavy weights, especially when fed in the rich and fertile 
vales of South Devon. 
We will again refer to the period before the Herd Book was 
established ; for it is a fact that until a comparatively recent 
period the existence and reputation of the Devon breed was chiefly 
sustained by tenant farmers and yeomen who could not afford to 
give the almost fabulous prices which are paid for Shorthorns. 
Previous to the publication of the Herd Book breeders were 
accustomed to speak of their best animals by some distinguishing 
name, often that of the donor of a prize it had won, as, for 
instance, the bull Sillifant was so called after Mr. Sillifant, wbo 
first gave the prize for a yearling bull at Exeter, or it referred to 
any accidental circumstance connected with its career, thus 
enabling farmers of the locality to indicate and recognise any 
particular beast alluded to. Strangers, however, found this more 
difficult; therefore Captain Davy of Rose Ash (to whom wc are 
indebted for much information in his essay), observing the 
deficiency, and thinking they deserved to have their pedigrees 
recorded, and that it would greatly assist the public in tracing 
out different types and blood, compiled and published the first 
volume of the “ Devon Herd Book ” in time for distribution at the 
Royal Agricultural Show at Windsor in 1851. It contained the 
entries of 132 bulls and 483 cows, alphabetically arranged, and 
numbered separately for the purposes of distinction and reference. 
Among the earliest entries was Prize (108), calved about 1819, 
bred by Mr. Quartly, and sold to Mr. Childe of Kiolet; Forester 
(46), also bred by Mr. Quartly in 1827, and his great grandsire, 
bred by the late Mr. J. T. Davy of Rose Ash ; Oxford (89), bred 
in 1836 by the late Mr. Wm. Davy of Flitton, who gained the first 
prize at the first Royal Agricultural Meeting at Oxford ; Cam¬ 
bridge (12), and Sillifant also were well remembered. The fifth 
volume of the Herd Book, which brought up the number of bulls 
to 977, and the females to 3143, was published in 1869. 
The traditions of Devon cattle breeders take us back to a very 
early period. For instance, the far-famed breeder, Mr. Quartly, 
who relinquished business in 1836, had a sale, and was succeeded 
by his nephew, Mr. John Quartly, at Great Champson, in Molland, 
with whom he resided until his death in 1856, aged ninety-two. 
Mr. John Quartly writes, “ Great Champson, the farm I now rent 
of Sir N. W. Throgmorton, Bart., has been in the occupation of 
my forefathers, my uncle, and myself for 170 years, and the cattle, 
I believe, now on the farm are of the same breed as those at the 
beginning of that time. The late Prince Consort first established 
a herd of Devons in 1856 selected from those of Messrs. Turner, 
Farthing, Mogridge, and Quartly. The prize lists of the Royal, 
Smithfield, Birmingham, and other agricultural societies testify 
how judiciously the managers of that herd have bred animals 
combining the extra quality and symmetry of the North Devon 
with the size of the Somersetshire Devon. The Royal stock was 
first entered in the third volume of the Herd Book in 1859. The 
Davy family have bred choice Devons for the last 150 years ; they 
know that John Davy, who died at Rose Ash in 1790, aged 
eighty-four years, always bred them. Many noblemen and gentle¬ 
men have patronised the Devon breed of cattle. In Dorsetshire 
Lord Portman selected a capital herd from Messrs. Davy, Tapp, 
Dee, Merson, and Quartly. Mr. J. A. Smith of Dorchester had a 
splendid herd of , Devons when we visited his farm about thirty 
years ago; also Mr. E. Pope of Great Toller, Dorset, whose herd 
numbered many prizetakers, and other gentlemen too numerous 
to mention.” 
The first recorded exportation of pure-bred Devons to America 
took place in 1817. Mr. Patterson of Maryland, Mr. Peters of 
Atlanta, Georgia, tried Shorthorns and Devons, but sold the 
former, finding the latter better suited to warm climates. Mr. 
Wainwright of Rhinebeck, New York, was a pupil of Mr. Turner 
at Barton, near Exeter, and purchased of him some of his prize- 
winning stock at the Royal and other shows, and subsequently 
with the offspring of these purchases gained high honours at New 
York shows. We have more than once laid stress on the marked 
improvement in quality, symmetry of the large-framed Somerset 
Devons produced by the use of the neatest North Devon bulls, 
and this view of the question is borne out by the late Mr. Henry 
Cline in his “ Observations on the Breeding and Form of 
Domesticated Animals.” He says, “ When the male is much 
larger than the female the offspring is generally of an imperfect 
form. If the female be proportionally larger than the male the 
offspring is of an improved form. The proper method of im¬ 
proving the form of animals consists in selecting a well-formed 
female proportionally larger than the male. The improvement 
depends on this principle, that the power of the female to supply 
her offspring with nourishment is in proportion to her size, and 
to the power of nourishing herself from the excellence of her 
constitution.” As we have thus traced the Devon breed from the 
earliest times when their existence was scarcely known beyond 
the then remote county from which they derive their name, 
we must notice the great advantage breeders of present day 
possess in having animals to breed from possessing such a long 
pedigree formed and maintained by a succession of intelligent 
and persevering men, who are not slow in availing themselves of 
the advantage, and now appear on the prize lists of Smithfield, 
Birmingham, &c., with splendid Devon bullocks—Mr. Bolt, Mr. 
Kidner, and others, who do honour to themselves and benefit the 
consumers of meat throughout the kingdom. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour.—We suppose the winter Beans, Rye, Trifolium, 
and Yetches have been sown in good time ; but in the event of failure 
of the plant of Trifolium it is not too late to sow again at the 
present time a larger quantity of seed per acre, not less than 30 tbs., 
upon a fresh piece of land, and if on a fallow surface so much the 
better, because the young plants are not so likely to be destroyed by 
the slugs as when the seed is sown upon a Wheat stubble, or whereon 
these pests have been able to maintain themselves until the present 
time. It will now be time to commence seeding the land for Wheat 
even in the vale districts of the kingdom-, for on the hills or cold soils 
in the various counties we will suppose that the Wheat land has 
been for the most seeded before this time. If, however, the weather 
