DEVON CATTLE. 
n 
gree of proof when slaughtered. The head is 
delicate and short, with a broad and slightly in¬ 
dented forehead ; a high, gracefully upturned, yel¬ 
lowish horn; a clear, prominent eye, enclosed in 
an orange-colored ring; neat and thin in its face 
or chaps; a small, delicate muzzle, of a clear 
orange or slightly-mottled color; the neck finely 
set on, and originally throaty, with a considera¬ 
ble dewlap reaching to the brisket; but in the 
best-improved animals of the present day, clear, 
and without superfluous skin. The shoulder is 
slanting like that of the racehorse, giving him 
great activity, and set on to the ribs with the 
smoothness and beauty of a deer, but well spread 
at the elbow, developing a deep and wide chest, 
with a sufficiently projecting brisket. The arm 
is broad, tapering gradually to the knee, with 
a leg below of the straightness and delicacy 
of the blood horse. The ribs arch broadly out 
from an even back, leaving great compass of 
body, with a full and deep flank; the loin is 
broad and level; the hips wide, high, and well 
spread, giving an amplitude of carcase extraor¬ 
dinary for its apparent size ; the rump long, with 
deep heavy quarters ; the buttock round, and pro¬ 
jecting, running down to a delicate gambril joint, 
and terminating in a hind leg of surpassing neat¬ 
ness and symmetry ; the tail is set on high, and in 
a horizontal line with the back, of the exact shape 
and gradual taper of a drumstick * terminating in 
a thick brush at the extremity, with a moderate 
tuft of white hairs ; the skin is of medium thick¬ 
ness, and when on a well-conditioned animal, 
unsurpassed in handling; the color is a deep 
blood or mahogany red, with an occasional white 
udder, or slight white strip under the belly. 
These, the world over, are the true characteris¬ 
tics of the pure North Devon, and so deeply are 
these qualities imbodied in the race, that a good 
judge would as quickly detect a spurious cross in 
their appearance, as if in a thorough bred Ara¬ 
bian or blood horse. The Devon has, indeed, by 
partial writers, been styled the Arabian of neat 
cattle. 
Utility. —As an economical animal, the Devon 
may be classed under three different heads. 
First, as a working ox. In this important de¬ 
partment of American agriculture, nothing can 
compare in activity, beauty, and close matching, 
with the Devon. They seem constituted emphat¬ 
ically for the yoke. Their docility, honesty, and 
vigor, are proverbial. Although not attaining 
the heavy size of the full-grown Hereford or 
Short-Horn, on the medium and lighter soils, a 
pair of Devon oxen annually plow as much land, 
and as well, too, as an ordinary pair of horses. 
High crosses of the Devon and native American 
cattle have frequently come under my observa¬ 
tion in working oxen, and in both performance 
and appearance, nothing could exceed them. 
They are sufficiently heavy for all useful farm- 
work, possessing in an eminent degree the horse- 
like qualities of superior strength, speed, and 
bottom ; and when at maturity, are unrivalled for 
the stall and the shambles—taking on fat with a 
facility that no other animal can surpass. A 
farmer wishing to breed working oxen or steers, 
has only to select his quota of native cows for 
that purpose; the finer in form the better, but it 
matters little what color they be, so that their 
quality be good. Let him select a well-bred 
North Devon bull, and cross upon these cows, 
and ten to one, so deeply established is the char¬ 
acter of the race in the bull, every individual 
calf will be a mahogany red in color, with a 
clear, yellow, upturned horn, and possessing such 
decided Devon characteristics, that, if steers, at 
three years old, dead matches could be made of 
any couple in the herd. To such farmers as use 
ox-labor on their farms, (and were our working 
cattle of a better quality, it would be much more 
extensively practised,) it is unnecessary to speak 
of the enhanced value of raising a variety so 
easily matched, of such uniform beauty in ap¬ 
pearance, and of great activity in their labor. 
It is almost superfluous to remark that a still 
higher cross, to three fourths, seven eighths, or 
even thorough bred, will give an increase in 
value for all useful purposes ; and when it is 
known that this class of cattle at six years old 
will girth behind the shoulders six and a half to 
seven feet and upward, in fair working condition, 
all cavil will be silenced. 
Second, for the shambles. At the Smithfield 
market, in London, the flesh of the Scots and Dev¬ 
on cattle hold the first rank; and with a beef-eat¬ 
ing nation like the English, an appeal from their 
judgment will scarcely be entered. The flesh is 
beautifully marbled, or intermixed, the fat with 
the lean. Fed side by side with others in equal 
condition, when stalled, no animal has exceeded 
them in accumulating flesh in proportion to the 
quantity of food consumed. In feeding, they have 
been thoroughly and severely tried with the Short- 
Horn, the Hereford, and other breeds of England. 
They are early at maturity; fully so at six, and 
profitably fed and slaughtered at five, four, and 
even three years old. To illustrate this part of 
the subject, I submit a few out of a long list of 
weights both in this country and in England. 
In 1831, a pair of three-fourths bred Devon oxen, 
(their grand dams being native Connecticut cows,) 
bred by Messrs. Hurlburt of Winchester, Connecti¬ 
cut, worked from steers until six years old, and 
then fed fifteen months, were slaughtered in New 
York, weighed as follows :— 
Near ox, Carcase 1,438 lbs. 
Hide - 117 “ 
Tallow 175 “ 
J year - 
Profitable weight 1,730 lbs. 
Off ox, Carcase 1,528 lbs. 
Hide - 115 “ 
Tallow 213 “ 
Profitable weight 1,856 lbs. 
These were closely matched, and of a deep red 
color. 
Mr. E. P. Beck of Sheldon, Wyoming county, 
N. Y., had a thorough-bred stag, 3 years and 10 
months old, kept well till four months previous to 
being slaughtered, which was in March, and only 
stall-fed for about three months. His profitable 
