56 
REMARKS ON THE CATTLE SHOW. 
so much vaunted. The same thing is apparent between the Downs 
and the Leicester sheep;—not in the mere difference in the variety, 
but from the different circumstances in which they have been 
reared, and to a degree becoming perpetuated. Were we desirous 
of placing before a friend the most delicious mutton, we should 
select a joint from an old Down “ crone” or broken mouthed ewe, 
or what our forefathers called “ seven-year-old mutton*,” properly 
fatted; and for delicacy and flavour nothing can surpass it. It is 
not so much in sex that the difference lies, but in the manner in 
which the sexes are treated. 
Now, certain consequences follow each other as a matter of ne¬ 
cessity. If you have not symmetry, you cannot have full de¬ 
velopment of muscular fibre ;—if you have not muscular fibre, you 
cannot have good “ serviceable meat.” You may have fat without 
it, but it is useless waste: therefore it follows that every attention 
must be paid to the attaining as perfect a development of form as 
possible. The power of getting properly fat will follow as a matter 
of course, but the power of getting into this desirable ingrained 
state of fatness will vary in different varieties ; and, cceteris pari¬ 
bus, large animals do not arrive at this point nearly so soon as 
smaller varieties, because large animals require longer time to 
arrive at that state which is termed maturity. A man 5 feet 
6 inches at eighteen years old is as capable of endurance as a man 
6 feet 2 inches at twenty-two or twenty-four years old ; that is to 
say, the former has arrived at, or as near to, the state of maturity 
as the latter at these respective ages. Experience teaches us that 
the same law holds good in animals, and about in the same relative 
proportions. 
* Now so rare. 
