Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
Vol. XLYI. No. 1931. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 29, 1887. 
PRICE FIVE CENTS. 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
DEVON CATTLE. 
F it be true that “self-color”— 
that, is, a uniformity of color 
in all parts of the body—is 
proof of antiquity of breed, 
then the Devoushave decidedly 
a valid claim to be considered 
a strictly aboriginal race. 
Red is the true Devon color, 
though the shade varies from 
a rich dark to a pale chestnut. 
Animals marked with any other color are not 
considered true 1 >cvons. Naturalists consider 
the Highland Kyloes, one or two of the Welsh 
breeds and the Devons the descendants, more 
or less changed by crossing, soil and climate, 
of the small Celtic breed, Bos longitrons, com¬ 
mon on the island before and during the 
Roman occupation; but which was superseded 
by larger varieties of the Bos nrus or Bos 
prhnlgenius intro 
dneed by the Danish 
and Teutonic con- 
querers of Britain. 
Certainly as far as 
history or tradition 
goes back, the north¬ 
ern part of Devon 
has possessed a breed 
of self-colored red 
cattle, whose com¬ 
pactness, general 
beauty, hardiness, 
activity as workers 
and aptitude to fat¬ 
ten have endeared 
them to their owners, 
and won them a wide 
celebrity. The 
southern part of the 
county has had cattle 
possessing the same 
general characteris¬ 
tics of form and 
color; but somewhat 
larger, coarser and 
less active. In the 
northern part the 
land is, in great part, 
poor, bleak, wet and 
exposed; while in the 
southern part the laud 
is rich, and the cli¬ 
mate more congenial, 
hence the difference 
is due to variations 
m soil and climate, 
though some influ¬ 
ence has probably 
been exercised by 
crosses of the old Som¬ 
erset and Cornish eattle-both larger strains. 
Although for the last century great attention 
has been paid to improving the North Devons, 
no infusion whatever of the blood of any 
other variety of cattle has been made, and as 
Devons, no improvement could be made by 
such means. 
In size the Devons are medium; but there is 
a great difference between the ox, bull and 
cow. The first, full-grown and in good working 
condition, will range from 1,400 to 1 ,t>00 pounds 
jive weight; the second, from 1,000 to l,'200 
and the third, from 800 to. l,ooo. Specimens 
sometimes exceed the greatest of these weights, 
but they are above the average. \\ ith luxu 
rient pastures and generous’feed the size in¬ 
creases, and it is found that Devons on the 
rieh iields of the West become larger than their 
congeners on the scanty pastures of New 
England. 
Devons are the prt vailing cattle in several 
districts in the southern comities of England’ 
and there are there a considerable number of 
dairy herds of the breed. While there are 
several large milk and butter records ol’Devon 
cows; they have, as a breed, never been 
famous for giving large quantities of milk; 
but their milk is rich in quality and Devon¬ 
shire cream has a world-wide reputation. It 
is said that a gallon of Devon milk'will yield 
more butter than a gallon of milk from any 
other breed except the Jersey. It is only in 
comparatively recent times tnat much atten¬ 
tion has been paid to the development of milk¬ 
ing qualities in the Devon: for in times past, 
the Devon, like the Hereford, was raised 
chieily with a view to the development 
of the male for working purposes: hence 
the greatly smaller size of the cow, a point 
which should decidedly be considered in speak¬ 
ing of her yield of milk. In view of her 
hardiness, her ability to pick up a livelihood^ 
where a Short-horn, Holstein-Friesiau or any 
of the larger breeds would starve, her docility 
of temper under good treatment, and the com¬ 
paratively smull amount of food she requires, 
the Devon often gives a good profit in the dairy. 
cents a pound more than that of any other 
breed except the West Highlaud, and compari¬ 
sons with other breeds go to show that on a given 
quantity and quality of food, they will make 
more beef than almost any other. Their bones, 
tco, are very tine, and the amount of offal is 
small in proportion to the meat. When fat¬ 
tened for the butcher,the Devon matures early, 
and for its weight, is probably the most profit¬ 
able beef animal in existence. 
It is liklcy that Devons were imported as 
long ago as the last century into this country, 
especially into New England, where working 
oxen of their type have long been more nu¬ 
merous than in any other section; but the 
earliest published records do not go back far¬ 
ther than the importation of Wintbrop and 
Davenport in 1800; while the fit'st really im¬ 
portant early importation was that of Caton 
& Patterson, of Baltimore, in 1817, from 
which most of the recognized pure-bred 
American Devon herds have derived more or 
less of their blood. Lately Devoushave taken 
a more prominent place than ever before at 
our fair-:, and are steadily advancing in popu- 
s ; 
-Av 
,W’ 
•jnWs • 
TYPICAL DEVON COW. Fig. 68. 
For work, Devon oxen are amoug cattle 
what Thoroughbreds are among horses. In 
view of their size, they combine more fineness 
and strength of bone, more muscular power, 
more intelligence, spirit and bottom than 
oxen of any other breed. Their slanting 
shoulders fit them better for the yoke than 
beasts of any other breed except, perhaps, the 
Herefords. The nearer any other breed ap¬ 
proaches Devons in shape and action, the more 
Valuuble are they, according to weight, for 
the plow, the cart or the wagon. Their uni¬ 
formity in style, shape and color renders t hem 
easily matched, and their docility, intelligence 
and activity make them excellent working 
animals, especially on light soils or a hilly or 
rough country. 
At the great Loudon Smithfield Fat Stock 
Show, the post of honor is always given to 
the Dcvous as beef auiuials, and in the 
English markets their meat, compact, sweet, 
marbled and juicy, brings from one to two 
lar favor, both for beef, dairy and working 
purposes. The publication of the Devon Herd 
Book was begun in England in 1851, by Captain 
Davy, by whom it is still kept up. The 
American Devon Herd Book was established 
in 1880, and has since been published by 
James Buckingham, Zanesville, Ohio, under 
the direction of the American Devon Associa¬ 
tion. _ _ __ 
A GIGANTIC SCHEME AND GIGANTIC 
EXTORTION. 
A short time back a Southern worthy con¬ 
ceived the idea of combining all the cot ton- 
growing interests in the South into one immense 
syndicate which should raise, handle and mar¬ 
ket the entire product, and thus checkmate 
that other huge monopoly, the Cotton Oil 
Trust Company. A still bolder proposition 
has just boon launched by E. M. MeGillen, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, who advocates the pooling 
of the entire cattle interests of the country- 
There is no doubt that many lines of product¬ 
ive industry can be consolidated into a practi¬ 
cal monopply: and there is on the part of 
producers a strong tendency in this direction 
for the purpose of self-protection against the 
monopolistic schemes of capital in the hands of 
middlemen between the producers and the 
consumers; but the notion of evolving a 
single corporation out of the stock-owners of 
the entire country is too visionary for serious 
consideration. In round numbers, there are 
about 60,000,000 cattle in the country owned 
by about 1,000,000 people. To bring together 
in one firm this vast multitude is a scheme too 
tremendous for contemplation. If only the 
ranchmen and large cattle feeders were to 
combine, the project would be more feasible, 
and undoubtedly such a combination would 
be able to contend more successfully against 
the great beef trade ring, and secure more 
reasonable freight rates from the railroads. 
Within three years the price of beef cattle 
on the Western ranges and the buying markets 
has fallen 40 to 50 per cent.: but those who 
buy meat in the Eastern cities are forced to 
pay old prices. Even 
in Kansas ^City and 
Chicago—the centers 
of the cattle slaugh¬ 
tering business—con¬ 
sumers have to-day 
to pay as much for 
then Lecf 'v.. Wj 
paid when maehmen 
got twice as much as 
they get now, for their 
cattle. This state of 
affairs is due to a 
combination of the 
large slaughterers 
and shippers of Chi¬ 
cago and Kansas 
City and the trunk 
railroad lines. The 
ranchmen are forced 
to accept the prices 
offered by the agents 
of the combination, 
for if they refuse to 
sell to one agent or 
firm, they find that 
as a result of an 
t agreement, other 
agents and firms will 
give them no more, 
while in many cases 
they give less. As 
the ranchmen can 
find no market in the 
West outside of the 
combination of 
slaughterers and 
lackers, while the 
railroads, in collusion 
with the latter, 
charge such exorbitant freight rates as to pre¬ 
vent shipment to the Eastern markets, they 
must yield. So long as the ring can ship beef, 
dressed or on the hoof, at rates below those 
exacted from other shippers, outside slaugh, 
terers and live stock shippers cannot compete. 
At the other end of the trade prices are con¬ 
trolled by the same nefarious conspiracy of 
beef shippers and railroads. If the ranchmen 
were to establish large independent packing¬ 
houses in the range country, it is feared 
that the railroads would discriminate so much 
against them as to cause the enterprise to fail; 
for the railroad companies and the beef ring 
are so closely connected tbat the combination, 
under the present laws, can hardly be broken, 
nor cau the advantages granted by large re¬ 
bates be overcome. The enforcement of cer¬ 
tain provisions of the Inter-State Commerce 
Bill now before Congress will, it is hoped, 
relieve the Eastern consumers and Western 
producers by breaking down the power of the 
combination of middlemen now robbing both 
A'FW'-YO.IZKLfL 
