T 849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
121 
46— WEST-HIGHLAND OX. 
are middle-horned; tolerable, but not extraordinary 
milkers, and remarkable for the quality rather than the 
quantity of their milk; active at work; and with an 
unequalled aptitude to fatten. They have all the cha¬ 
racters of the same breed, changed by soil and climate 
and time, yet little changed by the intermeddling of 
man. We may almost trace the color, namely, the red 
of the Devon, the Sussex, and the Hereford; and even 
where the black alone are now found, the memory of 
the red prevails; it has a kind of superstitious reve¬ 
rence attached to it in the legends of the country; and 
in almost every part of Scotland, and in some of the 
mountains of Wales, the milk of the red cow is consi¬ 
dered to be a remedy for every disease, and a preserva¬ 
tive from every evil. Every one who has had the op¬ 
portunities of comparing the Devon cattle with the 
wild breed of Chillingham castle, has been struck with 
the great resemblance in many points, notwithstanding 
the difference of color.” 
The Devon Breed. —Of this breed there are two 
Varieties, commonly known as the North and South De¬ 
vons. The former are the finest in form, and are held 
in the highest estimation for fattening and for labor; 
the latter are thought best for the dairy. The charac¬ 
teristics of the North Devon bull (fig. 45) may be giv¬ 
en as follows: The head small; the muzzle fine; the 
nostrils wide; the horns tapering, and of a waxy yellow; 
the eye large and clear; the neck round and arched 
above, with little dewlap; the chest broad and deep; 
the breast prominent; the limbs fine-boned; the fore¬ 
arm muscular; the hips high, and the hind quarters 
well filled up; the tail long, slender, and set high. 
The ox is taller and more delicately formed than the 
bull. He has fine Withers, a slanting shoulder and pro¬ 
minent brisket; the legs are rather long, but fine-boned, 
strong and muscular; the neck is light, and rather long; 
the head small and the muzzle fine; the horns longer, 
more slender and tapering than in the bull. The whole 
form and appearance indicates sprightliness and activi¬ 
ty. The skin is of moderate thickness, mellow, and in 
the best animals, covered with soft, curling hair. 
Those with straight hair are not so highly prized. 
Youatt says — 11 Good judges of these cattle speak of 
these curls as running like little ripples of wind on a 
pond of water. *** Those with curled hair are some¬ 
what more hardy and fatten more kindly.” The color 
is red, or bay. The best-bred families have a dun-co¬ 
lored ring around the eye and muzzle. When well fat¬ 
tened, the oxen sometimes weigh 1400 pounds or more, 
the four quarters. The ordinary weight at four to five 
years old, is from 800 to 900 pounds. 
The cow is much smaller than the bull, and the bull 
is considerably less than the ox. She has a beautiful 
head, and, like the oX, a countenance denoting great 
intelligence. For the dairy, the Devon cow holds a 
moderate rank. Her milk is of remarkable richness, 
eight quarts producing, on an average, a pound of but¬ 
ter, and the butter is noted for its richness and fine fla¬ 
vor. Some breeders have lately paid more attention to 
the dairy qualities in this breed, than formerly, and 
Mr. Bloomfield, of the county of Norfolk, England, ob¬ 
tained a prize a few years since, for having produced an 
average yield of over 200 pounds per cow, in a dairy 
of twenty cows. 
Some of the finest North Devon cattle have been im¬ 
ported to this country, and there are now, in different 
sections, several established breeders of this stock. 
Among these, may be named George Patterson, of 
Baltimore, Lemuel Hurlbut, of Winchester, Ct., and 
H. N. Washbon, of Butternuts, N. Y. The Massa¬ 
chusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, have im¬ 
ported some very fine animals of this breed, from which 
there have been bred others of good quality. 
The breed has succeeded well here, and has proved 
better adapted to our hilly and unfertile sections, than 
larger breeds. They are hardy, generally healthy, 
thrifty and active. The best families are fine beef cat¬ 
tle, laying their flesh on the valuable parts, and giving 
that which is of fine grain and well marbled. It should 
be remarked, however, that proper attention has not 
always been paid by breeders to what is technically call¬ 
ed quality —that is, a tendency to fatten, and to make 
the right kind of beef. Hard-fleshed, lyery animals 
have been allowed to propagate, and have sometimes 
been taken for just specimens of the breed. The re¬ 
putation of the Devons has suffered, somewhat, in con¬ 
sequence of such false notions and bad breeding. But 
the error is now in a fair way to be corrected; peo¬ 
ple are beginning to have a better idea of the proper 
points and characteristics of cattle. 
The Devons are good working cattle. The oxen are 
active and good travellers. For the plow, on light 
soils, they are unrivalled. They have long been cele¬ 
brated in England for this purpose. Youatt says— 
“ Four good Devonshire steers will do as much work 
in the field, or on the road, as any three horses, and in 
