1848. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
281 
leave to call attention to the characteristics of the 
West Highland breed of Scotland, as described by va¬ 
rious authors. It may be observed in the outset, that 
they belong- to the primary division of Middle-Horns. 
Martin, in his late work on the Ox, says:—“ Turn¬ 
ing to Scot land , it may be observed that from the remo¬ 
test times, this land of heath and mountain has been 
the nursery of an original breed or'race of black cattle, 
of wild aspect, of beautiful symmetry, and though 
small, yet vigorous and hardy; patient of hunger and 
eold, and rapidly fattening on tolerable land.” 
There are several varieties of cattle in Scotland, but 
those of the Hebrides or Western Islands, common¬ 
ly called Kyloes or West Highlanders, are considered 
most pure. Mr. Martin speaks of this breed as fol¬ 
lows : 
“ Change the color from black to white, and there is 
little difference between a beautiful Kyloe from Arran, 
Islay, or the Isle of Skye, and one of the wild cattle 
of Chillingham; if we may venture an opinion, they 
display more nearly than any other breed, the charac¬ 
ters of the mountain cattle of our island when invaded 
by Caesar. We say the mountain cattle, because we 
suspect that a larger and heavier race [the Long-Horns] 
even then tenanted the swampy plains and low grounds 
of many portions of the country.” 
He thus gives the points of these cattle:—“ In a well 
bred Kyloe, the following characters are conspicuous: 
The head is small and short, with a fine and somewhat 
upturned muzzle; the forehead is broad; the horns 
wide apart at their base, tapering, and of a waxen 
yellow: the neck is fine at its junction with the head, 
arched above, and abruptly descending to the breast, 
which is broad, full and very prominent; the shoulders 
are deep and broad, and the chine is well filled, so as 
to leave no depression behind them; the limbs are short 
and muscular, with moderate bone ; the back is straight 
and broad; the ribs boldly arched and brought well up 
to the hips; the chest deep and voluminous; the tail 
high set, and largely tufted at the tip; the coat of hair 
thick and black: such is the bull- The ox differs in 
proportion. The covy is far more slightly built, and 
her general contour is more elongated. Although, as 
we have said, black is the ordinary or standard color 
of the kyloe, many are of a reddish brown and so me 
are of a pale or whitish dun.” 
The descriptions of this stock by Low, Youatt , and 
others, are of a similar character, with the addition 
that their beef is stated to be of the finest quality, com¬ 
manding the highest price in every market where it is 
known. Their milk, though not afforded in great abun¬ 
dance, is of extraordinary richness, and the butter and 
eheese from it is highly esteemed for its superior flavor. 
-—Pitt, in his “ Survey of Leicestershire,” states that 
the late Mr. Bakewell made a trial with three cows; 
a Yorkshire Short-horn, a Scot, and one of his own im¬ 
proved Long-horn, or Dishly breed. The result was 
that the Short-horn ate much the most food and gave 
the largest quantity of milk; the Scot made most but¬ 
ter; and the Dishly gave least milk, but increased most 
in weight. 
The late John Price, Esq, of Poole House, Worces¬ 
tershire, England, a distinguished breeder of Hereford 
cattle, stated in a communication to the Farmer's Ma¬ 
gazine , (vol. iii, new series, pp. 49, 50.) that he deem¬ 
ed the West Highland Scots to approach more nearly 
than any other breed, the standard of form which he 
considered the true one, and he therefore decided in the 
outset on adopting them as his 11 model.” He was 
still more induced to this course from a conviction 
that they “ had remained longer than any other breed 
in the place where they were first located, and were 
more free from intermixture with o f hers.” For his 
foil, fi£ wjskgd an aniinal somewhat larger than the 
West Highlanders, and he chose the Herefords as com¬ 
ing nearest his model of any having the requisite size. 
C. Hilliard, in his Practical Farming and Gra¬ 
zing ,” says—“ The West Highlanders are as perfect 
in their form as any cattle upon the face of the earth.” 
The size of the Kyloes or West Highlanders varies 
somewhat, according to the locality. The nett weight 
of those from the Isle of Skye and Islay, is said to be 
from 500 to 800 pounds, the four quarters, at four to 
five years old. The Argyle variety is considerably 
heavier. Mr. Martin says— 1 In Argyleshire they 
are larger than in the Hebrides, and many of them are 
models of beauty—pictures of a noble, semi-wild race; 
descendants of the old mountain breed, which once 
roamed in the wilds of Caledonia, and came crushing 
the forests to meet the fierce hunter.” 
Now are not the qualities possessed by these High¬ 
land cattle, precisely such as would adapt them to those 
parts of our country of which we have spoken? We 
think so, and are confident in the opinion that the in¬ 
troduction of this breed, and their relatives, the Gallo¬ 
ways, would be a decided acquisition. We would, 
therefore, recommend the subject to the attention of 
our able agricultural societies, wealthy land-holders 
and other enterprising and public-spirited individuals, 
through whose influence and exertions we hope to see 
the stock introduced and submitted to a fair trial. 
The figure at the head of this article is that of a 
West Highland bull, bred by Mr. Grant, of Banffshire, 
Scotland, which received the highest prize in his class, 
at the show of the Highland Agricultural Society, in 
1840. 
Kustic Hencoop. 
The above is a sketch of a rustic hencoop and trel¬ 
lis, taken from one in Mr. Arden’s garden in Putnam 
county. It is very simple and easily constructed. The 
Hen poop is a log cabin on a small scale, with the eaves 
of the roof projecting, and the door immediately un¬ 
der the eaves. The trell ace is to be made of cedar 
poles with the bark left on and crossed as in the drawv 
ing. Plant a vine to partially cover it, and it will be 
found very ornamental. Trellis 10 feet high. 4 
SupsciUBER. 
