THE SUSSEX BREED. 
PLATE XI. 
OXEN, Six Years Old, Bred by John Putland, Esq., Firle, Comity of Sussex. 
The North Devon Breed of cattle, it has been seen, inhabits the elevated district on the southern side of the Bristol Channel, 
and is manifestly derived from the older race which inhabited the same country. In passing from the greywacke district of 
Devonshire into the calcareous country to the eastward, comprehending the greater part of Somersetshire and the counties of 
Dorset, Wilts, Berks, and Hants, the Devon Breed ceases to appear, or, if found, is manifestly not indigenous to the districts, but 
derived from those to the westward. It reappears, however, in the county of Sussex, a portion of which differs entirely, in its 
geological characters, from the districts with which it is in contact. The Weald of Sussex, or, as it is termed by geologists, the 
Wealden, is believed to have been a deposite from some vast river flowing from a continent no longer existing in its former state, 
and long accordingly before the historical era, and before the island of Britain had assumed its present form. This stream of fresh 
water appears to have formed at its mouth a delta like that of the Ganges, the Nile, and other great rivers, washing along with it 
numerous animals whose remains exist, and testify to the living generation the prodigious revolutions which this globe has under¬ 
gone in its physical constitution and animated inhabitants. Amongst the amazing monuments of a former age which this remark¬ 
able delta presents, is a reptile which fed on herbage, and which, from the measurement made of its bones, appears to have been 
upwards of seventy feet in length; and there are found, too, the remains of numerous other species, not one of which now inha¬ 
bits the earth. The Wealden forms part of Sussex and extends into Kent, and is distinguished by its surface being a tenacious 
clay, entirely distinct from the chalky soils which surround it. In latter ages this tract became covered with dense forests, and is yet 
remarkable, beyond any part of England, for the number of noble trees which it produces. “ The hithermore and northern side 
thereof,” says Camden, in describing this part of Sussex, “ is shaded most pleasantly with woods, like as in times past the whole 
country throughout, which, by reason of the woods, was hardly passable. For the wood Andraswald, in the British language 
Coid Andred, taking the name of Anderida, the city next adjoining, tooke up in this quarter a hundred and twentie miles in length 
and thirtie in bredth; memorable for the death of Segibert, King of the West Saxons, who being deposed from his roiall throne, 
was in this place stabbed by a swineheard, and so died.” Long after the Homans landed in Britain the Wealden continued to be 
a vast thicket of wood, in which the persecuted natives sought refuge, and it abounded with the Uri Sylvestres and other wild ani¬ 
mals of the island even until the times of the Norman princes. This, then, is a part of the country in which we might look for 
the preservation of ancient races of the domestic animals; and accordingly it is found that the same race of cattle which exists in 
the mountains of North Devon yet survives in the Wealden. 
The breed of the Wealden is usually termed the Sussex Breed, from its being chiefly reared in that county. It possesses all 
the essential characters of the Devon Breed, but more resembles the variety of South than of North Devon, being reared in a 
country which affords larger supplies of artificial food. It is accordingly of larger size than the North Devon, and of coarser form. 
It has not, perhaps, been preserved in the same degree from foreign intermixture as the North Devon; yet it is a very pure breed, 
and exhibits as greatfci uniformity of characters as almost any other in the Island. 
The Sussex is to be ranked amongst the larger breeds of the country. The skins of the individuals are covered with short 
hair, but have not usually the same unctuous feel which so eminently characterizes that of the true North Devons. Their horns are 
longer, approaching in this respect to the character of the Long-horned varieties of the central counties. Their shoulders are 
thick; and their legs, though moderately short, have not the fineness of bone which is distinctive of the North Devons; nor have 
they the same length of body and elegance of general form. The distinctive colour is red, but of a less florid shade than in the 
North Devons ; and often it is mixed with white on the face and body. The cows are restless, eminently deficient in the faculty 
of yielding milk, and scarcely ever used accordingly for the regular dairy. They are likewise small as compared with the males, 
a character which seems to be common to all the members of the group with which they are associated, and which always indicates 
a deficiency in the milking properties of the females of a race of cattle. 
The practice of employing oxen in the labour of the farm is universal in the county of Sussex; and the native breed is 
eminently suited to this purpose, combining weight of body with a sufficient degree of muscular activity. For the purposes of 
labour, indeed, the Suffolk Breed is equal, if not superior, to any in the kingdom. It has more action than the Hereford, and more 
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