46 
THE OX. 
THE LONG-HORNED BREED. 
other race their distinctive characters. The females were suited to the domestic dairy, yielding good milk, though not in large 
quantity. 
This breed having been naturalized in Ireland from a period of unknown antiquity, it may he believed that the fertile pastures 
of that country would tend to produce a great development of form and size in the animals. Very large cattle, accordingly, ap¬ 
pear to have been produced on the rich plains of the Shannon and elsewhere. Early writers, however, give us little information 
further than that the country abounded in cattle, which were the chief wealth of the inhabitants. But soon after the middle 
of last century, competent judges bear testimony to the excellence of many of the Long-horned cattle of Ireland. Mr Bakewell 
found, in the fair of Ballinasloe, individuals of the breed, which he regarded as inferior only to those which he himself had per¬ 
fected ; and it may therefore be believed, that cattle were produced in Ireland not inferior to those of the same race in the sister 
island. In England, the nursery of this breed was the county of Lancaster. Writers frequently refer to the fair beeves with 
spreading horns of this part of England. “ A man may judge,” says Cambden, “ of the soile partly by the constitution and com¬ 
plexion of the inhabitants, who are to see to, passing faire and beautifull, and in part, if you please, by the cattaile. For in their 
kine and oxen, which have goodly heads and faire spread horns, and are in body well proportionate withall, you shall find in maner 
no one point wanting, that Mago the Carthaginian doth require, as Columella specifieth out of him.” And another and later 
writer observes of the same county, “ The soil, for the generality, is not very fruitful; yet it produces such numbers of cattle, of 
such large proportion, and such goodly heads and horns, as the kingdom of Spain doth scarce the like.” From Lancashire the 
same breed extended not only into Westmoreland and Cumberland, but across the intervening moorlands into Yorkshire, occu¬ 
pying the more elevated tracts which formed the ancient county of Richmond. The district of Craven, in an especial degree, 
became distinguished for its breed of Long-horns; so that bulls, we are informed, used to be sent from it to other districts, 
even to Leicestershire and the midland counties. The Craven Breed is still to be found in the same district, now crossed by the 
improved variety of the midland counties, but differing in no essential respect from the native race of Lancashire. 
The ultimate improvement of this breed, however, took place, not in Lancashire or Craven, but in the midland counties; and 
we are informed that breeders there had been early in the habit of procuring stock from Lancashire and the adjoining districts, for 
the purpose of improving their herds. Amongst the earlier breeders of this part of England is mentioned Sir Thomas Geesley, in 
the county of Stafford. He is said to have kept a fine stock of Long-horns at his seat near Burton on the Trent. Little, how¬ 
ever, is known of the breeding experiments of Sir Thomas Gresley ; but it is well established that another individual, Mr 
Webster of Canley, near Coventry, in the county of Warwick, had sometime about the middle of last century become one of the 
most eminent breeders of Long-horns in that part of England. His stock became known as the Canley Breed. He is said to 
have bred on the basis of cows derived from the stock of Sir Thomas Geesley, but to have afterwards resorted for bulls to Lan¬ 
cashire and Westmoreland. The Canley Breed is described by contemporaries as being the best that had been then produced 
in England. 
The Canley Breed, however, after a time, gave place to one yet more distinguished, the formation of which became an era in 
the history of breeding in this country, and ultimately exercised an important influence on a great proportion of the Long-horns 
reared in the British islands. Robert Bakewell of Dishley, in the county of Leicester, was born at that place about the year 
1725. His father and grandfather had been considerable farmers upon the same estate; and on his succeeding to the farm of 
Dishley, about the year 1755, he began to pursue with diligence those plans for the improvement of the domestic animals which 
had doubtless occupied the thoughts of his earlier years. He cultivated alike the Sheep, the Ox, the Horse, and the Hog, and 
appears to have early laid down a set of principles to which he steadily adhered. He sought for the best animals of their respec¬ 
tive kinds, and coupling these together, endeavoured to develope, in the highest degree, those characters which he deemed good. 
He appears to have disregarded, or made light of, size in all the animals which he reared, and to have looked mainly to those cha¬ 
racters of form which indicate a disposition to arrive at early maturity, and become readily fat. He acted to the fullest extent 
upon the principle that the properties of the parents are communicated to their descendants. This led him to attach the highest 
importance to what is termed blood, or breeding from individuals the descendants of those of approved qualities. A maxim of 
his was, that “ like begets like”—a principle in nothing new, but never perhaps acted upon in breeding to the like degree be¬ 
fore. He aimed at producing the large cylindrical body, in all the animals destined to be fattened, and a smallness of the head, 
neck, and extremities, or what is called fineness of bone. A saying of his, often quoted, is, that “ all was useless that was not 
beef;” and hence his endeavour to lessen the quantity of what is usually termed offal. He adopted, too, the homely profit-and-loss 
maxim of breeding the animals large in the parts which are of most value to be sold; and hence in his breed of cattle he made the 
shoulders comparatively small, and the hind quarters proportionally large. He had a thorough confidence in his own judgment, 
and relied entirely upon his own resources. In the whole series of his numerous experiments, he appears to have consulted, and 
