fine at and above the joint, and where the arm begins to increase it be comes suddenly lost in the shoulder; line of the back straight from the withers to the rump, lying completely on a level with the pin, or huckles, which lie wide and open; the hind quarters seated high with flesh, leaving a fine hair-ham tapering from the hock to the fetlock; long from rump to huckle, and from the pinion of the shoulder to the end of the nose; thin loose skin, covered with hair of a soft and furry nature, inclined to curl whenever the animal is in good condition and in full coat, when it also becomes mottled with darker shades of its permanent color, which is that of a bright blood red, without white, or other spots, particularly on the male; a white udder is sometimes passed over, but seldom without objection, "This description may be considered as a summary of the perfections as to the exterior appearance of the animal: what, under the same head, may be regarded as defects, appear first in the sudden retiring of the vamp from behind the huckle to a narrow point backwards; the great space between the huckle and first rib; the smallness of the angle inwards at which the ribs appear to be projected from the spine or backbone, often giving the appearance of a flat-sided animal, and in its being so much tucked up in the girth as to show an awkward cavity between the keel and naval, the line of which, it is presumed, should always be found to hold a position as nearly as possible parallel with that of the back from the withers to the loin. The animal is, however, generally well grown, and filled up behind the shoulder. In III. The SUSSEX BREED differs but little from the Devonshire; when pure, the cattle are invariably dark red; and those which are marked with a mixture of either white or black, although passing under the denomination of Sussex, are always crossed with foreign blood. other respects they are thus described by an eminent breeder, the accuracy of whose judgment has been confirmed by many intelligent graziers: "A thin head, and a clean jaw; the horns pointing forward a little, and then turning upward, thin, tapering, and long; the eye large and full; the throat clean, no dew-lap; long and thin in the neck; wide and deep in the shoulders; no projection in the point of the shoulder, when looked at from behind; the fore-legs wide; round and straight in the barrel, and free from a rising back-bone; no hanging heaviness in the belly; NEAT CATTLE. wide across the loin; the space between the hip-bone and the first rib very small; the hip-bone not to rise high, but to be large and wide; the loin, and space between the hips to be flat and wide, but the fore part of the carcass round; long and straight in the rump, and wide in the tip; the tail to lay low, for the flesh to swell above it; the legs not too long; neither thick nor thin on the thigh; the leg thin; shut well in the twist; no fulness in the outside of the thigh, but all of it within; a squareness behind, common in all long-horned beasts, greatly objected to; the finer and thinner in the tail the better. "Of these points, the Sussex beasts are apt to be more deficient in the shoulder than in any other part. A well made ox stands straight, and nearly perpendicularly, on small clean legs; a large bony leg is a very bad point, but the legs moving freely, rather under the body than as if attached to the sides; the horns pushing a little forward, spreading moderately, and turning up once. The horn of the Devonshire, which very much resembles the Sussex, but smaller and lighter, is longer, and rises generally higher. The straitness of the back line is sometimes broken, in very fine beasts, by a lump between the hips." On a comparison between the Devon and Sussex breeds, the former has been considered by competent judges as thinner, narrower, and sharper than the latter, on the top of the shoulder, or blade bone; the point of the shoulder generally projects more, and they usually stand narrower in the chest; their chine is thinner and flatter in the barrel, and they hang more in the flank; but they are wider in the hips, and cleaner in the neck, head, and horns, and smaller in the bone, than the Sussex; their hides are thinner and softer, and they handle as mellow. The distinction between them however is not very striking; they are equally profitable to the grazier, and as working cattle, they both stand unrivalled. IV. The HEREFORD BREED is a variety of the Devon and Sussex, but is larger and weightier than either; being generally wider and fuller over the shoulders or chine, and the breast, or brisket, as well as in the after part of the rump. The prevailing color a reddish brown, with white faces; the hair fine and the skin thin. In the true bred Hereford cattle there is no projecting bone in the point of the shoulder, which in some breeds forms almost a shelf, against which the collar rests; but on the contrary tapers off: they have a great breadth before, and are equally weighty in their hind quarters; the tail not set on high; a great distance from the point of the rump to the hip bone; the twist full, broad, and soft; the thigh of the fore legs to the pastern joint tapering and full, not thin, but thin below the joint; the horn pushes aside a little, and then turns up thin and tapering; remarkably well feeling; mellow on the rump, ribs, and hip bone. The quality of the meat not hard, but fine as well as fat; little coarse flesh about them, the offal and bone being small in proportion to their weight; whilst their disposition to fatten is equal or nearly so, to that of any other breed in the island. They are, however, ill calculated for the dairy; their constitutional disposition to accumulate flesh being in opposition to the qualities of good milking cows, an observation which will equally apply to every breed, when similarly constituted. A breed of cattle, equally adapted to the shambles, the dairy, and the plough, is indeed not to be met with; and experience teaches that these properties are inconsistent with each other. The Hereford cattle are by many good judges considered to approach the nearest to that perfect state of any of the large breeds; they arrive early at maturity, and are fit for labor; but it is as fatting stock that they excel, and it is a different variety of the same breed that is preferred for the dairy. There is, indeed a more extraordinary disproportion between the weight of Herefordshire cows, and that of the oxen bred from them, than is to be found in any other of the superior breeds; they are comparatively small, extremely delicate and light fleshed, and it is said that they are not unfrequently the mothers of oxen, nearly three times their own weight. On comparison with the Devon and Sussex, the Hereford breed will probably not be found equally active and hardy in the yoke; but it is generally considered to exceed them in the quality of fattening; and when compared with any other breed, it may fairly rank at least among the very best in the country. V. The SHORT HORNED CATTLE, under which denomination are indiscriminately included the Dutch, Holderness, and Teeswater breeds, are supposed to have acquired the appellation of Dutch, from a cross with some large bulls that were imported, near a century ago, from Holland into Yorkshire, (Eng.) in the east and north ridings of which county the two latter had been long established. It has, however, been doubted whether any advantage was derived from this intermixture; for the increase thus obtained in size was thought to have been counterbalanced by a more than proportionate increase of offal. But, fortunately, the error was not universal; for some intelligent breeders aware, even at that day, of the superiority of symmetry to bulk, preserved the breed, of which they were already in possession, in its native purity; and it is from some of that stock, so maintained, that the present improved short horned cattle, now generally distinguished as the Durham, or Yorkshire breed, are descended. This breed was introduced about forty years ago, by Messieurs Colling, of Darlington, and has rapidly risen in the public estimation. The cattle are very large, and are beautifully mottled with red or black upon a white ground; their backs level; throat clean; neck fine; carcass full and round; quarters long; hips and rumps even and wide; they stand rather high on their legs; handle very kindly; are light in their bone, in proportion to their size; and have a very fine coat, and thin tidega wa NEAT CATTLE. hide. They differ from the other breeds, not only in the shortness of their horns, but as being wider and thicker in their form, and consequently feeding to greater weight; in affording the greatest quantity of tallow when fatted; and in having very thin hides, with much less hair upon them than any other kind except the Alderneys. They also possess the valuable properties of fattening kindly at an early age, and of yielding large quantities of milk; but the quality of the latter is not so rich as that of some other species. Of this breed, Mr. Charles Colling, of Ketton, sold a bull-Comet-by public auction, in the year 1810, for the extraordinary sum of one thousand guineas; and the history of the celebrated Durham ox, the property of the same gentleman, is too remarkable not to merit attention. He was bred in the year 1796, and at five years old was not only covered thick with fat upon all the principal points, but his whole carcass appeared to be loaded with it, and he was then thought so wonderful an animal, that he was purchased in February, 1801, for £140, to be exhibited as a show; his live weight being then 226 stone, of 14 pounds. In the following May he was again sold for £250, to Mr. John Day, who, two months afterwards refused for him two thousand guineas! He was exhibited in the principal parts of the kingdom until April, 1807, when he was killed, in consequence of having accidentally dislocated his hip in the previous February, and although he must have lost considerably in weight during his illness, besides the disadvantages of six years' travelling in a caravan, yet his carcass weighed 187 stone 12 pounds; and Mr. Day stated his live weight at ten years old, to have been 270 stone. Uncommon as this animal then was, he has, however, been since exceeded in size by a Yorkshire ox, bred by Mr. Dunhill, of Newton, near Doncaster, the carcass of which weighed, when killed, 264 stone 12 pounds; and he was supposed to have lost near forty stone while being exhibited in London. Still more recently, another beast of uncommon size, fed by Lord Yarborough, has been exhibited under the title of "the Lincolnshire Ox:" but, though bred in that county, from a favourite cow belonging to Mr. Goulton, he was got by a descendant of Comet, out of Countess, also of the Durham breed. This extraordinary animal measured five feet six inches in height at the shoulders, eleven feet ten inches from the nose to the setting of the tail, eleven feet one inch in girth, and three feet three inches across the hips, shoulders, and middle of the back; the lowest point of his breast was only fourteen inches from the ground, and he stood one foot ten inches between the fore legs; the girth of the fore leg was nine inches. The variety of this breed known as the YORKSHIRE POLLED Cattle, only differs from those already described, in being without horns; they are in considerable estimation among the London cow-keepers, as milkers, and at the same time maintain their flesh in a state nearly fit for the shambles. It may not be improper in this place to give some account of several remarkable oxen raised in the United States,-the land in which, it is a current opinion on the other side of the water, animals of every description are wont to degenerate. The first ox we notice has been exhibiting for several years in different parts of the country. He is called "Mammouth Ox Columbus." He was bred in the town of Greenland, State of New Hampshire. By com NEAT CATTLE. petent judges he is supposed to weigh alive nearly 4,000 pounds. His dimensions are as follows: Horns from tip to tip, feet. inches. 11 00 In the spring of 1819, two oxen of extraordinary weight and dimensions, were slaughtered in Baltimore. The one of these was called "Columbus," the other "the Delaware ox." Their weight and dimensions, ascertained with great care and exactness, follow: COLUMBUS. DELAWARE OX. |