Atherstone. The rage for short-horns quickly crossed the Irish Channel, and contributed its share to the general progress of the last thirty years. Into the mountain districts there has been a large infusion of Scotch Highlanders. The general result is, that Ireland now supplies a large quantity of second-rate bullocks to the Leicester and Northampton fairs, and furnishes beef, quite equal in quality to the average of the United Kingdom, to Liverpool, Manchester, and the surrounding districts. This comes, for the most part, in the shape of strong heifers, admirably grazed, and the supply is now continued throughout the year. In the breeding of cattle, as in every other important human pursuit, national objects are promoted by the successful skill and industry of individuals. The first vocation of a cattle-breeder is to furnish his countrymen with the dairy, with all its multitudinous comforts and luxuries. We scarcely know a more important national object, of its class, than to place a fresh supply of milk within the reach of the great body of the population. At the present time it is estimated that there are 20,000 cows in the metropolitan and suburban dairies, some of which number 500 cows apiece. Even these gigantic establishments have been occasionally exceeded, and one individual, several years ago, possessed 1,500 milkers. A great deal of exaggeration has prevailed as to the adulterations of London milk; but Dr. Hassell states, that the "iron-tailed cow" is the chief agent employed, and that the only colouring matter he has been enabled to discover is annatto. Nearly all the cream goes to the West End; and one dairyman, living at Islington, stated to Dr. Wynter, that he made £1,200 a-year by the trade he carried on in that single article with the fashionable part of the town. The country, as well as the suburbs, contributes a large supply of this nutritious fluid to the "commissariat" of London. Another vocation of the breeder, in addition to supplying milk, is to furnish animal foodwool and animal food in the case of sheep, milk and animal food in that of cattle. Animal food is suited both to our climate and the hard-working energy of our people. The breeder has to cater for appetites which bodily exertion has made active rather than critical, as well as for others in which sedentary and intellectual pursuits have blunted the desire for quantity, but at the same time stimulated the appreciation of quality. It is probable that a sirloin, fresh and ruddy, hanging at the door of some ancestor of our famous West End or City butchers, or placed on a richly-spread table as the pièce de résistance, in a former century, originated the song which has ever since stirred Englishmen in a foreign land, "The Roast Beef of Old England." According to the official account in 1853, the number of oxen exhibited in Smithfield was 294,571. But this is far from giving a true idea of the whole amount taken into London. Much stock arrives in the capital which never enters the great mart which then existed, or the immensely improved one that has since been opened. The railways convey thither, in the course of a year, hundreds of thousands more. No fewer than 322,188 oxen were thus transmitted in 1853 from various parts of Great Britain and the Continent. Within the last quarter of a century eighty miles was the farthest distance from which carcases ever came; now the railways, during the winter months, bring hundreds of tons from as far north as Aberdeen, while some are fetched from Hamburg and Ostend. The term "butcher," derived from the French boucher, denotes one who slaughters animals for market; or, whose occupation is to kill animals for the table. But it is now wholly inapplicable to many tradesmen. in the neighbourhood of London, who, had they lived in a former age, would have been likely to have worn it worthily. These persons, however, do not kill; it is their practice to go or send daily to Newgate market, to obtain from the dealers the halves, quarters, or joints, from which they may best supply their respective circles of customers; and thus they are not butchers, but purveyors of meat. Some foreign tribes it will be well now to notice, as the race Alsacienne, of which we give a life-like engraving. The race de Salers, admirably represented by Mlle. Rosa and M. Auguste Bonheur, presents the following characteristics: red coat; hair rather short than long; head short ; mild and intelligent physiognomy; very marked muscles; bones rather fine; great and medium height; in point of size, generally good conformation; aptitude for work; easily fattened. The race Garonnaise is the one which is raised on the fertile shores of the Garonne, and which strangers admire on the quay at Bordeaux, where enormous loads are drawn by bullocks of this species. Its characteristics are: colossal stature; strongly-developed muscles; horns directed downwards, one of which it is almost always necessary to cut in order to attach the yoke; neck of darker colour than the rest of the body; dorsal spine, undulating in consequence of several very marked ossial projections, straight, however, as a whole; bones rather large; dewlap developed; head large and frizzled; limbs short; growth slower than in the greater part of the other southern races. Cows do not yield much milk, but are strong and laborious. The qualities of the Mancelle race are thus stated: no black on the coat; sometimes, however, some hairs of colour round the lips; height rather small than large, but varying according to the abundance of pasturage; horns shorter and thicker than in the Choletaise species, twisted in the air, dark at the extremity; skin thick; largeness of forehead, chest, and rump; rounded sides; small legs; little aptitude for work; milking faculties of the third order; a marked disposition towards precocious fattening. Under the names of the Parthenaise or Choletaise race are included the remarkable animals whose high horns, haughty attitude and vivacity, remind one of the Bernese oxen: hair forming round the eye and above the muzzle two borders, one light, the other black; blackish at the lower part of the dewlap, in the interior of the ear, on the tail, above the hoof, and at the knee; horns of the oxen turned in the air, black at the extremity; bones fine; medium height; short limbs; meat much esteemed; little aptitude for the production of milk. Race Normande Cotentine. To this race belongs the enormous ox which, led in pomp at the time of the carnival, excites the admiration of the Parisians. Long head, horns directed in front; skin rather thick than fine; large bones; short limbs; dorsal spine, frequently undulated, in consequence of strong ossial projections, and saddle shaped. The Flemish race almost always have the coat spotted with white on the head and under the body; a long, straight head; short horns, often turned in front; thin neck; narrow chest; sides often flat; high limbs; fine bones; fine skin; little aptitude for work; milking powers of the first order; great height; and rapid growth. The Breton race is a streaked species, marvellously adapted to the poor nature of the pasturage of that country hair black; or red, spotted with white; size very small; fine head; gentle face; fine horns turned into the air in front; rounded sides; fine skin; fine bones; soft and fine hair; milk very buttery; meat excellent; too feeble a race for work; but rustic, thriving well on the most meagre pasturage. |