vel and well filled at the bed; tail full near
the rump and tapering much at the top. The thighs of the cows are
occasionally light, but the bull and ox are full of muscle, with a
deep and rich flank. On the whole there is scarcely any breed of
cattle so rich and mellow in its touch, so silky and fine in its hair,
and altogether so handsome in its appearance, as the North Devon,
added to which they have a greater proportion of weight in the most
valuable joints and less in the coarse, than any other breed, and also
consume less food in its production.

As milkers they are about the same as most other breeds;--the general
average of a dairy of cows being about one pound of butter per day
from each cow during the summer months, although in some instances the
very best bred cows give a great deal more.

As working oxen they greatly surpass any other breed. They are
perfectly docile and excellent walkers, are generally worked until
five or six years old, and then fattened at less expense than most
other oxen."

The author of the report on the live stock shown at the exhibition of
the Royal Agricultural Society at Warwick in 1859 (Mr. Robert Smith)
says:

"Although little has been written on it, the improvement of the Devon
has not been neglected; on the contrary, its breeding has been studied
like a science, and carried into execution with the most sedulous
attention and dexterity for upwards of two hundred years. The object
of the Devon breeder has been to lessen those parts of the animal
frame which are least useful to man, such as the bone and offal, and
at the same time to increase such other parts (flesh and fat) as
furnish man with food. These ends have been accomplished by a
judicious selection of individual animals possessing the wished for
form and qualities in the highest degree, which being perpetuated in
their progeny in various proportions, and the selection being
continued from the most approved specimens among these, enabled the
late Mr. Francis Quartly at length to fully establish the breed with
the desired properties. This result is substantially confirmed by the
statistics contained in Davy's 'Devon Herd-Book.' We have been curious
enough to examine these pedigrees, and find that nine-tenths of the
present herds of these truly beautiful animals are directly descended
(especially in their early parentage) from the old Quartly stock.
Later improvements have been engrafted on these by the Messrs. Quartly