British representative of a widely diffused and ancient race. The most
uniform drove of oxen which we ever saw, consisted of five hundred
from the Ukraine. They had white faces, upward horns and tawny bodies.
Placed in Hereford, Leicester or Northampton markets, they would have
puzzled the graziers as to the land of their nativity; but no one
would have hesitated to pronounce that they were rough Herefords."

Mr. Rowlandson, in his prize report on the farming of Herefordshire,
says "The Herefords, or as they have sometimes been termed, the middle
horned cattle have ever been esteemed a most valuable breed, and when
housed from the inclemency of the weather, probably put on more meat
and fat in proportion to the food consumed, than any other variety.
They are not so hardy as the North Devon cattle, to which they bear a
general resemblance; they however are larger than the Devons,
especially the males. On the other hand, the Herefords are larger
boned, to compensate for which defect, may be cast in the opposite
scale the fact that the flesh of the Hereford ox surpasses all other
breeds for that beautiful marbled appearance caused by the
intermixture of fat and lean which is so much prized by the epicure.
The Hereford is usually deeper in the chine, and the shoulders are
larger and coarser than the Devon. They are worse milkers than the
Devon, or than, perhaps, any other breed, for the Hereford grazier has
neglected the female and paid the whole of his attention to the male."
It is said that formerly they were of a brown or reddish brown color,
and some had grey or mottled faces. Mr. P. Tully states that the white
face originated accidentally on a farm belonging to one of his
ancestors. "That about the middle of the last century the cow-man came
to the house announcing as a remarkable fact that the favorite cow had
produced a white faced bull calf. This had never been known to have
occurred before, and, as a curiosity it was agreed that the animal
should be kept and reared as a future sire. Such, in a few words, is
the origin of a fact that has since prevailed through the country, for
the progeny of this very bull became celebrated for white faces." Of
late years there has been much uniformity of color; the face, throat,
the under portion of the body, the inside and lower part of the leg's
and the tip of the tail being white, and the other parts of the body a
rich deep red.

Compared with the Short-horn the Hereford is ne