arly as large, of
rather less early maturity, but a better animal for grazing, and
hardier. The competition between these breeds in England is very close
and warm, and taking many facts together it would seem probable that
the Hereford is in some instances rather more profitable, and the
Short-horn generally more fashionable. Challenges have been repeatedly
offered by Hereford men to Shorthorn men to feed an equal number of
each in order to test their respective merits, and have usually been
declined, perhaps because if the decision was against them, the loss
might be serious, and if they won, the gain would be little or
nothing, the Short-horns being more popular already and commanding
higher prices.

As working oxen the Herefords are preferable to the Short-horns, being
more hardy and active. Some complaint is made of their being
"breachy." Their large frames demand food, and if enough be furnished
they are content, but if not, they have intelligence and activity
enough to help themselves if food be within reach. Their chief merit
is as large oxen, for heavy labor, and for beef. Some grade cows from
good milking dams give a fair quantity of milk, and what they give is
always rich, but wherever they have been introduced, milking qualities
generally deteriorate very much.

The AYRSHIRES are a breed especially valuable for dairy purposes.
Regarding its origin, Mr. Aiton who felt much interest in the subject,
and whose opportunities for knowing the facts were second to those of
no other, writing about forty years since, says, "The dairy breed of
cows in the county of Ayr now so much and so deservedly esteemed, is
not, in their present form, an ancient or indigenous race, but a breed
formed during the memory of living individuals and which have been
gradually improving for more than fifty years past, till now they are
brought to a degree of perfection that has never been surpassed as
dairy stock in any part of Britain, or probably in the world. They
have increased to double their former size, and they yield about four
and some of them five times as much milk as formerly. By greater
attention to breeding and feeding, they have been changed from an
ill-shaped, puny, mongrel race of cattle to a fixed and specific breed
of excellent color and quality. So gradually and imperceptibly were
improvements in the breed and condition of the cattle introduced,
that although I lived in Ayrshire from 1760 to 1785, and have
traversed