s was not so easily tested. The war prices tempted many farmers
to sell their best bulls and cows out of the district, so that good
animals were becoming scarce, and the breed generally going back. Mr.
Quartly therefore for years bought all the best animals he could find
with rare skill and judgement, and continued to improve his stock till
he brought it to perfection. About the year 1834 cattle shows began at
Exeter, and for the first year or two Mr. Quartly did not compete;
then he allowed his nephews to enter in all the classes, and they
brought home all the prizes. This lead they kept, and at the Royal
Show at Exeter in 1850 their stock obtained nine out of the ten prizes
for Devons. The _Devon Herd-Book_ was first published in 1851 by
Captain T.T. Davy, and a writer in 1858 says that of twenty-nine
prize bulls in the first three volumes twenty-seven were descended
from the Quartly bull Forester, and of thirty-four prize cows
twenty-nine from the cow Curly, also of their stock.

Among other famous breeders of Devons contemporary with Quartly were
Messrs. Merson, Davy, Michael Thorne, Yapp, Buckingham, the Halses,
and George Turner.

In 1829 Moore says, 'The young heifers of North Devon, with their
taper legs, the exact symmetry of their form, and their clear coats of
dark red, are pictures of elegance.' Their superiority for grazing and
draught was proved by the high prices demanded for them, but they were
not equally esteemed as dairy animals,[749] though of late years this
reproach has been removed. The ploughing of two acres of fallow land
was the common work of four oxen, which, when fattened at five years
old, would reach eleven score a quarter.

Since the publication of the Herd-Book, Devons have spread all over
the world, to Mexico, Jamaica, Canada, Australia, France, and United
States, and the fact that in their original home they have been
largely kept by tenant farmers proves them a good rent-paying breed.
Yet it cannot be pretended that away from their native country they
are as much valued as the Shorthorn and Hereford.

The South Hams breed of South Devon is a distinct variety, though it
is believed to be descended from the 'Rubies'[750] and apparently has
at some time been crossed with the Guernsey; they are good milkers and
attain a great size, but the quality of the meat is decidedly inferior
to that of North Devon.

From the earliest times the real Devon colour has been red, varying
from a dar