WELSH CATTLE. Naturally we should look to Wales, in England, for types of the an cient race of English cattle, since its climate be ing comparatively mild, and its people not hav ing been entirely conquered by either the Saxon or Roman invasions, we confidently expect .to here find cattle preserving, in miniature, indeed; from the mountainous nature of the country, but yet clearly the old forms and characteristics of the original cattle of Great Britain. Conse quently Welsh cattle do resemble the Devons, and Herefords, and also the Sussex cattle of 100 years ago, all these breeds being originally im bued with the prepotent blood of the old Devons. The Pembroke, the Glamorgans, and the Angle sey cattle are the principal breeds. Of these breeds Youatt says : Great Britain does not afford a more useful animal than the Pembroke cow or ox. It is black; the great majority are entirely so; a few have white faces, or a little white about the tail, or the udders; and the horns are white. The latter turn up in a way characteristic of the breed, and indeed the general form of the cattle undeniably betrays their early origin. They have a peculiarly lively look and good eye. The hair is rough, but short, and the hide is not thick. The bones, although not small, are far from large; and the Pembroke cattle are very fair milkers, with a propensity to fatten. The meat is generally beautifully marbled. They thrive in every situation. The Glamorgan cattle are thus described: The Glamorganshire farmers took great pride in their cattle, and evinced much judgment in their breeding and selection. There was one principle from which they never deviated—they admitted no mixture of foreign blood, and they produced the Glamorgan ox, so much admired tor activity and strength, and aptitude to fatten ; and the cow, if she did not vie with the best milkers, yielded a good remu nerating profit for the dairyman. They were of a dark brown color, with white bellies, and a streak of white along the back from the shoulder to the tail. They had clean heads, tapering from the neck and shoulders; long white horns, turn ing upward; and a lively countenance. Their dewlaps were small, the hair short, and the coat silky. If there was any fault, it was that the rump, or setting on of the tail, was too high above the level of the back to accord with the modern notions of symmetry. Their aptitude to fatten rendered them exceedingly profitable when taken from the plow at six or seven years old, and they were brought to great perfection on the' rich English pastures—frequently weighing more than twenty scores per quarter. The beef was beautifully veined and marbled, the inside of the animal was well lined with tallow, and the Gla morgans commanded the highest price both in the metropolitan and provincial market. During the French revolutionary war, the excessive price of corn attracted the attention of the Glamorgan shire farmers to the increased cultivation of it, and a great proportion of the best pastures were turned over by the plow. The natural conse
quence of inattention and starvation was, that the breed greatly degenerated in its disposition to fatten, and, certainly, with many exceptions, but yet, in their general character, the Glamorgan shire cattle became and are flat-sided, sharp in hip joints and shoulders, high in the rump, too long in the legs, with thick skins, and a delicate constitution. Therefore, it must be acknowl edged at present, and perhaps it must long con tinue to be the fact, that the Glamorgans, gen erally, are :ar from being what they once were.
They continue, however, to maintain tneir char acter for stoutness and activity, and are still profitably employed in husbandry work. The beef is still good, marbled, and good tasted; and in proportion as the value of the ox to the grazier has decreased, the value of the cow has become enhanced for the dairy. He who is accustomed to cattle will understand the meaning of this; and the kind of incompatibility between an apti tude to fatten in a little time, and on spare keep, and the property of yielding a more than average quantity of milk. This is the breed which is es tablished in the populous districts of Glamorgan. The Glamorgan cattle bear a close resemblance to the Herefords in figure, although inferior to them in size; they feed, when in confinement kindly—the flesh and fat are laid equally over them—the beef is beautifully marbled, and they yield a more than average quantity of milk. They are fattened to perfection at five years old, but not often at an earlier age: and will become sufficiently bulky on the good pastures of the vale without any artificial food. The Anglesey cattle are small and black, with moderate bone. deep chest, rather too heavy shoulders, enormous dewlap, round barrel, high and spreading haunches, the face flat, the horns long, and characteristic of the breed with which we will still venture to class them, almost invariably turning upward. The hair is apparently coarse, but the hide is mellow: they are hardy, easy to rear, and well-disposed to fatten when trans planted to better pasture than their native isle affords. The Anglesey cattle are principally destined for grazing. Great numbers of them are purchased in the midland counties, and pre pared for metropolitan consumption; and not a few find their way directly to the vicinity of London, in order to be finished for the market. In point of size, they hold an intermediate rank between the English breeds of all kinds and the smaller varieties of Scotch cattle; and so they do in the facility with which they are brought into condition.