this band was not only continuous a century ago (with one exception), but it was also broader, that is, reaching farther inland. Hale and Markham indicate that it was still broader in their day. Youatt and the writers of the Southern Agricultural Surveys refer again and again to the southern march of the Longhorns and the expulsion of the cattle that were there before them. From these considerations we may say, without doubt, that the red race of cattle, whose representatives to-day are the Lincolns, the Norfolks and Suffolks, the Sussex, the Devons, and the Herefords, were in possession of the southern half of England till towards the close of the eighteenth century. If still further evidence were required, a very interesting statement of Leonard Mascal's might be quoted: "Also for Oxen to labour, the blacke Oxe and the redde Oxe are best, and the browne or greezled Oxe nexte: the white one is worst of all colours."[1] Among cows, "The browne colour mixt with white spots is good, with the redde and the blacke."[1] Remembering that cattle were still valued for draught rather than for milk or beef, we cannot imagine that farmers would be ready to set aside their red or their black cattle for either the red-and-white or the white.
We have thus shown the cattle of the south of England to have been red down to the
