l, nor does the bull ever take the
least notice of it. In form it very much resembles the Ox, or spayed
heifer, being considerably larger than either the bull or the cow,
having the horns very similar to the horns of an Ox. The bellow of the
Free Martin is similar to that of an Ox, having more resemblance to that
of the cow than that of the bull."
Free Martins are very much disposed to grow fat with good food. The
flesh, like that of the Ox or spayed heifer, is generally much finer in
the fibre than either the bull or cow; is even supposed to exceed that
of the Ox and heifer in delicacy of flavour, and bears a higher price
at market. However this superiority of the flavour does not appear to be
universal, for Mr. Hunter was informed of a case which occurred in
Berkshire, in which the flesh of a Free Martin turned out nearly as bad
as bull beef. This circumstance probably arose from the animal having
more the properties of a bull than a cow.
Mr. Hunter, having had many opportunities of dissecting Free Martins,
has satisfactorily shown that their incapacity to breed, and all their
other peculiarities, result from their having the generative organs of
both sexes combined, in a more or less imperfect state of development,
in some cases the organs of the male preponderating, in others those of
the female.
[Illustration]
The above, which is copied from an engraving in Hunter's work on the
'Animal Economy,' is a representation of a Free Martin, five years old;
it shows the external form of that animal, which is neither like the
bull nor cow, but resembling the Ox or spayed heifer.
Although, as Hunter observes, "it is almost universally understood, that
when a cow brings forth two calves, one of them a bull-calf, and the
other to appearance a cow, that the cow-calf is unfit for propagation,"
it is by no means universally the fact, as instances of such twins
breeding were known even in Hunter's time, and have been witnessed more
recently. The following is recorded in Loudon's 'Mag. of Nat. History,'
and occurred a few years previous to 1826: Jos. Holroyd, of Withers,
near Leeds, had a cow which calved twins, a bull-calf and a cow-calf. As
popular opinion was against the cow-calf breeding, it being considered a
Free Martin, Mr. Holroyd was determined to make an experiment of them,
and reared them together. They copulated, and in due time the heifer
brought forth a bull-calf, and she regularly had calves for six or seven
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