i ae yy ak miter ie! ite ate i ya AI ti 4 Tadd Gibh ary 4 ial is Sa AU shirt uh aban tts b Teo Binlat us c ( iia Us hag if yy Wi neat hie Al Mi elisy VAR aa) Pare Hi uN ANT Shvbalihoy Mata Hatin lath f ie J Ahi ui VINER EoD i yt My ; TT Aa, ins ANY ‘ Aint eeintcn MIS fiieha ia Pie: ve RO! \ Paar aye A ety ey, all DAM ia Aa SR nek eae ON ie te thy pe ene Me an res, oy wr ONO Aeg Tose AK ist ewan if ii Sg i) N MN 8 yh SN WW : === ANS N Ww \\S iN @\\ \ i A Group of Thorough-breds. AMERICAN CATTLE: THEIR HistORY, BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT. ~ BY LEWIS Fe ALLEN, LATE PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, EDITOR ‘‘ AMERICAN SHORT-HORN HERD BOOK,”’ AUTHOX “RURAL ARCHITECTURE,” ETC., ETC. ©“ NEW YORK: TAINTOR BROTHERS & CO. 678 BROADWAY. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1°68, BY LEWIS F. ALLEN, fn the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of New York. Tsomas, HowarD & JOHNSON, Stereotypers, Printers and Binders. BUFFALO, N. ¥. PREFACE. THE object of this work is not only to give a historical account of the Bovine race, to suggest to our farmers, and cattle breeders, the best methods of their production and management, but to exalt and ennoble its pursuit to the dignity to which it is entitled, in the various departments of American agriculture. ° I have contemplated a work of this kind for many years past. Indeed, its plan was partly shadowed out near twenty years ago; but on reflection, I made up my mind that more personal observation was required than I then possessed, and also, that further experience in the use of the better, improved breeds of foreign cattle, among our farmers and cattle breeders, was desirable, to give that extended range of information which so important an interest demanded. More than forty years ago, it was felt by those largely engaged in stock growing for beef purposes, that our “native” cattle were lamentably deficient in their most desirable, as well as profitable qualities, and instead of attempting to improye and raise our American native 4 PREFACE. stock to the desired standard of excellence, the better way was to resort to such European breeds as, by a long course of intelligent culture, already possessed the properties required. It was so with our dairy, or milking stock. As a race, they were lamentably deficient in the uniform- ity of their milking qualities, and the yields they pro- duced. We needed better ones, and to undertake to build them up from the miscellaneous herds, composed of all congregated mixtures, as they are, without any certain basis to commence upon, was a hazardous, and almost interminable labor, as well as uncertain mode of proced- ure. Hence, numerous importations of the choice breeds of foreign cattle have been made, involving an outlay of millions of dollars in the aggregate. The propagation of these cattle, the success that has attended them, and the popularity which they have achieved among our intelli- gent farmers, and breeders, has confirmed the wisdom of those enterprising men who embarked their capital and labor in their introduction. Further knowledge in relation to these foreign breeds, of their breeding, and rearing, together with their benefi- cial uses in elevating the qualities of our old native stock, through their adaptability in crossing their blood upon them, has now, beyond a question, decided the necessity of a book on ‘‘ American Cattle.” Therefore, such as it is, this volume goes forth to the public. PREFACE. 4) I believe it is the first work of the kind, so general in its scope of observation, which has been written, collated, or published in our country. We have been favored with sundry publications, relating to cattle in the way of Dairy Cows, and some of the departments connected with their use—able, useful, instructive publications, too— but not comprising so full and general a range of the sub- ject asis here proposed. This work is not intended to interfere with them; each may be essential—necessary, indeed—to convey all the information which may be required on so extensive and ramified a subject. A book which should embrace all that is here under- taken, together with the productive results appertaining to neat cattle, as the Dairy, and other economical industries, could not well be consolidated into a single, acceptable volume. It would involve a more intimate, and wider range of experience and observation, than can well be combined in one individual effort. So far as suggestion, or instruction, is concerned, I have chosen only to take the creature from its conception, and carry it through life to its proper and ultimate destination—the ox to the yoke, the bullock to the shambles, the cow to the pail, or the propagation of her young—and there leave them. The Dairy, and its management, are referred to other, and more competent hands. This Preface ought not to be concluded without saying that I have gleaned somewhat, much indeed, from the 6 PREFACE. observations, writings, and publications of others, both abroad and at home, perhaps more experienced than myself To such, I feel largely indebted, and give my acknowledgments. But those observations have been scat- tered in such fragmentary and miscellaneous ways, as to be beyond the reach of the inquirer, without more labor and expense to combine them into accessible form than can well be done by the mass, or even a few of those seeking them. I trust that here may be found embodied all those various materiel which will prove acceptable to the wide spread community interested in the breeding and improvement of our herds, and that they may be benefited by my labors. With this trust, the following pages are submitted. LEWIS F, ALLEN. BuFFato, N. Y., 1868. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Number of Cattle in the United States and Territories—Yalue of the same—Vulue of Beef, Butter, Cheese, and Labor of Oxen............. 2.00 cess ecee sees cees 11 CHAPTER I. ‘ } The Climate and Soils of North America, as adapted to the production of Neat © TET OMe tate rae ee ate ea eie vaya tere ao SreP a olcrale rape aroreiatel eistele dia wisitove nists siete lcisice srelebe cio miale 21 CHAPTER II. Neat Cattle—Their History—Misrepresentations by Artists—Spoken of in the Bible— In India—In Egypt—Among the Romans—In Europe................--2.--- 20 CHAPTER III. History of American Cattle—Introduction by the Spanish into Mexico—By the Eng- lish into Virginia—By the Dutch into New York—By the English into other WOlONT eS ee eI Urea Lane inno alam areata aya tNellat aia jaralay sic; a/ale elsiar ale Siaialsisiavelsietel aie ae 2g CHAPTER IY. Quality, Condition and Appearance of our Native Cattle—Amalgamation of Different Breeds—Result of the different mixtures..........-.....---e cece eee eee ees 34 CHAPTER V. The Anatomical and Economical Points of Cattle—Illustration of Points—Good Points—Bad Points—Texan Cattle—Comparison of Good and Poor Cattle... 41 CHAPTER VI. Improved Breeds of Cattlek—What are they ?—Cattle of Great Britain—Their Pro- gress there—Their Division into Breeds—Improevement in them—Youatt’s His- POMVAOLMED EI seeracyaterc itt osucye is a Sepa tene a etic etetslale ecee ene alain G sonia nictniee Aviat Maia zelt 45 CHAPTER VII. Middle-horned Cattle—The Devons—History—Description—Points—Bull—Cow, as a Milker—Ox, as a Worker—As a Beef Animal—Their Introduction to, and Pro- PALCSSMINNCATIE CLI Cem eyere orcas eros ape aiese: es orels Ul cvoieia lorem des sia leet terorae sible ee aco eet 50 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. The Herefords—History—Description—Bull—Cow, as a Milker—Ox, as a Worker— As a Beef Animal—Their Introduction to, and Progress in America......... 62 CHAPTER IX. The Long-horns—History—Description—Bull—Cow, as a Milker—Ox, as a Worker— As a Beef Animal—Their Introduction into America—Their Extinction here.. 75 CHAPTER X. The Cattle of Scotland—The West Highlands—Their History, and Present Condi- tion—Value as Beef Animals—Little Value for the Dairy—Their Fitness for the Mountain Ranges and Western Plains of America..................-2--005- 85 CHAPTER XI. The Galloways—Their History—Description—Manner of Breeding them—Introduc- tion to America—Value as Grazing, and Beef Animals....................-- 99 CHAPTER XII. The Ayrshires—Their Origin and History—Description—Improvement in their Breed- ing, and Quality for the Dairy—Milk Production—In America—As a Beef Ani- MEE AM ajctsi sate ec lelere(alsiersteletesctacoysrnrersieteetalaterstereterenslarstataeta isis ietaversreiatevals eiaretoccle re atecoimteleialetete iil CHAPTER XIII. The Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey, or Channel Island Cattle—Their Origin and His- tory—Description—Introduction to America—Value as Milkers—As a Worker, ANAT Bel CAM ey ee oe a a a tate rate ogee ta peactat ciate erate isiesee eee ea ees eraron 128 CHAPTER XIV. The Short-horns—Their Pretended History by Berry, in Youatt—Their True His- tory—Charles and Robert Colling—Short-horns in America—Characteristics-— Description of them—As a Dairy Cow—As a Working Ox—As a Beef Animal— Their Proper Homes—Their Predominance in the Herds of Britain........ 134 CHAPTER XV. The Holstein, or Dutch Cattle—Their History—Description of them—Introduction to America—Mr. Chenery’s Importations—Their uses—For the Dairy—As a Worker A812 BECL ANIMAL acicas oieisicls cin eistslcie lets cies esis eee ie ae eT leeS OR 166 CHAPTER XVI. The Spanish, or Texan Cattle—Origin and History—Introduction into Mexico—Mi- gration to Texas and California—Description—Beef Qualities—Diseases attend- ANSBENEM <= cjarcicie = cjessiciaista(eiciosreise avaisinierareis cosreie ata tee eterna eT Ne ee eS 174 CHAPTER XVII. What is the Best Breed of Cattle?—What they are Wanted for—Each may be the IBERU BD Leed LOM Certain WOCAlIULCS eccrine icnsioece mace meme een: 181 CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER XVIII. What Constitutes a Good Animal?—Coarse Cattle—Fine Cattle—Beauty—Perfec- LO TDS ee Weicee oi Hirao sri a cea Shee) ua LS SORE a Me Oo eh ae 187 CHAPTER XIX. On Breeding—General Principles—Rules for Good Breeding—In-and-in Breeding— Examples—Hstablishing the Variety as an Improved Breed—Contending Opin- TONS Ae EOC ODER ROBE a COR ob Ge a aaGH LEE NOE ME Ca BGe ane HC ROBE TE SE cto ME clean 192 _ CHAPTER Xx. Treatment of Breeding Cows—Strange Influences—Mistaken Theories—Doctor Harvey’s Essay—Occasional Barrenness—Professor Tanner’s Essay—Mr. E. W. Stewart’s Remarks—Feeding in Advanced Stages of Pregnancy—Duration of NESTA CY fee cale eisai slate sie ais ess Soar oo eta Loe rosea orale aiatele te ocdenss doounscadcdo 219 CHAPTER XXI. Breeding Grade Cattle for Grazing—Breeding Dairy Cows—Do not Change the Breed—Age at which Heifers should be Bred—Rearing and Treatment of BS IES ep eeveey sper de cen cteas i cVerayan ale patie apaverepeyey eye ores a creiraperoisiees ave iste tettclciaVetateleisis)atsisieieieiciors 254 CHAPTER XXII. Rearing Stock Calves—Their Treatment—Calves for Veal—Calves Running with the Cows—Handling Young Animals—Shelter—Rearing Thorough bred Heifers—In- AuencingathersexOfe Calvessecmceas cee meee encase cess sects reeee 267 CHAPTER XXIII. Beef Cattle—Differences in Breed—Regularity of Condition—Proper Ages for Fat- tening—Modes of Feeding—Shape of Fat Cattle—Cattle in the London Mark- ets, by Mr. A. B. Allen—Transportation of Stock to Market—Railway Cattle PYG Sires cyetesene ehayen opie stake le Koyar ce ichafesale seis Scakeverstepei acta ets ratsn ol olsickere os eastoss oievoisjoieroteratmatormars 276 CHAPTER XXIV. Working Oxen—Rearing, Matching, and Training—Devons and Herefords the Best IBVESOS TOL MGA OV seicretsieisia vleroialets sel Torte eo erctatake afalsioloie e aiciei# araleiesersve sicieieleieleis\e sisjelets 293 e CHAPTER XXV. a Cattle Food—The Grasses—Full Feed and Water—Shade in Pastures—Change of Pastures—Winter Forage, and Care of Neat Stock—What Winter Feeding and Care of Stock Should be—Barns and Sheds.................2.e sce eeeeee cece 297 CHAPTER XXVI. Summer Food for Dairy Cows—Pastures—Soiling—Proper Soiling Crops—The Best Kind of Corn for Soiling—Mr. E. W. Stewart’s Experiments—Condition of Ani- mals Soiled—Effect of Soiling upon the Product of Milk—Saving in Fences— Saving in Manure—Saving in Land—Method of Feeding—Arrangement of Ani- mals—Another Experiment—Fall Feeding—Winter Feeding................ 309 ne 10 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVII. Sale Milk Dairies—Value of Milk Sold in the City of New York—In the United States—Swill Milk—Good Milk—Cooking Food—Why Fodder Should be Cut— Mixing Food—Straw Cutters—Values of Different Food—Steam Apparatus—Re- sults) ofs Cooking — Experiments QCisecm cies ct clecveisis stelaieieis ciclo eteiern clave eleters 333 CHAPTER XXVIII. Milk Cows—Their Selection—Mr. Magne’s Essay on their General Character—Marks —Shape—Appearance—Hygienic Conditions—Selections for Breeding—Mr. Hax- ton’s Modes of Selection—Guenon’s Theory, &C............200eee eee ee ce ee 365 CHAPTER XXIX. The Common Mode of Obtaining Dairy Cows—Milking, &¢...............2.2005 402 CHAPTER XXX. Value Invested in Cows—Low Average in Production—Dairy Soils—Dairy Factories —Dainy, Women—Wovelof Hine! Cattleyea- cs desctsce eee tase ce ei eeeore 408 CHAPTER XXXII. Miscellaneous—Pregnancy, and What Follows—As Maternity Approaches—Marks Indicating Ages of Cattle—Diseases, Treatment, and Cures—Habits and Tricks of Cattle—Kicking Cows—Kicking Oxen—Breachy Animals—Cows Sucking Themselvyes—Hooking’ and Quarreling............ 5.0.2.0. s scence geen sane 415 CHAPTER XXXII. Diseases Proper—Water Treatment—Garget—Puerperal, or Milk Fever—Wounds, Bruises, Sprains, &c.—Lowson’s Treatise on Diseases and Cures........... 433 CHAPTER XXXIII Castration—Spaying Heifers and Cows—Free-Martins—Drinking Water—Bloody, and Curdly Milk—Handling—Proof—Large or Overgrown Cattle............ 516 INTRODUCTION. Turat the value of American Neat Cattle, as a branch of our agricultural interests, may be fairly understood and appreciated, some statistical facts and estimates are submitted. The census reports for the years 1850 and 1860 give the following returns for the United States and Ternitories: 1850. 1860. Malls Cowen 10.) 61385,004 8.728862 Working Oxen, . , 1,700,694 2,240,075 Other Cattle . . . 10,293,069 14,671,400 Thus showing an increase in ten years, of about one-third, or 334 per cent. in numbers; and, although, during the past eight years, since the year 1859, in which the last census was taken, four of these years, 1861 to 1865, have been, during the war in the Southern States, a period of extraordinary consumption, waste, and depreciation in the numbers of their cattle of all descriptions, still, the aggregate of the entire neat stock of the country must have considerably increased. The number of cattle in thirteen of those States, more or less disturbed and overrun by the armies at various times—leaving out Maryland—in the census reports of 1860, was as follows: Milk Cows, . : 5 : 4 1 eh aUb, O58 Working Oxen, : ; : : iS 2e232 Other Cattle, : : 3 ; = l, (829630 12 INTRODUCTION. Showing that nearly 40 per cent. of the milk cows; nearly 80 per cent. of the working oxen, and upwards of 50 per cent. of “other cattle” were owned in the Southern States, including Missouri. Of “other cattle,” however, 2,733,267, or nearly one-third, belonged to the single State of Texas, where enor- mous numbers of semi-wild animals rove over the wide plains and savannas of its extensive territory, but of far less value per head, (probably not exceeding one-half,) than those under the same denomination in the other Southern States. So, also, of their milk cows, which were 598,086 in number, or about eighteen per cent. of the whole; and as of these cows probably three-fourths of them are as untamed as their ‘other cattle,” and devoted only to the production and rearing of young stock, they cannot be denominated as ‘‘milk cows” proper, as they are in most other of those States; and are, therefore, of about the same proportionate value as “other cattle,” with which they range. The working oxen of Texas, (172,243 in number, ) devoted to labor purposes, we let stand. Excluding, therefore, the Texan herds—working oxen also— as less valuable than those of the other States at large, we class them separately; and calling the aggregate stock of all the Southern States now what they were at the last census—the waste of the war taken from what would be the natural increase in times of uninterrupted agricultural advancement—we may now put the numbers of the whole South as they were in 1860, deducting Texas, viz.: Milk Cows, : : : : ; 2,707,867 Working Oxen, . : : : . 1,560,989 Other Cattle, . : : : 3 4,949,368 The natural increase of the cattle of the Northern States, including Maryland and Delaware, not much disturbed by the war, counting it as from the increase from the years 1850 and INTRODUCTION. 13 1860, at about 33 per cent. every ten years, or 23 per cent. for seven years, would be thus: Milk Cows, in 1860, f : j 5,422,909 Working Oxen, in 1860, : : - 507,843 Other Cattle, in 1860, : A é 6,888,765 To these, add, say twenty per cent. for the six to seven years’ increase, and the numbers would now be, in the Northern States and Territories : : Milk Cows, : : : : 2 6,507,491 Working Oxen, . ‘ i : 609,411 Other Cattle, . 4 5 6 : 8,266,518 Thus, the present number of cattle in al/ the States and Terri- tories, excluding Texas, stands, in 1867: Milk Cows, : : : ; : 9,215,358 Working Oxen, . ; : : », 2,170,400 Other Cattle, . ; ; s BAe CALS The value of these cattle may be safely put as follows: Cows, at $40 each, zs ; 3 $368, 614,320 Working Oxen, at $50 each, . : 108,520,000 Other Cattle, at $30 each, ... . . 396,476,580 $873,610,900 Add the Texan cattle: Milk Cows, é 5 : A : 598,086 Working Oxen, : : : oy MIS Other Cattle, ; : : : 5 AB AGU The value of which may be: Milk Cows, at $25 each, : : $31,952,150 Working Oxen, at $40 each, é a6, 989.120 Other Cattle, at $15 each, A : 41,599,005 $80,440,875 Here we have an ageregate value of $954,051,775—mear a 14 INTRODUCTION. thousand millions of dollars—in 28,145,240 head of neat cattle of all descriptions. That the value of this stock is not over-estimated, we may state that the price of good dairy cows now ranges in the Northern States at $50 to $100 each, and working oxen at $150 to $250 a pair, according to age and quality. ‘Other cattle,” which range from the last spring calves to heifers of three years, and steers of four years of age, the youngest of which are worth $5, and the oldest $50, in their pastures, are not over-valued. In our estimates of value, are not counted the thousands of “improved” blood cattle, of the different breeds, now becoming widely diffused over extensive portions of the country, and would, if properly accredited, add some mitlions to the aggregate value of our cattle herds. It may be said that our currency is inflated to thirty per cent. above gold prices, and a great depre- ciation will follow when we come to a specie basis. No matter. We take things as they are. We may safely estimate our working capital im neat stock, for the next five years, at a THOUSAND MILLION of dollars, and consider whether that amount invested by a nation containing near forty millions of people in the aggregate, is not worth zmproving and caring for— so much so, at least, as to study, and find out ways for their g, rearing, and feeding—to raise them to the perfection of which they are capable, by more care than we improvement in breedin have been accustomed to bestow upon them, without much increased cost in their food. This we believe to be both possible and practicable, and if these pages shall only in an imperfect degree, accomplish the object, our purposes will be answered. Our Agriculture, in all its branches, is but in the gristle of improvement. The scarcity and high price of labor has com- pelled us to invent and use labor-saving implements and machinery in many departments. We drain, and ditch, and bring our waste lands under cultivation, and cultivate those we INTRODUCTION. 15 have long been accustomed to work, better than of old. We plow, and we sow, and we mow, and we reap, and harvest, and secure our crops somewhat better than our fathers did. We build better barns and shelters for our crops and farm stock than they could afford. We do many things better than they were accustomed to do} in the less enlightened days of their experi ence. We have numerous agricultural papers, edited by intelligent men and teachers. We interchange our ideas through them. We have our annual Agricultural Society meetings and exhibitions, in a majority of our States, and in multitudes of counties, and towns, and neighborhoods of the different States. Our stock, in the main, is better than the farm stock of fifty years ago; but it can be made better by thirty per cent. than it is, by a trifle more knowledge and experience than we now possess, and a better practice in taking care of them. We owe an immense debt of gratitude to those generous and enterprising men who, of late years, at so much cost and pains, have expended their time and money in introducing improved breeds from abroad, and urging attention to them upon those who, but for their efforts, would still be groping in the dullness of past times, and delving through all their abortive attempts to ‘“ get on,” and strive, in their own darkness, at success. It is to be regretted that there exists no accurate data on which to compute the annual slaughter and consumption of beef and veal in our country. No returns of this kind have been made in the census department of the government, and it is impossible to fairly conjecture its extent. New York City, and its immediate vicinity absorbs about 6,000 head of beeves weekly, making 312,000 per annum, besides multitudes of veal calves, and large numbers of milk cows, store cattle and working oxen, which are bought for use in the surrounding country, and of which we seldom hear anything again. The Philadelphia and Baltimore markets probably take as many more, and the New 16 INTRODUCTION. England cities along the sea-board, an equal number, making a round million in the aggregate; and the Southern sea board cities 200,000 more, including Washington, Mobile and New Orleans, making 1,200,000. It is not too much to compute the consumption of the inland cities, towns and villages, altogether, at three times the number—3,600,000—swelling the aggregate to the sum of, say 5,000,000 a year.* The value of these may safely be put at $60 each, on the owner’s farm, thus raising the entire sum to $300,000,000, and perhaps higher, besides the heavy amounts which are slaughtered and packed in the interior for exportation abroad, amounting to some millions of dollars more. To these items, add the value of butter and cheese produced from cows, and the labor of working oxen, and the cattle interest of the country swells to an enormous aggregate. The quantity of butter produced, in the census returns of the year 1860, was 460,509,854 pounds, being an increase of 46 per cent. over the returns of 1850. The quantity of cheese, in *To be more exact, so far as the consumption of New York City and its immediate vicinity is concerned, we give below a condensed table taken from the New York Tribune Cattle Market reports for the year 1866, showing the annual receipts of all varieties of stock for the past thirteen years, and the prices at which beef has ruled for the year 1866. : ‘‘The weight, at which the cattle averaged, are only for the four quarters of the carcass, which includes, in value, the hide and tallow, as they are not paid for out- side of the meat. RECEIPTS OF STOCK FOR A SERIES OF YEARS. Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheep. Swine. An. Total. Theat) SB oR ood deosnsins 169,864 18,131 68,534 555,479 252,326 1,059,386 MBDO eriele ictaicversseleierel ete 155,564 12,110 47,969 588,741 318,107 1,152,491 Ik inssobseaeoonaGD6 187,057 12,857 43,081 452,739 345,911 1,051,645 SOC cetateverererettetctete< teint 162,243 12,840 84,218 444,036 288,984 942,321 DSBS Hemaeteiere totes ciclo 191,874 10,128 37,675 447,445 551,479 1,238,601 S59 wile teteieisiateisleletsierae 205,272 9,492 43,769 404,894 399.685 1,068,092 ite NL Sabedbasuadaoad 226,933 W144 39,436 518,750 323,918 LL" 181 BOLO a cere crererciniele mac 222,835 5,749 82,368 512,336 559,421 1,383,229 IKSs ;comoosougaaaED 239 486 5,878 30,465 494,342 1,148,209 1,907,880 nish: coco ouasocoudG 264,091 6,470 85,709 519,316 1,101.617 1,927,208 A SUaeme ian veetecstrert teint 267,609 7,603 75.621 %82,462 660,270 1,789,347 USGOs sere teverecteremctes 273,27 6,161 TT 99L 836,733 573,197 1,761,835 Ite ti Booepnabnosowe ae 298,582 4,885 62,114 1,030,621 666,892 2,062,894 INTRODUCTION. 17 the returns of 1860, was 105,875,135 pounds, being 340,000 pounds more than in 1850. These are dacry farm products, to say nothing of the large amount of butter and cheese made for immediate consumption in private families, of which no accurate returns were made. Then, again, is the great consumption of milk in the cities; market towns, and villages of the United States, for which no returns can be found, and even an approxi- mation in quantity cannot be accurately made. The value of the butter and cheese, at present prices, may be estimated at something like this: Butter, 460,500,000 pounds, at 25 cents, home value, . : ‘ : . $115,112,500 Cheese, 105,875,000 pounds, at 15 cents, home value, . : : +) 15/881,250 $130,993,750 Making, say, $131,000,000 for these two articles. Of cheese, about 15,000,000 pounds were then exported abroad, and the amount has since largely increased—all, chiefly the produce of the Northern States. The value of hides and tallow may be MONTHLY RECEIPTS OF 1866. Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheep. Swine. All kinds. MANUAL Yass sepa elas ssts seeeiolelss« 26,3387 505 2,259 88,819 72,417 190,337 MEDLUAGVas ewer leciecieeeracicer inser 19,204 306 81,411 66,249 36,893 124,063 MATCH octet tess caietooitios siete 18,887 5382 2,411 60,922 25,609 108,361 INTHE sonbaoucoeconosoueousads 22,112 425 %,202 56,772 34,439 120,947 Wie YsoubdadougescodusedsugDoude 28,289 471 9,281 73,085 62,126 173,252 Adftin@sooouoau0d oie 23,572 316 6,829 68,559 59,897 158,673 MUL, ieraaicrats 2 syenotcberbe eielet ks .26,602 5383 510 83,6938 48,443 166,774 PATI EUS tice eetsie atstewien=cieeciris 24,691 8385 = 4,753 92,669 42,489 164,937 September..........-..-.2----- 26,788 445 5,385 94,536 48,564 175,718 October ey Bye cle stele sleloels eet 32,980 482 %,762 135,301 91,865 268,346 November.........----+eeeeees 25,914 290 4,405 108,744 72,003 211,356 Mecember ayeseeises co sels slew- 23,556 245 2,906 101,272 72,147 200,136 “Tf we value all the beeves at the estimated average price of 15%c. per lb. for the net weight of meat, and rate them @t only 7 cwt. each, it will make the enormous sum of thirty-three millions two hundred and twenty-three thousand seven hun- * dred and twenty-three dollars and twelve cents ($33,223,723.12.)” At the prices above stated, the beef animals would average $116.50 each, from which the expenses of taking them from the farm to market must be deducted, averaging $15 to $35 each, according to the distance which they are transported. 18 INTRODUCTION. included in that of slaughtered cattle, as above stated. The prices of butter and cheese are placed low, as their wholesale home prices have ruled within the year 1866 at an average of full 30 cents for butter, and 17 cents for cheese. Thus, the annual product of our neat stock may be estimated, within bounds, at: Beef, say, . f : $300,000,000 Butter and Hesse Saye : - 131 000/000 Milk sold, say, .. : : 13,000,000 Milk produced and consumed in house- holds, say, . : : : ; 10,000,000 $454, 000,000 To this sum add the value of the labor of 2,240,000 working oxen at 25 cents each per day for 250 days in the year, besides _ the cost of keeping, making $140,000,000, and we have a sum total of $594,000,000 per annum; and adding the veals slaughtered in all parts of the country, we safely put down an aggregate of SIX HUNDRED MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year pro- duced from the neat cattle of the United States and their Territories. An interest so enormous in its investment and production—a large per centage of which, we admit, is chargeable to the food it consumes and the labor expended upon it—merits the best consideration of every one concerned, and a close study of how much profit is to be derived from it. The amount of profit is comparative, depending on the quality of the animals, the care expended upon them, and their consumption of food. That this profit is far less than it should be in a country like this, is ananifest im the wretched classes of cattle that are kept throughout a large portion of our territory, the lax manner in which they are cared, or rather uncared, for, and the stinted quantities of food they are allowed. Thus, there is evident INTRODUCTION. 19 necessity for increased attention to the selection of breeds, as well as to their breeding, rearing, feeding, and the general atten- tion bestowed upon them, and which it will be the object of these pages to suggest and enforce. The Americans, perhaps, of all people so intelligent and active in their agricultural pursuits, have been the least enter- ‘ prising in improving their breeds of cattle, or in best cultivating those which they have. It may be owing somewhat to the wide resources in land which we possess, that such facts exist, but more to the want of study in the close economy which ought to dictate our policy. At all events, we are far behind what we should be, with the advantages at hand. The United States ought to possess, and cultivate extensively the best races of cattle known. Instead of that, we possess but a comparative few of the improved breeds, which are making their progress among our farmers either by the extension of their blood in its purity, or by infusion into our common stocks, with far less celerity than they ought. Yet, we are progressing. Before closing this introduction, a word may be said of the material from which the text of our further pages is gathered. This work is not claimed as altogether original in its matter, although it is in language and manner. We have drawn what was necessary from European authorities of various kinds, both printed, and verbal. We have also made use of such domestic information of like character as we considered sound authority. Added to these, thirty odd years of personal experience, and close observation in the best breeds of Huropean, as well as native American cattle, and of their breeding and previous treatment, has led us to discriminate between the erroneous and true, and as much as lies in our power, to exclude the one, and adopt the other. Could all the discussions, essays, histories, and accounts which have appeared in our published books and agricultural periodicals, be collected and condensed into portable 20 INTRODUCTION. form, our own present labors would be unnecessary ; but lying, as these sources of information do, in fugitive volumes, or diversely scattered papers, they are both inaccessible and unavail- able to the mass of inquirers. Although having preferences for some breeds of cattle for general use, over others, it is hoped that we can fully appreciate and do justice to them all, in their own proper merits, and for the particular localities to which they are best adapted, and give to the public a truthful exposition of the subjects of which we write, in all its bearings and economies. AMERICAN CATTLE. CHAPTER I. THE CLIMATES AND SOILS OF NORTH AMERICA, AS ADAPTED TO THE PRODUCTION OF NEAT CATTLE. In the diversities of climate, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the north, to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean on the east, to the Pacific on the west, with the various elevations and depressions of the surfaces of country between, we have a range of temperature, the most favorable to the production and sustenance of neat cattle in all their best known varieties, probably, on the globe. HEminently healthful to those foreign breeds inhabiting like climates at home, they have been as successfully bred here, where introduced, with less tendencies to those diseases which vex them there, while our soils produce herbage attractive to their appetites, and favorable to the best development of their natures. From .the Mediterranean on the south, to the Baltic on the north; from the mountains of the upper Rhine in Germany and Switzerland, to the western coasts of Ireland, Normandy and Spain, the cattle of Europe have crossed the ocean, to find their homes in the congenial climates and soils of America, with the emigrating people, who reared them in their native lands. 22 AMERICAN CATTLE. In their new homes they have bred and multiplied, with equal, if not better success than in the lands they left, although subjected to the vicissitudes of change of locality, less care, and in many Instances, inadequate supplies of forage. The early cattle of America had to contend with hardships, like their owners; but surmounting them all, they multiplied and thrived apace, soon supplying all the wants of the increasing population, and yielding provisions for a growing export trade abroad. In the southern countries, they ranged on the fertile plains and sought their food throughout the year, ignorant of enclosure, and needless of shel- ter, while further north, as the climate became less favorable, and more care for their welfare was demanded, they found equally congenial homes amid the choicer grasses, and under the more comfortable shelter provided by their possessors. The virgin soils of a new country are undoubtedly more free from diseasing influences, than regions tilled or pastured for many centuries. Yet, if annoyed by insects, or subjected to miasmatic influences prejudicial to their welfare, in the new settlements, these disappear with progressive cultivation, and in the two hundred and fifty years of their existence on American soil, taken alto- gether, our country has proved the healthiest cattle region in the world. Neither ‘cattle plagues” or other deadly infectious diseases have devastated our herds, unless in an occasional in- stance by importation from abroad; and although local disorders to some extent have sometimes appeared, a timely care and pre- caution have prevented their spread, and stopped their ravages. The various soils and elevations of America, furnish in abuna- ance their choicest food, and the only discretion needed for their profitable culture is to select those varieties of cattle best appli- cable to the positions they are to occupy, and the uses demanded of them. Happily, these varieties are either already at hand, or within available reach, and it only needs examination to deter- mine the kinds required, and sufficient means to avail ourselves of CLIMATES AND SOILS. 23 their possession. Wild natural grasses, of succulent growth and nutritious quality, abound in our prairies and open plains, while our wooded regions, reduced to cultivation, readily yield the do- mestic grasses in the richest abundance. In our cotton, rice, and sugar growing latitudes, where little attention has been given to the growth of cattle, or providing the grasses for them, they. do not thrive so well, but in the hili and mountain districts of those States, with a proper regard to their provision, they flourish and prove a profitable branch of husbandry. As yet, so intent have been the people of the Southern States to seize upon the most available portions of the soil for quick returns for their capi- tal and labor, that the more elevated regions within them have been neglected, until the idea has more or less prevailed, that even for neat cattle they were unprofitable. But that delusion is fast wearing away. Their climates are eminently healthful, their soils, though broken, are good, their valleys are rich, their springs and streams pure and abundant, and it only needs an increase of their population, and the application of vigorous and intelligent labor to convert those salubrious waste districts into the finest of pastures and meadows, and speckle them with herds. So, extending over all the ranges and spurs of the Alleganies, from the mild temperatures of Georgia and Alabama, through the Carolinas and Tennessee, the higher degrees of Kentucky, the two Virginias, and Pennsylvania, those mountain regions may become the great pastural country of the Atlantic States. So, also, with the slopes and valleys of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevadas of the far West. Asin the Highland districts of Scotland, and their contiguous islands, and the neighboring Conti- nent, but on an immensely larger scale, among all these Ameri- can mountains, and plains, the lighter and more active races of cattle may breed and range in multitudmous numbers, to be @riven and fed for market on the lower plains and cultivated farms of the more populous grain growing States. 24 AMERICAN’ CATTLE? As a country, we are in the merest imfancy in-cattle growing. We have no adequate infusion of the ‘best breeds, in their variety, with which to populate these unreclaimed lands, if we had them reduced to a fitness for occupation. These varieties, or breeds, have existed for centuries in Europe, and are now bred to such perfection in their good qualities, as the cattle of no other portion of the world have attained. The domestic animals of all countries, partake more or less of a character given to them as the result of the pursuits of the people who inhabit them; and let their original race or con- dition be what they may, they gradually assimulate to the treatment and uses to which they are subjected. The finest greyhound, pointer, or spaniel dog, in the hands of an uncivil- ized American Indian, in the course of generations will become the sneaking, savage cur that follows at the heels of his vagrant master, so that his once aristocratic lineage can hardly be detected. So, the neat cattle, of whatever original or cultivated race, no matter if the pure blood of centuries has coursed uncontaminated through their veins, may become altogether estranged in appearance, by abuse, or the hardships of long and neglected endurance. Being thus fortunate, in possessing a country, fitted in its various climates, soils, and altitudes for the best developement of which 'the several races of cattle are capa- ble, we have only to direct our:attention to that extent of culti- vation which is necessary to attain the most profitable results, To the fitness of the various known breeds, or races of cattle, to the different soils, climates, and localities of our wide aay we shall address our remarks as we proceed. CHAPTER IL. NEAT CATTLE—THEIR HISTORY. Tue genus Bos, as a domesticated animal, has been the use- ful and cherished companion of man from the earliest date of history, either sacred or profane. That they were highly valued in days most ancient, we may know, from their being objects of labor, sacrifice, and worship, by different nations and people. They were esteemed articles of wealth, and sources of prosperity, and were probably cared for and cultivated with equal solicitude as any other domestic animal attached to husbandry, or of use as food. What was their normal condition as to rave or breed, as we understand races and breeds, little or nothing is known, nor is it necessary that we do know. That they were then, in their chief essentials, as now, we have no reason to doubt; and that they may have been improved, or that they deteriorated in condition as civilization progressed, or waned, with the people who held them in subjection, we have little reason to question. The hieroglyphics of Egypt, most ancient in date, rude as were all their representations of man, things, and animals, give us no accurate likeness of what they might have been among that ingenious and wonderful people, and they were probably as highly cultivated among them as any where else in cotemporary times. The earliest representations or pictures we have, give them rugged forms, enormous length of upright, or spreading horns, and gaunt appearance. The climates of the Hast permitted them to live throughout the year in the open air, and we may well suppose that nature supplied 2 26 AMERICAN CATTLE. them with the rough, long hair necessary for their protection, so usually represented in their portraits by the artists of more civilized nations. In the modern world, among the more highly cultivated classes of society, in polite literature it has been considered vulgar to talk of cattle, or to illustrate them other than as appendages to scenery, landscape, and rural representations among a rude and uncultivated people. So, too, with artists. The latter have composed cattle scenes, and introduced them as accessory to landscapes im their paintings, and so grossly have they misrepresented their forms for ‘‘artistic effect,” as to cari- cature and give the uglest appearances to them. Claude Lor- raine, Salvator Rosa, Poussin, and others of the most celebrated schools of landscape painting of olden time, as well as Paul Potter, Van Ostade, and others of more modern date, made their cows, bulls, and oxen vulgar and uncouth in shape, and wretched in condition. Hven landscape painters of the present day, with a silly affectation of ‘art,’ will put nothing resembling the noble contour of our ¢mproved cattle into a picture, but select some unhappy brute, depleted with poverty, and unkempt, as a wild buffalo in appearance, to give piquancy and effect to their drawings. For such slanderers of these noble animals, we have no respect whatever, nor for the taste of artists in the way of cattle, while yielding an unqualified admiration to their fidelity and skill in other subjects. Our modern animal painters have done better. Landseer, and Herring, among the English artists, have accorded somewhat of justice to their objects, while some of the Continental, and American artists in that line, have drawn our improved domestic animals—cattle as well as others—with admirable truth and faimess. The ancients hada high respect and admiration for their cattle. We cannot admire the Egyptian worship of their ox, apis—a NEAT CATTLE. 27 magnificent tomb of which has been recently exhumed—nor do we look with complacency on the present worship of the Brahma bull, which has been from time immemorial an object of Pagan idolatry in India; but it is evident that these subjects of adora- tion originated in a most devout appreciation of the admirable and useful qualities of the genus to which they belonged. The author of the book of Job, which the eminent sacred chronologist, Doctor Hales, dates back to the year 2,337 before the Christian EKra—whether that author was Job himself, or one of his cotemporaries—had a most poetic appreciation of the value of domestic animals. He makes Job in the days of his revived prosperity, the owner of ‘one thousand yoke of oxen,” in the enumeration of his great wealth of goods and chattels. Jeremiah—B. C. 628 years, in one of his Prophesies—speaks of ‘‘a fair heifer.” Among the Pagan writers, Homer, eighteen hundred years before the Christian Hra, celebrates the noble bullocks with “golden knobs,” or balls, ‘‘on the tips of their horns,” and describes the manner of the artisan in putting them on. Among the heathen deities, Juno is named as ‘“‘ox eyed,” in those clear and liquid features of her countenance. Virgil, who wrote his Georgiacs just before the birth of Christ, cele- brates the beautiful cattle of the Roman Campagnas, and their value in the agriculture of the people. Oxen were used for labor in husbandry, and more or less in commerce, in all countries where neat cattle were kept, and could endure the climate well, as being the most convenient beast of burden. It is probable that they were bred in their best estate by those who used them, and the cows were cultivated for dairy and household uses in the family. As they spread west and north into the higher latitudes and elevations of Europe, they somewhat changed their characters and became, as now known there, acclimated and fitted to their new conditions, and inured to the habits of the people who kept them. We may 28 AMERICAN CATTLE. suppose, too, that in the severer climates they were afforded somewhat of shelter, and more pains-taking in food and treat- ment, than in the milder latitudes where they had long ranged, and with such increased care, improved in quality and appear- ance. They took, possibly, somewhat different shapes, and con- formed, more or less, to the uses to which they were subjected. The Moors of Spain reared great herds of neat cattle, and from them descended the dominant races of Spanish herds. They were there the progenitors of the savage and headstrong bulls still sacrificed mm the arena of bull-fights and picadores. The Gauls of France, bred the gentler and more economical forms of cattle adapted to a better husbandry. By what gradual, peculiar, or natural progresses these Euro- pean cattle acquired their present distinctive characteristics, we have no definite information. History is either altogether silent or obscure on these subjects, and we have no better guide than conjecture to inform us. Throughout Western Hurope numerous different breeds exist, of diverse qualities, all more or less use- ful for the purposes to which they are applied, and profitable to the people who breed and rear them. Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and other Northern countries, each have their peculiar national breeds, while England, Scot- land and Ireland have many varieties widely divergent im char- acter and appearance. Indeed, it is not necessary, unless for speculation or curiosity, that we know the particulars of their history or progress, inasmuch as we, m America, are already in possession of the best breeds of Western Europe, fully answer- ing our own immediate purposes, and have successfully natural- ized them on our soils. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF AMERICAN CATTLE—-INTRODUCED BY THE SPAN- IARDS INTO MEXICO—BY THE ENGLISH INTO VIRGINIA—-BY THE DUTCH INTO NEW YORK—BY THE ENGLISH INTO OTHER COLONIES. Ir has been said, or conjectured, by some speculative antiqua- rians, that neat cattle were introduced to the Continent of America by the “Northmen,” who are supposed to have made a descent on to the coast from North-western Europe some centuries before the discovery of the Continent by Columbus. This, however, is simply a conjecture, as no-cattle were known before they were brought out by the Spanish and Portuguese emigrants, a few years after the voyages of Columbus. In the year 1519, the Spaniard, Cortez, discovered Mexico. He first made a landing at Vera Cruz, and not long afterwards pene- trated to the City of Mexico, then ruled by Montezuma. The object of Cortez and his party was conquest. They were _accompanied by a troop of horses, on which his cavalry were mounted for military purposes; but we have no account of any cattle in his expedition. Mexico soon became a colony of Spain, and was rapidly settled by emigrants from that country. Their first object was gold, and trade with the natives, and to their acquisitions followed agriculture, which brought in cattle from Spain. We may suppose that cattle were introduced there as early as the year 1525, and in the mild climate and abundant pasturage which the country afforded, they rapidly increased. As Mexico became peopled and spread her population along the coast, and 30 AMERICAN CATTLE. into the interior, in the course of time Texas was reached, and there were spread the foundations for the immense herds of Mexican, or, as we now call them, Texan cattle. California ~ was afterwards settled by the Spanish Mexicans, who drove their cattle thither, and in time, scattered over it numerous herds. Of these we will speak hereafter. In what are now the ‘United States,” the first English colo- nial settlement was made in Virginia, on the James river, in the year 1607, by a colony of a hundred men, which, by suffer- ing, disease, and want of food, was reduced within a year, to thirty-eight. In 1609, by new emigrations, the colony was increased to five hundred persons; but in a few months they were reduced by death to sixty. Many cows were carried from the West India Islands to Virginia in 1610, and 1611. In sue- ceeding years more adventurers came out, but in 1622, three hundred and forty-seven men, women and children were massa- cred by Indians, and the colony, in effect, broken up. Whether their cattle were also destroyed, we have no account; but the settlement was soon after renewed under better auspices and protection, and neat cattle were further introduced and propagated. New York was first settled in the year 1614, by the Dutch. That colony, after some vicissitudes, prospered. The first importation of neat cattle there, is said to have been in the year 1625, from the mother country, Holland, and they rapidly in- creased in numbers, both in breeding and further importation. In 1620, the English Plymouth colony landed in Massachu- setts. In 1623, further English colonies came out and settled at Boston, and in New Hampshire. In 1624, the first arrival of cattle entered Massachusetts Bay. These were soon followed by other arrivals. New Jersey was settled by the Dutch in 1624, and Delaware by the Swedes in 1627, who brought cattle with them. The early records of New Hampshire state that in INTRODUCED BY THE ENGLISH. 31 the years 1631, ’32 and ’33, Captain John Mason made several importations of cattle into that State from Denmark, to supply the Danish emigrants who had settled on the Piscataqua river. These Danish cattle were coarse, large beasts, and yellowish in color. Settlements were made in Maryland in 1633; in North and South Carolina in 1660 and 1670; and in Pennsylvania in 1682, all by the English, who either with the first settlers, or soon after, brought cattle over, chiefly from the counties nearest the ports from which they sailed. In all probability, numerous importations of cattle were annually made into the several col- onies, during successive years, as the emigrants came in rapidly, and the few early importations, with their increase, were insul- ficient to supply their wants. That cattle multiplied, both by natural increase and importation, is evident. We see it recorded, that in the year 1636, a party of emigrants went out to settle the town of Northboro, Massachusetts, thirty miles west of Boston, and in a company of one hundred men, women and children, they drove with them one hundred and sixty cattle— and that was but twelve years after the first importation into the colony. From these diverse and miscellaneous beginnings, our “native” cattle originated. Of what distinctive breeds they were selected, if selected with reference to breed at all, we have no information, nor, at this distance of time, can we be at all certain. Distinct breeds did then exist, well detined in their characteris- tics, both in England, and Scotland, and we are to presume, that needy and necessitous as the emigrants mostly were—going out for “conscience sake,” as many of them did, and in a hope to better their fortunes with all—they paid little regard to breed or race in their cattle, so that they gave milk, performed labor, and propagated their kind. As the colonists grew in numbers, and prospered in gear, their cattle, now become a leading branch of husbandry, aided 32 AMERICAN CATTLE. much in their subsistence. Families of considerable wealth from “‘home,” began to add their numbers to the earlier emigrants, and brought with them domestic stock of various kind, provided them forage, and gave them shelter, and in some instances, probably, selected choice specimens from favorite breeds in the localities from whence they came, with which to improve those previously imported, or their descendants, the then native herds. But in a new country, harrassed by hostile savages, difficult of loeomo- tion and intercourse with each other in distant settlements, their cattle were localized and confined to their own immediate neigh- borhoods, pushing out into new districts only with the adventur- ous parties forming settlements, where they could, of necessity, pay little attention to selection or ‘‘improvement” in their herds. They took such as they had, or such as they could get, at the least possible cost, as “‘browse” for the first few years was their principal forage in winter, “leeks” in spring, and coarse grass in summer and autumn for pasturage. The best they could do was to provide food for their families, and let their cattle shift for themselves. We presume however, that the earlier colonists, having become well settled and thrifty in circumstances, cared well for their herds and measurably improved their quality. Thus, undoubtedly, stood the condition of the neat cattle of the colonies down into the years 1700, and after. We have accounts that, as the merchants of the sea-coast towns grew rich, some enterprising ones made importations of choice breeds from England, which were driven into the country neighbor- hoods, and very considerably benefited their common stock. In the year 1608, Quebec, in Lower Canada, was founded by the French, and soon afterwards, colonists came in consider- able numbers from the western coast of France, and brought with them the little Normandy, or Brittany cattle, closely allied in blood, appearance, and quality, to the ‘Alderney ” cows of the Channel Islands. They are now propagated in all Lower INTRODUCED BY THE FRENCH. 33 Canada, and throughout the many ancient French seignories in large numbers, forming their principal stock of neat cattle. They proved excellent milkers, hardy, easy of keep, and profit- able for the dairy. ‘They are also tolerable for the yoke, and for beef. In their remote distance, and limited intercourse with the people of the English colonies, it is not probable that their herds became intermixed. We have no accounts of the kind, and the peculiar characteristics of the cattle now there, after nearly two hundred years of acclimation and breeding, show no rela- tions with the New England stock of our Northern States. CHAPTER IV. _ QUALITY, CONDITION, AND APPEARANCE OF OUR NATIVE CATTLE _To arrive at a full understanding of the varied character which our American cattle present to a discriminating eye, we must know something of the prevailing breeds of the several Kuropean localities from which their progenitors were derived. For the present, we leave out the Spanish cattle of Mexico, as they are localized only in the far South-west, and do not com- prise any considerable portion of our ordinary herds. They are now driven into the upper States, in few numbers, only for slaughter, and are not recognized as belonging to our “native” stock. The Dutch settlers of New York brought their first cattle from Holland. Those cattle then, as now, were distinctive in their appearance, of fair size, roughly formed, black and white mostly, in color, with red occasionally intermixed; short, stubbed, and crumpled in the horn; good milkers, and generally useful ani- mals. These cattle, for many years, followed the Dutch settle- ments along up the valley of the Hudson river and its tributaries, and became the chief stock of those localities. We know little of the early cattle of Virginia, only that they came from the West Indies, and England; but as the eastern sec- tions of the State were not a pastoral country, cattle were only a secondary interest in the agriculture of the people, and little attention was paid to their improvement. The Swedes brought some cattle with them into Delaware—of what character we are uninformed—bnt as they were soon superceded by the English, APPEARANCE OF NATIVE CATTLE. 30 no doubt the herds o1 the latter became the leading stock. The early English settlers of the Carolinas brought cattle with them from their native land, and although numbers of the Huguenots from France followed them, and probably brought French cattle from Normandy, the English stock became the predominating race. Nortn, and east of New York, the first settlements were mostly English, followed afterwards by a few Scotch, and occasionally by Protestants from the North of Ireland, and some Danes, into New Hampshire, and Maine, Thus the great preponderance of the early importations of cattle were from Britain, and as the Dutch colony of New York was subdued and occupied by the English in the year 1664, after which the New England people poured rapidly into the territory immedi- * ately adjoining their different settlements, we may suppose their neat stock followed and became the predominating cattle of their districts. Thus, the cattle of the colonies were mainly of British origin. In a country of salubrious climate, a genial soil, in the hands of industrious and pains-taking people, with an eye to thrift, their neat cattle multiplied rapidly, and we may suppose, that after a fifty years’ settlement, they required few further importa- tions. From what parts of England, or Scotland, and of what particular breeds these importations were derived, judging from their appearances ata later day, may become a question. We have noticed the characteristics of the early Dutch cattle, and even at the present day, strong resemblances to them are found in some of the localities where the descendants of the settlers from Holland still remain. Some inquirers have with great con- fidence asserted, judging from the cleaner limbs, the red color, and activity of the working oxen of New England, that the Devons were the original stock of its colonies, fortified by the fact that the first settlers were from Plymouth, a city of Devon- shire, on the western coast of England, the favored home of 36 AMERICAN CATTLE. that breed. But, in answer to that conclusion, the first cattle were imported into Boston, four years later than the Plymouth colony, and Boston was called after a town in Lincolnshire, on the eastern coast of England, though history is silent as to the particular localities from which these cattle were drawn. It is safe to conclude that the various importations were selected from the counties nearest the ports where the animals were shipped, and were of such character as the people selecting them had been accustomed, or were partial to, and that the herds thus brought out were an aggregation of several of the different breeds, which, once in the colonies, became intermixed in all possible degrees, without regard to their original stock, and taking such character as the fancy or taste of their different owners preferred. Hence, they became here a mixed race, par- taking more or less in appearance of their original blood, some predominating over others. The Devons, red in color, clean limbed, and sprightly in action, undoubtedly came over, and were many in number, as their descendants, more or less strong in the original blood, have shown. The Herefords, also, were here, with their larger bodies, white faces and throats. The coarser short-horns of Lincoln- shire, from its own port of Boston, came too, with great car- casses, loosely put together, mixed colors, bountiful in milk, and strong for labor. The long-horns from Lancashire, shipped at its port of Liverpool, occasionally came out, as shown in many New England cattle late in the last century, and early in this. The polled, or hornless cows of Suffolk, and Norfolk, and possi- bly some Galloways from Scotland, came, as their descendants are still seen im the numerous polled cattle of Long Island, New Jersey, and a few other localities. With many people these polled cows, famous for milk, are decided favorites. It is probable, also, that an occasional shipment of Alderney, or the Channel Island eattle, was made from the coast of Hampshire, where CONDITION OF NATIVE CATTLE. 37 they have long been kept, and now and then a Kyloe, from the South of Scotland. From all these sources, our native cattle~ originated, and so strongly have their different characteristics prevailed, that even now, in the localities where they have long been kept, an occasional one may be found in which a prepon- derance of the original blood “crops out,” denoting its proba- ble descent. As emigration proceeded from the eastern coast to the interior, their neat cattle went with the people, intermixing _ still more in their new and scattered localities, until they became an indefinite compound of all their original breeds, and compos- ing, aS we now find them, a multitude of all possible sorts, colors, shapes and sizes. Thus our ‘‘native cattle,” as we call them, have no distinctive character, or quality, although in some of the States, as a stock, they are better than in others. In the rough lands of New England where oxen were, and are still chiefly used for farm labor, and the dairy has long been an important branch of agricultural industry, their oxen are admir- able for work, and their cows celebrated for their dairy qualities. They had also been bred with more care to selection than in almost any other section. The farmers preferred the red color, and high, spreading horns, leaning more towards the Devons, and Herefords. In fact, during the last century, and the earlier part of the present, the New England cattle were spoken of by many partial admirers as a ‘‘breed,” so carefully had certain qualities been cultivated in them by their breeders. The ‘South Branch” of the Potomac, in Western Virginia, a broad, fertile, and fine pastoral region, has long been, down to a late day, celebrated for its fine cattle. rom them sprung the well-known herds of the ‘‘Blue Grass” regions of Kentucky, and the Scioto valley, famous in the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets as beef cattle, before the short-horns of the ‘Patton stock,” and the “importations of 1817” were sent among them. 38 AMERICAN CABWLE. The best cattle have not always followed the best lands. Those people who planted themselves in the finer grain growing regions of the interior, although using oxen for labor, more or less, until their farms were subdued and brought into easier cul- tivation, abandoned them for horses, as beasts of labor, and became indifferent to any selection of breeds; and as they did not become graziers, or dairymen, except for domestic use, and the supply of the local markets with beef and butter, they paid little attention to their cows, in comparison with those who made beef, and butter, and cheese their chief staples; thus their cattle stock was inferior. It was so with the planting interests of the South; cattle became a secondary object throughout the Mid- dle and Southern States, and so remained until a comparatively recent time. The result of all these indefinite and purposeless intermixtures of breed is now daily seen in herds which are brought into our eastern markets, from the principal stock growing States—a huge preponderance of inferior animals, both bullocks and cows. They are of all possible shapes, colors, and character, from the very worst to tolerably good, except in those districts where “improved” blood has been introduced, and better care in breed- ing and keeping has been practiced. There, really fine cattle are to be found. The chief defects of these common cattle are in therr lack of early maturity, (requiring five to seven years to mature them,) hard “handling,” prominence of bone, a large pro- portion of offal to flesh, and an uncertainty both as to the quan- tity and quality of milk with the cows—all resulting from negligence, and want of care in breeding and using them. It would appear from the looks of these animals, that the best bull calves—if there were any best about them—were made into steers, and the meanest kept for propagating their race, and the best heifers, tending to early maturity, were turned into beef, while the worst were reserved for breeding, and the dairy. PROFITS OF NATIVE CATTLE. 39 Such might be supposed the rule. That there have been, and still are, many exceptions to the above somewhat broad remark, is admitted, but these exceptions are of stock belonging to pains- taking individuals and communities in the best cattle rearing districts, rather than among the farmers generally. As to the profit of breeding, rearing, and fattening cattle of the lower qualities above noticed, perhaps the less said the better. That there was not, and is not any profit in them, com- pared with well selected, and well bred animals of the kind, is certain, They are great consumers of food in proportion to the flesh they carry, as a beef animal; and although numerous instances of wonderful feats at the pail have been recorded of the cows, yet the uncertainty of even these good cows pro- ducing an offspring equally meritorious, has been an utter bar to establishing a race, from among themselves, of superior, or even standard value for the dairy. It is a chance medley affair altogether—a mere ticket in a lottery, the chances of drawing a blank greater than that of a prize. To the farmer, then, desirous of getting a foundation for a profitable stock, either for beef, working oxen, or the dairy, from such incongruous intermixtures, his chances are, at the best, precarious. He may make selections from them, perhaps, which will promise something, and by a long course of pains-taking he may improve them to some perceptible extent; but at the end of a lifetime he will find the same things on his hands at last. Thus, his efforts will prove, in the absence of really good breeds crossed upon them, a failure. That he may make selections ot cows from such stock, on which, with the use of bulls of good established breeds, he can build up valuable herds for the sham- bles, the yoke, and the dairy, is certain. These native cows, from the necessities of the case, must be the foundation on ~ which he must rely for that purpose, the manner of which we shall more thoroughly discuss hereafter. 40 AMERICAN CATTLE. In summing up the foregoing remarks, the reader will conclude that the writer has little affection for our “native” cattle. In the mass, he has not. Yet there are wide and numerous excep- tions, and among these exceptions we can name no definite class of the natives among which to particularize. Our choice would — be of individual animals only, not of herds taken as they run. Even on those of our choice, we would not rely for improvement by breeding among themselves only, but by the introduction of pure bred bulls of some established breed, would we look for permanent progress in our herds. CHAPTER V. THE ANATOMICAL AND ECONOMICAL POINTS OF CATTLE. Asa good deal will hereafter necessarily be said upon the various points of cattle, an illustration of them is given in the -animal itself. It is the outline side view of a well bred short- horn ox, but applicable to any other breed—or no breed—as well, and will show the various parts more or less valuable as a consumable article, or as delineating qualities, the prominence in which, in either sex, may render them desirable for the uses which are to be made of ee Xt ‘ My, "i Wi a “ig A—Forehead. B—Face. C—Cheek. D—Muzzle. E—Neck. F—Neck vein. G—Shoulder point. H—Arm. I—Shank., SOS Pg fly Uf ¢ Ve yo Ne fh "4 fo ae ey. Wy fj, W Plate 1. REFERENCES. J—Hock, or gambril. K—Elbow. L—Brisket, or breast. M—Shoulder. Q—Crupper bone. R—Rump. Ss SNS uh NF Uh a S—Round bone. T—Buttock. U—Thigh, or gaskit. V—Flank W—Plates. X—RBack, or chine. Y—Throat, Z—Chest, 42 AMERICAN CATTLE. These points it is necessary that every cattle manager should understand, as they are the marks which, in their development, or absence, make up a great share of the value, or beauty, or ugliness of shape of the animal. The prominence of these points’ vary in the different breeds, or races. They also indi- cate, measurably, to what uses, and to what soils, the animals more strongly showing them, are best adapted, and a familiarity with the terms necessary to mark the criticisms which breeders or graziers may make on them. A rear view of the animal, which is hardly necessary to give, would develop another point which is omitted in the diagram, viz.: The “twist,” or junction of the thighs, the proper position of which, high or low, is quite important in adding to or sub- tracting from the value of the beast. The poimt is named here, as a reference may frequently be made to it hereafter. The true value of an animal for beef purposes, depends on its lightness of “offal” when slaughtered, in comparison with its flesh; therefore the less bone, and poor flesh, the better. A coarse and open bone, by which is meant an undue growth and protuberance of that portion of the carcass, carries with it less valuable flesh than a fine, compact bone; therefore no more bone is necessary than, in its proper position and development, will give the substance and breadth necessary to carry the amount of flesh required. Some cattle are so loosely, or sleazily put together that the ligaments necessary to connect the dif- ferent parts of their bodies are unnecessarily large, making tough meat, though ever so well fed; thus rough, coarse animals are unprofitable in every way, as they are large consumers of food, and weigh less at slaughtering than the more compact ones of less apparent size, while their flesh is of inferior quality. Coarse bone bears more offal (bone is offal,) in worthless flesh, in pro- portion to live weight, than jine bone does. Coarse bone gives more dewlap, and loose skin, than fine, and as the hide is usually ECONOMICAL POINTS. 43 of less value than flesh, an undue weight of hide is unprofitable. Coarse bone gives less tallow, too, a larger belly, more paunch, and less lungs, besides more ‘‘daylight” under the carcass—all bad points. In short, a coarse, rough boned beast is bad, all round, while a smooth, fine bone, properly placed, is a great. excellence, either in a bullock for slaughter, a working ox, or a milking cow; and this fineness should prevail throughout, from the muzzle to the tail, and the hoofs. As a rule, strength, activity, and good constitution accompany fine boned animals, while comparative weakness, sluggishness, and tendency to disease accompany large boned ones. Horn is offal; therefore an undue development of it is worthless—not only worthless, but a damage, and like bone, an utter loss in the weight of car- cass. Hide being of less value, no greater development of that material is needed than to answer its purpose of protection to the flesh and muscle beneath it; therefore a rough, thick, and heavy hide is a bad point; yet whatever the hide may be, it should be sufficiently loose and flexible to the touch to indicate an elastic flesh within it. The head—usually all offal—is in most instances a fair indication of the character of a beast. A coarse, bony head almost always accompanies a coarse boned body, and a comely, handsome head a fine boned one. So with the tail, coarse or fine, as the creature itself may be. Having given a diagram of a comely, well bred beast, we now refer to some decidedly bad ones. It might be considered hardly worth while to do so, when one can so readily find them out of doors, but for ready comparison we refer to the cut of Texan cattle in another place, and the analysis of points just given in the good beast, may be applied to them to mark the difference. In the Texan cattle, their deficiencies throughout are seen in striking contrast to the firm, even fleshed carcass of the other. The flat rib, narrow chest, ragged dewlap, thin flank, long leg, 44 AMERICAN CATTLE. and the looseness of the anatomy generally, contrasted with the round springing rib, wide chest, clean neck, deep flank, short leg, and compact carcass of the other, shows the superi- ority of the latter in every way, so that the merest neophyte cannot mistake the difference; yet the spectator in our cattle markets will see many more bad specimens than good ones, and many of the bad not much better than the Texans; or, if all their unnecessary offal, by extraordinary pains and feeding, be covered with a reasonable quantity of flesh, it 1s done at a great waste of good fodder. Men inured by long habit to a partiality for the common cattle, always contending that “the breed is in the mouth,” and blindly averse to all improvement, may insist on the equality of their rough beasts to the finer ones. But it is of no use. Measured by the scales, both animal and food, and the time it takes to bring the creature to the block—the only way to settle the matter—they must be unprofitable; and, compared with improved animals, the time, labor, and food bestowed on them by their owners, is measurably lost. Our beef eating population —and almost all are such—know the difference between the good and poor article. They will take the one at a good price, provided the article can be had at all, and reject the other at, a lower one. Our agriculture is now sufficiently advanced to breed and rear good animals, while the poor should be discarded ; and it is a waste of both time and money to adhere to the poor, so long as the valuable ones can be procured. Nothing but sheer ignorance, or obstinacy, can be an apology for adhering to a bad practice in anything; and when only a common dili- gence and foresight is necessary to acquire the good, he who doggedly persists in the bad, deserves little sympathy, either for his want of success, or absolute losses. CHAPTER VI. IMPROVED BREEDS OF CATTLE—WHAT ARE THEY? Havine demonstrated—satisfactorily, we trust—the absence of a due utility in the common cattle of our country, and the need of something better, we arrive at the consideration of those distinct breeds, of foreign origin, which are to aid in exalting our herds to those points of excellence so eagerly desired by all who appreciate our singular advantages of soil and climate for the attainment of that object. It is no new thing to say that Great Britain in its insular position, its redundant population, its energetic enterprise, and the absolute necessity which has compelled the development of every resource at command to improve the condition of its agri- culture, stands in advance of all nations with which we -are acquainted, in the excellence of its neat cattle. Its enlightened land holders and farmers have taken the different local breeds long familiar to their various districts, and by a wise selection, care in breeding, and the application of proper food and treat- ment, produced specimens of bovine excellence at once the admiration, and worthy the imitation of all who aspire to equally high attainments in their stock. We say this in no fulsome laudation, but with a settled conviction of the fact. We have tested in our own country, the results of their efforts in the improvement of their various breeds of cattle, and finding them to answer our purposes equally well, it is wise in us to follow their example as it was discreet in them, for their own benefit, to become our models. Satisfied, therefore, that we 46 AMERICAN CATTLE. cannot resort to a better source for the purposes we seek, a description of several of their most approved breeds is necessary, that their application to our uses may be understood, and on due consideration, adopted. Great Britain is an old country. England—all, probably, of it that was worth the conquest—was invaded and possessed by the Romans before the Christian Era. It was held by them so long as they had the power, and until the unconquered spirit of the ancient Britons, after near four centuries of Roman rule, drove the more civilized invaders out and re-established their own authority. Barbarians, when the Romans invaded them, comparative barbarism still held sway over the people when the Romans went out. The adjoining and even less civilized people of Scotland, were hardly worth a conquest by the Romans, had they sought it. They held their own mountain fastnesses and barren islands, and only suffered by the occasional inroads of the neighboring continental invaders, who long afterwards rav- aged England. With the conquering Saxons, in the fifth cen- tury, came into England some better dawnings of civilization and progress in the arts of life; but with the invasion of the Normans in the eleventh century, under the first William, began the progress which has since advanced England, and afterward Scotland, to a higher civilization, and their agriculture to a more perfect condition than that of any other country in Hurope. Cattle, always numerous in England, furnished the people with food in their flesh, and partial clothing in their skins. They were exported to countries abroad, with various other articles of commerce, under the dominion of the Romans. While the Danes were ravaging England with varied success under the Saxon rule, cattle were brought in from the neighboring conti- nent, and also exported from the island. They were kept in such numbers as to be a considerable portion of the wealth of the people, and oxen were much used for labor. With the IMPROVED BREEDS. 47 dominion of the Normans, came the division of the land into the great estates given to the retainers of the Conqueror, and the gradual subdivision and settlement of these estates into farms, the establishment of a tenantry, and after a long time, an improvement in their agriculture. There was little intercourse among the people belonging to different localities. Roads were few and bad; for some centuries, the tenants mostly paid their rent in kind. Of the cattle reared on the farms, the surplus were chiefly driven away by dealers who purchased them of the farmer at his own door, or at the neighboring cattle fair. The home herds were thus localized, and became indigenous to the soils on which they were reared. Hence breeds were gradually established in different districts, or localities, although their pecu- liarities may have followed them from remote periods, or been introduced from abroad. So they descended, and we hear little of them, or their improvement, until a late period in the history of British agriculture. Early after the year 1700, when Great Britain had become one of the first commercial nations, her commerce whitening every sea, and her foreign conquests and colonial settlements reaching various quarters of the globe, her manufactures become a source of great national wealth, and the enclosure of her waste lands and the highest improvement of her acres had become indispensable to the welfare of the people, we begin to hear of the improvement of her breeds of cattle. Many papers and books have been written about these breeds by various authors, some in the last century, and more in the present. Among all the authors, Youatt, the most elaborate, and discrimi- nating in races, and breeds, together with the compilations of their several histories—so far as he could find them—has been the chief. This author, a man of education and a Veterinary Surgeon, living in the vicinity of London, was employed by “The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge” to com- 48 AMERICAN CATTLE. pile a work on ‘British Cattle.” The book is chiefly compiled _ from various contributions sent to him by men of knowledge and experience on the subject, with accounts obtained from other authors, and their publications, aided by personal observa- tions of his own. It is an excellent book, on the whole, and contains, probably, a more correct body of information in that line than can be drawn from any other individual source, though not altogether free from error, or prejudice. We have drawn a share of our information from Youatt, some from other well- known British writers of the last century, others in the present century, as well as some from American writers. We do not name all our authorities—very few, indeed—as many of them were authorities to Youatt, as well as to our own writers, and we find more or less of them quoted and repeated by all. It is sufficient to say, that we have examined and analyzed, with much care, these various authorities, preserving such as bore the semblance of truth and probability in their accounts, and reject- ing those only, not necessary to our purpose. British cattle, by general consent of these authors, appear to be subdivided into four distinct classes—the middle-horned, long- horned, short-horned, and polled, or hornless. They all have, or until recently, had their own various localities and districts in the several parts of England and Scotland, where they have existed from a remote period. Hach were favorites among the farmers and breeders of their homes, rarely taken out of their districts, except for market, and until after the middle of the last century, like the people who reared them, strangers to other parts of the kingdom, and migrating back and forth no farther than to the nearest market towns, or district fairs. Thus they became homogeneous, deeply interbred among their own tribes, and closely retaining their own distinctive qualities, uncontami- nated by the blood of other breeds, and transmitting their quali- ties and characteristics with a pertinacity and truth, of which IMPROVED BREEDS. 49 those giving the subject little study, can scarce realize. As such they have come to us, and only as such we know them. We commence a description of the different breeds, which our volume is intended to enumerate, with the middle-horned breeds of England; and first of these, take that one appa-— rently most ancient in lineage. CHAPTER VII. MIDDLE-HORNED CATTLE—THE DEYONS. Tus beautiful race has been considered, by some authors, aboriginal, and are claimed to have been known in England at the time of its invasion by the Romans. It is certain that their fineness of limb, uniformity of color, delicacy of proportion, and depth of breeding, give them claims to a distinction which no other race of English cattle exhibit; and be the fact of their remote origin as it may, there is no necessity of disputing it, or speculating on other probabilities. They are like no others, and by no intermixture of any other known breeds have they been, or can they be produced. In what degrees of excellence the Devons existed during past centuries, we are unable to say; but that they possessed valuable qualities which endeared them strongly to the people who bred them is certain. Great attention has been paid to their improve- ment during a century past, and probably not neglected for centuries before. Not a single infusion of the blood of other known cattle can be detected in them, and for their improve- ment, as Devons, none other can be devised. In the good judg- ment, sagacity, skill, care, and pains-taking of their breeders alone, must be sought the means by which they stand in their present condition of excellence and beauty. As no written description can convey to the unpracticed eye their exact appearance, we shall illustrate them by accurate portraits, taken from life, and as the portraits cannot show them in all their, points, a more particular description is added. ¢ THE DEVONS. ol The head—lean in flesh, is rather short, the forehead broad, the face slightly dishing, and tapering gracefully to a fine, clean, yellow muzzle. The eye—bright, prominent, and surrounded by a ring of orange colored, or yellow skin. The horn—upright, : NN AN h i} Plate 2. Devon Bull. and curving outward, cream colored, black at the tips, graceful in its setting, aud rather long, for the size of the animal. The ear—well set, and lively in action. The neck—on a level (in the bull slightly archmg) with the head and shoulders; full at its junction with the breast, clean, and without dewlap. The shoulders—fine, open, (somewhat slanting, like those of the horse,) and on a level with the back. The neck-vein—full, and smooth. The arm—delicate, and the leg below the knee, small, terminating in a clean, dull brown, and somewhat striped hoof. The brisket—full, and projecting well forward. The crops— well filled, and even with the shoulders. The back—straight from the shoulders to the tail. The rbs—springing out roundly from the back, and running low down, to enclose a full chest, 52 AMERICAN CATTLE. and setting well back towards the hips, giving a snug, neat belly. The flanks—full, and low. The hips—wide, and level with the back. The loin—full, and level. The thigh—well fleshed and full, the lower part somewhat thin, and gracefully tapering to the hock; the leg below, small, flat, and sinewy. The twist—(the space between the thighs) well let down, and open. The tail—taper, like a drum stick, and terminating with a brush of white hair. The color—invariably a cherry red, sometimes showing a lighter, or deeper shade, and the skin, under the hair, a rich cream color. The bull, of course, will show the stronger, and masculine character of his sex, while the ox will develop the finer points of his condition, and the cow, all the delicacy and refinement belonging to her race. In the roundness, and fullness which accompany the proper development of the points named, the silky, wavy laying of the hair, and the elastic touch of the flesh as the finger is pressed upon it, every beholder will at once see, in appearance, a most bloodlike and graceful animal. In size, the Devon is medium, compared with our native cattle. A well grown ox, in good working condition, will range from 1,400 to 1,600 pounds live weight. The bull from 1,000 to 1,200, and the cow from 800 to 1,000 pounds. They sometimes exceed the heaviest of these weights, but such are the average. Fatted to a high degree, they will, of course, weigh heavier. In size, it is said, in England, that they are larger than they were a hundred years ago, before the attention of their breeders was thoroughly attracted to their improvement. From time immemorial they were chiefly bred in the northerly part of Devonshire, (and thus called North Devons,) one of the south- western counties, in a mild climate, abounding in good pasturage. They have since spread into the adjoining counties, and many years ago, (within the present century,) were taken into the higher county of Norfolk, on the Eastern Coast, by the late Earl THE DEVONS. 53 of Leicester, (then the noted Mr. Coke, of Holkham, a distin- guished farmer, and landed proprietor,) as he considered them eminently fitted for grazing on the light sandy soil of his estates. They are now bred in many other counties of Hngland, and are decided favorites on hilly soils, where their lighter weights and activity im movement are better adapted to grazing and labor than the more sluggish cattle of the heavier breeds. The most noted breeders of Devon cattle in England, for the past forty years, have been the Davy brothers, Messrs. Quartly, Merson, Childs, Turner, the Duke of Bedford, and some others in the west of England, the Harl of Leicester, and Mr. Bloom- field, in Norfolk, and among the earliest of the improvers, the Lords Somerville, and Western. From the herds of all these breeders, noted prize animals have been drawn, and their fame has largely added to the popularity and dissemination of the breed. As an economical animal, the Devon may be classed under three distinct heads, viz.: for the dairy, the yoke and the shambles, AS A DAIRY COW, The Devon may be called mediwm, in the quantity of milk she yields, and in its quality, superior. The older, or unimproved race, were somewhat noted for the quantities of milk they pro- duced, as well as its good quality. A gallon of Devon milk yielded more butter than that of almost any other breed, as it does now, except the Alderney. But their improvers, in the attainment of a finer form, and heavier substance in their ani- mals, perhaps sacrificed somewhat of the quantity of milk, for the more liberal development of flesh, well knowing that both flesh and milk could not thrive equally together in the same animal; although, when the milk ceased, the flesh came on with due rapidity, under generous feed. Yet, with an eye to breeding her solely for milk, she is well fitted for a dairy cow. Docile in temper, easy of keep, placable im disposition, she is 5A AMERICAN CATTLE readily managed. Her udder is soft, tidy in shape, with thin, silky hair upon it, clean, taper teats, easily drawn, and every way satisfactory to her keeper. We submit a portrait of a well bred cow, dry of her milk and fatted, in which will readily be seen the fully developed charac- teristics of her race. Plate 8. Devon Cow. As an evidence of the milking qualities of the Devons, very considerable dairies of them have long been kept in England. In Youatt, is an account by Mr. Conyers, of Epping, who, in the year 1788, kept a dairy of them. ‘He preferred the Devons on account of their large produce, whether in milk, butter, or by suckling. He thought that they held their milk longer than any other sort that he had tried; that they were liable to fewer disorders in their udders; and being of small size, they did not eat more than half what larger cows consumed. He thus sums up his account of them: ‘Upon an average, ten cows gave me sixty pounds of butter per week, in summer, and twenty-four 5 on THE DEVONS. pounds in the winter. A good North Devon cow fats two calves a year.’” Other favorable accounts are given, yet some are different. They speak of a less quantity of milk given by Devons, but the quality as remarkably rich. Count de Gourcy, an intelligent French agriculturist, and traveler in England, remarked that Mr. Bloomfield’s Devon cows, on the estate of Lord Leicester, in Norfolk, each averaged four pounds of butter per week, the year round. te It is to be regretted that English published accounts of the dairy production of the Devons are so meager. We have fuller and more favorable accounts of them in America. Mr. George Patterson, of Maryland, who, for many ‘years has owned the largest herd of pure bred Devons in the*United States—some seventy or eighty in number—remarked to the writer, when at his farm in the year 1842, that his cows were better milkers, and yielded more butter on an average than any other breed. His stock is descended from some of the best animals of Mr. Bloomfield, the principal breeder of the superior herd of the Harl of Leicester, (both already noticed,) and since crossed by occasional imported bulls from the same herd. Mr. Patterson has always bred his cows with a special eye to their milking properties, and in them and their descendants, in different parts of the country, have been found many remarkable good milkers. Other accounts, entered in our memoranda at the time, were equally satisfactory. We have good authority of some of them yielding ten to twelve pounds of butter per week. Other breeders who have kept choi¢e herds of Devons for several years, have repeatedly assured .us that they were superior milkers. They have given 18, 20, and 22 quarts of milk per day, for months after calving, under steady milking. Our own experience has been something in this line. We have kept thorough bred Devons thirty-four years—sometimes as high as twenty-five or thirty (not all milk cows) in number. 56 AMERICAN CATTLE. Many of them have been excellent milkers, and some of them extraordinary, for their size. We once had two three year old heifers, with their first calves, which gave for some three months after calving, on pasture only, with steady milking, an average of eighteen quarts per day; and from cows which we have at different times sold to go to other States, the accounts of their milk have been equally good. It is but fair to say however, that after we commenced crossing our cows with bulls of later importations, some fifteen years after the commencement of the herd, the large milkers were not so numerous, although the cattle from these crosses were somewhat finer. The bulls we used were apparently bred from stocks highly improved, with an effort more to develop their feeding properties, than for the dairy. After all, our Devons yielded, on an average, quite as much as any common cows we ever kept, with much less con- sumption of forage. With all her alleged deficiencies, the Devon possesses the inherent qualities of a good milker. Her dairy faculties may be bred out of her by neglect of that important item, and with a view to give her an earlier maturity, and more weight of flesh; but even under that system, she will occasionally persist, as we have known in various instances, in giving a large flow of milk, exceeding many common cows of equal size. On the whole, from the accumulated accounts we have received from time to time, coupled with our own experience, we pronounce the Devons, as a race, when bred with an eye to the development of the dairy quality, considering their size, and consumption of food, good dairy cows, both in the quantity of milk they give, and the butter it yields. AS A WORKING OX. In this valuable quality, no animal of the same size and weight equals the Devon—for the following reasons: They are, among cattle, what the ‘thorough bred” is among horses. According THE DEVONS. 57 to their size, they combine more fineness of bone, more muscular power, more intelligence, activity, and “bottom,” than any other breed. They have the slanting shoulder of the horse, better fitted to receive the yoke, and carry it easier to themselves than any others, except the Herefords. With all workers of oxen, the nearer a beast approaches mm shape, appearance, and action to the Devon, the more valuable he is considered, according to weight. For ordinary farm labor, either at the plow, the wagon, or the cart, he is equal to all common duties, and on the road his speed and endurance is unrivalled. It is in these qualities that the New England oxen excel others of the country generally, and why the people of that section often call their red oxen ‘‘ Devonshires,” when they cannot, to a certainty, trace any, or but a small portion of that blood in them, only by a general appearance and somewhat like action. For active, handy labor on the farm, or highway, under the careful hand of one who likes and properly tends him, the Devon is every thing that is required of an ox, in docility, intel- ligence, and readiness, for any reasonable task demanded of him. Their uniformity in style, shape, and color, render them easily matched, and their activity in movement. particularly on rough and hilly grounds, give them, for farm labor, almost equal value to the horse, with easier keep, cheaper food, and less care. The presence of a well conditioned yoke of Devon cattle in the market place at once attests their value, and twenty-five to fifty dollars, and even more price over others of the common stock are freely given by the purchaser. The Devon, in his lack of great size, is not so strong a draught ox as some of the other breeds—the Herefords, for instance—or perhaps some of the larger of the common cattle; but, “for his inches,” no horned beast can outwork him. On light soils, and on hilly roads, none other equals him, although we intend to give 58 AMERICAN CATTLE. all their due share of merit. Our cut is that of a prize stall-fed steer, at four years old. It shows his flesh-taking qualities in high perfection. sh) RN ares i Hh) i ( (ffs i iS ean fe AN Plate 4. Devon Ox, AS A BEEF ANIMAL, We must place the Devon in the first class, for fineness of flesh and delicacy of flavor. Its compact bone gives it the one, and its rapid and thorough development under good feeding gives it the other. In growth and size it matures early, equal to the short-horn, and its meat is finer grained, juicy, and nicely marbled, (the lean and fat intermixed.) In the London markets, Devon beef bears the highest price of any, except the Highland Scot—usually a penny a pound over that of larger breeds, and our American butchers quickly pick the Devons from a drove, when they can find them, before most others. They feed well, take on flesh rapidly, and in the quality of their flesh, are all that can be desired. The following weights of Devons from the London, Smith- field markets, are given: THE DEVONS. 39 One 5 years 11 months old, dead net weight, 1,593 lbs.; one 3 years 7 months old, dead net weight, (rough tallow 160 lbs.) 1,316 lbs.; one 3 years 10 months old, dead, net weight, (rough tallow 128 lbs.) 904 Ibs. The Earl of Leicester’s steers, at four years old, on his Holkham estates, gave dead net weights of 1,000, 1,200, and even 1,400 lbs. Those of the Duke of Nor- folk, near Bury, in Suffolk, made 900 to 1,000 pounds each. These were all highly fed, and possibly, some of them, prize beef. A 3 years 10 months old steer, in Genesee County, N. Y., gave, dead net weight, 1,200 lbs.—hide and rough tallow in- cluded—the latter being over 100 lbs. The late Mr. Lemuel Hurlburt, of Winchester, Connecticut, fed a pair three-fourths Devon cattle, having worked them till six years old, and fed them 15 months afterwards. Their weights were as follows: No. 1—Carcass, . ; . 1,438 Ibs. aides: ‘ . 117 lbs. Tallow, . : é 175 lbs.—1,730 lbs. No. 2—Carcass, . : = lo28 lbs! Endesi%: : ; 115 lbs. Mallowi; ; : 213 lbs.—1,856 lbs. We have had slaughtered many of our own grass fed steers, three-fourths, to seven-eighths, and thorough bred Devon, at 3!¢ years, which made 700 to 850 lbs. net weight of beef, hide, and tallow, and never fed anything but grass and hay, from calves. After all we have said of the Devon—and our praise is not too high—popular opinion in America has, to a considerable extent, classed him as too small in size for the most profitable uses—“ They haven’t growth enough.” But for their apparent size, and actual measurement, no animal of his race, not even a short-horn, will weigh a heavier carcass of the best meat, laid on in the choicest parts. With some, his want of size is an available objection, with others not. In the Southern States the Devon is often preferred to any other breed. They gather 60 AMERICAN CATTLE. their food with more ease, they bear the climate well, are more free from diseases than many others. On our high lands and mountain ranges, with short grasses, sometimes not easy of access to heavier cattle, they must prove profitable graziers, and as a beef producing animal will answer a valuable purpose where others would fail. DEVONS IN THE UNITED STATES. It is a subject of regret that our accounts of the earlier intro- duction of these cattle to this country are so meager. There is little doubt, from the appearance of many of the New England cattle in the last and present centuries, that some Devons, in their purity, were early brought into Massachusetts. Traditional tales of their neat limbed, sprightly, red, high-horned cattle, have existed, and that they sprung from a Devon cross is beyond a question. But we have no particular published records of these importations until the year 1817, when Messrs. Caton & Pat- terson, merchants of Baltimore, Maryland, received several of them from ‘‘Mr. Coke, of Holkham.” These, a few years afterwards, fell into the hands of Mr. Geo. Patterson, (already noticed, ) son of one of the importing partners, who retains their descendants to the present time. This stock has been largely multiplied, and spread through various parts of the country. A year later—1818—Rufus King, the distinguished statesman, of Jamaica, Long Island, N. Y., imported a few animals from Mr. Coke’s herd. Not long after the Caton & Patterson stock came over, Mr. Henry Thompson made an importation of a few Devons into Baltimore. There may have been some few other importations into Boston, or other ports, about the same time, or a little later than these, but we have no particular accounts of them. About the year 1835-6, an English farmer named Vernon, THE DEVONS. 61 brought a bull and cow into Genesee County, N. Y., from the herd of Mr. Davy, in England. In 184— the Massachusetts Agricultural Society made a con- siderable importation of Devons into that State, which were some time afterwards distributed in various parts of New England. About the years 1852-3, Mr. L. G. Morris, of Westchester, N. Y., imported several Devons from the herds of Mr. Quartly, and others, in Devonshire. About the same years, Mr. Ambrose Stevens, of Batavia, N. Y., brought out a number from the herds of Messrs. Davy, Merson, and others. Concurrent with these two last, Mr. C. S. Wainright, of Rhinebeck, N. Y., made two or three different importations from the best and most popular breeds abroad. A. few years later, the late Mr. Edward G. Faile, of West- chester, N. Y., imported several superior Devons from the choice herds of Devonshire. These comprise all that we now recollect, and were of the choicest selections—the cattle equal, probably, in style and quality, to any in England. All these herds have been carefully bred, and their produce widely disseminated. If preserved and bred as they should be, they will continue of great benefit in improving the lighter cattle stocks of our country. It may be well to remark that the race of which we have written, are called, in England, ‘‘ North” Devons, as distinguish- ing them from another called ‘South’? Devons—a somewhat larger, coarser, and less esteemed variety, existing in South Dev- onshire, and the adjoining county of Sussex. CHAPTER VIII. THE HEREFORDS. AFTER giving so extended a chapter on the Devons—which we have partially done for convenient reference in remarking on some other breeds, to save frequent repetition—it will not be necessary to describe the Herefords so minutely. Although comparatively little known in this country, they are a valuable . breed, and their origin dates far back in the history of English cvttle. The principal counties in England in which they are kept, are Hereford, Shropshire, Gloucester, and Oxford, and some counties adjoining Hereford, in Wales. They are also found in other counties, but those named are their principal homes. Ever since breeds of cattle have been discussed, in modern days, the Hereford has been named as of ancient descent. To what extent, concurrent with other breeds, they have been improved, it is not easy to say; but that they have received great attention within a century past, and no doubt been much improved, is certain, as we learn by English authorities. The Herefords of a hundred years ago, were deep red—almost brown —in color, with mottled faces; now, they are usually red, with shades sometimes running into light, or yellowish red, with white faces, throats, bellies, and sometimes backs, and occasion- ally a roan of red and white mixed, and more rarely, an almost clear white, with red ears, is found among them. From a ‘‘lecture” delivered by Mr. T. Duckham, on Hereford cattle, in the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester, Hng., we extract the following: THE HEREFORDS. 63 “Mr. Rowlandson, in his prize report on the ‘Farming of Herefordshire,’ published in the Journal of the Royal Agricul- tural Society of England, Vol. 32, says, ‘the Herefords were originally brown, or reddish-brown.’ He also relates the fol- lowing story of the appearance of a white-faced bull in the herd of Mr. Tully, Huntington, near Hereford: ‘About the middle of the last century, (1750,) the cow-man came to the house, announcing as a remarkable fact, that the favorite cow had produced a white-faced bull calf. This had never been known to have occurred before, and as a curiosity, it was agreed that the animal should be kept and reared as a future sire;’ and adds, ‘that the progeny of this very bull became celebrated for white faces.’” “The same authority (Mr. Rowlandson) gives an interesting extract from history, showing that in the tenth century, (A. D. 900,) a celebrated breed of white cattle, with red ears, prevailed in Wales, of which that part of the county of Hereford on the north side of the river Wye formed a portion. He tells us that a law of ‘Howell the Good’ fixed compensation to be paid for injuries done by one of the princes towards another, at one hundred white cows, with red ears, and a bull of the same color; and if the cattle were of a dark or black color, then one hundred and fifty in number instead of a hundred, and adds: ‘Speed records, that Maude de Brehos, in order to appease King John, who was highly incensed against her husband, made a present to the Queen, of four hundred cows and one bull from Brecknockshire, (in Wales,) all white, with red ears.’ Thesi facts, he says, ‘are suggestive of the mode in which the white- faces have originated.’ ” This last transaction must have taken place soon after the year A. D. 1200, for. John held the throne only seventeen years, having taken it in 1199, and dying in 1216—a long time for a white color in cattle to be held in abeyance, and then to crop out 64 AMERICAN CATTLE. five hundred years afterwards! This may all be possible, and the Hereford breed of cattle, if original in Wales, may have existed time immemorial, for, as they say that certain Welsh families trace their pedigrees back anterior to Adam, we may give a pretty remote date to the origin of their cattle! Mr. Duckham further remarks: ‘‘An old and much respected friend of mine, the late Mr. Welles, also entertained the idea that they were originally self-colored (red) like the Devons, and ‘that the breed characterized as the mottle-faced, took its origin from a mixture of the old self-colored, with some accidentally possessing white marks.’ As regards the white cows with red ears, I think the light grey, or white Hereford, may fairly be considered to be descended from them; and there are red-with- white-face breeders, who advance that they can trace them as being the breed of their ancestors, for the past two hundred years.” Be all these facts, traditions, or surmises, as they may, these grey and white colors now appear in cattle bearing all other marks of true Herefords, and they must be admitted as imdi- geneous to the breed. Some of the very best specimens of the race have been of those lighter and mixed colors. In our researches among English authorities, we find less said of the Hereford, its history, and breeding, than almost any other wellknown breed. Youatt devotes but four pages to them, knowing little of them himself, and having not much information from others. What we have gleaned from English accounts, is chiefly in fugitive papers and magazines, by sundry writers and breeders; but more fortunately for the present purpose, we have had several years’ close and almost daily observation, in a herd of imported Herefords and their descendants, which were kept near us, as well as of occasional observation of other importa- tions, which have given us a more intimate knowledge of them than volumes of books, without such personal observation, could have done. ~ THE HEREFORDS. 65 Perhaps we cannot convey a better description of the Here- ford, after giving accurate portraits of the sexes, than to say: _ give a Devon a quarter more size, somewhat more proportionate bone and horn, a trifle shorter leg, and longer body, a little coarser in every part, and you have a good Hereford, in all excepting color. SN ANS N = ————— — rd Bull. Our plate is an accurate copy of one in the (English) Farmers’ Magazine, true to life, and amply just to the original, both in color, and proportion. We have seen one that might have stood equally well for the portrait. As useful cattle, the Herefords are a good breed. We are aware that their introduction into the United States has not been, in comparison with some other breeds, successful in popu- larity or extended distribution; but that fact decides nothing as to the positive merits of the stock itself. Partiality, prejudice on the part of our cattle breeders, or pre-occupation of the ground by other breeds which meet the general approbation, 66 AMERICAN CATTLE. may keep them for a time in the back-ground; but their actual merits once known, they may have a fair trial, and achieve a substantial success. Like the Devon, we place the Hereford under three distinct heads; and first, AS A DAIRY COW. In this virtue she hag little reputation, either in England or America. We have found no English authority, except a rare instance or two, which gives her much credit as a milker. Pos- sibly this may have arisen from the fact that the Hereford dis- tricts are grazing, and not dairy. The milk is rich, but too little of it—not much more than to rear her calf in good condition. She dries early. NAN : AN Ne \ SAN AN NWI \s WSS WYANNY UE AES RRR CANS \\ y) ; KR ARAN NIN AN SSIS AY Ny ANN WN AANA INI SANA ANY = eS << Plate 6. Hereford Cow. If she ever was a milker before her modern improvement began, the milking faculty has been sacrificed for a ready tend- ency to flesh, which has been obtained in a high degree in her race. We have seen a dozen of them milked through three or THE HEREFORDS. 67 four successive seasons, and the yields were such as would be unsatisfactory to a modern dairyman. Now and then a fair milker turned up, but they were in a minority of numbers; taken together they were less than ordinary, for the season. We will not therefore discuss this question further, but pass to another quality as yielding greater pleasure in the relation. AS A WORKING OX, The Hereford is the peer of any other, and superior to most. Large, strong, muscular, well developed in form, noble, and stately in carriage, he suggests all that need be found in an honest, true worker. At full maturity girts 7 to 744 feet behind the shoulders, in ordinary condition, to the Devon’s 6 to 61% feet, and is every way the more power- ful, if not quite so quick, or active. A team of two, three, or four yokes of Herefords, under the control of a good driver, for ‘a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether,” is the perfec- tion of bovine strength and majesty. The joints of the ox are well knit, his smews strong, his shoulders slant well to the yoke, and he carries his load well, be it at the plow, the cart, or the wagon. He is kindly, intelligent, honest in his labor. We have seen them from half, to three-quarters blood, crossed from the common cow, and up to thorough bred, all of great excellence as draught beasts, well matched, and admirable in all their poits. The Hereford blood is strong in marking its descent. From the bulls which were kept in our neighborhood cighteen years ago, crossed upon cows which run on the adjacent commons, in their say six years old—he summer pasturage, we now, in their progeny, to later genera- tions, frequently see cows and oxen but a quarter, an eighth, or sixteenth in blood—got by scrub bulls—that show strong Here- ford marks in form and color. We once reared an ox got by a Hereford bull, on a wretched little black cow, which proved to be a fine, stately ox, of a 68 AMERICAN CATTLE. brindle (black and red mixed) color, and a better worker we never knew. At eight years old we fed him off on grass, and a little corn meal only, and he gave us 1,200 pounds of beef, hide and tallow. Where hay and pasturage are cheap, and the farmer has a taste for the business, it must be a profitable invest- ment to obtain a thorough bred Hereford bull, cross him on well selected native red cows, and rear and break steers for the markets where good working oxen are in demand. The strong blood of the bull will give uniformity in shape, and color, so that the steers may be easily matched, and if not wanted for the yoke, they are equally valuable, as other cattle, for feeding, and the shambles. iy SSS SN = GEE. Ge AG HUA: AY HAH WMT ih FN ( LO i) \ \\ Lhe x \\ N \\ hy y} “Plate ie “Hereford Ox. AS A BEEF ANIMAL, The Hereford is superior. They feed kindly, are thrifty in growth, mature early—at three and four years old—and prove well on the butchers’ block. We are aware that they have not now a general popularity in the great cattle breeding regions of THE HEREFORDS. 69 our Western States. Few of them have been introduced there, and those, perhaps, not in the right hands to push them to the best advantage. We could wish for them a fairer trial; but the prejudice against the cows as milkers, and the lack im their taking appearance as a highly distinctive race, in comparison with the more popular short-horns, have kept them back in public demand. Their time has not yet come; and it may be, that in the right hands, and with a more critical observation among our cattle breeders and graziers, they may achieve a reputation as a grazing beast, equal to some now considered their superiors. In their native counties in England, they still hold a high senile and at the prize shows in the London markets compete success- fully with other improved breeds. With all the deficiencies which the advocates of other breeds allege against them, the Herefords still retain their reputation among their English breeders, who hold on to them with a pertinacity which shows an unabated con- fidence in their merits and profit as a true grazier’s beast. We might show recorded tables of their trials, in England, with short-horns, and the relative profits of their feeding for market, in which the Herefords gained an advantage on the score of economy; but as the trials were not from birth to slaughter, and the comparative early advantages of each breed were omitted in the account, a repetition of the tables here would not be conclusive. There has been much controversy in England, and there might be some in America, were there Herefords enough here to raise the question, as to the manner in which they have been improved within the last eighty or ninety years. Their opponents allege that they have had a stealthy short-horn cross, and it is not cer- tain that in these controversies the Hereford breeders have always denied it. All the accounts that we have seen, show that the old Herefords were dark red, almost brown in color, 70 AMERICAN CATTLE. with mottled red and white faces, and little or no white on the throat, belly, or back. The cmproved Herefords are of lighter red, with white faces usually, (although we have seen some of ‘the old style of color,) and occasionally one will ‘crop out” with a lively short-horn roan all over. We once saw a purely white one in color, with no red, except the ears, her parents, bull and cow, being red, with white faces; and another, ‘an imported cow, with drooping, half-length horns. These are certainly out of line with the true Herefords, and the short-horn advocates charge that such offshoots betray short-horn blood. Be the facts of their breeding as they may, the differences in color and horn, are palpable. That these appearances have not injured the animals themselves, is evident, for they were admira- ble Herefords in all their valuable points, as any among their congeners of the true colors, and upright spread of horns. We, at least, shall not take sides in the controversy. It is sufficient to note the facts as we have seen them. THE HEREFORDS IN AMERICA. At what date they were first imported into this country, we have no accurate account; but that. some Herefords came out among the early importations, is evident, from the occasional marks of the breed among our native cattle where late importa- tious have not been known. In the year 1816 or ’17 the great Kentucky statesman, Henry Clay, imported two pairs of them into his State, and put them on his farm at Ashland. They were bred for a time with each other, and the bulls were-crossed with other cows; but it is certain that they left no permanent impress on the herds of that vicinity, as Mr. Clay himself became a breeder of short-horns soon afterwards, and eventually discarded the blood from his herds, if he had for any length of time retained it. No trace of them is now seen in Kentucky. A few years later, Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the English . THE HEREFORDS. 71 Navy, a native of Massachusetts, sent out a Hereford bull, and possibly a cow or two, to some of his friends in that State. The bull was considerably used in crossing with the native cows, and thirty years ago or more, we saw several fine bullocks with strong marks of the breed, in the vicinity where he was kept. There may have been small importations made into other States during the next fifteen years, but of them we have no definite knowledge. The largest known importation of Herefords into the United States, was made about the year 1840, upwards of twenty in number, by an Englishman, into the city of New York, and taken into Jefferson county, of that State. A year or two afterwards the bulk of the herd were removed to the farm of Mr. Erastus Coruing, near Albany, N. Y., and some of them went into Vermont, where they were for some years bred, sold, and scattered. Of this herd, Mr. A. B. Allen, editor of the American Agriculturist in 1843, thus speaks: ‘‘We had seen some specimens when in England, in 1840, but had no idea of the fine herd at Albany until we saw them last December. We were surprised at the superb show the Herefords made at the various Agricultural Society meetings we attended in England, and certainly one of the finest lots of cattle we ever saw, was a large herd of pure Hereford steers, grazing on the banks of the Thames, in the neighborhood of the grand old town of Oxford. As fat cattle, the Herefords have lately held a sharp rivalry with the short-horns, and their beef is in high favor in the London markets. They make no claim, as yet, to being milkers. * * * * We think the stock at Albany would compare favorably with the best we met of this breed in Eng- land. * * * * ‘We found these cattle to excel particularly in the brisket, and loin, two very important points in all animals destined for the butcher, and especially necessary, if we make Ge, AMERICAN CATTLE. them into beef for the English market; and being of great con- stitution and hardy, they make most excellent grazing cattle.” While the stock were at his farm, Mr. Corning, with his accus- tomed liberality and enterprise, sent their importer out again to England to purchase more animals, which safely arrived, and were added to the herd. They were then successfully bred for several years, many sales made into different and distant parts of the United States, and they acquired considerable popularity. The herd was subsequently divided, Mr. Corning retaining his share, and his partner taking his, some twenty or more in num- ber, on to a farm three or four miles from Buffalo, on the banks of the Niagara. Here they were bred, and several sales made, to go to different parts of the country, during the four or five years they remained; but the herd gradually waned, mainly from want of proper care and system in their keeping. With their owner they then migrated into the rich valley of the Genesee. near Geneseo. In that locality, if anywhere, they ought to have succeeded. But in two or three years further they went to Tioga county, near Owego, where they had another fitful stay of a year or two, and then removed elsewhere, since which we have no record of them whatever,—‘“‘run out,” and sacrificed, in all probability, by mismanagement. Mr. Corning retained his herd at his farm, where he has suc- cessfully bred, and made sales from them since, and in the hands of his son, Mr. E. Corning, Jr., who is more an amateur than a professed cattle breeder, added to by occasional importations from England, they remain fine specimens of their race. Mr. George Clark, at Springfield, Otsego county, N. Y., obtained several Herefords from this herd, and, we believe, made an importation or two from England. He bred them success- fully, distributed his bulls on to several of his farms, and bred, and still breeds many excellent grade Herefords from the com- THE HEREFORDS. Ge mon cows. His bullocks have, in past years, been highly approved in the New York Cattle Markets. About the year 1852-3, Messrs. Thomas Aston, and John Humphries, two English farmers in Elyria, Ohio, near Lake Erie, imported several fine Herefords. They bred them well, and successfully, as seen in the specimens we have several times met, but with what success in their sales we have no intimate knowledge. In the years 1860 and ’61, Mr. Frederick Wm. Stone, of Guelph, Canada West, made two importations of superior Here- fords from the herds of Lord Bateman, in Herefordshire, and the late Lord Berwick, in the adjoining county of Shropshire, Eng- land, numbering, together, two bulls, and eleven cows and heifers. These were remarkable for their high breeding, and generally, good points. From them, down to January, 1867, there were bred about sixty, and about half the number have been sold at satisfactory prices, and distributed, mostly into the United States. Some of the cows have proved excellent milkers, and all, together with the crosses of the bulls on common cows, have proved profitable grazing animals. But as they have had to encounter a sharp competition in Canada, where the short-horns have for some years, previous to the introduction of the Here- fords, held dominion, as ¢mproved stock, and Mr. Stone himself a prominent short-horn breeder, the qualities of the Herefords have won their success, against such odds, solely by their own merits. Such a fact is no small testimonial to their excellence. There have, we believe, been some few other small importa- tions of Herefords made within the past twenty years, but we have no particular account of them, or at what ports they were landed. On the whole, the Herefords have not had a fair trial in the United States, in the hands of veteran cattle breeders, who had the means and opportunity to properly test them by a thorough 4 74 AMERICAN CATTLE. and persistent course of breeding. Had the fine herd which was for several years on Mr. Corning’s farm, been taken to good grazing lands in New York, or some of the Western States, and properly cared for, their history, we fancy, would have been far different from that which is here recorded. We trust that the herd of Mr. Stone, in its various distribu- tions, may have a fair and thorough trial, satisfied as we are that the Herefords, as a breed, have positive, and well estab- lished merits, in their great thrift, and good flesh producing qualities. CHAPTER IX. THE LONG-HORNS. Tr is still a disputed question in England, whether this some- what remarkable race of cattle originated in the north-western English counties of Lancashire, Westmoreland, and the adjoin- ing part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, or in Ireland, as from time immemorial they appear to have been natives of both countries, and probably were intermixed, more or less, by importations from one to the other. The characteristics of the cattle of each country are so identical, that they are acknowl- edged to be of the same primitive race, although it is contended by English authorities that the Insh long-horns were coarser and less cultivated in their breeding than the English. Youatt says: ‘In the district of Craven, a fertile corner of the West Riding of Yorkshire, bordering on Lancashire, and sepa- rated from Westmoreland chiefly by the western moorlands, there has been, from the earliest records of British Agriculture, a peculiar breed of cattle. They were distinguished from the home-breds of other counties by a disproportionate and frequently unbecoming length of horn. In the old breed this horn frequently projected nearly horizontal on either side, but as the cattle were improved, the horn assumed other directions; it hung down so that the animal could scarcely graze, or it curved so as to threaten to meet before the muzzle, and so also to prevent the beast from grazing; or immediately under the jaw, and so to lock the lower jaw; or the points presented themselves against the bones of the nose and face, threatening to perforate them. We have given a similar description of the Irish breed. In proportion as the breed became improved, the horns lengthened, and they are 76 AMERICAN CATTLE. characteristically distinguished by the name of ‘The Long- Horns.’ Cattle of a similar description were found in the dis- tricts of Lancashire, bordering on Craven, and also in the South- eastern parts of Westmoreland; but tradition, in both of these districts, pomted to Craven as the original habitation of the long-horn breed. If there gradually arose any difference between them, it was that the Craven beasts were the broadest in the chine, the shortest, the handsomest, and the quickest feeders; the Lancashire ones were larger, longer in the quarters, but with a fall behind the shoulders, and not so level on the chine. Whence these cattle were derived, is still a disputed point.” The breed gradually spread into the adjoming more midland counties, and as the cows were good milkers, they became per- manently established in the dairies, where they have long been kept, and are to a considerable extent retained to the present day; and although, as a grazier’s beast they have been pushed aside by some of the more favorite breeds, there are still found some fine dairy herds, and others bred in high perfection for the shambles, for which purpose their breeders contend they are a highly profitable beast. ial A Nt Ny as. vs Ne ce _ \\ ~ Plate S ~Long-horn Bull. ai THE LONG-HORNS. 17 The preceding cut represents one of the best of the improved long-horn bulls of the present day. From all we can gather of their early history, they appear, before their improvement began, to have been of rather sleazy appearance, loose jointed, sway- backed, and coarse in the bone,—points yet not altogether bred out of them, and perhaps never can be bred out by the use of their own blood alone. Still, in the animal before us, we see a com- pact, rangy beast, with many excellent qualities. We have not introduced the long-horned cattle into this work because we recommend them, or expect them to be, to any extent, brought into the United States as rivals to other popular breeds which are already here to improve our native stock, although we confess there are some salient and taking points of character in them; but chiefly to record the career of a man, distinguished in his time as one of the greatest improvers of farm stock of which ‘we have any account—Robert Bakewell—and of whom our American stock breeders should have some more distinct history than what floats about among the fugitive papers of the time. Our account of him is taken from Youatt, and his account from a paper in the “‘Gentleman’s Magazine,” a London publication of the last century. Robert Bakewell was a farmer and stock breeder by profes- sion—as were his father, and grandfather before him—and born at Dishley, in Leicestershire, England, about the year 1725. His father and grandfather, during their lives, had both resided on the same estate. In the course of his career, he bred the common cart-horse of Hngland to high perfection, giving him greater size, weight, and more muscular form than he before possessed, together with more beauty of form. He also bred the coarse, long-wooled sheep into such marked improvement that they assumed in his hands, the new names of “ Dishley,” ‘‘ Bake- well,” or ‘‘Leicester,” by the latter of which names (since fur- ther improved, in other hands, by a cross of the “old Cotswolds” 8 AMERICAN CATTLE. and ‘‘Lincolns,” noted “‘long-wooled” varieties of the present day,) they are now known. His practice and experience were long, as he died at about seventy years of age. About the year 1720 the first known improvement of the long-horns was attempted. A blacksmith and farrier, of Linton, in Derbyshire, on the borders of Leicestershire, who had rented a little farm, had the honor of being first on the list of improvers. His name was Welby. Buta fatal disease broke out and took off his cows, of which he had several, and put a stop to his fur- ther progress. Soon after this, Mr. Webster, of Canley, near Coventry, distinguished himself as a breeder. His herd had come from Sir Thomas Gresley’s stock, from whom also the unfortunate blacksmith, Welby, had obtained his animals. Webster had also obtained bulls from Lancashire, and West- . moreland. He bred them to a high degree of perfection, so that they were called the ‘Canley” breed, and from his herd were afterwards drawn the chief and most valuable progenitors of the ‘‘improved”’ race. Then came Bakewell on the stage, as a further improver of the long-horns, and it must be confessed, with a race of cattle already prepared to his hands on which to exercise his ingenuity and skill. His plan was to improve the stock from their own blood alone, and without imtermixture of any other. He pur- chased two heifers from Mr. Webster, and a choice bull from Westmoreland. He bred closely ‘in and in,” but was careful to have his crosses, although of the same family, sufficiently sepa- rate to avoid any defects which might be perpetuated in the direct descent, where they might exist, from parent to offspring by the intensity of their interbreeding with each other. “Many years did not pass before his stock was unrivalled for the roundness of its form, and the smallness of its bone, and its aptitude to acquire external fat, while they were small consumers of food in proportion to their size; but at the same time their THE LONG-HORNS. 79 qualities as milkers were considerably lessened. The grazier could not too highly value the Dishley, or New Leicester long- horn; but the dairyman, and the little farmer clung to the old breed as most useful for their purpose.” By what strange gift, or skill, Mr. Bakewell improved his cat- tle, he left no record. He was not a man of learning, science, or wide observation beyond his own line, but he studied his pur- suit with great attention. He used to dissect the slaughtered carcasses of his cattle, hang up and preserve their joints, bones and sinews, in his rooms, and put their flesh in pickle, and study them, as a surgeon studies his anatomical specimens of humanity. By this he was enabled to detect their faults and imperfections, and by comparison with living animals avoid the perpetuation of like imperfections in the young progeny. He was kind-hearted, and treated his cattle with great tenderness, never using anything heavier than a little switch to control the young things; thus he rendered them docile, and gentle in temper, a quality tending much to their thrift and rapid growth. In the course of years he probably raised the long-horns to the highest point of per- fection of which the race was capable. The upshot was, he had sacrificed the milking quality of his herd for the promotion of their flesh, and the symmetry of their forms; and after all, it may be questioned how valuable his improvements, in an econom- ical point of view, were to the common farmers, who kept and bred them. Youatt gives a long and particular description of many points in Bakewell’s practice, made up of inferences chiefly, some of which may be correct, but as they are matters of opinion, we do not care to follow them. He names a fact, however, which it is worth while to notice, viz.: After Bakewell’s death, and his stock went into other hands, they declined. His spirit, skill, sagacity, tact, experience and knowledge—for he possessed all these in an eminent degree—did not go withthem. ‘ Tradition,” 80 AMERICAN CATTLE. too, says that the long horns have never been so good since Bakewell’s time. ‘‘Tradition,” however, is not accepted in the present day as evidence in a court of justice, and many of her rumors and sayings may be apocryphal. We are inclined to believe, from accounts which we have occasionally seen, and up to a late date also, that there do now exist in England as good long-horns as Bakewell ever bred, although not in numerous herds, nor of wide-spread fame. A Mr. Fowler, of Rollwright, in Oxfordshire, bought some cattle of Bakewell, and bred them with great care. He had a sale in the year 1791, in which seven bulls and six cows were - sold. The prices of his bulls ranged from $760 to $1,250, and his cows from $446 to $1,365 each, and his whole herd of fifty averaged $429 each, showing the high value put upon the breed at that day. But it is needless to pursue this branch of the subject further, as we have no definite interest in the breed, as yet, in this country. Indeed, we have only introduced this information here as a matter of collateral interest to our American cattle breeders, and to give an outline of one branch of Mr. Bakewell’s course, and success. AS A DAIRY Cow, The “old-fashioned” long-horn ranks high, and is extensively used in some of the dairy counties of Hngland,—many, in their purity of blood, and more in their grades with other breeds and admixtures. Her milk is good, and the quantity given satisfac- tory to the dairyman; and without both these qualities, a people so systematic as they, and looking sharply to profits, would certainly discard her. Aside from the plate, which is that of a very fat cow, we give a more particular description. The head is long; the neck none too clean; the dewlap small; the shoulder fair; the rib tolerable ; the brisket good; the back a little swayed, or THE LONG-HORNS. 81 hollow; the loin good; the hips wide; the rumps and tail high; the thighs moderately round. The colors—red, red-roan, blue- roan, yellow-red, or inclining sometimes to fawn color; and sometimes white on the back and belly. The horns show for themselves—the most objectionable, uneconomical, and incon- venient feature altogether, although giving her a most picturesque and unique appearance. In size they are above medium, ranging a a Se <= Plate 9. Long-horn Cow. in bulk and weight fully with the Hereford. The cow here represented was ten years old, kept some years as a milker, and then fed off for the shambles. She shows a wonderful develop- ment of flesh, indicating a high feeding quality. AS A WORKING OX. We do not see, in this connection, how the long-horn can be superior, or as good as the Devon, or Hereford, although he is somewhat used in England for that purpose, in the districts where he is bred. His horns are decidedly in the way, and his sway, or depressed back, must detract from his strength for a heavy pull. Although kind and tractable as other beasts in temper, the objections on other scores are sufficient to make him 4* 82 AMERICAN CATTLE. undesirable for labor when other oxen, as in this country, can be plentifully found. AS A BEEF ANIMAL, The long-horn is good. They feed well, and kindly. They prove well at the shambles, and the quality of the flesh is fair, but not superior to that of other approved breeds. Their advocates, of whom there are many in England, have exhibited some fine specimens at the Smithfield market, in London, and claim for them an equality with any other breed ; but that claim is not generally admitted by the breeders and graziers of other estab- lished breeds. A NK WA “eel AA ANA In the specimen before us is seen a well-formed and full-fleshed animal, highly bred, and in his best condition—much better than anything within the range of “common” cattle. He is a good “handler,” with an elastic touch, good skin and hair, and his “proof,” in tallow, must be good ;—altogether a very creditable beast. His true profit, however, as an economical animal, must THE LONG-HORNS. 83 be tested by the amount of food he has consumed, in proportion to his dead weight at the shambles. THE LONG-HORNS IN AMERICA. On this item, our record must be short. Among the early importations of English cattle in the Northern States, and pos- sibly in the Middle, and Southern, that some long-horns came also there can be no doubt, for we well recollect, in our boyhood, cattle which had some of their distinctive marks, too obvious to be mistaken, as inherited from that race. The first definitely _ known introduction of them, was by a Mr. Smith, a merchant, we believe, of Lexington, Ky., who brought out a bull and cow, and took to that town about, or in, the year 1817. They were there bred, but whether together, or with other cattle, we have no direct information. At all events, they were soon merged in the “Patton” stock, and the “Short-horns of Col. Sanders’ importation of 1817.” The blood of those cattle still exists in a remote degree in some of the grade Kentucky herds, as we have distinctly seen, not many years ago, in steers sent from there to the New York cattle markets. The long-horns were not received with much favor in Kentucky, as the merits of the short-horns soon overshadowed them. When a youngster, just emerging into the gristle and bone of manhood, during a temporary residence in northern Ohio, we made a horseback journey, in the month of September, 1821, down into the Scioto valley, as far as Circleville, in the county of Pickaway. In the valley, below Columbus, were “the Vir- ginia military grants,” in which numerous settlers from that State and Pennsylvania had come at an early: day—for that country, 1790 to 1800—who took up large tracts of its rich lands, and cleared and cultivated them into broad pastures and rich corn- fields. A mile or two north of the town, on the Columbus road, spying a dozen or so of strange looking cattle, in a rich blue 84 AMERICAN CATTLE. grass pasture, shaded with groups of grand old oaks and walnuts, we reined up to the fence, dismounted, hitched our horse, and went into the field, The cattle were just as Youatt and our pictures describe them, blue, and red roans, and white backs and bellies, with horns long, curving forward, and drooping under the jaws; their bodies were round and full, showing high marks of growth and thrift,—a bull, some cows, and calves. How they came there, or who they belonged to, we did not particu- larly inquire at the time, having then little curiosity, or interest in cattle. Not again going there until thirty years later, we heard nothing more of the cattle, and then, on inquiry of one or two of the oldest settlers in the vicinity, we could learn nothing of them, only, ‘that they recollected some man, rich, and a large landholder thereabouts, had driven some ‘imported’ cattle in there, but what became of them they did not know, and no trace was left of them.” ' Thus ends our story of the long-horns in America. We trust. that they may again be imported here, and have a fair trial. CHAPTER X. THE CATTLE OF SCOTLAND. Havine examined the two marked and best approved of the middle-horned races of England; and taken a sufficient notice of the long-horns, we proceed to examine three of the most approved breeds of Scotland, as now concentrated, and improved from original races there, and fashioned to the uses of the present day. Lying north of England, with a surface more or less moun- tainous in its northern territory, and a much severer climate, its cattle, from time immemorial, have been of a far different order, and applied to somewhat different purposes than those of Eng- land. Youatt describes the breeds, or varieties of the different sections of the country minutely, and with great interest. It is not necessary for the present purpose to follow him throughout, but we shall extract largely from him, both in text and opinion. His information is solely from Scottish authorities, and such an air of fidelity to truth runs through them that we may wisely - adopt, so far as our purposes need, their conclusions. The reader may inquire, why, when England contains all of improvement in her best breeds that an American demands, should we seek the inferior cattle of Scotland to multiply, and further mix up the already sufficient varieties of cattle on our soils? Our answer is, that the vast scope of climates, soils, and altitudes of the United States, and their territories, embrace those of both England and Scotland, as well as the tropics. No one, two, three, or even four different breeds are best suited to them 86 AMERICAN CATTLE. — all, and when we find those already fitted to our hands, and applicable to the best economical uses for all the different parts of our broad country, it is the part of wisdom to adopt them, instead of striving, by a long course of unprofitable experiment, to change and acclimate those by nature unfitted to new locali- ties. Let us take advantage of the labors of others, and apply them immediately to our uses and demands. Thus Youatt: ‘Scotland contains several distinct and valua- ble breeds of cattle, evidently belonging to our present division— ‘the middle-horns.’ The West Highlanders, whether we regard those that are found in the Hebrides, or the county of Argyle, seem to retain most of the aboriginal character. They have remained unchanged, or improved only by selection, for many generations, or indeed from the earliest accounts that we possess of Scottish cattle.” It is well to remark, as a matter of geographical information, that the western coast of Scotland, north of Ireland, is skirted for a distance of two hundred miles by a cluster of islands greater or smaller in extent; and further west and north of these extends another cluster called the Hebrides, or Western Islands, all thickly inhabited with a population more or less agricultural in their pursuits, and having with them the aboriginal race of cattle mentioned by Youatt. Beyond these, and on the extreme north of Scotland proper, range another group of islands, called the Orkneys, and to the extreme north of them, another, called the Shetland Islands, famous for a hardy people, and producing a diminutive race of tough, rugged little cattle, and also those wild looking, diminutive horses called ‘“Shelties,” or Shetland ponies, of late introduced among us. These several groups range from 55%¢° to 61° north latitude; and although their climates be not so severe as in corresponding American latitudes, they are harsh, austere and boisterous. CATTLE OF SCOTLAND. 87 Leaving out the Orkneys, and Shetlands, whose cattle are too diminutive to attract our particular notice, these western groups of islands, together with the Highlands proper, of Scot- land, possess a hardy race of middle-horned cattle, long termed ‘‘Kyloes,” so called, as Sir John Sinclair asserts, “from their crossing so many kyloes, or ferries, which abound in the west of Scotland.” “Others,” says Youatt, “‘and with more propriety, one of whom is Mr. Macdonald, the author of the ‘ Agriculture of the Highlands,’ tell us, that it is a corruption of the Gaelic word which signifies highland, and is commonly pronounced as if spelled Kael.” These cattle, all, probably, of one generic origin, have been intermixed by various crosses, within them- selves, so as to become homogeneous in nature, habit, and appearance, and as Scottish agriculture in the islands and the Aighlands has progressed, the cattle have also been better culti- vated and cared for, and within a century past highly improved, so as now to assume a distinct name and character, as ‘* West Highlands.” To these our attention will now be directed. THE WEST HIGHLAND CATTLE. There are no “ Highland” cattle in the United States. At least, we do not know of any. Our impression is that a few were imported some years ago into Upper Canada, but what has-become of them, if such was the fact, we have never learned. We have immense ranges of land in our mountain districts, in various parts of the older States, which when properly subdued, will become a pastoral country. The vast plains west and north of the Missouri, as well as the wide mountain ranges which traverse them, must mainly be occupied in breeding and grazing cattle, if anything. Those lands will be admirably adapted to a class of cattle like the “ West High- lands.” No really superior class of our present cattle are, as yet, properly fitted for the wild and roving life of such a country. 88 AMERICAN CATTLE. The subject is a new one in our agricultural economy. Vast spaces of these now wild lands, covered with a short and abundant herbage, fed with limited streams of water, and unfitted for profitable tillage crops, must be owned in large tracts, and sparsely populated. Their distance from a dense population will preclude the possibility of taking their surplus grains to market, at a profit, even if they could be profitably raised, and they can hardly be so profitably used as to stock them with cattle. They can breed, and graze while young, on the broad plains, and when fit for market, be driven far away down to the more fertile districts, and fattened, as the Scottish Highlanders drive theirs to. the richer lowlands, and to England. Our herdsmen of the plains and mountains would be at a far greater distance from their markets then the graziers of Scotland, but that distance is not insurmountable, nor over expensive. This is looking somewhat into the future, we admit, and by some it may be thought chimerical; but when we have seen, within twenty years past, California discovered; a State made of it; two other States, and more organized territories, soon to become States with them, adjoining it; several traveled routes for vast caravans of emigrants, and merchandise, and stage coaches passing over them; a railroad under construction and to be completed within the next five years, across the continent ; telegraph lines, and the appendages of wealth and civilization introduced with an energy and rapidity hitherto unparalleled in the annals of human progress; it 1s not too much to assume that an enlightened agricultural interest will soon direct its efforts thitherward, and plant itself firmly and permanently beside the various mining and other enterprises which are already estab- shed, and becoming thicker and more substantial continually. In view of these possibilities—probabilities, rather—we need no further apology for the space we shall occupy in introducing this valuable foreign race of cattle to American study and attention. HIGHLAND CATTLE. 89 Again Youatt: ‘““We have been favored with the following excellent descrip- tion of the true Kyloe, or West Highland bull, by Malcolm M’Neill, Esq., of the Isle of Islay, the southernmost of the inner range of the Hebrides: ‘The Highland bull should be black, the head not large, the ears thin, the muzzle fine, and rather turned up. He should be broad in the face, the eyes prominent, and the countenance calm and placid. The horns should taper finely to a point; and, neither drooping too much, nor rising too high, should be of a waxy color, and widely set on at the root. The neck should be fine, particularly where it joins the head, and rising with a gentle curve from the shoulder. The breast (brisket) wide, and projecting well before the legs. The shoulder broad at the top, and the chine so full as to leave but little hollow behind them, (that is, the crops are full.) The girth behind the shoulder deep; the back straight, wide, and flat; the ribs broad, the space between them and the hips small; the belly not sink- ing low in the middle; yet, in the whole, not forming the round and barrel-like carcass which some have described. The thigh tapering to the hock-joint; the bones larger in proportion to the size than in the breeds of the southern districts. The tail set on a level with the back. The legs short and straight. The whole carcass covered with a thick, long coat of hair, and plenty of hair also about the face and horns, and that hair not curly.’ “The value of the West Highland cattle consists in their being hardy, and easily fed; in that they will live, and sometimes thrive, on the coarsest pastures; that they will frequently gain from a fourth to a third of their original weight in six months’ good feeding; that the proportion of offal is not greater than in the most improved larger breeds; that they will lay their flesh and fat equally on the best parts; and that, when fat, the beef is closed fine in the grain, highly flavored, and so well mixed or marbled, that it commands a superior price in every market. 90 AMERICAN CATTLE. “The different islands of the Hebrides contain about one hun- dred and fifty thousand of these cattle, of which it is calculated that one-fifth are sent annually to the main land, principally through Jura, or across from the ferry of the Isle of Skye. * * * * (Cattle, therefore, constitute the staple commodity of the Hebrides. Three thousand five hundred are annually exported from the island of Islay alone. ‘‘Mr. Moorhouse, from Craven, in Yorkshire, in 1763, was the first Englishman who came into the Hebrides to buy cattle. In the absence of her husband, Mr. M’Donald, of Kingsburgh, he was kindly entertained by Flora M’Donald, who made up for him the same bed that, seventeen years before, had received the unfortunate Prince Charles. “ From Skye, Mr. Moorhouse went to Raasay, whither in three days, Kingsburgh followed him; and, during a walk in the garden, on a fine harvest evening, they bargained for one thou- sand cattle, at two guineas a head, to be delivered free of ex- pense at Falkirk. Two days before, he had bought six hundred from Mr. M’Leod, of Waterside. “Forty years ago, (from 1763, the time at which Mr. Moor- house dates back, say in 1723,) the treatment of cattle was, with very few exceptions, absurd and ruinous, to a strange degree, through the whole of the Hebrides. With the exception of the milk cows, and not even of the calves, they were all wintered in the field; if they were scantily fed with hay, it was coarse, and withered, and half-rotten; or if they got a little straw, they were thought to be well taken care of. The majority got little more than sea-weed, heather, and rushes. , One-fifth of the cattle, on an average, used to perish every winter from starvation. When the cold had been unusually severe, and the snow had lain long on the ground, one-half of the stock has been lost, and the remainder have afterwards been thinned by the diseases which poverty had engendered, HIGHLAND CATTLE. 91 “Tt proved the excellency of the breed, that in the course of two or three months so many of them got again into good store condition, and might almost be said to be half-fat, and could scarcely be restrained by any fence; in fact, there are numerous instances of these cattle, which had been reduced to the most dreadful state of impoverishment, becoming fattened for the butcher in a few months, after being placed on some of the rich summer pastures of Islay, Lewis, or Skye. “The cows were housed during the winter; but among the small farmers this was conducted in a singular way—for one rude dwelling contained and sheltered both the family and the eattle. The family had their beds of straw or heath in the niches of the walls, while the litter was never removed from the cattle, but fresh layers of straw were occasionally laid down, and so the floor rose with the accumulation of dung and litter, until the season of spreading it upon the land, when it was at length taken away.* ‘“‘The peculiarity of the climate and the want of inclosed lands, and the want, too, of forethought in the farmer, were the chief causes of this wretched system of winter starvation. The rapidity of vegetation in the latter part of the spring, is astonish- ing in these islands. A good pasture can scarcely be left a fortnight without growing high and rank; and even the unen- closed, and marshy and heathy grounds are comparatively luxu- riant. In consequence of this, the farmer fully stocked, or over- ‘“*Mr, Garnet in his ‘ Tour through the Highlands,’ gives a sadder account of the frequent joint occupancy of the same hut, by the peasant and his cattle, in the Island of Mull. He had been speaking of the privations of the peasant; he adds: ‘Nor are his cattle in a better situation ; in summer they pick up a scanty support among the morasses and heathy mountains, but in winter, when the ground is cov- ered with snow, and when the naked wilds afford them neither shelter nor subsis- tence, the few cows, small, lean, and ready to drop for want of pasture, are brought into the hut where the family reside, and frequently share with them their little stock of meal which has been purchased or raised for the family only; while the cattle thus sustained, are bled occasionally to afford nourishment for the children after the mingled oatmeal and blood has been boiled or made into cakes.’ 92 AMERICAN CATTLE. stocked, even this pasture. He crowded his fields at the rate of six or eight beasts or more to an acre. From their natural aptitude to fatten, they got into tolerable condition, but not such as they might have attained, whether destined for the salesman or the butcher. Winter, however, succeeded to summer; no provision had been made for it, except for the cows; and the beasts that were not properly fed even in the summer, languished and starved in the winter. “Tt is contrived, as much as possible, that the calves shall be dropped from the first of February to the middle of April. All the calves are reared; and for the first three or four months they are allowed to suck three times in the day, but they are not permitted to draw any great quantity at a time. In summer all the cattle are pastured; the calves are sent to their dams twice in the day, and the strippings, or last part of the milk, is taken away by the dairy maid, for it is commonly supposed, that if the calf is allowed to draw all the milk he can, it will keep the dam in low condition, and prevent her being in calf in proper time. The calves are separated from their dams two or three weeks before the cast-cows are sent to the cattle-tryst at the end of October, for it is believed that if the cows had milk in their udders they might be injured in the long journeys they are then to take; the greater part of them being driven as far as the lowland districts, whence they gradually find their way to the central and southern counties of England. “The calves are housed in the beginning of November, and are highly fed on hay and roots (for the raising of which the soil and climate are admirably adapted,) until the month of May. When there is plenty of keep, the breeding cows are housed in November, but in general they are kept out until three or four weeks before calving. In May, the whole cattle are turned out to pasture, and, if it is practicable, those of different ages are kept separate; while, by shifting the cattle, the pasture is kept HIGHLAND CATTLE. 93 as much as possible in eatable condition, that is, neither eaten too bare, nor allowed to get too rank, or to run into seed. “In the winter and the spring, all the cattle except the breeding cows are fed in the fields, the grass of which is pre- served from the 12th of August to the end of October. When these inclosures become bare, about the end of December, a little hay is taken into the field, with turnips or potatoes, once or twice in the day, according to circumstances, until the middle or end of April. Few, only, of the farmers have these roots to give them, and the feeding of the out-lying cattle with straw is quite abolished. If any of them, however, are very materially out of condition, they are fed with oats in the sheaf. At two, or three, or four years old, all, except the heifers that are retained for breeding, are sent to market. “There is little or no variety of breeds of cattle in the Hebrides. They are pure West Highlanders. Indeed, it is the belief of the Hebridean farmer, that no other breed of cattle will thrive on these islands, and that the Kyloes could not possibly be improved by being crossed with any others. He appeals to his uniform experience, and most correctly so in the Hebrides, that attempts at crossing have only destroyed the symmetry of the Kyloes, and rendered them more delicate, and less suitable to the climate and the pasture. “By selection from the choicest of the stock, however, the West Highlander has been materially improved. The Islay, the Isle of Skye, and the Argyleshire beast, readily obtains a con- siderably higher price than any other cattle reared in the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. M’Neil has been eminently suc- cessful in his attempts to improve the native breed. He has often obtained 1007. ($500) for three and four-year-old bulls out of his stock; and for one bull he received 200/. ($1,000.) He never breeds from bulls less than three years, or more than ten years old; and he disapproves, and rightly in such a climate, of 94 AMERICAN CATTLE. the system of breeding in and in. He also adheres to that golden rule of breeding, the careful selection of the female; and, indeed, it is not a small sum that would induce the Hebridean farmer to part with any of his picked cows. “Tt will be concluded, from what we have said of the milking properties of the Kyloe, that the dairy is considered as a matter of little consequence in the Hebrides; and the farmer rarely keeps more milk cows than will furnish his family with milk, and butter and cheese. The Highland cow will not yield more than a third part of the milk that is obtained from the Ayrshire one at no great distance on the main land; but that milk is exceedingly rich, and the butter procured from it is excellent. “The management of the dairy is exceedingly simple, and, from the very simplicity of it, other districts may learn a useful lesson. The cows are driven as slowly and quietly as possible to the fold; the wild character of the animals, as well as a regard to the quality of the milk, show the propriety of this. They are carefully drained to the last drop, not only on account of the superior richness of the latter portion of the milk, but because the retention of any part is apt to hasten, if it does not produce, that which is one of the principal objections to the Highland cows as milkers, the speedy drying up of their milk. The milk is carried to the house with as little disturbance as practicable, and put into vessels of not more than two or three inches in depth. The cream is supposed to rise more rapidly in these shallow vessels; and it is removed in the course of eighteen hours. A cow will not, on the average, yield more than 22 lbs. of butter (of 24 oz. each,) in the summer season; she will yield about 90 lbs. of cheese, which is much liked by some on account of the aromatic flavor which is given to it by the mixture of rose-leaves, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and lemon with the rennet. ‘‘Oxen are never used for the plough or on the road, on any of the Hebrides. HIGHLAND CATTLE. 95 “We have stated that more than 20,000 of the Hebridean cattle are conveyed te the mainland, some of which find their way even to the southernmost counties of England; but, like the other Highland cattle, their journey is usually slow and interrupted. Their first resting-place is not a great way from the coast, for they are frequently wintered on the coarse pastures of Dumbartonshire; and in the next summer, after grazing awhile on the lower grounds, they are driven farther south, where they are fed during the second winter on turnips and hay. In April they are in good condition, and prepared for the early grass, on which they are finished. “Many of these small cattle are permanently arrested in their journey, and kept on low farms to consume the coarse grass, which other breeds refuse to eat; these are finished off on turnips, which are given them in the field about the end of Autumn, and they are sold about Christmas.” AS A BEEF ANIMAL, The flesh of the West Highland ox, is considered of the best quality in the London markets, and usually worth ld., or two cents per pound more than that of the ordinary breeds. He is usually put upon high feed at three years old, and in good pas- ture in summer, and a full allowance of turnips and meal, with plenty of hay or straw in winter, is fitted for the shambles at about four years old. Taken from their native ranges, and put upon the rich feed of the better lands, they thrive and ripen wonderfully, and make flesh more rapidly than any other cattle. It is the habit of many English noblemen, as they visit, with their families and numerous retinue, their several estates and castles during the “country season,” to have a herd of Highland bullocks driven by their servants, to supply their table with beef—the small, compact size of these cattle, as well as the superiority of their flesh, eminently fitting them for the purpose. 96 AMERICAN CATTLE. The animal lays his flesh generously on the choice parts, and it is so interlarded with fat as to make it beautifully marbled,—a capital point in its feeding. The weight of a well fed bullock ranges from 600 to 800 pounds—flesh, hide, and tallow. AN SS cS = = ES Plate 11. West Highland Ox. After saying thus much, and at such length, of the Highland cattle, giving Youatt’s admirable account of them, we may sum> up their qualities pretty much as follows: They are an original breed, bred for untold centuries in one of the roughest climates; of great hardihood and endurance; homogeneous in their natures and habits; strong in blood, with a tendency and power to transmit it upon anything with which they may be connected. The cows are not fitted for the dairy, nor is it necessary they should be for the purposes to which they are intended, yet giving milk enough to rear their progeny well. They mature early, and when matured are full in all their points. They feed their pastures closely, are active in movement, capable of ranging over wide fields, gathering their subsistance without trouble, adapted to climates and soils where other cattle would glean a HIGHLAND CATTLE. 97 bare subsistence, and thus a valuable race to introduce into the regions of country which we have named. The manner of doing this would be simple. A cargo of them might be selected near Glasgow, Scotland, where the choicest of them may be purchased at an average not exceeding $150 each, and shipped to New York, or Boston; thence transported cheaply in return cattle trains westward, which usually go empty, and then distributed to their destinations. We know of no cat- tle enterprise, for the purposes we have named, conducted with proper intelligence and spirit, which can promise more fairly and profitably; and we hope to see it undertaken by men whose means and foresight are equal to the object. A cargo of one hundred, about equally divided between bulls and cows, might come out by way of experiment. A single bull or two should be retained with the cows for thorough breeding, and the remain- der might be placed with small native cows, for the immediate propagation of grades. The progeny of these cows, continu- ously put to thorough bred bulls, would soon raise them to that degree of blood to satisfy the main object of their introduction, and in a comparatively few years, for all practical purposes, they would become an established race, with but a fraction of the American blood remaining in them; and finally—holding con- tinuously to the pure blooded bulls in propagation—become all that we need in that description of cattle. Thus, our far south- western grazing regions which now send us only the ragged and comparatively worthless Texan cattle, and the far north-western wilds which send us none at all, together with our intermediate mountain ranges, would ultimately—even shortly—furnish our interior rich lands with grazing material for the best of beef, and our markets would be supplied with the choicest of flesh for consumption. Our suggestions on this subject are not visionary—not even enthusiastic. We only open one of those sure fields of enter- +) 98 AMERICAN CATTLE. prise, which, compared with every day ventures, even in the agricultural line, usually so common-place and probable, may lead to suecess and fortune. We hope yet to see the Highland cattle introduced into the country. Their introduction could be no bar to the progress of the other valuable breeds we have now among us, as these latter must always occupy our good soils, on which, if the Highland cattle were placed, they would soon lose their distinctive qualities and become mere common things. They are never bred on the good land of Scotland or Hngland. MARS wf A a= VP) Y ‘gpa UH (FES UNG Z SHINY) fi ZINN SSS SONS SSS West Highland Cow We give above, the portrait of a beautiful dun, or light mouse- —_| colored Highland cow, in the possession of Captain Gunter, at Witherby, Yorkshire, England, drawn purposely for this work from life, last summer, by our artist, Mr. Page. A more per- fectly developed animal, in her flesh producing qualities, can hardly be found of any breed in the bovine race. CEA PAW: Xai. THE GALLOWAYS. TuEsE are a polled, or hornless, race, originating in the low- lands and extreme south-western part of Scotland, taking their name from the district where they have been mainly bred. We let Youatt speak of them: “The stewartry of Kirkcudbright and the shire of Wigton, with a part of Ayrshire and Dumfries, formed the ancient province or kingdom of Galloway. The two first counties possess much interest with us as the native district of a breed of polled, or dodded, or *humble cattle, highly valued in some of the southern Scottish counties, and in almost every part of Hngland, for its grazing properties. So late as the middle of the last century, the greater part of the Galloway cattle were horned —they were middle-horns; but some of them were polled—they were either remnants of the native breed, or the characteristic of the aboriginal cattle would be occasionally displayed, although many a generation had passed. ‘“‘ Mor more than one hundred and fifty years the surplus cattle of Gailoway had been sent far into England, and principally to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. The polled beasts were always favorites with the Hnglish farmers; they fattened as kindly as the others, they attained a larger size, their flesh lost none of its firmness of grain, and they exhibited no trace of the wildness and dangerous ferocity which were sometimes serious ‘‘* Dr. Johnson gives a curious derivation of the term humble. He says of their black cattle (Journey to the Western Isles, p. 186): ‘Some are without horns, called by the Scots humdle cows, as we call u beo a humble bee that wants a sting.’ ” o © 100 AMERICAN CATTLE. objections to the Highland breed. Thence it happened that, in process of time, the horned breed decreased, and was at length quite superseded by the polled; except that, now and then, to show the uncertainty of the derivation of the breed, a few of the Galloways would have diminutive horns, but these were of a very curious nature, for they were attached to the skin and not to the skull. “The agriculture of Galloway, like that of every part of: Scotland, was in a sadly deplorable state until about 1786, when the Karl of Selkirk became desirous of effecting some improve- ment in the management of his estates, both in the shire and the stewartry. He was, however, too far advanced in life to engage personally in the business, and he delegated the whole management of his property to one of his sons, Lord Daer. “This young nobleman entered enthusiastically into the views of his father, and although he encountered much opposition, and many a difficulty, from the ignorance and prejudice of the ten- antry, he was beginning to possess the satisfaction of witnessing the accomplishment of several of his projects, when he was carried off by consumption, at the age of thirty. His plans, however, were adopted and zealously pursued by his brother, who succeeded to the earldom, and Galloway owes much of its prosperity to these liberal and patriotic noblemen. “Tn addition to the Selkirk family, we may reckon among the most zealous and successful improvers of the breed of Galloway cattle, the Murrays of Broughton, the Herons of Kirrouchtrie, the Gordons of Greenlaw, the Maxwells of Munches, and the Maitlands in the valley of Tarff in Kirkcudbright; and in Wigton, the Earls of Galloway, the Maxwells of Mouneith, the M’Dowals of Logan, the Cathcarts of Genoch, the Hathorns of Castle- Wig, and the Stewarts of Phygell. “Wor much of the description of the Galloway beast, and for the greater part of our account of the management of the cattle THE GALLOWAYS. 101 in that district, we are indebted to an old, and skillful, and well- known breeder, whose name we regret that we are enjoined to withhold; but he will accept our thanks, and at some future period, possibly, the public will know to whom we and they are much indebted. “The Galloway cattle are straight and broad in the back, and nearly level from the head to the rump. They are round in the ribs, and also between the shoulders and the ribs, and the ribs and the loins, They are broad in the loin, without any large projecting hook bones. In roundness of barrel, and fullness of ribs, they will compare with any breed, and also in the propor- tion which the loins bear to the hook bones, or protuberances of the nbs. The Rev. Mr. Smith, the author of the Survey of Galloway, says that, ‘when viewed from above, the whole body appears beautifully rounded, like the longitudinal section of a roller.’ They are long in the quarters and ribs, and deep in the chest, but not broad in the twist. The slightest inspection will show that there is less space, between the hook or hip bones and the ribs, than in most other breeds, a consideration of much importance, for the advantage of length of carcass, consists in the animal being well ribbed home, or as little as possible lost in the flank. “The Galloway is short in the leg, and moderately fine in the shank bones,—the happy medium seems to be preserved in the leg, which secures hardihood and a disposition to fatten. With the same cleanness and shortness of shank, there. is no breed so large and muscular above the knee, while there is more room for the deep, broad and capacious chest. He is clean, not fine and slender, but well proportioned in the neck and chaps; a thin and delicate neck would not correspond with the broad shoulders, deep chest, and close, compact form of the breed. The neck of the Galloway bull is thick, almost toa fault. The head is rather heavy; the eyes are not prominent, and the ears are large, rough, and full of long hairs on the inside. 102 AMERICAN CATTLE. “The Galloway is covered with a loose, mellow skin of medium thickness, and which is clothed with long, soft, silky hair. The skin is thinner than that of the Leicestershire, but not so fine as the hide of the improved Durham breed, but it handles soft and kindly. Even on the moorland farms, where the cattle, during the greater part of the year, are fed on the scantiest fare, it is remarkable how little their hides indicate the privations they endure. mH} iM CaN OSs Mates BAIN . Plate 12. ~ Galloway Bull. “The prevailing and the fashionable color is black—a few are of a dark brindled brown, and still fewer are speckled with white spots, and some of them are of a dun or drab color, perhaps acquired from a cross with the Suffolk breed of cattle. Dark colors are uniformly preferred, from the belief that they indicate hardness of constitution.* ‘““* Mr. Culley, who is great authority in these cases, thus describes the Gallo- wiys: ‘In most respects, except wanting horns, these cattle resemble the long- horns, both in color and shape, only they are shorter in their form, which probably makes them weigh less. Their hides seem to be a medium between the long and the short-horns; not so thick as the former, nor so thin as the latter; and, like the best feeding kind of long-horns, they lay their fat upon the most valuable parts, and their beef is well marbled or mixed with fat. They are mostly bred upon the moors or THE GALLOWAYS. 103 “This cut represents the Galloway bullock, almost ready for the butcher. The beautifully level laying on of the flesh and fat, will not escape the. notice of the reader. iy IN iN BA NY a a HAN vi a iN My WA it es Ole Ke Ih) ‘=e Zi = ZL A 2 Z LE SS ——— SS = TNR SS ee Ie Plate 13. Galiswas Ox. “The breeding of cattle has been, from time almost imme- morial, the principal object of pursuit with the Galloway farmer; indeed, it is calculated that more than thirty thousand beasts are sent to the south every year. The soil and face of the country are admirably adapted for this. The soil, although rich, is dry hilly country in Galloway, until rising four or five years old, when they are taken to the fairs in Norfolk and Suffolk, previous to the turnip feeding season, whence the greater part of them are removed in the winter and spring (when fat) to supply the consumption of the capital, where they are readily sold, and at high prices, for few or no cattle sell so high in Smithfield market, owing to their laying their fat on the most valuable parts ; and it is no unusual thing to see one of these little bullocks outsell a coarse Lincolnshire bullock, although the latter is heavier by several stones.’ ”’ ‘Mr. Lawrence says, in his excellent treatise on cattle, that ‘the pure Galloway breed exists, perhaps, no where in original purity, except in the moors of Monigaff, and Glenlove, and that these cattle are thinner in the hind quarters, than such as have been crossed by other breeds.’ ”’ 104 AMERICAN CATTLE. and healthy, particularly in the lower districts, the substratum being either gravel or schistus rock. There are many large tracts of old grass land, that have not been ploughed during any one’s recollection, and which still maintain their superior fertility ; while the finer pastures are thickly covered with natural white clover, and other valuable grasses. The surface of the ground is irregular, sometimes rising into small globular hills, and at other times into abrupt banks, and thus forming small fertile glens, and producing shelter for the cattle in the winter, and early vegeta- tion in the spring. In the low districts there is little frost and snow, but the climate is mild and rather moist; and thus a languid vegetation is supported during the winter, and the pas- tures constantly retain their verdure. “The calves are reared in a manner peculiar to Galloway. From the time they are dropped, they are permitted to suck the mother more or less, as long as she gives milk.* During the first four or five months they are allowed, morning and evening, a liberal supply; generally more than half the milk of the cow. The dairy-maid takes the milk from the teats on one side, while the calf draws it at the same time, and exclusively, from the other side. When the calf begins to graze a little, the milk is abridged, by allowing the calf to suck only a shorter time, and he is turned upon the best young grass on the farm. In winter, he is uniformly housed during the night, and fed upon hay, with a few turnips, or potatoes; for the breeder knows that, if he is ‘“* Mr. Culley gives a curious account of this: ‘ The calves, from the time they are dropped, until able to support themselves, are allowed to run with their dams, but are prevented from sucking by means of a small piece of leather, with sharp spikes of iron fixed upon the outside, tied upon the upper part of the calf’s nose, which, by pricking the cow every time the calf attempts to suck, prevents her from letting it, until the milk-maid comes, when she takes off the muzzle from the little animal’s nose, and while she strips two of the teats, the calf takes care to empty the other two. As soon as the maid has done, she fixes on the instrument again, but it is done in such a manner as not to hinder the calf from feeding upon the grass.’ This might have been the practice in Mr. Culley’s time, but little or nothing of it is seen now.’’ [Culley wrote in the latter part of the last century. L. F. A.J] “THE GALLOWAYS. 105 neglected or stinted in his food during the first fifteen months, he does not attain his natural size, nor does he feed so well afterwards. “The practice of allowing the calf to suck its mother, is objected to by some, and is apparently slovenly, and not econom- ical; but the rearing of cattle is considered of more importance than the money that could be realized from the milk and butter saved by starving the calf. It is also imagined that the act of sucking produces a plentiful supply of saliva, which materially contributes to the digestion of the milk and the health of the calf. The Galloway farmer maintains that an evident difference may be perceived between the calf that sucks its dam, and another that is fed from the pail—the coat of the former is sleek and glossy, indicating health; while the hide of the other is dry and hard, nor is the unthrifty appearance removed until some time after the animal has been weaned and fed wholly on grass. It is also said that a greater proportion of calves, fed from the pail die of stomach complaints, than of those that suck the cow. “Tt is desirable that the calves should be dropped in the latter part of winter or in the beginning of spring. A Galloway farmer attaches a great. deal of importance to this, for he finds that nearly a year’s growth and profit is lost if the calf is born in the middle of the summer. “The regular Galloway breeders rarely sell any of their calves for veal;* that is obtained only from those who keep cows for ““*Tt is an old proverb in Galloway, that a good farmer would rather kill his son than a calf. ‘The people of this country do very seldom, or rather not at all, kill or sell their calves, as they do in other places, so that it is a rare thing to see veal, except sometimes, and at some few gentlemen’s tables. They give two reasons for this: one is, because, they say, a cow will not give down her milk without her calf, and so, should they sell or kill the calfe, they should want the use of the cow; but this, I suppose, might be helped, would they but traine up the cow otherwise at her first calving. The other reason is of more weight, viz.: since a great part of their wealth consists in the product of their cattel, they think it very ill husbandry to sell that for a shilling, which, in time, would yeeld pounds.’—Symson’s ‘ Large Account of Galloway,’ 1682.°’ 5* 106 AMERICAN CATTLE. supplying the villagers with milk, and from the few dairy farms where cows are kept for making cheese. “‘The best heifers are retained as breeders, in order to supply the place of those whose progeny is not valuable, or who are turned off on account of their age. The other female calves are spayed during the first year. The spayed heifers are usually smaller than the bullocks, but they arrive sooner at maturity; | they fatten readily; their meat is considered more delicate, and in proportion to their size, they sell at higher prices than the bullocks. “Mr, Culley says, ‘In Galloway, they spay more heifers than perhaps in all the island besides, and in this too their method is different from any other part I am acquainted with, for they do not castrate them until they are about a year old, whereas in every other place I know, the heifer calves are spayed from one to three months old; and it is now generally admitted as the safest practice to castrate calves and lambs, male or female, while very young.’ They are now generally spayed much earlier than they used to be, but some of the breeders adhere to the old custom. “The young cattle are rarely housed after the first winter ; they are on their pastures day and night, but in cold weather, they receive hay and straw in the fields, supporting themselves otherwise on the foggage left unconsumed after the summer grass. Many of the farmers are beginning to learn their true interest, and the pastures are not so much overstocked in summer as they used to be, and a portion of herbage is left for the cattle in the winter; therefore, although the beasts are not in high condition in the spring, they had materially increased in size, and are in a proper state to be transferred to the rich pastures of the lower district. “The following were’ the proportions of a fat heifer of this breed: Height of shoulder, 5ft. 2in.; length from nose to rump, 10ft. 4in.; width across the hip, 2ft. 6in.; across the middle of the THE GALLOWAYS. 107 back, 3ft.; across the shoulders, 2ft. 4in.; girth of leg below knee, 8in.; distance of breast from the ground, lft. 3/in.; width between fore legs, lft. 5in. The live weight was 1520 pounds. She was exhibited at the Smithfield cattle show, and her portrait engine under the sanction of the club. wh a) WS ce Zz IN NS 1 NY) ait HY NN a NEES a WA Mi a Plate 14. Galloway Cow, four years old. This cut is an accurate portrait of a beautiful young Galloway cow, in Canada West, as taken by our artist. “The Galloway cows are not good milkers; but although the quantity of the milk is not great, it is rich in quality, and yields a large proportion of butter. A cow that gives from twelve to sixteen quarts of milk per day, is considered a very superior milker, and that quantity produces more than a pound and a half of butter. The average milk, however, of a Galloway cow, cannot be reckoned at more than six or eight quarts per day, during the five summer months after feeding her calf. During the next four months she does not give more than half of that quantity, and for two or three months she is dry. 108 AMERICAN CATTLE. ‘CA bullock well fattened, will weigh from 560 to 840 pounds, net, at three or three and a half years old, and some have been fed to more than 1400 pounds at five years old. “There is, perhaps, no breed of cattle which can be more truly said to be indigenous to the country, and incapable of improvement by any foreign cross, than the Galloways. The short-horns almost every where else have improved the cattle of, the districts to Which they have traveled. They have, at least in the first cross, produced manifest improvement, although the advantage has not often been prolonged much beyond the second generation; but even in the first cross, the short-horns have done little good in Galloway, and, as a permanent mixture, the choicest southern bulls have manifestly failed. The intell- gent Galloway breeder is now perfectly satisfied that his stock can only be improved by adherence to the pure breed, and by care in the selection. ? “The Galloway cattle are generally very docile. This is a most valuable point about them in every respect. It is rare to find even a bull furious or troublesome.” After this minute and excellent description by Youatt, little further need be said of them at home, and we proceed to speak somewhat of THE GALLOWAYS IN AMERICA. Whether they were imported at an early day into this country, in their purity of blood, we have no knowledge; but as Youatt says: ‘“‘So late as the middle of the last century, (1750,) the great part of the Galloways were horned,” (which we somewhat doubt,) the probabilities of their coming here are light. It is certain, however, that polled cattle came over with some of the early importations, as such have been known here for more than a century past. As they were red, spotted, and of all colors usual among our native cattle, they probably were picked up from the polled herds of Norfolk or Suffolk, in England, where THE GALLOWAYS. 109 they have abounded for centuries. In the year 1837, we saw a very fine, black, polled Galloway cow, at the General Hospital, in Philadelphia. How she came there, we could not ascertain. About the year 1850, some enterprising Scotch farmers made the first importations of Galloways into the vicinity of Toronto, in Canada West. They already had the short-horns there, of high quality, imported many years before, and some of them were kept and much liked by the same farmers who brought out the Galloways. But the latter were the cattle of their native land, and their attachment to them there was too strong to be overlooked or forgotten in their new homes. The cattle pos- sessed certain qualities which they found here in no other race, and with a characteristic love of their native land, as they loved the poetry of Burns, and repeated his songs, they also longed for, and sought the cattle of their native hills and heather. There must have been several different importations, for in the year 1857, we saw upwards of forty of them exhibited by com- peting owners at a Provincial agricultural show, at Brantford, and have since met them in equal numbers at other shows in the Province. They were fine cattle—full, round, and comely in form; robust in appearance; showing a ready aptitude to take on flesh; elas- tic to the touch; a good skin, with long, thick, wavy hair; of placid look, and apparently kindly temper. In addition to these good qualities, some of their owners declared them to be ‘‘ good milkers.” But their indications in that line did not show it, although, in practice, there may have been exceptions to what we thought indicated an opposite tendency. Their colors were black, generally, although we found one or two dull reds, or duns, and a brindle (black and red mixed,) among them—which colors, according to Youatt, are admissible. Taken altogether, the cattle fully answered his description. 110 AMERICAN CATTLE. That they are well adapted to the soil and climate of Canada, and of the Northern and Middle States of America, we have no doubt, as a grazing beast; but, for the dairy, an intimate and persistent trial of their qualities in that line, will only convince us of their superiority, or even average exccllence with our own good dairy cows. In the hilly and more rugged parts of our country, adapted for the rearing and grazing of the lighter and. more active breeds of cattle, they must be a desirable stock to introduce, and as such, we consider them entitled to confidence. Their lack of horn, is by some thought a point of great merit, as rendering them more peaceable in a herd, and harmless to do injury. It may be so; but if those charitable people could once see a fight between one of them and a full-horned beast, they would soon find that their conical skulls can butt as hard, and force as vigorous a push as the others; and although they can inflict no injury by the horn, the skull is as impenetrable and actively managed as the most enthusiastic admirer of adroit ‘hits? would desire. The fact is, a Galloway can fight, either in defence or attack, as well as a horned beast, and the safety of him who handles them les more in their docility of temper and good training, than in their inability to inflict injury. The peculiar shape of the skull is a prominent point in deter- mining the purity of blood, and high breeding in the Galloway. It should be high, and poited round like the head of a doe, with no place for a horn to plant itself, and a thick and long growth of hair, almost shaggy, in front. In fact, an expert in Galloways will detect a deficient or false point in them, as readily as the most fastidious judge would do in a short-horn or a Devon. CHAPTER XII. THE AYRSHIRES. Tue third, and with dazrymen, the most important variety among the Scottish cattle, now comes under our notice. All the authorities respectmg the origin and history of this noted breed, are condensed and fully treated in Youatt. We have read and studied several English and Scottish writers on them, and heard tales innumerable; but as they more or less quote Youatt, and his authorities, we conclude to make him responsible for them all, and add only such observations, as our own personal acquaintance of some twenty-five years with them has made us familiar. The increasing interest with which the Ayrshire is regarded in this country, will justify what we have thought proper to insert from that generally correct author: “The county of Ayrshire extends along the eastern coast of the Firth of Clyde, and the North Channel from Renfrew to Wigtonshire, by the former of which it is bordered on the north, and by the latter on the south, while it has Kircudbright, Dum- fries, and Lanark on the east. It is necessary to mention this, in order that the reader may better comprehend the rapid distri- bution of the Ayrshire cattle over all these districts. The climate is moist but mild; and the soil, with its produce, is calculated to render it the finest dairy country in Scotland, and equal perhaps to any in Great Britain. “Mr, Aiton, in his ‘Treatise on the Dairy Breed of Cows,’ thus describes the Ayrshire cattle: ‘The shapes most approved of in the dairy breed, are as follows: 112 AMERICAN CATTLE. ““¢ Head small, but rather long and narrow at the muzzle; the eye small, but smart and lively; the horns small, clear, crooked, and their roots at considerable distance from each other; neck long and slender, tapering towards the head, with no loose skin below; shoulders thin; fore-quarters light; hind-quarters large ; back straight, broad behind, the joints rather loose and open; carcass deep, and pelvis capacious, and wide over the hips, with round fleshy buttocks.* Tail long and small; legs small and short, with firm jovnts; udder capacious, broad and square, stretching forward, and neither fleshy, low hung nor loose; the milk veins large and prominent; teats short, all pointing outwards, and at considerable distance from each other; skin thin and loose; hair soft and woolly. The head, bones, horns, and all parts of least value, small; and the general figure compact and well proportioned.’ ““Mr, Aiton also informs us, that ‘the Ayrshire farmers prefer their dairy-bulls, according to the feminine aspect of their heads and necks; and wish them not round behind, but broad at the hook-bones and hips, and full in the flanks. “