140 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



and cheese and placing it on the European market in competition 

 with that produced on lands of less than one-tenth this value." 

 It has been said that the Holsteins are in more countries, occu- 

 pying more territory, producing more milk, more butter and 

 more cheese than all the other dairy breeds combined. Whether 

 this be true or not, the fact still remains, that the Dutchman's 

 phlegmatic spotted cow is yery much in evidence in all parts of 

 the world. The United States, from Maine to California, from 

 Texas to Minnesota, is thickly dotted with herds of Holsteins 

 that take second place to no other breed. In the State of Wis- 

 consin, now the greatest dairy state in the Union, the Holsteins 

 are far in the lead. The chief business of the Friesian dairymen, 

 the originators of this breed, is butter making. One of the cows 

 of the earliest permanent importation yielded 4,008^^ pounds of 

 milk in nine weeks, the biggest day's yield being 76 pounds. 

 This and other similar records of the breed were received with 

 widespread incredulity. In 1880, the cow Aggie made a record 

 of 18,004 5-6 pounds of milk within one year from date of calv- 

 ing ; this record was almost universally regarded as an impossi- 

 bility. 



Among those that joined in this view was Prof. Long of Eng- 

 land, then publishing a large work on dairy husbandry, which 

 was widely subscribed for in this country and issued in quarterly 

 numbers. Thus the capacity of this breed for milk production 

 became a matter of more than ordinary public interest. In 

 August, 1885, the owners of Aggie commenced a record of the 

 cow Clothilde. They invited public scrutiny of this record dur- 

 ing its full progress. A number of persons interested them- 

 selves in it in order to learn the amount of her production beyond 

 a doubt, among whom were leading men of dairy publications. 

 At different periods, including one during the last week of her 

 record, she was under the official watch and care of the superin- 

 tendent of Holstein-Friesian Advanced Registry. Her record 

 for the year was 26,021^ pounds. During the closing week, 

 commencing 358 days from dropping her calf, she gave from 53 

 to 56 pounds daily. So thoroughly was the public convinced 

 of the correctness of this record that higher records have since 

 been received without an intimation of former incredulity. 



Pietertje 2d in her eleventh year produced 30,318^ pounds, 

 and Princess of Wavne in her twelfth year 29.008 11-16 



