State Agricultural Society. 529 



"The ambition among- exhibitors in England is to secure an animal of 

 solid dark color, one that will lead out stylish; the mirror is overlooked, 

 and the qualities of the dam not regarded; hut the animal must have 

 no white, any of which color being on a bull calf consigns him to the 

 butcher." "Among all the stock of Jersey bulls in England, I did not 

 find one with any mirror whatever, ami this because that feature is not 

 required by the judges at the shows." An exception is made of the 

 herd of Mr. MacDonald, at Liphook: "It contained sixty-nine milking 

 cows — thirty-four in one field and thirty-five in another — all Jerseys, 

 and some of them very choice. * * * The}' appear to have been 

 selected for yield, and are not 'solid color with black points.' " 



"Besides the fact that the Jersey bulls of England are of solid dark 

 color and deficient in mirror, they are all beefy, and, though they lead 

 out well at a show and get prizes, their daughters will count but little 

 at the pail. The same applies to many of the cows, and there seems to 

 be an instinctive yearning after the Short-horn type. Those in this 

 country that have the same craving can be suited with the Swiss cows, 

 and especially with a herd of thirty or forty near the top of the Righi 

 Mountain. These are handsome, large animals, stout, and solid colors, 

 mouse colors, duns, drabs, all with black points, and with the exact 

 features of the Jersey — a white fillet encircling the nose." 



" Besides those above enumerated, the Fowlers, of Watford and Lit- 

 tle Bush}*, have constantly on hand a lot fresh from the island, and 

 there are scattering smaller herds; but the conclusion 1 came to was 

 that, with the exception of a few choice cows in Mac Donald's herd, the 

 stock of America would not be improved by importation from Eng- 

 land." 



If anything seems certain, it is that a cow which has a tendency to 

 lay up fat in the carcass cannot have an equal tendency to secrete fat 

 in the udder. The only reason which can justify us in breeding Jersey 

 cattle with care is that we believe it to be for our advantage to perpet- 

 uate, and to improve upon the special characteristics for which Jerseys 

 are noted. These are emphatically not the beef-making tendency, but 

 the disposition to produce a good flow of highly-colored rich milk for 

 the practical work of our dairies and for the supply of our tables; and 

 (subordinate to this, but also important), the peculiar delicacy, beauty, 

 and docility of the breed. If we seek these qualities, and seek to 

 secure their improvement, we are working in the right direction and 

 with the right material. If, on the other hand, solid colors and black 

 switches and well-rounded beefy forms are our aims, we had better 

 avoid the Jerseys altogether, and apply our efforts to the beautiful cat- 

 tle of Switzerland and Northern Italy. 



If we undertake to produce a race of solid-colored and black-pointed 

 animals which shall also be enormous butter yielders, we set ourselves 

 a task of the most difficult character; if we aspire also to combine with 

 these characteristics the rounded form of the beef-making animal, the 

 difficulty rises to an impossibility, for the best milking quality is entirely- 

 incompatible with the disposition to make beef. 



We cannot, perhaps, do much to cheek the tendency developed among: 

 breeders in England; but by adhering to the more prudent course in 

 our own importations, we may, perhaps, do much to counteract the 

 hurtful influence exerted on the island supply by the English demand. 



67 — (agri-j 



