State Agricultural Society. 555 



breeding Jersey cattle, may we not soon hope for equally satisfactory 

 results? 



It is extremely rare in this country that an animal belonging to any 

 of the dairy breeds sells for more than a thousand dollars, while Short- 

 horns are selling at fabulous prices. 



This peculiar state of affairs is frequently accounted for upon the hy- 

 pothesis that the beef interest is of much greater value than the dairy 

 interest. 



By the census returns it appears there are in the United States and 

 Territories, a little more than one half as many milch cows as there are 

 of other cuttle. By Allen's valuation the " other cattle " are worth a 

 little over one fifth more than the milch cows, as they stand on foot. 

 Scarcely one fifth of the "other cattle" can be properly credited to 

 beef cattle. A dairy cow, well selected, wisel}* and economically han- 

 dled, will pay a profit equal to her first cost every twelve months, on an 

 average, four years of her life. But aside from the fact that beef cattle 

 of no other breed than the Sh^rt-horn sell at these fabulous prices, let 

 us take a more homely view of the subject. In the City of Louisville, 

 a well-to-do merchant's bill of fare for a week will usually contain the 

 following articles: a roastof beef for Sunday, at one dollar and twenty- 

 five cents, which answers for hash and a cold cut for Monday. Fowls, 

 fish, mutton, veal, pork, and game, with three beefsteaks, at forty cents 

 each, will finish out the week. This makes two dollars and fifty cents 

 for beef. In the daily line this same family uses seven pounds of but- 

 ter, at fifty cents a pound, three dollars and fifty cents; seven gallons of 

 milk, at twenty-eight cents a gallon, one dollar and ninety-six cents; not 

 less than forty cents' worth of cheese, and fifty cents for veal— a total of 

 six dollars and thirty-six cents for the products of the dairy, against 

 two dollars and lift} 7 cents for beef. 



Families of more limited means reduce the amount of beef, and pro- 

 portionately increase their supply of milk and cheese, while upon the 

 farmers' and laborers' tables beef is something of a luxury, milk being 

 as much a necessity as the ever-present bacon. 



It is scarcely fair to class animals under two years of age as beef 

 cattle, while the cow, after giving us four years of profitable milking, 

 balances the beef account on the butcher's scales. 



It may be that these high prices for thoroughbreds are mere fancy 

 and speculation, but in the connoisseur's eyes a purely bred and highly 

 finished thoroughbred is an exquisite work of art, not only possessing 

 value for its present beauty, but having within it the creative power of 

 stamping its wonderful image upon innumerable descendants. Suppose 

 a Jersey breeder, by judicious breeding and wise selection, should produce 

 a family of Jerseys, every heifer of which at three years of age should 

 yield four hundred pounds of butter yearly, and this extraordinary 

 quality should follow in each successive generation as certainly "as the 

 night the day " — let this fact be known and believed by other breeders; 

 what would a "pure bred" cow of that family be worth? 



We know but little of the origin of Jersey cattle. Their resemblance 

 to the present cattle of Normandy has led many persons to look for their 

 origin in that direction. They probably are what on the island they are 

 believed to be — a local pure breed, brought to the state of perfection 

 they have now reached by their naturally isolated position, somewhat 

 necessitating breeding in the line, and leading to a common aim or ne- 

 cessity on the part of the inhabitants. Nearly all of our improved 

 breeds of animals have originated from a peculiar idea or desire taking 



