3 0S STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



have the reputation of being fair for milk and butter, and tlie oxen are said to 

 bo good \vorkers after being thoroughly broken, and that they attain large 

 size. yir. 8. I). Martin, of Clarke county, Kentucky, says the llerefords are 

 excellent workers and pull evenly, but they are harder to break in and are apt 

 to be more vicious than the Short-horns. I prefer the Short-horns for oxen 

 for the following reasons : they are gentle and docile, easily broken in and 

 managed, strong and true in pulling, are not vicious among other stock, and 

 when they have worked five or six years are easily fitted for the butcher, who 

 will pay a good price for them. I think I hear some one say the above is a 

 digression, as oxen are not in fashion. Well, I am an old man and remember 

 that in 183G there were more o:ce7i than horses attended their owners to church 

 in Clinton and Manchester on the Sabbath, and perhaps the worshipers were 

 as sincere then as they are in this late day of fast horses, fine equipage, satins, 

 superfine broadcloth, and velvet cushions. Please excuse, as I have forgotten 

 myself again. 



I find in the Report of the Michigan Board of Agriculture for the year 1878 

 an essay by Dr. James C. Wilson, manager of the Crapo farm, in which he 

 claims they have on that farm Short-horns, Herefords, Devons, and natives, 

 and he gives the llerefords the preference. He says they mature earlier, are 

 more hardy and less liable to disease, are better feeders and grazers, fatten on 

 less feed in their stalls, and keep in flesh at all seasons and when butchered 

 produce more dressed beef to the hundred weight, and alive or dressed com- 

 mand a more ready sale than any other cattle in the world. That ax is ground. 

 But it came to my weak comprehension to inquire, when such efforts have been 

 made during many years by Corning and Sothom and others, that they have 

 not been more generally introduced in the United States. The late Hon. San- 

 ford Howard, former Secretary of the Board of Agriculture of Michigan, was 

 sincerely of the same opinion of the above gentleman, and had conversation 

 with the writer on the subject, and two of our friends not far off sent by him 

 to Canada and two stock animals Avere purchased and brought over at the time 

 the Crapo stock came. They were beautiful specimens in their class. Several 

 years have passed since then, but I do not see any of those beautiful white 

 faced cattle in the yards of those gentlemen, nor in their vicinity. 



Jerseys and Alderneys, or Channel Island cattle, are, as their name indicates, 

 natives of a group of islands belonging to England lying in the English Chan- 

 nel, and about 12 miles from the coast of France. The largest island is 13 

 miles long by five miles broad, and is called Jersey. Constant breeding and 

 selections in regard to the one property of milk alone, has been crowned with 

 remarkable success. All importation of other cattle to the island was forbid- 

 den. Some years past the Jerseys have been imported to England, and the 

 peculiar richness of their milk so highly appreciated that many dairies keep a 

 Jersey to every 10 or 12 cows to give character to the butter. The Jerseys are 

 so totally unlike the other improved breeds that they are recognized at a 

 glance, their peculiar color and deer-like heads being distinguishing marks. 

 As ascertained by the lactometer the amount of cream varies from 19 to 25 

 per cent. 



KERRY CATTLE. 



The Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, a celebrated stock man, said: 

 Whilst I will say that they are exactly the breed of cattle for the mountain 

 pastures of New England, I will also say that if I lived out on the open prai- 



