312 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



At the outset we can safely say that beyond peradventure of a doubt 

 the short-horns were the dual purpose cattle at the St. Louis Fair. I 

 think the subject should have been "Short-horns as Dairy Cattle at the 

 World's Fair," as they were there to demonstrate w^hat they could do as 

 dairy.; cattle. 



The American Herd Book Association appropriated ten thousand dol- 

 lars for the purpose of making this dairy exhibit. Colonel Hinds was 

 appointed commissioner to take the matter in hand and select the right 

 sort of cattle. He selected a number of cattle from Indiana. If he had 

 been successful in getting all the good cattle he selected in his show it 

 would have been a wonderful exhibit and would have demonstrated a 

 wonderful thing for our bi'eed of cattle. But many things happened to 

 prevent those cattle from getting there. Many of the cattle did not calve 

 at the proper time to enable them to be shown there to the best 

 advantage. The Jersey cattle breeders commenced a year before the 

 opening of the exhibit, and bred their cows so they might calve a week 

 or ten days before the test would commence. The Holstein breeders did 

 the same. As a result of this Colonel Hinds in an article in the Breeders' 

 Gazette shows that twenty-four head of cattle made a much greater 

 record than was made by the Jersey cattle at the World's Fair in Chicago. 

 The record was phenomenal from the standpoint of any work that was 

 ever done with dairy cattle. I think we can appreciate that Colonel Hinds 

 feels that some advantage was taken of the short-horns in this dairy 

 exhibit. Colonel Hinds says that barrels and barrels of breakfast food 

 was fed to the Jersey cattle, and that the experiment was not conducted 

 along the same lines. The rations and various other things were diffeivnt. 

 He also called our attention to the fact that of the twentj--nine short- 

 horns selected but twenty-four were permitted or wei'e in condition to 

 go into the test. However, the averages on the bulletins issued every 

 ten days were on twenty-nine instead of twenty-four head. 



As a matter of fact, Ave know that no very great attention has been 

 given to the breeding of short-horns for exclusive dairy purposes in the 

 United States. In some parts of the Eastern States and in the old coun- 

 tries short-horns are bred for exclusive dairy purposes. In various parts 

 of England the dairy short-horns stand right at the front. I have here 

 a little clipping taken from the Breeders' Gazette in i*egard to the London 

 Dairy Show, which I think Avill be of special interest to us in considering 

 this question at this time. I had the pleasure of visiting the London 

 Dairy Show some years ago. It is conducted by the British Farmers' 

 Association, and is certainly the greatest diiiry exhibit in the world. In 

 fact, it has become so prominent that all the world records are taken 

 from this show. 



"The exhibit of dairy cattle numbered 164 head In all, of the follow- 

 ing breeds: Short-horns, forty-six; Jerseys, fifty-nine; Guernseys, thir- 

 teen; Red Polls, thirteen; Ayrshire, two; Kerry, eight; Dexters, four; 



